Brendan Seery

SOMETIMES, you cannot resist dishing out a little “idiot education”… and on the rain-soaked KwaZuluNatal highway, the tailgating clown behind me who clearly thought he could intimidate me because I was driving a French hatchback had offered himself up for a lesson.

I quickly dropped two cogs in the Renault Megane GT’s seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox, stepped on the gas and left him for dead as the car effortlessly accelerated away.

It may look slightly effete in a French sort of way, but like Les Bleus (the French national rugby team) you under-estimate the Gauls at your peril.

This car is in the Golf GTI league with its comparatively small 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol engine still managing to whack out 151kW and a meaty 280Nm of torque. Renault claims it will hit 100km/h from rest in 7.1 seconds,