A celebration of la différence

THE Megane has always been a bit of a Cinderella model in Renault’s range – always in the background, but capable of providing surprising performance once it is thrust into the limelight.

At the moment, the Megane is overshadowed by the successful Duster small SUV, which is selling like hot cakes, and its little sister, the cute and capable Clio.

Outside the Renault stable, the Megane is always going to be compared to the VW Golf 7 and, increasingly these days, to Ford’s Focus, which are the benchmark hatchbacks in their segment.

The range includes the baselevel 1.6 litre, naturally aspirated four-cylinder petrol, which pushes out 81kW; followed by a new, hightech four-cylinder 1.2 litre petrol turbo engine which generates an incredible 97kW for its size.

Those who may be put off by the small capacity need to realise that this is the future: small-capacity turbo engines, because they offer the best compromise between power and economy.

The 97kW engine gives the midrange Megane a fair bit of get-upand-go: it will get to 100km/h in around 10 seconds at Highveld altitudes, and go on to a top speed a shade under 200km/h. That’s nothing to be sneezed at.

While it is doing all this, Renault claims the 97kW Megane will deliver a fuel consumption figure of 5.4 litres per 100km (combined city and open road driving).

In our experience, of all the manufacturers, Renault – for some reason – produces fuel economy numbers which are almost achievable in real world driving in South Africa. So we’d guess that the 1.2 turbo should give around 7l/100km in the city and under 5l/100km on the highway. That’s pretty impressive.

Apart from having a go in the 97kW Megane – which is clearly what Renault hopes will be the best seller in the range – we spent time with the company’s new “B Division” hot hatch, the Megane 220GT. I call it the “B Division” because the Renault Sport Meganes at the top of the totem pole produce a mighty 195kW and 201kW, while the 220GT produces a more modest 162kW (the 220 means the number of horsepower it generates).

Mind you, “modest” is a relative term: the hot hatch arms race has seen power outputs climbing markedly over the past 10 years or so. The VW Golf 5 GTi had just 147kW when it was launched and now also has 162kW.

When the first Megane Renault Sport was launched, it boasted 160odd kW… and these were the cars which went on to become the current hot hatches.

The 220GT is not intended to be an out-and-out racer, though – it is meant to be a civilised, yet fast, express which combines performance with comfort.

Well, that may be the theory, but in practice the Renault engineers have not yet quite succeeded in taming those 162kW and the Megane exhibits a tendency to wheelspin and torque steer (where the steering wheel squirms in your hands under full-bore acceleration).

Still, all the Meganes are wellequipped for their prices (R289 000 for the 97kW version and R339 000 for the 162kW, in either three or five- door configuration) – they include good sound systems, a full complement of airbags (and all boast 5-star Euro crash ratings) and electronic safety aids, as well as standard Tom-Tom navigation.

So, if you are the kind of person who is comfortable with something different, then give the Meganes a thought.

FRENCH SMILE: Those seductive Europeans are back in town.