Traditionally French in every way?
The Renault range currently includes the Mégane Estate and the Megane E-Tech Electric. The second is an all-new hatchback model (with no accent on the ‘e’) and only available with an electric powertrain. The station wagon is descended from the 2015 model, whose owners share their experiences in this section. Was and is this Megane a good choice? Users answer.
The current generation of ‘normal’ Mégane, as written, dates back to 2015. In 2020, the model was slightly revised optically, while the car was tackled more firmly under the skin. For example, he optionally received the E-Tech plug-in hybrid powertrain, not to be confused with the electric Megane E-Tech. A year after the facelift, the hatchback disappeared from the range and you can only fill up a station Megane. In this article you can also read about the hatchback, which several reviewers opted for.
Space Renault Megane
Traditionally, a French car offers driving and seating comfort. The Mégane largely corresponds to that image, as confirmed by several users in their review on AutoWeek.nl. “There is no shortage of space in the car,” writes one of them. “It is a good place to stay with four adults and there is also sufficient knee room in the back. Because the roofline of the Estate is a bit higher on the rear row of seats, there is still some space left for taller people up to the ceiling.” This applies to a lesser extent to the hatchback, about which the following user writes: “The legroom in the rear seat is simply too tight. No one can fit behind me as a driver without me sliding forward, with my own knees against the steering wheel. And at 1.80 meters I am really not extra tall.”
Finally, an Estate driver can still be heard about the trunk. Compared to his Mégane Estate of the previous model, it appears smaller: “The trunk space is really a lot smaller than with the previous one. This was known, but in practice it often happened that I had to stack.” Perhaps this user is referring to the surface, because the cold numbers show only three liters difference in favor of his previous car.
And the seating comfort?
The space for occupants is good, especially in the Estate. In terms of seating comfort, owners particularly emphasize the sports seats in their Mégane GT-Line. “The Alcantara sports seats are comfortable, even if they are harder than the seats in the Bose version. They do provide enough support and integrated headrest looks good,” writes one such owner. If there is a point of criticism: “The bucket seats are very nice, but a bit too short and the seat could have been lowered a bit further for me,” adds another.
The standard seats are also generally satisfactory, although two users report a different challenge. This hatchback driver describes it as follows: “The seats offer sufficient adjustment options. What is annoying is that when I have set the distance to the pedals as desired, I lean against hard plastic with my right lower leg. This is the edge of the center console.”
Controls and infotainment
In most Méganes you will find a large, upright infotainment system with R-Link 2 software. This turns out to be the least convincing point of the car, because few users are very positive about it. “R-Link 2: although I’ve been able to find my way around it, it all works so-so, voice commands and navigation are below par,” said the owner of a 2017 Estate dCi Bose. The driver of a similar car is a bit more nuanced: Well, about R-Link 2 my feelings are mixed. It’s a nice big screen, I’m glad I now have navigation and music list on my screen at the same time. The colors are good, but touch could be a bit more responsive.”
This owner concludes: “If Renault would also improve the R-Link 2 system a bit, I can rightly say that you have a premium feeling in the new Mégane for a non-premium price.”
How does the Megane drive?
We mentioned the traditional French comfort before. What can Megane owners expect from this? “The car is tight on the road and manages to steer fine in corners. The chassis is a bit loosely sprung, but certainly not as heaving as Renault used to be. Bumpy cobbled roads are comfortable to drive on and the many bumps in the city are no problem either,” writes the owner of a Mégane TCe 130 Bose. The GT-Line has a slightly firmer chassis tuning, although the difference was once greater, according to this hatchback driver. “It has a lot less suspension/damping than the previous GT-Line, it took some getting used to but I think it’s fine now. It steers nicely (in sport mode, so with heavier steering) and just goes through the bend.”
This young driver has a different opinion about the adjustable power steering: “I personally prefer the comfort mode of the Multi-sense system. The steering wheel is nice and light, with the car feeling smooth. In my opinion, the sport mode makes the steering wheel unnecessarily heavy without changing the driving experience.”
The dual-clutch EDC automatic is not one of the fastest of its kind, several users note. “The automatic transmission is sufficient, if you accelerate slowly, you hardly notice that it is shifting. If you accelerate at full throttle, you will notice a bit of a delay when shifting,” says a driver who drives this transmission in combination with a 110 hp diesel engine. The owner of a sportier Mégane GT 205 also likes to go a little faster: “EDC automatic transmission with 7 gears can sometimes be ‘lazy’ when accelerating. You can give the machine a helping hand by first shifting down (via the shifters next to the steering wheel) and then planking.”
Such a Megane is not really sporty. Where does it come into its own best? “The strongest point is the comfort on the highway / autoroute,” writes the driver of an Estate diesel without GT-Line package, “a real mileage eater. We drove to Spain and Italy several times and this car is highly recommended for that.”
Disturbances and annoyances
Is it all peace and quiet with the Megane? No, not that. ‘Also traditionally French’, some readers will mumble, although this column proves that few brands are completely spared from problems. Points that Megane drivers touch on several times: noises caused by the rear axle of the Estate. “In the previous update I mentioned repair of creaking rear axle by means of a kind of foam”, writes the user of such a car, to continue: “Well that helped for a year. The rear axle has now been completely replaced.” Another owner had a similar problem after 65,000 km: “The rear axle caused an annoying tap and was completely replaced.” At the same time, a reaction rod in the front suspension was replaced, which seems to be more common around this mileage. Another generality appears to be doors and door seals that do not fit properly, which can be remedied by readjusting the doors.
In addition, the EDC automatic transmission with double clutch is not entirely without problems. Apart from the fact that some users do not like switching gears, the transmission has been replaced by several owners. Automatic transmissions with a double clutch are a challenge for several brands, more striking is that the manual gearbox also gave up the ghost prematurely in two cases (dCi 110, 2017 and TCe 130, 2016).
According to its owners, the latest generation Mégane is mainly a comfortable cruiser that convinces with sufficient space for occupants, excellent seats and an edge of driving dynamics. On the other hand, there is a difficult to fathom infotainment system and there are also the necessary points of attention in the technical field. Good news: in new models such as the Megane E-Tech Electric and Austral, Renault has replaced the infotainment system with a faster, Android Automotive-based system.
.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl