What’s good?
- Despite its family-friendly looks, it’s great fun to drive. Which, in all honesty, isn’t much of a surprise as anything Renaultsport gets involved with rarely disappoints
- The engine is also a gem. Being the same basic unit from the mad Megane Trophy R, it sounds brilliant and revs enthusiastically despite being heavily turbocharged.
- The six-speed manual gearbox is sharp and snappy and paired with the tweaked chassis you can really engage with the car in the road.
- As part of the GT 220 package, the Megane also come with recalibrated springs and damper which have made the ride a little firmer but it’s still comfortable enough. They also help keep the longer and larger body of the Sport Tourer is check.
- It may not have the same visual aggression as the Focus, but a set of smart and unique 18-inch alloys, rear diffuser and racy sports bumpers set it apart from the rest of the Megane range.
- A front-limited slip differential would help control some of that 217bhp but if you’re gentle with throttle and steering inputs it’s a very rewarding car to drive.
- It’s just as comfortable plodding down the motorway, as it is being hurtled down a winding B-road with minimal wind noise and a well-isolated engine at cruising speeds.
- It’s practical, too. A 524-litre boot is larger than that on the Focus ST estate, and there’s also generous amounts of space for those in the back.
- It’s packed with kit. Inside, you get a pair of hip-hugging sports seats, sat nav, air con, Bluetooth, DAB radio and a 3D sound system all as standard.
What not?
- That performance does come at a cost. The Megane GT 220 is rather expensive to run on the business attracting a 26% BIK rating, costing the 20% and 40% tax payer £1,243 and £2,486 annually.
- Only 38.7mpg means if you like to extract all of the performance the Megane is capable of, you’ll be finding yourself at the pumps quite often, too.
- The new and more frugal Ford Focus STD Estate is also around £1000 cheaper, claims over 60mpg and attracts only an 18% BIK rating.
