Seven months after its launch at the Paris Motor Show, Renault’s all-new Megane II, Europe’s Car of the Year for 2003, is here.
With its somewhat unconventional styling the Megane provides loads of interior space with 44 litres of stowage space in bins and lockers scattered around the cabin. Its xenon headlights have an adaptive beam height control that lowers low-beam height for city driving at speeds under 30 km/h, and up to 12 sources of interior lighting are provided.
The boot has a capacity of 330 litres, and is easy to load thanks to its wide opening. Lashing points are provided on the floor, and additional stowage space is available beneath the boot floor in the spare wheel well.
Buyers can choose from a quartet of four-cylinder powerplants: An 83 kW 1.6 litre, a 98.5 kW 2.0 litre, and two direct injection common rail turbodiesels – a 60 kW 1.5 litre and an 88 kW 1.9 litre. The 1.9 litre turbodiesel and the two litre petrol versions come with six speed manual transmissions, while the smaller offerings use five speed manual units. The 1,6 is also available with an optional auto box with a flick-shift sequential selector.
We drove all four versions at the launch, and were particularly impressed with the oil-burners. The two-litre impressed the least, with performance not as lively as we expected.
Pricing ranges from R159 995 for the Megane II 1.6 Authentique to R199 8090 for the 1.9 dCi.