Renault’s Megane 1.9 dCi became the fourth diesel engined car in a row to become South African Car of the Year when it was announced as the 2004 winner last week. The run of diesel victories started in 2001, when BMW’s 320d took top honours, and was continued in 2002 and 2003 when the Audi A4 1.9 TDI and Volkswagen Polo 1.4 TDI came out on top. Other finalists this year were the BMW 530d, Honda Jazz 1.4, Honda Accord Type S, Mazda6 2.0 Elegant, Opel Meriva 1.6 and the Toyota RunX 160 RX.
The Megane has won a number of major international Car of the Year awards since its 1993 launch. It was also the first car in its category to earn a Euro NCAP Five Star safety rating. Its high specification levels, excellent safety standards and fine driving characteristics allied with affordable pricing made it a firm favourite amongst Car of the Year Judges in this country and elsewhere.