It might be sunny when you read this, but our Renault Megane E-Tech was delivered to us in the midst of a cold snap, with chunks of ice floating down the River Great Ouse. Those conditions and electric cars are not happy bedfellows, so I expected the overall efficiency of the car to suffer.
Happily, while the end result of 3.0 miles per kWh — giving me a reliable real-world range of 174 miles — might be well short of the promised 281 miles, I think that’s a pretty good result, especially when most of the miles have been on high-energy motorway drives.
Is 174 miles enough? Everybody always wants more (miles, chocolate, money, etc.), but that’ll cover around three hours of long-distance driving on UK roads. At that point, you should probably be thinking about stopping for a coffee anyway, and a half-hour top-up will keep you going for another 180 miles or so, in ideal conditions. For an average UK motorist, it’ll cover around a week’s worth of driving without needing to be plugged in, so it’s just about enough.
As the weather warms up, I expect things to improve significantly.
What about the car?
Ah, yes, the Megane. A mainstay of Renault’s range since 1995, the latest version introduced in 2022 is an impressive car. Now only available with an electric motor — petrol and diesel options are limited to the brand’s SUVs and vans — this compact hatchback is going head to head with the Volkswagen ID3, Cupra Born, and even the MG4. While the market seemingly continues to move towards the SUV, so it’s refreshing to be behind the wheel of something more compact, wieldy and agile, even if some of the styling — 20-inch wheels, tall sills to hide the battery pack, and subtle wheel arch extensions — suggests it’s trying to be a little more SUV than it really is. Save that for the Scenic, Renault.
Three years after its launch, the Megane E-Tech has had a facelift. Look hard and, well, you won’t be able to tell. Facelift is perhaps too strong a word, as most of the changes are under the skin, with a heat pump to improve efficiency and increase range by 9%, upgraded adaptive cruise control, and improved tech inside the car, including a 12.0-inch infotainment screen across every model. It’s also had a little bit of a price cut, but the top of the range Iconic model we’ve got for six months still comes in at £37,995.
A new interior?
It’s not new, changing very little from the launch cars in 2022, but this is like no previous generation Megane. Renault’s pushed the boat out, and while digital dashboards and large touchscreens can be a problem, it’s balanced that by including a suitable number of physical buttons to make life easy. There’s no physical volume control on the dash, though — that’s on one of six stalks, selectors and paddles behind the steering wheel, which feels like at least two too many.
The main 12.0-inch vertically-mounted infotainment screen runs a Google-based operating system. It’s slick and mostly intuitive but comes into its own when you log in with your own Google account. You can then use your streaming music apps, contacts, locations and even messages all natively from within the screen. However, for a car likely to be used by company car drivers, the inability to log in with a professional Google Workspace account is incredibly frustrating — that’s a Google problem, though, and not a Renault issue. Unlike me, I hope you have a personal Google account.
We’ve got a top-spec Iconic model, which means we get a long list of equipment, including that 12.0-inch screen, a 360-degree camera system, adaptive LED headlights, a digital rearview mirror, Harmon Kardon audio system with 12 speakers, wireless phone charging, and dual-zone climate control.
You can tell ours is the Iconic model, as it’s got a titanium ‘blade’ across the front of the car. On lower-spec models, it’s body coloured and frankly looks better that way. Drop down to the Techno model, and you lose the Harmon Kardon sound, 360-degree cameras, and digital mirror, but everything else stays much the same, and you’ll save £2,000.
Even the interior looks nearly identical, with everything surrounded by a neatly designed cabin full of grey fabric, yellow stitching, and metallic highlights. Any touch points feel solid, with areas of cheap plastic being few and far between.
There’s plenty of space, too, at least from the front. The rear of the Megane E-Tech is a little compact, especially if you’ve got long legs, and the slimline windows and high waistline make it feel a little dark, but it’s still perfectly acceptable. The boot is also a decent size, although it’s behind an enormous lip; at least things won’t fall out when you open it. There’s a cable store under the boot floor, so you won’t need to wrestle with an unravelling and self-tangling lead.
The lead charges a 60kWh battery that provides energy to a 220hp motor. All of that power goes to the front wheels, but it’s not so overwhelming that it gets a bit messy. Despite the instant torque offered by electric power, the surge comes in gently, so you’ve got to be stamping on the throttle to elicit some chirping from the front tyres on your way to 62mph in 7.5 seconds.
But with ice on the roads, it’s not something I’ve been doing too often anyway. We’ll find out more when the weather improves.
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