Renault’s Sport Tourer lives up to its name

In estate guise, the Megane has finally lost the big backside, packing practicality and space to give Golf, Focus and 308SW estates a good run for their money.

With one-touch seat folding for its 60:40 back seats and up to 1,567 litres of space available with the seats down, it will eat some seriously bulky loads. There is an extremely low boot sill too, making access easy - older dogs will love the short climb in.

The car packs a generous load width opening too - it swallowed a 1,080mm tall, three-rung telescopic ladder across its widths.

Options

A raft of engine options and trim levels are available, including five petrol and five diesel engines from 86 to 180hp, with most available in Expression, Dynamique, Tom Tom and Privilege editions.

FG spent a week with the range-topping diesel, the dCi160, in Dynamique trim. We were pleasantly surprised with the sharp handling, practicality and economy.

Driven hard, the dCi160 never dipped below 40mpg, but getting the best from this version requires plenty of use of the rpm band. Beneath 1,500rpm, it is fairly flat, but stoke the boiler and the Megane will live up to its Sport moniker.

Annoyingly, the rev counter flashes upshift and downshift arrows for gear changes. You may not want to make too many shifts, as our test model’s gearbox proved sloppy and notchy to use, compounded by a heavy clutch pedal.

Soft-touch dash materials and funky digital speedometer add to the contemporary feel, but the cabin is let down by a lack of useful storage space.

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