Exterior Design
The new Megane has been given a fresh look, with much more presence than before.
From the pictures, you'd be forgiven for thinking it’s a big SUV, although it's smaller than that in practice. Indeed, its predecessor is slightly longer and broader, but the E-Tech is taller.
The body shape is quite rounded, with a curved front end and a thin black panel replacing a traditional grille, which blends into equally thinned-out headlights.
Sidelights connect between the headlights and the larger, sporty, lower grille, which is coloured in gold on the Launch Edition trim.
At the side, the bottom of the doors features a prominent athletic crease and a sloping roofline, while the door handles are flush to the bodywork.
Around the back, the roofline turns into a roof spoiler, which overhangs the relatively small rear windscreen, while a bar of LED lights runs across the width of the boot lid, bulking out at the sides to accommodate the taillights.
Interior Comfort
The cabin is well-designed, with lots of soft-to-the-touch, plush surfaces, while any hard, thin plastics are largely hidden from view.
The seats are comfy, with lots of adjustment available both for them and the steering wheel. There is adaptable lumbar support in the Techno trim upwards, too.
Although there’s no SUV driving position in the Megane E-Tech, it’s still reasonably high compared with its direct rivals, thanks to the chunky stance of the car.
The front pillars aren’t the thinnest and are swept back, obstructing your view somewhat. Meanwhile, the rear posts are even more prominent, and the boot lid comes up quite far, meaning the rear window is shallow, further limiting visibility.
Thankfully, our test car gets front and rear parking sensors and a rear-view camera in Techno trim. However, these aren’t included at entry level, while Launch Edition gets a 360-degree camera.
Head and legroom are reasonable, accommodating even the tallest front seat occupants. The back has a bit less, partly because the floor is raised slightly to accommodate the batteries underneath.
Storage and Load Carrying
The Megane E-Tech’s boot capacity situates it somewhere between a hatchback and an SUV. Opening the boot involves pressing a button, revealing a decent 440 litres of capacity, with another 32 litres under the floor, which is plenty for some charging cables.
Drop the rear seats forward and the capacity expands to 1,332 litres, which is again quite reasonable. However, the boot lip is quite high, and there’s a noticeable step up from the main boot area to the capacity over the rear seats. So while the boot has a healthy amount of space, the shape of that space isn’t so convenient.
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