Renault Megane RS review

Though Renault’s updated the digi-displays inside the Megane, it’s feeling its age. The main touchscreen’s large tiled interface helps usability, but it’s not especially snappy to respond – most of the time you’ll be interacting with it via Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. The climate controls are fiddly, despite not being buried in the touchscreen themselves, and the steering column’s media control stalk gets in the way of the gearshift paddles, which in turn interfere with the indicator and wiper stalks. 

Hot Renaults have always prided themselves on great seats, and the Recaros in here are excellent – comfy and grippy. And pricey. They’re a whopping £1,600 option, which seems a bit steep when the likes of Honda and Ford throw in equally superb sports seats for free. The Megane’s aren’t even heated. We’d stick with the standard chairs, which do the job just as well, and spend the money on tyres. And fuel. And track days. 

General build quality is solid – gone are the days when Renaults felt as if they might collapse like a house of cards if you slammed the sun-visor with vigour – but it’s also rather dour and German in here. A few more colourful flourishes to denote this is the ultimate Megane wouldn’t have gone amiss, though the multi-configurable instrument screen with its varyingly readable offerings of speed, rev counter and mode adds some welcome pizzazz.

In the back, the Megane’s quite dark, on account of its thick pillars and small glass area, and not very welcoming. Space is okay for kids, but if you’ve got lanky teenage offspring, the Skoda Octavia vRS or Ford’s Focus ST are roomier family sports cars.