Renault Megane E-Tech Techno - long term review

Quite a bit of bouncing from London out west recently. Not that far west; just the Cotswolds mostly. This part of England has lots of venues suitable for showing groups of journalists a new car, then letting them loose to test it on the surrounding bumpy, twisty roads.

So in the interests of providing reviews here, I did day trips from my place in London to Lechlade for the BYD Atto 3, Faringdon for the Mercedes A-Class and B-Class facelifts, and Great Milton for the renewed DS 3 and DS 7s. Also some other stuff at Bicester Motion (the wonderful old-car venue, not the shopping arcade; haven't you seen my 'wardrobe'?).

To the southwest, there was Gordon Murray's T33 Spider in Dunsfold. And due south, a weekend away for a birthday near Hailsham. For all of these it's worth charging the night before you leave, but not worrying en route because 190 miles return, to Lechlade, was the lengthiest of them.

Except, duh, I didn't depart for that one at 100 per cent because I was swerving peak-rate electricity the evening before. So I did a 10-minute pitstop en route at a rapid charger and all was comfortable.

Anyway, because they want us to drive these new cars on interesting roads, I have to drive those same roads to get there. And guess what, the Megane was more fun than any of the above test cars. OK, not the GMA V12, but I didn't drive that. It was just a chat with Gordon. Anyway, for a taut-handling EV with an agreeable interior, the Megane still has me very much covered.

I've mentioned before that its boot is big for a car this size, because the motor is up front not under the boot. But I haven't yet done my standard seats-folded test, asking it to ingest my bicycle with its wheels still on.

I was planning to take the bike to the birthday weekend. It was a few miles from the Firle Beacon hillclimb, which I'd seen a load of old rally cars charge up last summer. I knew my legs wouldn't get me to the top in the same time as an ex-McRae Focus but I thought it'd make a nice early-Sunday ride while the rest of the party slept off their hangovers.

But as it turned out I had a back tooth extracted the day before, and my face still felt like someone had hit it with a hammer, so instead I had a lie in. Never mind, even with a slightly throbby head, the Megane was a soothing transport there and back.