Maybe it was taking our praise of the cheap-and-cheerful Dacia Duster a bit too much for granted? With cars such as the VW Golf, Toyota Auris, and Opel Astra topping this class, it's a wonder quite what Renault was using for a cabin quality benchmark. The cabin occasionally joined in out of sympathy, I guess, and the plastics used on the inside really do call the overall build and construction into serious question.ĭisappointing: sporty until you come to a corner, and then it all falls over Aside from having an interior too fond of pound shop plastic for a car with quasi-premium aspirations, the Talisman is gorgeous at which to look, and squishy-sofa comfortable inside. We don't get the big, Passat-sized Talisman in Ireland, as there's no right-hand drive production, and that's a bit of a shame. “Grand Coupe”) manages to out-pout them, and looks very much like a 7th/8th scale Talisman.Ī devilishly good-looking four-door saloon but it certainly fails to live up to its “Grand Coupe” name The Megane hatch is handsome enough in and of itself, as is the estate, but this saloon (okay, okay. Now though, the saloons can often be the best-looking, the best-proportioned versions and so it proves here. Once upon a time, four-door variants of five-door hatchbacks were the dumpy, ugly cousins, designed to try to fooled under-promoted middle managers that they were being given a “proper” car, with a boot and everything. It is a devilishly good-looking four-door saloon though. It is, and let's be honest here folks, a regular, old-school, four-door saloon. Equipped with the beefier e-motor, the Renault Megane E-Tech Electric does 0 to 62 mph (100 km/h) in a respectable 7.4 seconds before topping out at 100 mph (160 km/h).Not even Sean Spicer hiding in a hedge would be able to bluster his way though calling the new four-door Renault Megane a coupe, never mind a Grand Coupe as Renault currently insists on calling it. Power is provided by an electric motor delivering 130 hp (96 kW) and 250 Nm (184 lb-ft) of torque in the lesser versions and 218 hp (160 kW) and 300 Nm (221 lb-ft) in the more expensive configurations. At the end of the Megane E-Tech Electric's life cycle, 95 percent of the vehicle will be recyclable. Even some of the lower parts of the dashboard are made from recycled plastic, which has also been used for many components in the dash that are not visible. The all-electric Renault is green in more ways than one as aside from its zero-emissions drivetrain, it uses fabric upholstery made entirely out of recycled materials. The cheaper Megane E-Tech Electric versions will have a smaller nine-inch central display with a lower resolution. The generous screen real estate is "worthy of the best premium sedans" according to the French automaker, which goes on to say the large display has a crisp 1250 x 1562 resolution, making the touchscreen crystal clear. The all-digital dashboard takes after the Trezor, Symbioz, and Morphoz concepts by adopting what Renault calls the OpenR display shaped like an inverted "L."Ī 12.3-inch screen is positioned in front of the driver and is complemented by a 12-inch touchscreen for the infotainment system on the higher-spec models. Much like the exterior represents a significant departure from the traditional gasoline- and diesel-fueled Megane models, the interior has also been redesigned from the ground up for the new EV. There are some minor changes like the switch to conventional side mirrors instead of cameras along with less flashy LED headlights and taillights, but the two are largely the same. Speaking of concepts, the new electric crossover is essentially a production version of last year's Megane eVision concept and the similarities are rather obvious. The Megane E-Tech is the first production Renault model to bear the retro-flavored new logo that has already been applied to the conceptual all-electric 5 supermini. Riding on massive 20-inch wheels, the dedicated EV is only 1.5 meters (59 inches) tall and comes as standard with flush door handles at the front for better aerodynamics while the rear doors get "hidden" handles in the quarter glass.
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