First taste of new Renault Megane

This is road tester Andy Goodwin reporting from an autumnal Madrid, where I’ve just driven the brand new Renault Megane for the first time.

Gone is the large rump, made famous by Renault’s ‘shaking that ass’ adverts, in favour of a more subtle boot.

The rest of the car has been redesigned too, and the front now shares the same ‘look’ as the bigger Renault Laguna.

The new Megane feels like a more grown-up car than its predecessor, especially inside where the materials and design of the dashboard and trim all has a more solid and well-finished appearance, only let down by a nasty sat nav screen surrounded in grey plastic.

Out on the open roads, away from the Spanish capital, the 130bhp diesel engine of my test car was quiet and smooth and reasonably quick to gather pace away from numerous motorway toll booths.

When I reached the mountain roads (which had been rising in the distance for some time) the Megane also proved it corners very well – staying flat and gripping keenly with only gentle understeer at its limits.

The Renault Megane has a tough fight on its hands to beat the likes of the Ford Focus, Volkswagen Golf and Vauxhall Astra – but this new model has a far better chance of standing toe to toe with them than the outgoing car.

Tomorrow I’ll be testing the Renault Megane Coupe – the sleeker three-door version – to see how it compares, and you can read the full road tests of both cars on Auto Trader next week.