This EV is the first Renault I’ve driven in years

Renault no longer makes the kind of fizzing firecracker sporty turbocharged Meganes that I like, because it’s rushing towards being a fully EV company by 2030. Let’s take a look at the Megane E-Tech.

The E-Tech is Megane-sized, so it’s the kind of hatch that European families put up with because they have nowhere to park SUVs. Picture: Supplied

To me, the past isn’t just a foreign country, it’s a fantastical theme park with no queues, because the world wasn’t so annoyingly overpopulated then (indeed, there were 3 billion fewer people in it when I turned 18 and went overseas for the first time).

The past is full of seemingly implausible things, like prime ministers you actually wanted to vote for, one-cent musk sticks, taking your own (absurdly cheap) beer to the cricket, video shops (where I spent even more hours of my teen-hood than my son now spends watching six-second clips of claptrap on his phone) and, at least where I grew up, no speed cameras and no demerit points.

The one thing I miss most, however, is fireworks. Back when parents drove cars with no seatbelts (let alone baby capsules) instead of helicopters, children were allowed to shoot balls of fire at each other, like wizards, and occasionally to blow things up. I’m not going to say no one died, but I would like to point out, again, how overpopulated we are now.

I was reminded of fiery fun things I used to do recently when I was summoned to the launch of a new Renault Megane, a car I haven’t driven for roughly 60 years. Oh how I used to love the RS and Trophy versions of this thing (so very French, to award yourself the “Trophy” appellation; apparently they won World War II as well). To be honest, I can’t recall the last time I drove a Renault of any kind, and if you’d told me it didn’t sell cars in Australia any more I would have believed you (it actually sells about 8000 a year, and there are 56 dealers nationwide).

Unsurprisingly, Renault no longer makes the kind of fizzing firecracker sporty turbocharged Meganes that I like, because it’s rushing towards being a fully EV company by 2030, and thus this new one is called the Megane E-Tech. Another shock to me was hearing that the brand has been selling EVs in Australia since 2016; I can only guess that car was called the Renault Invisible.

What this means, apparently, is that Renault is already very good at electric cars, has worked out how to make electric motors that contain no rare earth materials and, in the case of this Megane, a vehicle that’s 90 per cent recyclable.

The E-Tech is Megane-sized, so it’s the kind of hatch that European families put up with because they have nowhere to park SUVs. Despite being tiddly, it has a 60kWh battery offering 160kW and 300Nm and a quite impressive 454km of range between charges (using a DC fast charger, you can zap back 300km of range in just 30 minutes).

The E-Tech has a 60kWh battery.

It looks taut and stylish in the metal (is it aluminium? Hemp perhaps?) although the sleek design has meant the rear window is almost non-existent, which has necessitated the use of one of those camera-based rear-vision non-mirrors. Happily, this is the first one I’ve ever used that I didn’t hate.

Other things I didn’t dislike included the extremely direct and almost hot-hatch steering, the lovely ride quality and the mid-range torque punch so typical of EVs. This blessing can be a curse, however, on the kind of wet roads we encountered at the car’s launch, because getting the power to the ground through the front wheels only can cause quite hilarious/alarming wheelspin if you are even slightly enthusiastic on the accelerator.

Inside the Renault Megane E-Tech. Picture: Supplied

At one point, purely in the name of road-testing science, I managed to keep the E-Tech in a straight line for a whole 50m while the tyres carried on like a pony on an ice rink.

This kind of enthusiastic throttle use might explain why, before I had even decided what mark to give the Megane, it was handing me a very poor score indeed. After our test drive, I turned the E-Tech off and was told by the screen that I’d achieved an Eco Driving score of 44 out of 100. I wasn’t sure whether to be proud or camemberted off, but I figure getting a perfect 100 would probably involve not leaving your driveway at all.

While I didn’t love that feature, my favourite option on the Renault was the ability to choose what kind of noises the parking-distance beepers make when you are reversing, with options including Pure, Accurate and Expressive, the last of which makes it sound like Daft Punk are parking your car for you.

The big issue the Megane E-Tech faces, of course, is the existence of the Tesla Model 3. The Tesla is bigger, more spacious, more family-friendly and, at $61,900, also cheaper than the Renault. Yes, all EVs are expensive, but even so, quel dommage. Still, no one who seriously considers buying a Renault is going to buy a Tesla, because Renault’s customers, at least outside of France, are people who like to be a bit different, and would probably give their children fireworks to play with if it was still legal.