Renault Megane Sport Tourer 2.0 dCi 160 (2009) CAR review

For those drivers with 2.4 children and who refuse to be brow-beaten into buying an MPV, there remains the estate car. And while some people will see estates as about as cool as stonewashed jeans, companies like Renault and Vauxhall are pushing their new estates as ‘sport tourers’. But is the fifth model in the ever-expanding Renault Megane range good enough to compete with the best mid-sized estates on the market?

A bit like Star Trek, buying an estate is all about space, isn’t it?

There’s much more to the Megane than that, but we’ll grant you that storage, stowage and a network of nooks and crannies are likely to be high on the list of any of the Sport Tourer’s potential customers. On that alone this car has much to recommend it with a load length of over two and a half metres with the front seat folded - albeit not entirely flat - and 1600 litres of space with the rear sets folded. Remember, this is based on a family hatch. Although a bigger car, the Insignia Sports Tourer checks in at a measly 1530 litres in comparison.

Does it turn as many heads as the Insignia?

It’s fairly easy on the eye, especially in comparison to your average bloated MPV. The roof tapers dramatically to the rear and our 2.0-litre dCi 160 came in Dynamique trim, with a sports kit that boasts front spoilers and extended sills and 16-inch alloy wheels. Inside, our test car was a sombre vision of black cloth, black rubber dashboard and black switchgear offset by just a small swathe of lovely carbon-effect plastic metal.

If it looks a much bigger car than the Megane hatch, that’s because it is, with an extra 62mm between the wheels. But one of the problems of that plunging roofline – and here the Sport Tourer can’t compete with MPVs – is that it impedes your rear view. And if you extend the headrests, your vision is further impaired, which is a pity as from the outside the arse of the Sport Tourer is its most eye-catching part. With their metal-look plastic surrounds, they have something of Mazda 6 about them, while their crescent shape calls to mind an F1 driver’s helmet.

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