Renault Mégane


The Renault Mégane is a small family car produced by the French car manufacturer Renault since the end of 1995, and was the successor to the Renault 19. The Mégane has been offered in three and five door hatchback, saloon, coupé, convertible and estate bodystyles at various points in its lifetime, and having been through three generations is now in its fourth incarnation.
The first generation was largely based on its predecessor, the 19, and utilized modified versions of that car's drivetrain and chassis.
In November 1996, the Mégane Scénic compact MPV was introduced, using the same mechanical components as the hatchback Mégane. For 2002, the Mégane entered its second generation with a substantial redesign taking place, and was voted European Car of the Year for 2003, whilst also becoming the first car in its class to receive a five star EuroNCAP rating.
The Mégane entered its third generation in 2008, with another totally different design being used; the saloon version of the Mégane became known as the Renault Fluence for this generation, and it was introduced in 2009. A fourth generation Mégane was launched in 2015, with sales commencing in 2016.

Mégane I (1995–2002)

Development of the X64 began at the beginning of 1990, with the first sketches of X64 programme being drawn during the first six months of 1990. Very quickly, several themes were outlined and developed into four small scale models by September 1990.
The designs retained were developed around four themes. Theme A: a six light version, evoking the Laguna; Theme B: a model with a markedly cuneiform line; Theme C: another design with ellipse shaped glasswork and rear notch; Theme D: a model with the same elliptical glazing and rounded rear.
In March 1991, all four styling proposals were developed into full scale. Theme C by Michel Jardin was chosen by Le Quement and frozen for production in April 1992. The first prototypes were built and presented to management in December 1992. Approximately 432 prototypes were built and destroyed during development.
In June 1993, Renault purchased production tooling for the X64, with the first test unit being assembled at the Douai plant in October 1994, and pre production units being constructed from December 1994 to the middle of 1995.
The Mégane I was unveiled in September 1995, at the Frankfurt Motor Show, as a replacement for the Renault 19. The car was essentially a reskin of its predecessor, and carried over the 19's floorpan, engines, transmissions and chassis design, albeit with much modification.
Taking its name from a Renault concept car shown in 1988, the Mégane further developed the new corporate styling theme introduced by Patrick Le Quément on the Laguna, most notably the "bird beak" front grille – a styling cue borrowed from the Renault 16 of the 1960s.
As with the 19 and the 11 before it, the Mégane was produced at Renault's Douai plant in northern France starting in July 1995, and at the Spanish plant of Palencia. Market launch began on 15 November 1995 in France, and 15 December 1995 for the coupé. Sales in the United Kingdom commenced in April 1996.
Safety was a key focus of the Mégane I, Renault's first car reflecting their new focus of selling on safety.
It featured a pillar mounted three point seatbelt for the middle rear occupant, standard front belt pre tensioners and load limiters, driver's airbag and an impressive safety structure – a specification ahead of most rivals in 1995. Some features, such as the three point middle belt, had debuted on the Renault 19 safety concept vehicle.
The car also benefited from Renault's first "System for Restraint and Protection", essentially a system of careful optimisation of occupant restraint by interaction of the seat, seatbelt, pretensioner, load limiter and airbag. The Mégane I achieved a best in class four star crash test rating in the 1998 round of testing by Euro NCAP.
November 1996 saw the introduction of the Mégane Scénic compact MPV.
Power came from the Renault E type engine in 1.4 L and 1.6 L, and the F-type unit in both 1.9 L diesel and 2.0 L petrol forms, although this time around there was a wider variety of 16 valve derivatives. A 1.9 L diesel engine in both normally aspirated and turbocharged forms was also available.
Renault also produced a limited number of Renaultsport edition Phase 1's with the Renaultsport bodywork; however, these were very rare. The Renaultsport kit was available to purchase for a short time direct from Renault France, but has now been discontinued, thus their value has increased.
The estate version of the original Mégane was only available in LHD form, with no RHD variants being built, this could be due to the greater popularity of the Scenic in those markets. It was added with the facelift of 1999.
In Japan, Renault was formerly licensed by Yanase Co., Ltd., but in 1999 Renault acquired a stake in Japanese automaker Nissan. As a result of Renault's purchase, Yanase canceled its licensing contract for all Renault models sold in Japan, including, but not limited to, the Mégane I, in 2000, and Nissan took over as the sole licensee for Renault cars.

Facelift

A mild facelift in spring 1999 gave the Mégane I a modified grille, more advanced safety features and upgraded equipment, and 16 valve engines were used across the range. An Estate body style was also launched in mainland Europe with the facelift. The production continued for the Latin America Market, where it was sold alongside the Mégane II line at a considerably lower price until 2011.

South America

In countries, such as Argentina and Colombia, the Mégane I was available until 2010, sold as a sedan and an estate, but in Venezuela, it was available only as a sedan. It features as the top line of the model the LA04 engine, and was produced by both Renault Colombia and Renault Argentina, in where it was one of the best selling cars to date.
It is a car with more advanced safety features, upgraded equipment and more. The Mégane I had a lower price than the Mégane II.
In Venezuela, it was only available in one version: Unique, with a five speed manual gearbox or a four speed automatic one. Both of these were equipped with Abs and other extra equipment including driver and passenger front airbags, foglights, leather seats, electric mirrors and electric windows. In Argentina, not every version had features such as electric windows, electric mirrors or airbags.

Engines

Maxi Mégane

During the 1990s, Renault Sport developed a rally car for the Formula 2 Kit Car regulations. This was the Clio Williams Maxi, which was the first car truly developed for the F2 Kit Car category, and first appeared in 1996. However, rivals such as Citroën and Peugeot soon introduced bigger and more powerful cars, which resulted in Renault producing an F2 version of the Mégane in 1996. The Maxi Mégane officially represented the brand in French Championship rallies in 1996 and 1997 with drivers like Philippe Bugalski, Jean Ragnotti or Serge Jordan, and the British Rally Championship from 1996 to 1999, with Grégoire De Mévius, Alain Oreille, Robbie Head, Martin Rowe, and Tapio Laukkanen. Both the French and British rally teams also compete in the World Rally Championship.
After the works programme was discontinued, many privateers continued to use the car. It was also used in the FIA 2-Litre World Rally Cup, which Renault won in 1999. The car used a special version of the Renault F7R engine, and had a seven speed Sequential manual transmission.
Its most notable result was an outright victory in the 1996 Tour de Corse in the hands of Philippe Bugalski and his co driver Jean-Paul Chiaroni ; but it also helped Renault to the FIA 2 Litre World Rally Cup of Manufacturer's title in 1999.
In other high level competitions, Renault took back to back manufacturer's and driver's titles in the British Rally Championship in 1998 and 1999, whilst they also took the European Rally Championship in 1999.

Mégane II (2002–2009)

The Mégane II was launched in September 2002, and marked a completely new fresh start. The two cars bear very little resemblance, the new vehicle having been inspired by the manufacturer's new design language first seen in the Avantime.
The new Mégane was voted European Car of the Year for 2003, fighting off stiff competition from Japan's Mazda 6 and PSA's Citroën C3, and achieved a five star safety rating in the EuroNCAP crash tests, the first small family car to do so.
The Mégane II and the Laguna were both showcases for a great deal of innovative technologies Renault launched at the beginning of the 2000s; the Renault Card keyless ignition system, standard on the Mégane II, was a first in this class and has since been widely adopted.
Similarly, the option of a panoramic glass sunroof is another area in which Renault led where others followed. In June 2003, the first ever live crash test using a real driver rather than a crash test dummy featuring the Mégane II was conducted by Top Gear.
In Brazil, Renault launched a flex fuel version, called "Hi-Flex", which is able to run either with unleaded gasoline or ethanol. Like the Brazilian Scénic and Clio versions, the Mégane's engine can work with any mix of gasoline and ethanol, due to the use of an electronic control module.
The Megane ll sedan was assembled in Iran by Pars Khodro; It was assembled in Iran from 2008 to 2013.
The flex version has a 16V 109 hp 1.6 litre inline-four engine developed and produced in Brazil, but the 2.0 litre version does not allow ethanol use, because its engine is made in France.
As with the previous Mégane, the range of models is wide; there is a three and five door hatchback available, named "Sport Hatch" and "Hatch" respectively, there is a four door saloon/sedan, a five door estate, and to replace both the Mégane Coupe and Convertible, a new retractable hardtop coupe designed by Karmann.
Unlike its predecessor, the Mégane II was not licensed by Yanase Co., Ltd. for the Japanese market, as Renault had acquired a stake in Nissan when the Mégane I was still in production. Instead, the Mégane II was licensed by Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and sold exclusively through Nissan Red Stage Store locations.

Mégane RS

The RenaultSport versions of the three door and five door Mégane hatchbacks were introduced, equipped with a turbocharged petrol 2.0 L 16v engine producing. Along with the engine, changes were made to the front and rear suspension geometry to improve handling, and the model features a deeper, wider front bumper. The Mégane Renault Sport competes in the hot hatch segment of the market.

Facelift

The model was revised in January 2006, with changes in interior trim, specification levels and most notably, a new front nose. A new front suspension system borrowed from the Mégane 2.0 was adopted, improving the driving performance. Also, the Nissan Sentra B16 is based on the platform from 2006 of the Renault Mégane.

Engines

Reception

During its first full year of sales, the Mégane II topped the French sales charts, with 198,874 registered in 2003. It has also sold very well in Britain, being the nation's fourth most popular car in 2005 and the nation's fifth most popular car in 2004 and 2006. In 2007, however, it dipped to eighth place, with just over 55,000 examples being sold.
In January 2011, it was reported that the Mégane II had the highest rate of MOT failures in the United Kingdom for cars first taking the test in 2007. While in German ADAC breakdown statistics, the Mégane scored very well, surpassing such cars as the Ford Focus, Honda Civic and Opel/Vauxhall Astra. The model of 2008 achieved third place in its class, after the BMW 1 Series and Audi A3.

Mégane III (2008–2016)

The third generation was launched in the end of 2008, to keep the range competitive. In October 2008, both the five door hatchback and Mégane Coupé were officially put on sale. The two models have different designs; the Coupé has a sporty design, while the five door model is more conservative.
No automatic transmission is offered, with it being replaced by a continuously variable transmission.
A five door estate version was introduced in June 2009, and was named the Sport Tourer. Another addition to the range came in the form of the Coupé Cabriolet in June 2010. That year also saw the addition of a 1.4 L turbocharged engine being added to the range.
Production of the Mégane's saloon derivative, the Fluence, began in Argentina in 2011, at the firm's Córdoba plant. The Mégane III was also made available for sale in Argentina that year, but was produced in Turkey, and imported into the country. In Brazil, the Fluence replaced the Mégane in Renault's lineup from 2011 onwards.
The Mégane III underwent its first facelift in January 2012, which also introduced three new engines; a 1.2 L turbocharged petrol engine, a new version of the 1.5 L dCi engine, and a new 1.6 L dCi engine.
Another facelift followed for 2014, with a more powerful version of the 1.2 L turbocharged engine going on sale, whilst the styling of the hatchback, coupé and estate versions was updated to match Renault's new model range.
Later that year, a version of the 2.0 L turbocharged petrol engine was added to the range.

Engines

Mégane IV (2016–present)

The fourth generation Mégane was launched at the September 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show, with sales starting in July 2016. It uses the CMF-CD platform developed by Renault and Nissan. The Mégane IV follows the latest design language, which has been seen on the Clio IV, Captur, Espace V and Talisman.
An estate version was revealed at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show. The four door fastback saloon version called the Mégane Sedan later in July of the same year.

Technical details

The fourth generation Mégane is larger and lower than its predecessor. The suspension is made of MacPherson struts on the front and a torsion beam on the rear. Brakes are discs on both axles. The driver can select between five driving modes that change the car set up.
Most Mégane's models have a head up display and a seven-inch screen.
Options include adaptive cruise control, automated emergency braking, lane departure warning, speed limit warning, blind spot monitoring, automatic headlights, reversing camera, parking sensors and a hands free parking system.
Speaking about the car, Renault's chief designer Laurens van den Acker said, "Renault can produce cars with a Latin skin and a German heart". It has nine engines available with power outputs between and.

Mégane GT

The Mégane GT is a high performance version with 1.6 litre I4 diesel and petrol powertrains. As standard, it incorporates a four-wheel steering system and dual-clutch automatic gearbox with optional paddle shifting. It also has a slightly different design for the interior and the exterior.

Mégane Sedan

The Renault Mégane Sedan, launched in July 2016, resembles the Talisman, but with the front section of the Mégane IV hatchback and a fastback like sloping roofline. It has more space for the back seat passengers than the hatchback and a larger boot, with a theoretical volume of 508 decimetres.
It is sold on the African continent, the Middle East, various Eastern Asian and Australian markets. Within Europe, it is offered in several countries including Turkey, Italy, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Georgia and Ireland, but neither France nor the United Kingdom.
Depending on the market, there are two petrol engines and three diesel engines offered, with power outputs ranging from 90 to 130 bhp. Only the mid range engine is suitable to be matched with the dual clutch six speed transmission.

All electric version

The electric version of the Mégane saloon that Renault is building will come with a lifetime warranty, and payment will follow the model established by the mobile-phone industry. After buying the car, owners will subscribe to a battery replacement and charging plan based on their anticipated mileage.
Recharging was to be done at one of 500,000 spots that Project Better Place was to build and maintain; however, a new alternative will need to be sought, due to the filing of bankruptcy on 26 May 2013 by Project Better Place.