Practicality
Rating: 3.5/5

The Megane’s practicality credentials are fairly middle-of-the-road for a family hatchback, and it’s perhaps little wonder the capacious and flexible Captur and Kadjar crossovers have stolen sales away.

The good news for the driver is that the front of the car is very spacious, with wide, comfortable seats for driver and front passenger. The seat and steering wheel adjust enough for just about any sized occupant, and the view out is good.

Rear seat passengers are a little less well-catered for, and it’s more cramped in the rear than either a Focus or a Golf. The Megane’s interior trim is also unremittingly dark, and there’s no option for a panoramic roof to brighten things up, so wake up your inner Goth.

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Boot space and storage

Moving to a hybrid-only lineup has rather impacted the Megane’s boot space, as the large battery needs to be kept somewhere.

You now get 308 litres instead of the massive 473-litre space previously available in petrol and diesel cars. It’s still more room than you’ll find in a VW Golf GTE or Mercedes-Benz A250 e, though, and at least the extra space has been taken from the boot’s height instead of slapping a big old battery pack in the middle of the floor and ruining any chance of a flat load area.

It’s still a relatively wide space, though, and the seats fold down easily. The boot opening’s also nice and wide.

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How easy is it to park?

All Meganes come with rear parking sensors – an essential, given the car’s slightly narrow windows and steeply raked rear windscreen. Stepping up to RS Line trim brings a lot more helpful kit, though – not only a rear parking camera, but automatic parking. However, there’s no option for a high-tech 360-degree camera system.

The Megane’s about average-sized for a family hatchback so it should easily slip into any regular parking space.

Safety
Rating: 4.0/5

The Megane’s five-star Euro NCAP safety score was traditionally one of its greatest selling points. The current model still holds those coveted stars, but do note that it was last tested in 2015 and Euro NCAP updates its testing criteria regularly.

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Though Iconic cars do get lane-departure warning and traffic sign recognition, autonomous emergency braking isn’t standard – you need an RS Line car for that. That’s rather disappointing. All models do come with Isofix points in the outer rear seats and a passenger airbag switch, however.