Test drive by Renault Megane Sedan 1999 - 2003 sedan

Vicissitudes of fate

Mega ... mega ... megalite, megantrop, megaphone. Megaton. Some kind of megaspical car! It is impossible not to notice him, not to draw in the stream. Especially now, while it is not often found even on French roads. Especially in the outback, where they go about the same old devices as ours. From this spring, Megane has been delivered to Russia and this is only one of the reasons for a close acquaintance with it. The main recognition of Renault Megane II is the best European car in 2003. However, having wound over eight hundred kilometers, the author could not really understand what this honorary title is awarded for.


The word Megane has no meanings, it was invented by a supercomputer by order of Renault. The first generation of the car saw the light in September 1995 I perfectly remember this premiere at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Megane II debuted in Paris in 2002. The world has changed over these seven years, then, then no one would believe that Renault will own Nissan, and not vice versa. Then, in the 90s, freedom of automotive design was not welcomed, today, on the contrary, everyone is starting into what it was already. It is amazing that the Renault style center is headed by the same Patrick Le Keman as seven years ago. Environmental, I would say, creative longevity.


The company Renault over the years has turned from the manufacturer no in the appearance of cars into the investor of the most daring ideas. The design of its models has become as distant and bright as the Citroen style from the 50s until the 80s. The bewildered by one company was selected by another. However, let's recall the daring initiatives of the 1964 Renault R4 itself and R16 of 1966. These were the world's first hatchbacks that broke the stereotypical perception of the car as a three -breeze box. For the first time, the diagonal invaded the silhouette of the car. With undisguised pleasure I find in the Megane II ideological heir R16. Stop cloning golf! Long live the design of the strokes, pointed, unpredictable, provocative!


Another question is what it turns into operation. Take, for example, almost vertically set the rear window. Its curvature is so great that the wiper (unless, of course, put a leash of complex kinematics, as in front of Mercedes-Benz) is able to take only a narrow sector. The shape of the rear door suffered by an outstanding designer forced the designers to lengthen the glass minister’s highway, and while the water from the tank reaches the nozzle, the glass will have time to become dirty again. Or do you think that in the offseason in France the roads are clean? But even after visiting the sink, the reversed rear racks of the roof interfere with the review. Thank you, the mirrors are large. (By the way, they fold/lay out automatically, it is enough to turn the sleeping off their positions.) The original solution of the Zadka affected the volume of the trunk of 330 liters, this is noticeably smaller than that of Ford Focus and Peugeot 307. But the new Toyota Corolla trunk is even smaller and the trunk nothing. And all because the same platform offers a more spacious station wagon and mini-wen. A flexible manufacturer strategy that meets the various wishes of customers. I don’t know how the station wagon, but the mini-wen on the Magane chassis has already debuted at the Geneva Motor Show, and soon his elongated, seven-seater brother will be added.


The preferences of the European clientele for the seven -year presence in the Megane trademark also managed to change. The decisive influence on the choice may not have the sum of consumer qualities, but a set of original technical solutions, such as a gas tank hatch, which is at the same time a lid.


The vicissitudes of fate: the recognition of Megane was accompanied by the collapse of the ambitious project of the luxurious coupe-wen Avantime. Both cars are solved in the same plastic vein, their rear parts look at all in copies. Moreover, the idea came from the Vel Satis concept car (Paris-1998). In the same 98th, the X84 program began to create Megane II. And this is how fate ordered: the name of the conceptualist has a very successful business class model; Avantime, dying at exhibitions and motivating the consumer’s consciousness, was discontinued; Well, Megane II is recognized as a car of the year.


What nevertheless provided the car with 322 votes of European journalists? In the interior of the three-door Megane (for the French, this option is called Coupe) high-quality upholstery materials, understandable switches, a stylish steering wheel with a good grip, a massive lever of the gearbox, P-shaped, in the style of the gase aircraft, a hand brake handle. Very comfortable seats. Let all the adjustments had to be set manually, and the range of vertical settings of the steering column was not enough, I got a job, knowing firmly that everything would have to be reconfigured when you get used to it.


At first, the steering wheel was pleased with its fullness, but it was worth getting to the roads, where at most intersections the traffic was organized in the form of circular interchanges, how the hands began to get tired. This is all an electric amplifier! The rotation of the steering wheel is always the same, regardless of the angle of rotation of the wheels and the speed of the machine. He rests, rests, finally, you win him and ... twist. The simulator was reminded to develop the forearm muscles: a pendulum with two handles, for which it must be rocked right and left. It is clear that the creators of the mechanism will say that everything is not so that the steering wheel is informative, it is filled with elasticity as speed rises; They will lay out the characteristic of the moment on the steering wheel depending on the corner of its turning ... But, brothers, so tuned their hands that a week later the steering wheel of the Volvo XC90 SUV, criticized by the European press for the void, seemed much more understandable to me. However, something tells me that the electric power challenge will quietly bring how they improved the chip card, used in return for the ignition key on different Renault models. In Laguna II, I remember that it was necessary to insert it into the slot on the central console and then burn a large start button. Now you wear a card in your pocket without taking it out. (Previously, she automatically closed all the doors, when the owner left the car and moved away from it at some distance. From now on no amateur performances. The driver himself locks the doors, pressing the key on the door handle or on the locking button of the chip-card locks. Neither the current steering wheel, nor last year's chip card, I do not want to call the objects of criticism to the full: it impresses the traction of engineers to the experiment. Well, it didn’t work out the first time, but it is clear what to build on.) You can start the motor only by pressing the brake pedal or clutch is insurance. And with an open door, the car will not go either. The sounds that are distributed when moving the machine are worthy. The first gear howls like a GAZ-51 truck (it's good that the second is quickly followed). Then, some kind of creaking is heard from the front panel, and an attempt to kill an extraneous sound with an energetic clap with a palm on plastic does not lead to anything. When rotating the steering wheel, the details of the turnover control mechanism begin to crack. Shocks from road joints are transmitted quite strongly to the body (Continental 205/55 R16 tires), and after that the steering wheel shakes.


Under the hood of my Megane 1.6-liter 116-horsepower engine in combination with a five-speed gearbox. This is the main version for the Russian market. Many of the machines closed to the environmental requirements of machines differ in a lethargic acceleration that requires engine promotion, while our drivers will like the explosive characteristics of the lower classes and even, confident dynamics.


Transport relations in the box are selected optimally. And the fifth gear is the main magic of Megane. It calmly provides acceleration from 1800 rpm., It throws on protracted lifts.


Of course, the secret lies in the design of the engine equipped with a VVT system for changes in the phases of the intake valves. It's just that it is from the fifth gear that you do not expect such elasticity ...


Most likely, the decisive role in the choice of experts Car of the Year played the level of passive safety Megane. In this area, Renault is unanimously recognized as a leader. For example, special pillows are even sewn into the top of the front seats, inflated in a collision in order to prevent a person under the belt.


Over the next seven years that will continue, according to Renault, the production of Megane II, it is supposed to produce 5.5 million cars.
 
Denis Orlov
 

Source: Motor magazine [April 2003]