Plenty of room for Rover in the Grand Megane

IRISH people are not wild into estates and I think the percentage of estates or station wagon versions of new cars sold here annually is around seven per cent.

As there is a good range of estates now available it’s a fairly competitive segment.

But nobody uses phrases like

‘estate’ or

‘station wagon’ anymore. Now we get fancy names like sports tourer, sportbrake, combi and in the case of Renault, the Grand Megane, which has recently had a facelift… nothing major just a few minor nip and tucks.

Estates like the Grand Megane have many uses, from transporting your children and their friends, to carrying dogs, to holding the unwanted items in your garage as you make your way to the recycling centre. We have to grow old gracefully and some of us have to face the fact that we cannot drive a sports car forever.

On the subject of dogs, Transport Minister Leo Varadker suggested that he is considering introducing a seat belt for canine companions, as dogs can apparently cause serious injury to passengers in the car during a crash.

There is plenty of room for Rover in the grand Megane, but you’ll want to keep him in the boot, his mucky paws far, far away from the brightly coloured seats.

Externally the car looks attractive and naturally it’s a long motor. But with parking sensors and reversing camera you will only have yourself to blame if you do any damage when reversing. Two roof rails add to the elongated effect.

On the road this is a smooth motor, probably not the fastest around, but this is an estate after all. It will take you 11 seconds to get from zero to 100km/h. The automatic version I drove had a 1.5 diesel engine and it was really frugal, getting up to 80 mpg.

The interior was dominated by a Tom Tom Sat Nav on the dash and the controls for the radio and air conditioning are easy to use. The front seat passengers are really spoiled as they get

‘bucket’ type seats which are very comfortable. Whatever your height you should have no difficulty finding a comfortable driving position.

Naturally the boot is huge and you get a tonneau to cover luggage or maybe the dog. Underneath there is still room for a full-size spare wheel, so full marks to Renault in that department.

You get keyless entry and you need never take the car keys out of your pocket as the car recognises that the keys are on your person. And if you find that you need both hands to carry items from the car and struggle to find your keys, no worries, the car locks automatically as you walk away.

Renault describe the Grand Megane as the ultimate combination of practically, design and technology. I realise that some people still worry about the electrics in a Renault and while that worry may have been credible a decade or so ago, I have not encountered any electrical problems in any Renault car in recent years.

Prices start at

?¬19, 890, while the automatic GTLine version I drove will cost you

?¬26,590. You can get a Grand Megane for

?¬189 per month from Renault Finance, but as the saying goes, terms and conditions apply.