2005 Renault Megane Dynamique 3dr review from UK and Ireland

Nothing has gone wrong yet (touch wood!), but reading the other reviews it sounds like there are good cars and bad ones. Hopefully mine is the former!

Generally happy with the car, haven't had any problems.

The performance is good for a diesel, no complaints there. If I stick to 70ish then I get just over 50mpg. Keeping up with the traffic doing 80-85 the fuel consumption drops to around 47mpg which isn't too bad.

Handling is miles better than my old Volvo S60, although that's probably down to the Volvo being terrible as much as anything. Cornering is fairly neat, understeering if you overdo things. I do worry that the brakes might not be up to the job, fading quite quickly under moderate braking. Maybe some different pads will resolve that.

The seat would be better for long journeys if it had a bit more support and adjustment. The stereo sound quality is a bit lacking as well.

The headlights are also a bit of a let down. I was going to upgrade the bulbs, but have read reports of the headlight lenses melting when other people have done this! There is also the issue of changing the bulbs, which requires removal of the front bumper unless you're a gynaecologist.

I was also shocked to find that the service intervals are every 9k miles, and most dealers charge around 250-300 pounds a go!!!