The first new-model Megane I drove was the five-door turbo diesel, and I was so impressed that I included it in my list of favourites cars of 2002. If the two-litre Sport Hatch had been my first experience of the Megane, it would have been among the also-rans.Sport Hatch is Renaultspeak for three-door. Beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder, but I don't think the unusual shape works nearly as well in this form, and many of my fellow beholders seem to feel the same. Perhaps the red colour scheme of the test car failed to flatter the shape (our five-door was a much more successful shade of dark blue), but I'm also not sure about the way the swooping side rear window line is contradicted so dramatically by the squared-off rear end.Despite the name, there is very little feeling of sportiness about this car. In the less powerful versions that doesn't really matter, but the one being discussed here has the greatest performance of the lot. It has the two-litre 16v engine with variable inlet valve timing and a maximum power output of 134bhp, so acceleration is pretty good. It's helped further by a six-speed close-ratio gearbox, but while that may be worth a few tenths in a drag race it has no justification that I can see in normal road use. I'd much rather have had five decently-spaced ratios to choose from.There might be some argument for six gears if you wanted to use the Megane for darting around interesting back roads. But that's something it simply doesn't want to do. I thought the turbo diesel handled very well and was expecting even better things from this one. Nope. It's one of the clumsiest cars of its size I have tried in years.It feels like it is walking on tiptoes, and it is seriously discomfited by anything resembling a bump. As soon as it encounters one, the suspension forgets everything else it is doing and rather laboriously tries to sort things out. If that bump is immediately before the turn-in point for a corner, you can forget a smooth ride to the apex. The car will only just have finished wobbling by the time you get there. There is no hint of sportiness here.Things are just as bad in a straight line. I did a lot of motorway miles in this car, and even in these conditions a slight unevenness in the road surface (name any motorway in the UK which doesn't have lots of those) caused a series of small but annoying trembles in the chassis. Two hundred miles of that sort of thing can be very wearing.As with the five-door Megane, there is only limited room for rear passengers and for luggage. On the plus side, you get a lot of equipment for the money, though I'm even more concerned about all the electronic trickery than I was before. This is partly due to the Renault keycard's increasing reluctance over the course of a week to let me lock or unlock the doors. It became quite embarrassing, especially when I was stranded outside the car on a city street at midnight on the second last day of the test. Pressing the button frantically as I wandered round in circles, trying to find an angle of approach that would suit the sensor, I must have looked like the world's most incompetent car thief.Frankly, I was glad to be rid of the thing. I think the Megane concept is in many ways brilliant, and I'm still hugely impressed by the turbo diesel. But I now know that the range is very variable, and that prospective Megane owners would be well advised to choose very carefully.Second opinion: There's no doubt that the three-door body style polarises opinions like few others. As in the five-door, though, Renault has provided the Sport Hatch with some very neat interior touches, and the front cabin is a pleasant area to inhabit. I didn't get to the point of bad-mouthing the dynamics to the extent noted above, but I didn't drive the car all that long either. After working properly the first twice I tried it, the keycard rebelled on the third occasion (about 30 miles from base) and refused to unlock the doors. When I phoned Renault Assistance, the fellow I spoke to was very helpful, and said an AA patrol would be there within the hour. Halfway through that period, I tried the key card again, just on the off-chance, and it opened the doors first click. I called off the AA, drove home and decided not to try my luck with the Sport Hatch again. As mentioned in our Megane dCi test, I thought that version was a fine long-distance car, but I also said there that I was "quite leery about French-car electrics". Still am. Ross Finlay. Engine 1870cc, 4 cylinders Power 118bhp Transmission 6-speed manual Fuel/CO2 52.3mpg / 144g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 10.5 seconds Top speed 122mph Price £15,500 Details correct at publication date
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