In the relentless advance of the Renault Megane, now that just about every body variant except a pickup and a double-decker bus has been launched, almost certainly the most stylish model is the Sport Tourer, especially with a careful choice of colour scheme.As with the saloon, pay no attention to the Sport tag; it's a marketing gimmick and essentially meaningless. What we have here is a very well thought-out estate, neatly proportioned and sensibly equipped, and with roof rails, as usual, part of the standard equipment list.Starting at the back, there's a good-sized load area, clear of obstructions and with a low sill. The tailgate opens high enough for a six-footer to stand underneath, and it's easy to imagine one of these cars acting as a sheltered family spectator area at some outdoor event.The rear seats have a 60/40 split, with a centre headrest which can be slid down out of the way of the driver's view through the interior mirror. Renault has provided plenty of headroom and legroom in the rear cabin, and the centre armrest has been designed by somebody who knows about people who want to picnic rather than just having a slurp of some fizzy drink. When you pull the armrest down and open the lid, you get a proper tray as well as places for a couple of cups or glasses. Full marks.Carefully-concealed stowage spaces of all kinds are a Renault speciality, and the Tourer scores highly here. As well as the lidded boxes in the front doors, the car has a solidly-topped pull-up section of carpeted floor in each front footwell, revealing another discreet storage place.One level below the top-rated Privilège, the Dynamique comes with cloth rather than leather upholstery. The front seats are comfortable, with plenty of support, and the test car's were heated too. In keeping with the generally neat approach to interior design throughout the passenger cabin and load area, the honeycomb pattern of the metal-effect centre console trim is duplicated on the seat centres.Some of my colleagues think this kind of thing is strictly for the birds, if not the bees, but you have to hand it to Renault for attention to detail. Other examples include the fact that when you use the screen washers there's an extra wipe, a few seconds later, to clear the inevitable dribble which wasn't caught the first time. And when refuelling, you don’t have to unscrew the filler cap; it opens with the flap.Renault also offers the Tourer with a 1.5-litre turbo diesel engine, but for sturdy performance on the open road, as well as better hauling power when the car is fully laden, I'd certainly go for the 1.9-litre dCi as here.Acceleration is quite lively throughout the range, and there's just over 220lb/ft of torque from 2000rpm. The standard six-speed manual gearbox allows for an extra urban fuel consumption figure not far short of 65mpg, and the CO2 rating is just on the high side of 140g/km. These dCi engines are certainly impressive here.So the Dynamique is a relaxed motorway cruiser and, down the box, it climbs strongly. I didn't much fancy the variable-rate power steering, though. In brisk motoring through S-bends and the like, it couldn't hide the front-end effect of having a diesel lump under the bonnet.Since we always come round to mentioning the Renault Card system, I have to say that there were no problems with the one in the Dynamique, apart from a single hesitant start-up which may have been my own fault for not pressing the clutch or brake pedal soon enough.I'm still no admirer of the exterior styling of the Megane hatches, but the saloons and Tourers - especially the Tourers - are a different matter altogether. They are among the smartest-looking cars in their class. And Renault has very few rivals in providing easy-to-live-with interiors, in this case definitely estate-specific.Second opinion: A resounding "hear hear" to pretty much all of the above. I'm sorry Renault has made the Megane - in all its forms - so clumsy on the road, but somehow that doesn't seem to matter so much in the ones with the 1.9 dCi engine, perhaps because it can dig the car out of trouble even at very low revs. The estate version is indeed attractive and spacious, though it does let in a lot of road noise compared with the whisperingly quite saloon and hatch versions. David Finlay. Engine 1870cc, 4 cylinders Power 118bhp Transmission 6-speed manual Fuel/CO2 52.3mpg / 141g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 10.8 seconds Top speed 121mph Price £15,613 Details correct at publication date
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