A punchy little turbo engine transforms the Renault Mégane Coupe, writes The Wheel Deal.

The first time we hit the road in the new Renault Mégane Coupe I was left feeling somewhat disappointed. For although it’s killer looks and gizmo-packed interior managed to hit all the right buttons – especially factoring in its competitive price tag – that anemic excuse for an engine wheezing behind the grille let this little Frenchy down in spectacular fashion. In was in fact so lethargic that I often wondered if our test car had mistakenly left the factory with a 1.4 motor instead of the 1.6 that the spec sheet would have us believe. Reluctant to rev and no more urgent than a Flying Squad call centre operative, it seemed an injustice to what was otherwise a tasty bit of kit. Fortunately though, at the instance of Renault, we were soon sent another near identical Mégane Coupé bolted to a smaller, albeit turbocharged engine.

Now this may seem inconceivable to the average South African petrolhead raised on a diet of meat, rugby and V8s but the addition of this byte-sized 1.4TCe powerplant has transformed Renault’s svelte three-door into a proper little performance hatchback. Like a lardy coach potato that’s traded his cheesy puffs in on a power shake and a gym contract, the Coupé now reacts to deft prods of your throttle foot and builds up speed with satisfying urge. It may not be as quick as VW’s entry-level Scirocco but there’s enough shove on hand to finally leave that annoying boy racer trailing in your wake when you burn it away from the robots. Turbo-lag hardly comes into the equation and those four pistons pump smoothly all the way up to the red line. Zippy around town, the 1.4TCe also fairs better out on the highway than its 1.6 brother with cruising speeds being both quicker and easier to maintain. Of course being a small capacity motor you still need to work the six-speed gearbox during bouts of overtaking but this time, with that extra torque on tap, your efforts are actually rewarded; no longer do you have to curse the kilometres away when you come up behind a train of slow moving traffic.

Pretty sweet in a straight line, the extra grunt offered up by the1.4TCe model also affords you the opportunity to better exploit the Megane’s already competent handling characteristics. Admittedly it’s not quite as sporty as some of its more focused German competitors but there’s more than enough feedback bristling through the Coupé’s chassis to let you confidently carve through all your favourite corners at a considerable lick. And rest assured that if you do overcook it, get carried away impersonating Robert Kubica, the standard Renault Electronic Stability Control system will do its utmost to keep you from embarrassing yourself in a messy altercation with a wall. In terms of ride quality there’s little to fault with the Mégane 1.4TCe, as it seems to take all the lumpy Jozi bitumen in its stride with only the very worst undulations causing its suspension distress. Consequently this makes it a very comfortable car to spend time in – provided you’re in the front seat that is.

Like we mentioned before in our previous write up the rear accommodation is rather tight in this Renault and anyone over the six-foot mark will soon find that the lack of leg and headroom gets very tiresome very quickly. Still, when riding two-up, you’ll find that the leathered innards of the Mégane Coupé decidingly agreeable, mostly due to the lavish level of features that litter the dashboard the centre console. From cruise control and satellite navigation right up to Bluetooth integration and a particularly good 140-watt Arkamys audio system, the amount of standard goodies in this machine make you feel like you’re behind the wheel of something far more expensive.

In conclusion and on paper there seems to be very little separating the 1.4TCe Renault Mégane Coupé from the 1.6 except a dollop more power and extra torque. Indeed, some might question this commanding a R30k premium over the standard model but after having driven both I can safely tell you that you’d be an idiot not to deal out the dough for the much-needed huff and puff of that turbocharger. Buy and be happy or skimp and regret – it’s that simple.

Renault Mégane Coupé 1.4TCe Fast Facts:

Engine: 1397cc four-cylinder turbocharged petrol
Power: 96kW at 5500rpm
Torque: 190Nm at 2250rpm
0-100km/h: 9.6-seconds (claimed)
Top Speed: 205km/h (claimed)
Fuel Consumption: 6.6l/100km (claimed combined)
Price: R254 900