My opinion after the first 1000 miles

[rwiddecombe]

Full disclosure, I collected my Shadow Grey Launch edition model from Motorvogue Renault at Kings Lynn on 22nd December 2022.
Only option apart from metallic paint was the dealer fit false boot floor.

This are just my opinions of using, charging and driving the car over nearly 1000 miles in the first month of ownership on journeys typically 200 miles each way. The Megane is my first foray in to EV ownership though I have driven others at length including Jaguar I-Pace and BMW i4 (my preference but now too expensive and the BMW stealers too greedy)

LIKES

• Love the exterior styling

• Compact dimensions

• Really fun to drive car briskly

• Quietness

• Comfort (despite 20 inch wheels)

• Multi-media display speed and response as well as functionality

• Sound quality of Harman Kardon sound system

• Dealer experience at Motorvogue Kings Lynn was superb

DIS-LIKES

• Winter range only around 0,66 of the WLTP figures (first 100% charge indicated 190 miles at 7 deg,C)

• Difficulty getting Zappi home charger to work reliably (see separate post on this forum) although other home and public chargers no problem

• Seat thigh bolsters in-sufficient to hold you in place under modestly brisk cornering

• In the dark operating not good - cannot see charge port aperture (needs ring illumination like MG4), cannot see or feel the buttons on the key fob to un-lock the car, boot release button too small and difficult to find in the dark

• Boot lip too high, which makes aperture too small, rear window too narrow and wiper too small as well as high loading lip for heavy luggage loading

• The one-touch window switches that need two attempts to raise the front windows!

• Key fob boot release function appears not to work (is there a menu function enabling this ?)

• My Renault app needs improving - pre-conditioning only works half the time and then you cannot switch it Off once On !

• Mobilize charge card offers poor choice of chargers and then only the most expensive to use ones !

All that said, I really love the car, just wish the winter range was better.

What are your thoughts and experiences either good or bad ?

[vini]

Full disclosure, I collected my Shadow Grey Launch edition model from Motorvogue Renault at Kings Lynn on 22nd December 2022.
Only option apart from metallic paint was the dealer fit false boot floor.

This are just my opinions of using, charging and driving the car over nearly 1000 miles in the first month of ownership on journeys typically 200 miles each way. The Megane is my first foray in to EV ownership though I have driven others at length including Jaguar I-Pace and BMW i4 (my preference but now too expensive and the BMW stealers too greedy)

LIKES

• Love the exterior styling

• Compact dimensions

• Really fun to drive car briskly

• Quietness

• Comfort (despite 20 inch wheels)

• Multi-media display speed and response as well as functionality

• Sound quality of Harman Kardon sound system

• Dealer experience at Motorvogue Kings Lynn was superb

DIS-LIKES

• Winter range only around 0,66 of the WLTP figures (first 100% charge indicated 190 miles at 7 deg,C)

• Difficulty getting Zappi home charger to work reliably (see separate post on this forum) although other home and public chargers no problem

• Seat thigh bolsters in-sufficient to hold you in place under modestly brisk cornering

• In the dark operating not good - cannot see charge port aperture (needs ring illumination like MG4), cannot see or feel the buttons on the key fob to un-lock the car, boot release button too small and difficult to find in the dark

• Boot lip too high, which makes aperture too small, rear window too narrow and wiper too small as well as high loading lip for heavy luggage loading

• The one-touch window switches that need two attempts to raise the front windows!

• Key fob boot release function appears not to work (is there a menu function enabling this ?)

• My Renault app needs improving - pre-conditioning only works half the time and then you cannot switch it Off once On !

• Mobilize charge card offers poor choice of chargers and then only the most expensive to use ones !

All that said, I really love the car, just wish the winter range was better.

What are your thoughts and experiences either good or bad ?

totally agree with everything you've said here.so much so I can't think of anything else to add, nice one! - I've only done 300+ miles though...

[Phorridge]

Yes they are all valid points. Myenergi are looking at the Zappi issue.
My Mégane does unlock the boot with the fob.
Nothing appears to happen but pressing the boot button opens it even though the doors are still locked.

[tarbat]

The winter range does seem in line with Renault's published numbers on real-world range. Did you use the range calculator at https://www.renault.co.uk/electric-vehi ... lator.html before buying?

No EV will ever get close to the WLTP range in winter. WLTP is measured at an average speed of less than 30mph in an ambient temperature of 23°C with no heating or A/C on.

[Phorridge]

I can see the logic of basing WLTP at 30mph for small town based EVS with limited range as they will be designed for town driving. But cars like the Megane E-tech will surely spend more of their lives at speeds above 30 MPH. the drop off on range is significant as the speed goes up. I think the larger EVs should have been designed for optimal consumption at say 45MPH

[tarbat]

I can see the logic of basing WLTP at 30mph for small town based EVS with limited range as they will be designed for town driving. But cars like the Megane E-tech will surely spend more of their lives at speeds above 30 MPH. the drop off on range is significant as the speed goes up.

.
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To be fair, the WLTP Combined Test Cycle covers all speeds up to 82mph. And 35% of the test distance (the EXTRA HIGH section) is done at an average speed of nearly 60mph. But averaged out over the 4 sections of the test cycle, the average speed is 29mph, or 33mph if you exclude the stopped time.

The biggest failing in my opinion is not publishing the consumption figures for each of the individual sections. All a manufacturer has to publish is the COMBINED consumption/range, and the CITY consumption/range. For my Launch Edition, that's 269 miles COMBINED, and 333 miles CITY. To give credit to RENAULT UK, they do at least provide a range calculator that let's you see typical range under different temperature and speed conditions.

[Phorridge]

But Renault like others still advertise the Mégane as 280 miles range.

[tarbat]

But Renault like others still advertise the Mégane as 280 miles range.

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NO they don't. They advertise "UP TO 280 MILES", which is (almost) true for the bottom of the range Equilibre model. They could in fact advertise almost any "UP TO" range, as it depends how the car is driven. I could drive from the Slochd Summit to Inverness using almost no battery energy at all. In the same way that ICE cars never achieve the WLTP fuel consumption when driven in the real-world.