Renault Megane E-Tech 2024 Review

The 2024 Renault Megane E-Tech EV60 costs $64,990 before on-road costs.

For now, the French-made five-seat mid-size electric SUV – which makes extensive use of aluminium panels – is only available as a single model variant, although more versions could be added later.

The Megane E-Tech is a mid-size crossover wagon that channels plenty of traditional Megane design language but benefits from having its wheels closer to each corner.

There are some nice touches, such as the gold ‘E’ in the Megane badging on its rump, contrasting the remaining letters in silver on the tailgate.

The 2024 Renault Megane E-Tech EV60 comes with 20-inch alloy wheels, dual-zone ventilation, heated front seats, heated steering wheel, ambient lighting and an interior rear-vision mirror that can turn into a camera. There’s also fake leather trim on the sides and backs of the seats and on the doors.

But you’re manually adjusting the seats and lifting the tailgate, and there’s also no spare wheel.

The E-Tech also comes with a Type 2 to Type 2 charging cable that can be plugged into a suitable home wallbox or a public AC (slower) charger.

The Megane E-Tech is covered by a five-year, 100,000km warranty as well as a separate eight-year, 160,000km for the high-voltage battery.

Servicing is every 12 months or 30,000km but Renault is not offering capped price servicing, as it does on other vehicles. Service pricing is about $1600 over five years or 150,000km.

Metallic paint and a two-tone roof colour are the only options, at $400 each.

The 2024 Renault Megane E-Tech EV60 scored a five-star ANCAP safety rating according to the 2022 protocols.

It comes with seven airbags (dual front, front side, side curtain and a centre front airbag) and four top-tether child seat anchor points – for all three rear seats and the front passenger seat, the latter only suitable for forward-facing seats.

There’s also autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with cyclist detection and junction assist, plus rear auto braking, rear cross traffic alert, driver attention monitoring, blind spot warning, lane departure warning and lane keep assist.

Plus, there’s speed sign recognition that can adjust the cruise control to the prevailing speed limit.

The Megane E-Tech also incorporates exterior QR codes front and rear to allow emergency services to download details about the car when they turn up to an incident. Which is great if you happen to be in phone range when you crash…

The 2024 Renault Megane E-Tech EV60 gets a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster that can toggle between two layouts; one includes circular virtual dials while the other presents the main information in blocks.

There’s also a 9.0-inch central infotainment screen incorporating wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. That infotainment screen is tilted towards the driver.

A nicely positioned wireless phone charger means no need to plug in but there are four USB-C ports – two each front and rear – for charging devices. The charge ports up front are curiously positioned near a small binnacle that’s not quite big enough for a phone.

Rear vision is seriously limited by the tiny back window, but tech has come to the rescue. Flick the central rear-vision mirror and it toggles from a mirror to a screen that provides a clearer and broader field of vision.

The touch-screen relies on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for navigation and audio apps, although there is DAB+ digital radio tuning and FM (but no AM).

The top of the touch-screen includes icons to get you to main menus for vehicle settings, apps, phone and music, plus there’s a home button.

Delve into the settings on the screen and you can tailor various functions, including the choice between Neutral, Pure and Expressive for the pedestrian warning sound – each a variation on a futuristic whir.

You can choose your charging preferences, including delaying the charge time and setting a maximum charge level. Plus you can activate the air purifier and set the locks and lights to your preferences.

The Megane E-Tech has various fixed buttons to adjust the ventilation, which is handy. Less useful are the buttons for adjusting the volume.

There is, however, a separate stalk hanging off the steering wheel that allows not only volume adjustment but also audio selection.

The 2024 Renault Megane E-Tech EV60 gets a single electric motor driving the front wheels.

Unlike the more common permanent magnet motors used in most EVs, the Megane uses an electrically excited coil to create the magnetic field required to make the motor work.

There are pros and cons to each set-up, with Renault saying its motors don’t use rare earth metals and are lighter.

The motor makes 160kW and 300Nm and is claimed to take the five-door to 100km/h in 7.4 seconds.

The 2024 Renault Megane E-Tech EV60 has a 60kWh battery good for 454km of WLTP range. Electricity use is claimed at 15.6kWh/100km.

At a relatively compact 4.2 metres long and with a lower stance than many SUVs, the Megane E-Tech clearly has an emphasis on efficiency and aerodynamics, something reinforced with the retracting front door-handles and semi-concealed high rear door-handles.

In the real world you can expect closer to 400km of range, which is respectable for an EV of this size.

The Megane E-Tech can be charged at up to 7.4kW from a wallbox charger, which means a full charge in nine hours and 15 minutes.

Faster DC charging can be done at up to 130kW for a 15-80 per cent charge in as little as 30 minutes.

The 2024 Renault Megane E-Tech EV60 is built on a dedicated EV architecture, the same CMF-EV (Compact Module Platform) developed as part of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance and also used in the Nissan Ariya.

The single electric motor has thoroughly acceptable pull where it makes most sense, although it never feels sharp when accelerating from a standstill, instead building pace with a more relaxed nature.

While it’s never lacking, it also never feels particularly sporty in a straight line.

Reapplying the accelerator on the run unleashes more of that EV feistiness and makes the Megane E-Tech a useful device for zipping around the suburbs.

Driving through the front wheels can occasionally challenge the Goodyear rubber on a wet road, though.

With Polestar, Tesla and others favouring the rear wheels, it seems an odd move to go for front-drive, albeit one that possibly makes for more boot space.

There’s less of an issue on dry surfaces, where the Megane never feels overwhelmed.

Steering is relatively sharp, which adds to the fun factor, and the Megane has an agile driving manner, something no doubt helped by its circa-1.7-tonne kerb weight, which is relatively light by modern EV standards (the aluminium body certainly helps there).

Low-profile 20-inch tyres deliver on grip, although there’s the occasional clumsiness to the ride over chunky sections of bitumen.

There are three drive modes to tinker with steering and throttle responses. Eco feels a tad too leisurely under foot and has very light steering. Sport is the most engaging but even with a sharper response to any prod of the accelerator, it still never feels overly spirited. Comfort nestles somewhere between the two.

There’s also a personal mode that allows you to tailor your own settings, potentially dialling up lighter steering with the zippier throttle response, for example.

The Megane E-Tech can also tow up to 900kg, which allows for box trailers or small boats or caravans.

The 2024 Renault Megane E-Tech EV60 apparently contains 28kg of recycled plastics, which gives you an idea of the sustainability emphasis.

Forget about leather and wood, because the cabin is a mix of modern materials, generic grey plastics and some bright stitching. Oh, and there’s some fake leather on the backs and sides of the seats, although the textured material you sit on – similar to what’s spread across the dash – looks and feels classier.

In the same vein as a Polestar, the fresh finishes work well, albeit without setting any new standards.

Being more of a crossover than a traditional SUV, there’s a lower seating position than in some rivals. Those up front are well catered for space-wise and there’s a vast low-profile centre console that increases the sense of space.

Things are a lot less generous in the rear, where head and legroom are bordering on tight and three people across the rear could stretch friendships.

A bigger issue is the lack of under-seat space for feet if those up front have a low seating position. It means having to cram big hoofs on an angle to accommodate them.

Plus the attention to detail that is bubbling away up front stops mid-way through the car; for example the suede-like strip on the front doors is replaced with plastic on the back doors – and there’s no ambient lighting in the rear.

The rear windows are also fairly slim with a kink towards the rear, making side vision for littlies more challenging.

The boot is a modest-by-SUV-standards 400 litres and it’s protected by a cover that raises when you open the hatch.

In reality, the luggage cavity is more useful than its raw numbers may suggest. It’s unexpectedly deep, which on the negative side means a large lip to lower luggage down into. There’s also an under-floor compartment for charging cables.

The boot also expands to 1332 litres with the 60/40-split rear seats folded. However, when folded there’s a sizeable step from that low boot floor to the base of the seat.

The 2024 Renault Megane E-Tech EV60 is a stylish addition to the EV market that doesn’t set any new benchmarks but still has plenty going for it, much of it on the design side.

On a raw comparison with other EVs – we’re thinking Polestar 2 and Tesla Model 3 as a start – we suspect it will struggle, especially if space and a long list of features is important to you.

But in the same way that the Cupra Born provides some welcome and style-driven freshness to the electric car market, the Megane E-Tech should carve itself a handy niche for those wanting some French EV flair.

2024 Renault Megane E-Tech EV60 at a glance:
Price: $64,990 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Powertrain: Electrically excited synchronous motor
Output: 160kW/300Nm
Transmission: Single-speed reduction gear
Battery: 60kWh lithium-ion
Range: 454km (WLTP)
Energy consumption: 15.6kWh/100km (WLTP)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2022)