Review
Almost a month has passed and with the help of the electric heaters, the electronic roof has been down more times than I could have dreamed of in April – faultlessly, may I add.
No electronic warning lights and no faults to report on, which at present is a dream for our road test co-ordinator, as it seems much of our fleet is currently dogged with problems.
The alarm has gone off a couple of times with no apparent trigger but as everything else has been fine, I'm hoping this doesn't turn out to be anything more sinister than the local cat jumping on it.
The popularity of the Megane hasn't wavered either and it continues to draw admiring glances and comments.
I've now been driving it for almost two months – covering more than 4,000 miles during that time – and have only seen a handful of Megane Coupe-Cabriolets on the road.
Fleets needn't worry at disposal time either, with the Coupe-Cabriolet reaching a respectable £7,550 or 37% after three-years/60,000 miles.
The residual value on the Coupe-Cabriolet is better than the standard Megane but does fall short of the Volkswagen Beetle 1.9 TDI 100 Cabriolet, which holds £7,275 or 41% after the same time period.
It isn't far off the Peugeot 307 2.0-litre petrol either at £7,250 or 40%, but the Megane offers better fuel consumption as Peugeot doesn't offer a diesel version.
I'm currently getting 47.2mpg from the Megane whereas Peugeot's combined figure on its petrol 307 is 34mpg. Bear in mind that on test cars we usually get a couple of miles per gallon less than the combined figure, so that's a whopping 15mpg extra from the Megane.
It was a brave move for Renault to offer a diesel version of the Megane in a sector where there's hardly any history of a diesel. And although the Beetle pips it on residual value, it offers a tiny boot and canvas roof.
For a similar price, the Megane offers a hard roof and more useable space. As the Megane has been designed as a useable convertible, unlike smaller models which have little space, the boot room is phenomenal with the roof up.
I managed to fit a double bicycle rack into the boot with ease when it would go nowhere near one of our other test cars, the Subaru Legacy.
Model: Renault Megane Coupe-Cabriolet 1.9 dCi
Mileage: 6,775
Company car tax bill 2004/05 (22% tax-payer): £67 per month
Figures based on three-years/60,000-miles
