Fire up the... Renault Megane CC

NO, this isn’t a misprint. You’d be forgiven for thinking this is the Peugeot 308 CC we test drove earlier this year, but it’s actually Renault’s riposte.

Every manufacturer and his dog offers you a cabriolet with a clever folding metal top these days but there’s a good reason why the French companies have the market (if not the roof) sewn up; they do these cars better than anyone else. Which is great news if you’re looking to buy the latest Megane CC but a difficult job for anyone road testing it, because it’s almost identical to its closest rival.

Both the Megane CC, now in its second generation, and the 308 CC are hugely comfortable – particularly in the back, where most CCs aren’t – and effortlessly refined with their tops up or down. They both also cost around £26,000 and while neither of them offer a spectacular sporty drive they handle reassuringly enough while making sure absolutely everyone on board is cruising comfortably.

But while the Peugeot looks like a little Mercedes with its roof up the Megane masters a rather cleverer trick; appearing to still be travelling al fresco! Blacking out the roof panels is an unbelievably simple visual trick but it works, and means it wins in the style stakes when it's raining.

I’m sure that if I spend hours trawling through the statistics there’d be some minute detail that makes one technically better than the other but in the image-driven world of cabriolets there’s only one thing that matters – looks. The quirky charm of the Megane, or the flowing curves of its softer rival? Your call.

You really can’t place a fag paper between either of these cars, because both do what they do excellently (and better than either Ford’s Focus CC or Volkswagen’s Eos for that matter). While both these cars have the substance, in this market it’s all about style.

I’d take the Peugeot because I personally reckon it’s prettier, but that doesn’t stop Renault’s reply being equally impressive.

As published in The Champion on June 9, 2010