THE Clio is often the one to steal the headlines for Renault and that’s no surprise when the latest version saw the little car get back on song so well.

But the face-lifted version of its bigger sibling, the Megane, is now looking like an equally-decent prospect for those in need of a little more space.

Looks-wise it’s now got the big Renault badge and edgy styling that gave the Clio its mojo back and that’s certainly livened the Megane up quite a bit.

As with most cars these days, there’s a slightly bewildering choice of trims and engines.

My tester was somewhere in the middle – Dynamique TomTom spec, to be precise, coupled with the 1.5dci stop and start engine with 110hp.

First off, it’s an impressive engine. Acceleration is decent, with 62mph making an appearance in 12.1 seconds and there’s plenty of pull from low revs, with a good amount of perk when the turbo kicks in.

It’s very clean – just 90g/km of CO2 means the taxman won’t be taking any of your pennies in VED.

I took the Megane on a bit of a road trip, much of which was a fast motorway cruise, and it returned a healthy 51mpg.

That made me feel pretty good, until I saw that the official combined figure is 80.7mpg. I’m guessing you’ll only reach that if you sit at 55mph, but, either way, for a fast drive where I wasn’t being particularly economy-minded, far from it, in fact, overall consumption north of 50 wasn’t bad at all.

Moving onto comfort and practicality, you get a big boot, although rear legroom wasn’t too much to shout about, particularly with a 6ft me in the driving seat.

Cabin quality is a little on the cheap-feeling side, particularly the dash, but this car was fitted with the R-Link optional infotainment system.

It costs from an extra £450 and gives you a high-quality touchscreen, sat nav and the ability to house your contacts, playlists and internet apps.

It works well and is easy to use.

All cars get Bluetooth, USB, air con and alloys, while this mid-range Dynamique adds the TomTom sat nav, cruise control, electric windows all-round and auto lights and wipers.

All in all the latest Megane sees the mid-size hatch – there’s also a tourer and a coupe, by the way – become a decent offering for those looking for something a little different in this crowded market.

The range starts at £16,745 and tops out at £21,245.

Find out more at westovergroup.co.uk/Renault.