Now it it's third generation since it first came off production lines in 1995, the Renault Megane is French automaker Renault's small family car that has been very successful throughout Europe. Known for producing small cars with stylish bodies and strong handling performance, Renault produced this small family car in large numbers and was able to sell it not only in Europe, but in South American markets such as Argentina and Colombia as well. The first two generations of the Megane were designed by French born, British-raised car designer Patrick le Quement. Le Quement spent some time working for Ford in the 1980's, before he moved over the Volkswagen, and eventually was promoted to the Chief of Corporate Design at Renault. Many might consider this a demotion because Volkswagen is the number one producer of automobiles in the world while Renault is counted as the forth largest due only to it's alliance with Japanese car maker Nissan, but the now retired Le Quement was given tremendous free reign at Renault and was allowed to design many cars including the first two generations of the Megane, as well as the Twingo, the Espace, and the Laguna, just to name a few.

To get to the car itself, the design is beautiful and sleek, and the the car retains it's small size despite having a spacious feeling interior. As far as power under the hood goes, this can be one powerful car if you find a top end Renault Megane for sale. Current top end turbo models feature a 2.0 liter, 1998 cc engine running through a six speed manual transmission capable of pushing 250 horsepower at 5500 RPM. This translates to a car that can go from zero to sixty miles per hour in 6.1 seconds, has a top speed of almost one hundred and sixty miles per hour, all while getting about thirty four miles to the gallon. That's pretty impressive, although bear in mind that we're talking about the top end turbo model. The bottom end model can only reach speeds of around one hundred and twenty miles per hour, takes almost eleven seconds to reach sixty miles per hour, and despite getting an impressive 42.2 miles per gallon, the car only kicks out about one hundred horse power at 5500 RPM. This means a little less bang for your buck, but a lot better fuel economy if you're really looking to drive it as a family car and not as a rally racing machine.

Renault has really gotten behind the Megane, especially since it is now in it's third generation, and the manufacturer has followed it's ally Nissan (the two companies operate autonomously, but own significant shares of stock in the other, and thus share a great deal of resources), in attempting to produce a fully electric high performance car. While Nissan has developed an entirely new platform for it's car (slated for 2010 release), Renault has chosen the Megane over it's top seller and the car that largely saved the company in the 1980's, the Renault Clio. Renault has already begun production on the new fully electric Renault Megane, but details on the car are still sketchy at best.

If you're looking to find a Renault Megane for sale, you should be in luck as there are quite a few being produced by the company on a yearly basis both in Europe and in South America. Although the car has been around since 1995, if you're looking for a  used Renault Megane, you might be out of luck as people tend to hold on to these cars for quite a long time. What can I say? Not too many of us English speaking people like to give too much credit to the French, but they have built a heck of a car in the Renault Megane. Drive one today!

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