Renault Megane vs Subaru Solterra

What's the difference?

If the Renault Megane RS Trophy is your dream car let me say this: there’s no overarching reason that I’d say you shouldn’t go ahead and buy it. 

But with so much amazing competition in this part of the market, it’s hard to put it ahead of its rivals. And it’s going to be even harder for it to stay high on the contenders list as more new metal arrives in the coming years.

The updated Subaru Solterra is now good enough to compete with rivals such as the Tesla Model Y and Zeekr 7X. The price is right as are the driving range and motor outputs.

There's room for improvement in terms of cabin packaging. The car doesn’t cater for taller, larger people up front, with the steering wheel placement and wide centre console. Cabin storage could also be much better.

Still, the Solterra is superb to drive. One of the best EVs I’ve piloted at this price.

The Megane RS Trophy’s dimensions don’t really communicate just how chunky it really is. At 4364mm long on a 2670mm wheelbase, 1875mm wide and 1435mm tall, it is pretty conventional in terms of size for the segment.

But it packs a lot of style into that size. I for one love those broad hipped wheel-arches, the signature LED headlights and chequered flag lighting signature at the bottom of the bumper, and the bright, eye-catching colours available really just ram the message home that this isn’t your average Megane.

I could happily leave behind the red flecks on the wheels, which look a bit too blingy and not quite ‘lightweight racing-spec’ to me. But they obviously appeal to a certain buyer - maybe someone who wants a bit more drive-by flair, as opposed to track-day talking points.

The Trophy model builds upon the Cup variant, using the same chassis and hardware under the skin, and therefore running the brand’s 4Control four-wheel steering and a mechanical Torsen limited slip diff. More on that in the driving section below.

Exterior design and styling are one thing - but you probably spend more time sitting inside your car than just admiring it from a distance. How does the interior of the RS Trophy stack up? Check out the interior images to make up your own mind.

The Solterra is a mid-sized SUV with sporty coupe-like styling and this update has seen the front of the car receive a new look which to my eyes is better than the previous face. 

The rest of the car’s exterior remains mainly unchanged in the design.

If you aren’t a fan of the Solterra’s look then check out Toyota’s bZ4X, which is its twin and has slightly more conservative styling, and while I do like the Subaru’s face, I think Toyota’s tail-light treatment is cleaner.

The cabin is modern with a large central media screen, a high-placed instrument display and a wide centre console with dual phone chargers. But the squareish steering wheel steals the show, completing the futuristic vibe.

This update has seen the centre console re-designed with the dual chargers added and the gear-shifter moved backwards away from the media display.

The cabin doesn’t have much in the way of glitzy touches, with dark materials dominating throughout. Hard plastics abound, but the interior still looks and feels premium.

The Megane RS Trophy’s cabin carries over some of the design cues from the exterior. It looks and feels like a hot hatch should.

There’s a lovely part-Nappa leather, part-Alcantara steering wheel with paddle shifters and a ‘centre line’ marker - but some may lament the lack of a flat-bottom to the wheel, which is a current trend in the “trust me I’m actually very sporty” breed of cars.

The manually adjustable seats are very supportive though they are a bit firm, so those wishing for ultimate comfort over long distance trips might be left wanting. But there is good adjustment to the seats, and they’re heated, too.

There are some nice elements to the cabin including soft plastics on the dashboard, but the lower plastics - below the eye-line - are quite hard and not very pleasant. However, the inclusion of ambient lighting does distract from that, and add a bit of flair to the cabin.

The portrait-style media screen is fine most of the time, though it does take some learning. The menus aren’t as intuitive as you might hope, with a mix of on-screen buttons and off-screen touchpad-style controls that can be difficult to hit when you’re driving. We also had a couple of instances of glitching while using Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone mirroring.

Storage is okay. There are shallow cupholders between the seats, a covered centre console bin, as well as a storage section in front of the gear selector that’s big enough for a wallet and phone, and bottle holders in the doors. 

In the rear seat there’s enough space for someone my size (182cm) to sit behind their own driving position, albeit with limited knee room and toe room. Headroom is good, and there are dual ISOFIX child-seat anchor points and three top-tethers for baby seats.

You’ll find a pair of small door pockets, two map pockets, and rear-seat directional air vents, which is nice. There’s a flip-down arm-rest with cupholders, too, and unlike some other high-price hatches with ambient lighting up front, the Megane gets LED light strips on its rear doors, too. 

The boot space is good in the Megane RS Trophy, with luggage capacity claimed at a healthy 434 litres. On test, the car fit all three CarsGuide suitcases (124L, 95L and 36L) with room to spare. Speaking of spare (ahem), there isn’t one: it comes with a repair kit and tyre pressure monitoring, but no spare wheel of any kind. 

The steering wheel’s square design is like that for a reason - it’s designed to provide the driver with a clearer view of the instrument cluster. But as noted in the past with other vehicles that choose this set up, the ergonomics don’t work for everybody - especially if you’re tall like me (I’m 189cm).

In my case the top of the steering wheel obstructs my visibility of the display, which shows vehicle speed among other crucial info. 

There’s also a problem with the clearance of the steering wheel and my legs. This is caused by a combination of my height, the low steering wheel and the limitations of how much it can be raised, the low-hip point in the seating position and the shape of the wheel. 

Add an overly wide centre console and space for larger and taller drives becomes even more cramped.

Moving the shifter back in this update also makes it more difficult to use for me and the mechanism is quite clunky.

Second row space is a much better story, with a flat floor, good headroom and lots of legroom even for me behind my driving position. The rear door aperture isn’t great and this has made installing child car seats and the corresponding child difficult.

Cabin storage could also be better. There’s no glove box, but there is space under the centre console, although this is now where the large driver’s manual lives. There’s a large centre console bin, big door pockets and four cupholders (two up front and two in the second row).

The second row has directional air vents and USB ports. There are USB ports up front, too.

Boot capacity isn't enormous at 421 litres in the entry-grade and 410 litres in the Touring. There’s no front boot, either. Under the bonnet is the Solterra’s front motor and electrical hardware.    

The Solterra is a five seater SUV, so no third row here.

The updated Solterra is offered in two grades. An entry-grade model, simply called Solterra, lists for $63,990 and above that is the Solterra Touring for $69,990. That’s up to seven thousand dollars more affordable than pre-update.

We tested the top-of-the-range Touring, which comes loaded with standard features, the only option being leather seats.

If you were wondering if you needed to spend the extra money on the Touring you might be pleased to know both grades have exactly the same powertrain and the entry-grade comes with plenty of standard features.

Coming standard on the entry grade Solterra are 18-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights and LED tail-lights, power mirrors, puddle lamps, a powered tailgate with kick-sensor (new with the update) and roof rails. 

There’s also synthetic leather seat trim, heated and eight-way power-adjustable front seats, a heated leather steering wheel, heated second row seats, dual-zone climate control, a 14-inch multimedia touchscreen (new) and 7.0-inch driver display, wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, dual wireless phone chargers (new) and a six-speaker sound system.

The Solterra Touring comes standard with all this but adds 20-inch alloy wheels, a panoramic sun roof, ventilated front seats (new) and a 10-speaker Harman Kardon sound system.

The Touring also features a 220V vehicle-to-load (V2L) power outlet.

Engine specs matter if you’re talking about performance hatchbacks, and the Megane RS Trophy is no exception.

It has a 1.8-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine that punches hard for its size, with 221kW of power (at 6000rpm) and 420Nm of torque (at 3200rpm). That’s for the six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, as was fitted to our test car. If you buy the six-speed manual, you miss out on a bit of grunt - it has 400Nm (at 3200rpm) and the same peak power.

In auto spec the RS Trophy “300” offers higher figure vs the Sport and Cup “280” models (205kW/390Nm), and more engine performance per litre of capacity than the Focus ST (2.3-litre: 206kW/420Nm), Golf GTI (2.0-litre: 180kW/370Nm; TCR 2.0-litre: 213kW/400Nm), and even the Golf R (2.0-litre: 213kW/380Nm). 

All Megane RS models are front-wheel drive (FWD/2WD) and no Megane RS is all-wheel drive (AWD). The Trophy and Cup models both get 4Control four-wheel steering, which is an interesting aspect of the drive experience. More on that below. 

There are multiple drive modes to choose from, including Comfort, Neutral, Sport, Race and the configurable Perso mode. These can alter engine, transmission, throttle, traction control, exhaust noise, fake engine sound and steering sharpness - but not suspension, because the dampers aren’t adaptive units. 

The Solterra has two electric motors and as before there is one driving the front wheels, and one driving the rear wheels for all-wheel drive. Toyota’s bZ4X twin can be had in two-wheel drive and AWD.

The big news is the motors are now more powerful. Much more powerful. Combined output is 252KW (up from 160kW). That’s a huge increase but power is still less than the output of a Model Y or Zeekr 7X.

The front motor now makes 167kW/268Nm, while the rear motor produces 88kW/169Nm. Acceleration from 0-100km/h is about five seconds and that’s almost two seconds faster than the old version. 

The claimed official combined fuel consumption for the Megane RS Trophy is 8.0 litres per 100 kilometres. That’s for the EDC auto model as tested. The manual is said to use 8.3L/100km.

You might achieve that if you drive gently, though over my testing - which incorporated hundreds of kilometres of highway and country road driving, as well as a few spirited stints and some urban snarls - I saw a return of 10.8L/100km at the pump.

The Megane RS requires 98RON premium unleaded, and the fuel tank capacity is 50 litres. 

The updated Soltera’s battery size has increased to 74.7kWh. That’s up from 71.4kWh and means driving range has increased. 

The new, larger lithium ion battery delivers a range of 566km (WLTP) in the entry-grade Solterra (up from 414km). That addresses a big concern about the old car. The Touring has a range of 517km and any range above 500km is acceptable in my book.

Also big news is the increase in maximum AC charging capacity from 11kW to 22kW. DC charging capacity is the same at 150kW with 0-80 per cent charge in about 30 minutes.

Consumption officially ranges from about 14.6kWh/100km in the entry-grade Solterra to 16.0kW/100km in the Touring. The Touring we tested was reporting 17.0kW/100km according to the trip computer after 163km of testing in mainly urban conditions. 

The Megane RS Trophy has the ingredients to be an all-time legendary hot hatch, but they don’t work together well enough for it to be a truly great car to drive.

That is, they don’t work together on public roads. I didn’t get a chance to sample the RS Trophy at the track, and I’m sure that may well alter some of my opinions. But this was a review focused around everyday driving first and foremost, because - unless you’ve got quite a fleet of cars - you’ll be spending a lot of time in mundane motoring in your Megane RS, too.

Other hot hatches in the segment manage to combine big power and torque with immense traction and steering prowess. The Megane RS used to, as well.

But this new version seemingly has some issues harnessing the grunt, and the 4Control four-wheel steering system simply isn’t as rewarding as it should be.

I had several instances where the traction on slippery surfaces was lacking, while even in the dry I noticed distinct torque steer and the Bridgestone tyres struggled to cope under hard acceleration. That’s despite the fact the Trophy gets a mechanical LSD.  

Further, that four-wheel steering actually makes it pretty hard to judge the behaviour of the car at times, with an artificial feel to it that just doesn’t do it justice. There will be some who say that the four-wheel steering - which can angle in the rear tyres to help you pivot in corners more adeptly - is excellent. But I’m not one of them. I really found it hard to predict this car’s behaviour. I never really gelled with it.

At the very least there’s a non-interventional lane keeping assist system, which emits a pulsing sound through the speakers rather than actively vibrating or adjusting the steering. 

The ride is unapologetic in its firmness – although, if you’re across the history of RS Megane models, that is to be expected for a Trophy chassis. It can be tiring on longer road trips especially if the surface isn’t great.

While it is extremely fast in a straight line - 0-100km/h is claimed at just 5.7 seconds - it wasn’t as quick through corners as I was expecting it might be, and that comes down to its four-wheel steering mostly, along with a lack of usable traction at times. It simply isn’t as connected to the road as the previous RSs have been. 

It was also a bit laggy then lurchy at lower speeds when taking off from a standstill, such is the nature of the dual-clutch in stop-start situations. 

To put it bluntly, I didn’t enjoy this car anywhere near as much as I thought I might. It just isn’t as pure a driving machine as I’ve come to expect from the RS brand. Perhaps I should aim to try it on a track!

The Solterra may slightly lag behind rivals in some areas such as range and power output, but where most rivals can barely touch it is when it comes to driving.

Currently there aren’t many electric vehicles that are good to drive, except for more prestige offerings from brands such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche. 

The Solterra is one of the best electric vehicles I have driven at this price point and it’s down to the outstanding platform it shares with the Toyota bZ4X which provides superb ride comfort, great handling and excellent steering.

Acceleration is strong and traction from the all-wheel drive is good.

Sure, while the driving position needs improvement, the car itself is excellent to drive.

Visibility is also good and sound intrusion is minimal. We noticed some materials making noises in the cabin. Although this is common, with no engine to mask it, it becomes more noticeable in EVs. 

The Solterra has been awarded the maximum five-star ANCAP rating - but that was given under 2022 testing criteria and the bar has been raised quite a lot higher since then. 

Still, the level of safety technology is high with AEB, lane keeping assistance, blind spot warning and rear cross traffic alert onboard. 

Front and rear parking sensors are standard on both grades, as is a 360 degree camera view. Auto parking is standard on the Touring.

A digital rear vision mirror is also standard on both grades providing a clear and unobstructed view.

There are seven airbags present, including a front centre bag. And there are three child seat top tether points across the second row with ISOFIX anchors in the two outer positions.

The Renault Megane RS range is covered by a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, which adds some peace of mind for owners.

Further, the service intervals are generous, at 12 months/20,000km - though the brand states the Megane RS is actually “subject to adaptive servicing requirements” as the oil condition sensor may trigger a service check requirement prior to the standard intervals.

Unlike other Renault models with a five-year capped price servicing plan, the Megane RS is only covered for three years/60,000km. The service costs for the EDC dual-clutch auto models are higher than the manual versions, due to replacement transmission oil being needed (adding $400 to the first service). 

The costs for the first three services are: $799 (12 months/20,000km); $299 (24 months/40,000km); $399 (36 months/60,000km). Consumables beyond those service intervals include: every 24 months or 20,000km - air filter replacement ($49) and pollen filter replacement ($63); every 48 months or 60,000km - accessory belt replacement ($306). Spark plugs are included at no cost, due every 36 months/60,000km.

The car is backed for up to four years of roadside assistance when serviced within the Renault dealership/service network.

The Solterra is covered by Subaru’s five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty which is falling behind the seven-year warranty offered by many now. The battery is covered  by an eight-year, 160,000km warranty. 

There is also five years of capped price servicing with each yearly/15,000km service costing between $130-$300. That’s a very reasonable price.