RENAULT MEGANE E-TECH ELECTRIC

Our appreciation for the outgoing French crossover changed with the seasons

- ALASTAIR CLEMENTS

With electric vehicles now commonplace, I had hoped range wouldn't still be dominating the conversation, but it's an important point to get out of the way early here. Renault claims a 280-mile range for its 60kWh Mégane E-Tech, which would be marvellous, but in six months I never managed to get close to that figure - and in the winter it fell to as low as 137 miles from a full charge. A big part of that is Renault's decision not to include a heat pump for the UK market on the entry-level Equilibre and my mid-spec Techno model. If you have a long commute, it's probably worth considering the top Iconic trim, whose heat pump helps boost range by about 10% in cold conditions.

However, a winter of discontent turned into a summer of love as things quickly improved with the mercury rising. That magic 280 is still out of reach, but more than 200 miles on a charge is easily achievable - particularly if you do lots of dual-carriageway cruising - though the length of time I spent in wintry conditions really hit the overall average.