Today spotted for the first time a new (171 on Irish plates) Renault Megane Grand Coupe saloon.

 

What a good looking car!

The hatchback of them you get here are distinctive from the front, though on side profile they look like every other tortoise shaped hatchback.

 

The saloon looks somehow classier, better resolved from the side profile and rear.

 

It looked like a hire car, given the new plate and 'Diesel' sticker on the fuel flap.

(Irish car hire companies are fond of small saloons which they can 'upsell' as large cars)

It's not bad looking but doesn't look to be coming to the UK.

 

Sadly no.

 

The example I saw was on Irish plates.

 

The Irish market gets a lot of small saloons that the UK market doesn't, for example:

- Renault Megane / Fluence

- Toyota Corolla

- Opel Astra 4 door

- Ford Focus 4 door

- Fiat Tipo 4 door

 

Occasionally seen up north either as lost tourists with hire cars, or registered as grey imports (A lot of Nissan Tiidas found their way as imports)

Thought the fluence was a sort of replacement for the crap sales figures the laguna 3 suffered after the 2nd gen was such a bucket of unreliability?

 

Didnt realise the uk doesnt get the astra saloon or focus saloon. Not that either are particularly interesting... but i agree about the "upselling as bigger cars" the idea being a bigger boot that you cant into anyway.

 Saloon corolla always sold well here,farmers bought thousands of them from about 1988 onwards. Didnt like the one circa 2004, most swapped to passats/jettas and mk1 octys around then

Shame we won't get that over here. I like it. A lot

 

There is some sense in not bothering though, we had the focus Mk1 'saloon' which were rare as hens teeth, and we got the Jetta as well which never exactly sold in big numbers.

On 19/04/2017 at 21:34, mac11irl said:

Thought the fluence was a sort of replacement for the crap sales figures the laguna 3 suffered after the 2nd gen was such a bucket of unreliability?

 

Didnt realise the uk doesnt get the astra saloon or focus saloon. Not that either are particularly interesting... but i agree about the "upselling as bigger cars" the idea being a bigger boot that you cant into anyway.

 Saloon corolla always sold well here,farmers bought thousands of them from about 1988 onwards. Didnt like the one circa 2004, most swapped to passats/jettas and mk1 octys around then

 

The mk3 Laguna seemed to take the questionable reliability of the mk2 and wrap it up in a body with a face like a Moomin.

Other than the gorgeous coupe that was like a poor man's DB9.

 

Fluence was a Megane saloon, so could be sold with the smaller tax friendly engines. It was only officially sold up north as an EV, though I've seen a few NI reg grey imports, likely ex-hire cars.

 

The farmers in the south used to love their Carina diesels, about 10 years ago they were everywhere, but like you say about the Corolla, they don't seem to have taken to the Avensis.

 

I actually prefer the look of a saloon car, and wish we got the same in the north. I bought the Octavia as it has that similar look but a big practical hatchback bootlid.

Edited 21 April, 20179 yr by WillM82

Ohhh the auld carina diesel. Many hundreds of them seen with bales of hay stickin out of the boot