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Car #1
Make
Model
Variant
Engine
Car #2
Make
Model
Variant
Engine

compare selected cars
1998. - 2003.
C - Small family car
wagon, 5 door
4 x 4
Badges
Production
Vehicle class
Body style
Wheel drive
Safety
2000. - 2002.
C - Small family car
wagon, 5 door
front

Marketing

Dimensons & Outlines

4397 mm
1735 mm
1473 mm
460 liters
1470 liters
55 liters
Length
Width
Height
Boot (min)
Boot (max)
Fuel tank
4437 mm
1698 mm
1420 mm
485 liters
1600 liters
60 liters
1998 Volkswagen Golf Variant
2000 Renault Megane Break

Engine

Volkswagen
1.9 TDI ASZ
Diesel
4 - Inline, 2 valves per cylinder
Turbo
1896 cc
130 hp
310 Nm
Engine
Fuel
Configuration
Aspiration
Displacement
Power
Torque
Renault
1.9 F9Q1
Diesel
4 - Inline, 2 valves per cylinder
Turbo
1870 cc
102 hp
215 Nm

Performance (manual gearbox)

manual gearbox - 6 gears
1419 kg
10.3 s
202 km/h
8.0 l/100km
5.1 l/100km
6.2 l/100km
167 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
manual gearbox - 5 gears
1185 kg
12.2 s
182 km/h
7.2 l/100km
4.4 l/100km
5.4 l/100km
143 g/km

Performance (automatic gearbox)

 
kg
s
km/h
l/100km
l/100km
l/100km
g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
automatic - 4 gears
kg
s
km/h
l/100km
l/100km
l/100km
g/km

Expenses

800 EUR
Price from
600 EUR

Virtual Adviser's™ opinion

Overview

Two significantly similar cars, no doubt about that. Still, each one has something different to offer. Having both cars powered by diesel engines and utilizing the 5-door wagon body style within the same 'Small family car' segment, the only major difference here really is their wheel drive configuration (4 x 4 for the Volkswagen and front in the case of the Renault). The first one has a Volkswagen-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 4-cylinder, 8-valves 130hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 4-cylinder, 8-valves 102hp engine designed by Renault.

Safety

Both vehicles got tested by European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), with the same number of safety stars gained in the process. Still, apart from the official crash test results there are other things we need to be aware of. Both vehicles belong to the small family car segment, which is generally classifying them somewhere in the middle safety-wise, still it doesn't help us solve our dilemma, does it? Furthermore, taking kerb weight as an important factor into account, the German car offers a considerable difference of 20% more metal.

Reliability

I don't like generalizing things when it comes to reliability, although it does seem that Renault does have a slight advantage, at least on all of the models level. That's the official data, while our visitors describe reliability of Volkswagen, as well as Renault, with the same average rating of 4.2 out of 5. Some independent research have also placed Golf as average reliability-wise, and Megane is more or less at the same level.Above it all, drivers of cars with the same engine as the German car rank it on average as 4.5, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 4.3 out of 5.

Performance & Fuel economy

Volkswagen is undoubtly more agile, reaching 100km/h in 1.9 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 202 kilometers per hour, 20km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy the winner has to be the French car, averaging around 5.4 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (52 mpg), in combined cycle. We can't ignore that 15% difference compared to the German car.


Verdict

Renault appears just a bit more reliable, although the difference is truly marginal. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In my opinion, everything taken into account, the German car offers significantly better overall protection, taking the lead here. It all continues in the same direction, with Volkswagen being considerably quicker, thus putting more smile on driver's face. It does come at a cost though, and that's the fuel consumption... At the end, as much as I'd like to give you a winner here, it's simply a pure tie if you ask me. Anyway, that's the most objective conclusion I could've came up with and it's based solely on the information found on this website. Aspects such as design, practicality, brand value and driving experience are there for you to measure them out. In case you have two minutes to spare I invite you to define your needs, desires and budget and see which car would be chosen by the virtual adviser, out of 12.000+ vehicles we currently have in our database.

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