TAKE Renault's excellent new Megane and add the power unit from the Renaultsport Clio and you have the excellent new range topping GT.

It boasts 205bhp from that 1.6 petrol turbo and has the company's twin clutch seven-speed automatic gearbox as standard.

I used it for a marvellous cross country trip to another car maker's driving day 70 miles away, using minor A and B roads that I know well.

Anyone can find these back road routes, which are mainly traffic free even in the middle of the day, but you have to ditch the sat nav.

Just get the good old fashioned map out and they can be seen quite easily by looking in the direction you want to go, but avoiding main roads and motorways.

What an absolute winner the Megane is. The smooth and refined engine pulls from fairly low revs all the way to the red line without a break, giving tremendous acceleration in every gear.

Push the accelerator down a little further and it changes down to give even more kick in the back and allow the easiest and safest overtaking.

Like many other hot hatches, it does have a fairly knobbly ride on rougher surfaces and sometimes in town, but it's by no means the worst.

The steering is taut and precise, full of feel and marvellous to use and the road holding is superb and very safe, never upset by lumps and bumps mid-corner.

The twin clutch gearbox works well, but is not quite as intuitive as the best. It changes up too soon at some points and doesn't change up soon enough at others.

It has eco, normal, sport and manual modes to suit whatever driving you feel like that day and manual uses big well-shaped paddles behind the steering wheel to do the split second changes.

The different gearbox settings change the look of the digital instrument panel so that in normal, you have an analogue-look tacho with a digital speedo in the centre.

Change to sport and this layout stays the same but is highlighted in red instead of a neutral colour.

Eco mode brings much earlier change-up points to save fuel and sport adds an electronically produced louder exhaust note.

Inside, there's a vertical A4 shaped screen at the top of the centre console that controls stereo, standard sat nav, trip computer and climate.

The suede-covered seats are very hip and back hugging, holding very well in the corners, yet are also easy of access.

Other equipment includes, cruise, voice activation and phone controls on the steering wheel, very good stop start and keyless entry and starting.

This opens the automatic folding mirrors as you approach the car with the key in your pocket and each has a very useful puddle light on the underside. It also locks the car automatically as you walk away with the key.