There isn’t much time left until official showroom presentation of 2017 Renault Megane that is scheduled for September 19. It’s been almost a full year since the new model was shown to the World.

The head designer behind the new Megane is Laurens van den Acker who previously worked for Mazda.

Latest Megane installment is coming as a replacement for the model that was active since 2008, with the only change being large face-lift in 2014.

2017 model will be offered with two engine options. One being the 97kW/205Nm TCe 130, 1.2-litre turbocharged gasoline version that will feature in Life, Zen, and GT trim levels. At the same time, sport versions of Megane will have TCe205 1.6-litre, also turbocharged petrol unit, with 151kW/280Nm.

Diesel will also have its representative. The 1.5-litre unit capable of producing 81kW and 250 Nm will also be available in Australia together with five-door hatchback wagon version of Megane. Both of these will be introduced later, but the exact date was not yet disclosed.

The power distribution on the models with the less powerful engine will be handled by manual six-speed or seven-speed automatic ‘Efficient Dual Clutch’ (EDC) shifters while the sportier GT will come with the seven-speed transmission as standard.

Fuel economy on the 1.2-litre engine is worth mentioning because it is rated at 5.5 and 5.6L/100km for the manual and ECD transmission respectively. Results for the more powerful GT version are equally impressive with an average consumption of only 6.0L /100km; it might be higher than of the smaller unit, but we are also getting a lot more power.

Performance wise, 1.2-liter GT Megane can go from 0-100km in 10.6 seconds while the 1.6-liter option can do the same in 7.1 seconds.

The new Renault Megane is not going to be as powerful as the previous installment, but the people who disliked the last model for its only manual transmission are going to love this one for having both manual and automatic. At the same time, those who are in for a more power and higher price that come with it will have to wait few months for RS version of the Megane.

The price for the new 2017 Renault Megane will start with $22,490 which is about $500 more than what the previous model cost.