Visually the 2-litre Sport Hatch (the name simply denotes the three-door shape) Dynamique (sports trim) gets off to a good start. It looks clean, taut and purposeful on its standard 17in alloys and the Avantime-esque boot treatment soon grows on you. Inside it's all pretty encouraging, too. The dash looks and feels substantial and the new six-speed 'box promises a sporty drive.

Move off and, initially at least, the Sport Hatch keeps up its sporting pretensions. The generous wheel and tyre combo in conjunction with the new suspension - the usual Renault arrangement of struts up front, torsion beam astern - create a surprisingly jiggly ride, but the structure seems resolutely stiff and there's a nice feeling that the dampers are well up to the job of tying down the rather upright body. Through fast sweepers they do just that, though the new variable-assistance electric power steering is rather vague, knocking your confidence with each small correction required to stay on line.

Renault chose a fantastic route for the launch, which took in the boring but necessary motorways (where the Megane is stable but hampered by a droning engine) and then threw in a few corking roads that would be perfect for a tarmac rally. On the latter, suspicions that the Megane wasn't honed for sheer driving thrills were confirmed. The radical-looking hatch proved swift and grippy but ultimately lacking the involvement and depth of ability to worry a Focus. The 2-litre engine struggles to overcome the weight of the abundantly equipped Megane, straining as it tries to respond to your necessarily heavy right foot. Still, the long-throw six-speeder works well and encourages you to keep the engine on the boil, and there's plenty of grip to carry speed through corners.

The biggest worry for keen drivers is the non-switchable ESP stability control system. It's a clever Bosch set-up with a new understeer-reducing program called CSV Understeer Control, but the harder you go the more frustrated you'll become. In fast corners it's pleasingly unobtrusive but, as the road tightens and twists, your progress is interrupted by heavy jabs of braking, which make you look clumsy.

It's a shame because when I tried the 1.6-litre car, which doesn't feature ESP or CSV as standard, it proved fluid and predictable up to and beyond the limit on smooth roads. Even if you could disable the stability control, though, there's unpleasant kickback through the steering when the chassis is loaded, and pronounced body-roll in slow and medium-speed corners which fudges direction changes, enough to put you off wringing the maximum from the Megane just for the hell of it.

Perhaps this lack of real tactile involvement is to be expected. After all, the Sport Hatch doesn't exactly scream 'performance'. In truth, Megane II is intended to distance Renault from the herd and usher into the mainstream the design themes started with the Vel Satis and Avantime. It will sell on a particular set of strengths; quirky looks, equipment (including Mercedes-style keyless-go), safety levels, and value for money.

So RenaultSport will have plenty to do if it hopes to challenge Ford and SEAT with a genuinely hot Megane. Right now we can't recommend the Sport Hatch to enthusiasts as an alternative to the Focus. It's not that it's a bad car - in many ways it's very good; at present it simply doesn't feel set-up for people like us.

But beneath that pesky ESP system and the compromised chassis settings there's real potential. Let's hope RenaultSport unlocks it with its turbocharged take on Megane II, due next year.