There was a time, before the rise of Jennifer Lopez, Nicki Minaj and Kim Kardashian, where it was considered almost shameful for a woman to have a large posterior. Among some groups, however, a curvy rear had been a thoroughly desirable trait. In 1992, Sir Mix-a-Lot dropped the unforgettable track “Baby Got Back” which celebrated big butts and became an iconic song in popular culture.
While its lyrics initially seem to be objectifying of women, the song was actually written to increase pop culture representation of curvier women, particularly women of color. Of course, the song was also incredibly catchy and that was one of the reasons it was used in commercials for the 2002 Renault Mégane.
The other reason was, well, the Mégane’s own big ass, as the feature car’s personalized plate succinctly summarizes. After a decade of conservative designs like the Safrane and the 19, Renault was ready to shake things up, including the booty of its C-segment offering – other launch commercials featured Groove Armada’s “I See You Baby (Shaking That Ass)”. The Mégane’s derriere was its defining feature but there was still plenty of attention lavished on its angular and more dynamic front end.
As a quick aside, though, that the Mégane’s license plate isn’t even the funniest one I’ve seen. There’s nothing about a Volkswagen Polo that especially resembles breasts, however. Although it does have a pair of headlights…
The first-generation Mégane had a rather pert little tuchus but the second-generation took it to a whole new level. Sales, too, climbed dramatically – up from a high of 327k units in the first-generation to 465k units in 2004. Subsequent generations of Mégane have never again reached those lofty heights.
But then again, they had small butts.
We rented this gen Mégane, with a diesel and 5 speed, and drove from Paris to Provence, then Barcelona, over the Pyrenees back in to France, up to Geneva and back to Paris, in 2004. An excellent car in every way, certainly my favorite rental compared to Cutlasses, B210’s, Malibu’s, Mustangs, even a petrol A Class Mercedes. European urban-core traffic, Alpine twisties, Autoroute at speed … loaded with four and luggage the power, comfort and fuel economy were excellent. And all with a 1.5 Turbo. But perhaps the best feature was the underfloor storage bins in back. By the way, those license plates wouldn’t pass the DMV censors here.
Just what I was thinking: our DMV is very quick with the hook on anything even slightly controversial.
This is a very odd-looking but strangely loveable car. I wonder if there was some rationale behind (ha!) that rear end or if it was strictly a styling decision.
Those are the some of the reasons I drive a French turbo diesel car in preference to others efforts, hard to beat once youve owned a few.
Count me as a fan as well, the styling was certainly different than the norm, a necessity if one wishes to make an impact and stand out from the crowd. It’s exactly this Renault influence that has carried over to some Nissan models, for better or (in some people’s opinions) worse. The Megane is still memorable some fifteen years after its debut, which isn’t something that can be said about a Golf, Astra, or anything else it competed with.
Renault certainly went through a weird phase in its styling. I find the Megane to be different, and not in an attractive way. The two-door version is even worse.
Strange to think that anybody would have bought one.
Reminds me of the Nissan Versa a buddy had for his daily commute. It was ugly as hell with a similar big butt 😱😱😱😱😱😱😱
Reminds me of the Nissan Versa a buddy had
iirc, the first gen Versa hatchback was essentially a Mexican built Renault with a Nissan powertrain stuffed in.
Ah!
Nissan revealed the C-Note concept car in 2003 to preview the styling of the upcoming Nissan Tiida (C11). It is a concept hatchback based on the same platform of the Renault Megane.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Tiida
It looks like an attempt to further the styling cues that first appeared (?) on the Vel Satis. Even Renault’s smaller Clio continues this styling theme, though being a Focus (?) sized car (or is it a Fiesta sized car?) the big butt look is somewhat toned down/de-emphasized.
About the only car that Nissan builds that vaguely resembles this Megane is the Note. Unfortunately, Nissan doesn’t build any Note that is as much fun to drive as it’s Renault “sister”?
Renault Clio = B-segment = Ford Fiesta.
Big Bottom. Big Bottom.
Talk about Bum Cakes
Our cars Got em.
w/ apologies to Spinal Tap
William, is that a standard-issue number plate? i.e., did someone just randomly get ASSigned that number from the Queensland government, or is that a custom-ordered vanity plate?
As far as I know, Queensland has six-digit plates, with three numbers followed by three letters — so this seems to fit. But either way, I’m pretty surprised.
Several years ago, Tennessee officials issued a plate sequence containing the sequence “FAT,” and lots of people complained. I can’t imagine the uproar if it had been ASS instead. And here in Virginia, which is more lenient than most states about what gets through the censors on vanity plates, I doubt this would get issued.
NC recalled every plate that was randomly assigned the sequence “WTF-####” about a decade ago due to complaints from religious groups. I worked in rental cars at the time. It created a sh!tstorm of having to rent the cars back to NC to be re-plated.
I had QLD, 313 OTO, a 68 Volkswagen Kombi, I called it Otto,
There are always a few unforeseen combinations that could be read as a naughty phrase that get through. Like the guy in Florida who was randomly issued A55 RGY. Besides the fact that A55 could be read as ASS, the orange that was used in Florida’s plate design at the time kind of looked like an O, having the overall effect of making the plate appear to say ASS ORGY.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/licensed-to-thrill/
Actually after reading some of the other stories I’m kind of surprised that they allowed the A55 series at all.
I wonder if the hatchback was responsible for that dramatic rising in sales, the SW and sedan are really attractive. In person it looks like, from a positive statement, a revival of the 50’s DWK Belcar rear side. But for me it looks like a countertop blender or a camp lamplight.
To my eye, Renault left Gallic strangeness behind just as they made their push in the US with AMC, offering relatively handsome cars, the 18i wagon being a particular favorite of mine, that diverged from the oddness of offerings like the 16 and 12. Now Renault has again lurched into the bizarre.
Nothing terribly bizarre about their current lineup, Steve. Things were definitely wackier 10 years ago.
That’s right. I would even say there’s nothing slightly bizarre about their whole current lineup.
The hatchback that had implants because it wanted to be more like a sedan 🙂
Hey well, butt implants are a thing nowadays…
In Germany they were rather common upon introduction and I found their oddness slightly appealing. There was the real deal sedan version too, which gave me the disturbing sensation of being able to reach my palm halfway into the gap between rear quarter and the closed trunk lid. On a brand new example, at the dealer’s lot, no less.
This generation, with the exception of the (steel roof-) convertibles, went thoroughly extinct over here, while it’s still not hard to spot the occasional R19 and Megane Ph1.
Same here in Austria – they sold reasonably well back then but you hardly ever see them nowadays.
Great cars, other than the windows going up and down of their own accord occasionally.
The diesels were best, we had the 1.9 with a 6 speed which seemed amazingly quick in terms of real world usefulness, but I think my favourite was the 1.5 with 5 speed which dman mentioned above. My only reservation was it seemed to have only just enough power, but it just felt very “right”.
FWIW, when we rented the 1.5 diesel Mégane, our cars at home were a 2.5 Turbo Forester and a 1.8T Volkswagen, both with manual transmissions. By those standards, the 1.5 Mégane felt torquely and tractable. I assumed it was a 1.9 or 2.0 Diesel, and was very surprised when I popped the hood and saw 1.5 on the cam cover. It averaged about 45 US mpg over 2000 or so miles of varied driving.
Yeah they never felt too slow to me, and we had Jags, an M3, a 911 on that fleet – it just seemed like thrashing them wouldn’t give you much extra. The 1.9 felt almost unnecessarily fast – I don’t know the figures but it felt more powerful than the equivalent Golf.
Well..the brand new Mégane has just enough weirdness. Drove one and loved the hell out of that car, also with a 1.5 the only bad thing was the gunslit windows.
Bold effort for a bill-paying mainline car, architectural, striking, and still interesting now.
Ofcourse, trying to sell such elan to Ostraylians, who were not known for their tolerance of anything with an unconservative appearance, was doomed to fizzle. Renault launched in 2001, spending a huge $20million in advertising, confident that the big spend would net them 25K yearly sales within a few years. In the following decade, they never sold more than 4K-odd in a year.
We wouldn’t buy the car, but least (mostly) irreligious Australia wouldn’t be bothered by that registration.
I like the car, but folks, the French make really good wine which it improves as it ages. With cars, they only ever mastered the first bit. Having not so long cleansed myself of a Renault from this era, I would counsel you never to purchase one from the vintage. To continue the analogy, they turn to vinegar.
And if no-one much here wanted a big butt then, they sure don’t want a big sour one now.
Is it Ostraylians or Strayans? Which way is it?
Depends on your accent! Do you speak ocker or strine?
And so… a new piece of of info for my education has been found 🙂
I have heard the difference, didn’t know the names.
There was a time, before the rise of Jennifer Lopez, Nicki Minaj and Kim Kardashian, where it was considered almost shameful for a woman to have a large posterior.
I would love to know in which parallel universe such nonsense happened.
BTW, love the plates, well played in both cases. I thought the QLD government was against all that. Not too long ago they were chasing this campervan for rent company for allegedly “offensive” writings on their vans. The vans, their decoration and messages were EPIC… I guess until the fun police intervened.
I remember sitting in a sedan, and a couple of things impressed me: the rear door sunshades, which I thought were a frivolity UNTIL… I moved here. The other thing was how spacious and comfy it was at the front. The bad part was… the superb seats fitted to R18, R21 and R19 16S were not present on that car.
I’ve seen a few of those campers, most of the stuff was funny but there were some that was just plain wrong to the point that if I came across them and had a spray can I would have painted over them, which I don’t say lightly.
I think the previous Suzuki Swift (2010-15) was inspired by this car, and I agree with the comment about the Nissan Versa, especially the sedan whose rear overhang is a bit too big for my tastes.
It has not nearly as large a behind as the Dodge MaxiWagon from Paul’s article. Now that is BIG!
In the context of the entire car, the rear looks a lot less strange. It makes for a good design in its entirety, a congruous design, unique in a good way. Always liked these cars, also got a nice, airy interior despite the so-so quality of the plastics. Fun to drive, too, direct steering (though without feel), good road-holding, and the diesel engines are lively.
Wouldn’t want to own one though. Renault also jammed in too many newfangled electronic gizmos that would inevitably cause problems, of which my mum’s ’01 Laguna had far too many.
(image source: Norbert Aepli on Vicipaedia)
Non-sequitur of the day: Mégane always appeared too similar to “Migraine” to my Anglophone self.