That's the problem with these threads... cars are all about personal preference so any advice is basically useless. While you find it shitty, I quite like the steering. I got my Megane 1.6L 2007 model a month ago and it's a pleasure to drive. Everything's very smooth and I have to say it's one of the quietest cars I've been in. How you like the center console is a matter of taste. They've indeed opted for a pretty minimalistic console design (this is less the case for the manual ACs) but that happens to be what I like. As for road stability, we've had a pretty nice storm about 2 weeks ago with wind speeds up to 120 kph. On my way to work, the wind was blowing right at the side of the car and the car barely moved. I don't know if that's enough stability for you On a sidenote, the Megane should have leather steering wheel and gear knob as well. At least, mine does and all other options seem to be covered as well. The only difference I see is that mine has a manual gearbox. Again, cars are all down to personal preference, so the above is just "for the record". The only thing that can help is a test ride with all models you're considering.