Comparrison: Renault Megane W Reg 1.6 16V £2795
Rover 25 1.6i Y Reg £2995

please...

The Rover will be more reliable. Pretty much the same otherwise.

Megane . The Rover is crap!

If the Megane is in a good condition l would go for it .More spacious,comfortable.

The Rover is one of those cars that might be a dreadful headache later in life, as what with all the collapse of Rover & that, their image & values have suffered. They have good looks on their side, but brittle build quality & a question mark hanging over them regarding parts availability, although there is no problem at present. The Megane has a very good record for safety, but not so great for longevity. French cars in general r very flimsily put together, & often look shabby & feel ready to fall apart far quicker than most others. Their mechanical aspects r also often quite fragile, & u may end up spending more on garage bills than you'd hoped. If l had to choose between the two, I'd choose neither of them, & opt instead for an older Volkswagen Golf (or Vento/Bora, which r every bit as good, but cheaper), Escort/Focus (again, saloons r cheaper but every bit as good) or maybe look at a Skoda Octavia?

look before you buy rover as a lot of water trouble renult as alot of eletrick trouble

Well it is all a matter of taste & opinion, & of course experience with those types of car. Dynamically the Megane is a better car because the design is much more modern (remember the 25 is based on the old Rover 200 which is a 20 year old design). But the 25 is a steady car & easy to live with if serviced correctly etc etc, parts r cheap enough but remember the megane is in the same class (small family hatch) & has no major vices. l think it is safe to say that the megane will have a higher resale value. Ca not really say much more with out being biased to one or the other..

The Megane & Rover body shapes came out the same time, but the Rover recieved a better facelift from the 200 to the 25 than the Megane had with just a couple of grilles tacked on.
Reliability on the Rover is slightly better, parts prices for the Renault r a lot higher & harder to source as there is usually a choice of 10 & it goes on what the factory had at the time, not the model or engine size.
Parts availability for Rovers was & never will be an issue as Rover never made the parts, they r made by Caterpillar who make the excavation diggers.
Only semi common fault with the 25 is head gasket failure, no worse than Peugeot, ford or even BMW.
Megane suffers poor electrics, head gasket failures, flimsy build quality & non operative door locks.
Insurance is about the same.
It is down to looks & personal preferance.

You're talking elderly cars here, so any of the components, especially electrical, may fail with age. Build quality probably irrelevant, there is been a few years to see what drops off. l think the fact that Renault are still building the Megane would make me choose that. Rover are not building anything and the dealer and spares support must be doubtful. l have owned both in the past.

Having had both l would not choose either, they r both unreliable & have poor build quality. Rovers r renowned for having very expensive head gasket problems especially at the age you're looking at. Bits also tend to fall off the car (like door handles for example). The 25 is also far too cramped for todays standards though it is a good drive if u can fit in one. The Megane is equally as bad plus it does not even feel as good to driveas the rover. My advice to u would be to revise ur choice of car.