19 November 2012
The hot hatch domination
Renault has a proud motor racing heritage with past success in Formula 1 as well as rallying. Currently a quarter of the cars on the F1 starting grid use their engines. The company’s strengths lie with their motorsport division and plans are in the pipeline for the revival of the iconic Alpine brand which in earlier times dominated racing circuits around the world. Alain Prost, four time F1 world champion racing driver, has joined the ranks at Renault as their brand ambassador which is a fitting selection considering he spent most of his career driving Renault F1 cars and Renault powered racing cars.
The hot hatch segment has always produced entertaining cars to drive and since the 1970’s performance versions of the VW Golf, the Renault 5 and Ford’s Escort, to name a few were the vehicles of choice for car enthusiasts.
Taking performance to a whole new level
The launch of the Megane III Renault Sport 250 received widespread interest, especially in European markets, for its superb handling capabilities and a useful 250hp on tap. But with the forever changing new car market Renault decided not to stop there and tweaked the engine a bit more to keep ahead of the pack and clinch the French police tender for the replacement of their high speed rapid-intervention vehicles. The engineers gained an extra 15hp/20Nm by boosting the turbo pressure by 0.2 bars and revising the air intake system. The new Megane RS265, with 265 ponies under the hood, edges the performance figures a fraction past the competition in this hot hatch price bracket. On the track it doesn’t fare too badly either and it recently produced the fastest lap time for a production front wheel drive car around the legendary Nürburgring Nordschleife which was previously held by its sibling the Megane II R26R.
Renault’s Megane II gained a lot of attention in 2003 for its quirky rear end styling but a model later it has a sleek new look. The RS265’s F1 inspired front splitter, blackened front bumper, bulgy door protective mouldings, rear diffuser and LED daytime running lights add to its road presence.
The interior is kept simple and black gloss is used on the door handles, centre console trim and the air vents. The chequered aluminium foot pedals, carbon fibre look material on the door panels as well as the coloured seat belts confirm its sporty character.
A tame town driver
The RS265 feels rather placid when driving it up to our public road speed limit of 50km/h but the driver can tweak the throttle response for a livelier drive by selecting sport mode and choosing one of five settings. The 2.0L turbocharged engine starts to display its lunacy past 3000rpm and the 196kW/360Nm is unleashed while swallowing its drink of choice, the premium 98 RON high octane fuel, at a claimed 8.2L/100km in a combined cycle. A split second has been shaved off the 0-100km/h sprint time and the RS265 is claimed to reach our motorway speed limit in six seconds flat.
The six-speed manual transmission is nicely geared for a sporty ride but drivers who prefer two pedals will be disappointed that no dual-clutch or fully auto ‘box is available. The limited-slip differential (LSD) keeps the torque on the wheel with the most grip and makes powering the car through the corners a lot of fun. Renault’s PerfoHub independent steering axis front suspension setup works to reduce the dreaded torque steer but like any performance front wheel drive car the tug on the steering wheel is evident.
In the tight corners the Michelin Sport tyres, fitted to the Trophy’s 19-inch and Cup's 18-inch alloy-wheel rims, stick like glue on the tar surface. The cars handling capabilities are one of the best in its class and just when you think it’s pushed to its limits in the corners it allows a bit more.
The Renault Sport Monitor is a great feature for the weekend racer and supplies the driver with real time data for the amount of transverse and longitudinal G’s, turbo pressure, lap timer, acceleration times and some core engine operating data.
Active safety features include a sports tuned Electronic Stability Programme (ESP) with the ability to change the level of assistance, Anti-Slip Regulation (ASR) and Emergency Brake Distribution (EBD). The car is awarded a five-star Euro NCAP crash test rating.
The Megane RS265 Cup starts the price list off at $53,900 while the Trophy adds another $6,000 to the sticker. The Cup comes standard with 18-inch alloy wheel rims, red seat belts and Renault Sport cloth seats. The Trophy model upgrades to 19-inch alloy wheel rims, yellow seat belts, Recaro seats, tyre-pressure monitoring and keyless entry/start.
Competition in the hot hatch segment is as tough as it can get. Volkswagen offers a good package with the Golf GTi while Ford has recently launched the new Focus ST to NZ. Both cars have modern interiors and four doors to their advantage but on looks and track car like performance the Renault tips the scales.