Group Test: Renault Megane RS 250 Cup vs Renault Megane RS F1 Team R26

When I last drove the limited-edition Megane R26 (less of a mouthful than its full name, “RenaultSport Megane F1 Team R26”) back in 2007, it blew me away with the sheer completeness of its performance. The power was addictive and the grip was superlative. Lusting for the R26 since then, I’ve managed to find one excuse after another to take out the local demonstrator for a spin –  I even bagged a drive in it at the Pasir Gudang race track!

Now, Renault has introduced a new go-faster Megane here, dubbed the RenaultSport 250 Cup. On the outside, the three-door Megane coupe body gets the full RenaultSport treatment – an aggressive F1-inspired front bumper with a large air intake and little LED daytime running lights, heavily sculpted side sills, a deep rear bumper with a centrally mounted exhaust “within” the black rear diffuser, a discreet roof spoiler atop the tailgate and purposeful black 18-inch wheels to fill those swollen arches. The Cup spec includes lowered suspension, which gives the car an even racier stance. Compared to the defunct R26, the RS 250 has a more convincing “get out of my way” attitude.

Developed by RenaultSport Technologies, the new Megane’s 250bhp 2-litre engine is an evolution of the R26’s 230bhp unit. The French boffins managed to extract an extra 20 horses from the venerable F4Rt 4-cylinder through a more responsive turbocharger, a continuously variable intake valve timing system and revised fuel injection mapping. Maximum torque of 340Nm is available at 3000rpm – an improvement on the R26’s 310Nm and the original Megane 225’s 300Nm.

Like in the R26, the Megane RS engine might not be as flexible as, say, the Golf GTI motor at low revs, but the acceleration is exceptional once the car hits its stride from 2000rpm upwards. The engine delivers fantastic mid-range punch, making overtaking a painless and effortless affair. On paper, the Megane RS accelerates from rest to 100km/h in just 6.1 seconds, which is not as rapid as the more powerful Scirocco R and Focus RS, but still almost half a second quicker than the already speedy R26.

A big letdown, however, is the uninspiring noise that the engine makes. It sounds more like a blender than something that delivers 250 horses, and the flat soundtrack is nowhere as intoxicating as that played by the Focus RS’s five-pot powerplant.

Having said that, the throttle response is fast and sharp enough in Normal mode. The driver can select Sport, or even Extreme, via the RenaultSport Monitor (a nifty on-board telemetry system) for even sharper throttle response. In line with its hard-core nature, the new RS is equipped with a launch control system called Power Start. This utilises the ESP to maximise traction when executing a standing start. There’s an additional Sport mode for the ESP that lets you have a bit more fun before the electronics step in.

There is no such thing as a fancy dual-clutch gearbox or a clever semi-automatic as far as the RenaultSport petrolheads are concerned. Just like the R26, the new RS 250 is only available with a good old 6-speed manual transmission. The shifter slides through the gates slickly and more precisely than in the R26, while the shift throws are short enough, if not quite Type R short.

Besides a lowered suspension, the Cup-spec RS 250 also comes with stiffer springs, a tweaked steering rack, wider tyres and the all-important LSD (Limited Slip Differential). These are the same items that made the R26 so much more impressive than the RS 225 it was spawned from.

The R26’s handling characteristics are still wonderful. Its helm is just fantastic – accurate, with spot-on weighting, and without the vagueness and numbness of the RS 225 steering. The R26 corners convincingly and its grip levels are simply astonishing. Put the power down mid-corner and the R26 sticks valiantly to the driver’s desired cornering line. You’d have to be stretching the laws of physics before understeer starts setting in. Traction out of bends is spectacular for a front-drive car, with the LSD obviously earning its keep.

The new RS 250 offers more of the same great handling. But to make this Megane dance, you’d have to drive it hard. Drive it gently and it’ll just behave like a French shopping trolley, albeit a lively one. Throw it onto any kind of twisty tarmac and it’ll just go about attacking the bitumen, while shrugging off mid-bend bumps. Thanks to the LSD, traction out of corners is simply colossal. Unlike in the R26, there’s none of the steering pull to one side when the LSD does its job at the “slow in, fast out” exit point, which is a good thing for the less experienced enthusiast.

Simply put, the steering of the RS 250 is sublime. It relays bucket loads of feedback and its tactility is spot-on. In fact, all the controls in the cockpit – pedals, helm and gearbox – seem nice and right, making the driver feel at one with the car. This is surely a sign that the latest RS has been developed by petrolheads for petrolheads. Even so, the enthusiasts disguised as engineers took the trouble to improve the ride quality vis-à-vis the R26 by fitting slightly more pliant suspension in the RS 250, thereby smoothening that highway cruise on your way to the circuit.

With the RenaultSport Monitor, you can scroll through a number of screens on the dash-mounted display, which shows info like the number of g you pull in a corner, engine parameters, lap times as well as performance data, such as your 0-100km/h timing. This device is yet another bit of F1-inspired kit for the open road.

The previous-generation Megane was known for its appalling lack of quality on the inside and this is evident in the R26. The new Megane’s cabin is a significant improvement over its predecessor’s, but it is still not of Volkswagen standard. Tasty go-faster parts for the RS 250 include two-piece Recaro bucket seats from the Clio R27, alloy foot pedals, matt carbon dashboard trim and a yellow rev counter with matching yellow seat belts.

The new RS 250 is a natural and effective evolution of the R26 concept. Renault has refined its medium hot hatch in many areas and consequently widened the RS’s appeal, despite the mass-market limitation of the manual-only gearbox.

R26 Owner’s Opinion

The RenaultSport Megane F1 Team R26 shares its name with the 2006 championship-winning machine piloted by Fernando Alonso. So was it Formula One that made Ken choose the R26 (in these pictures) as his daily ride?

The self-confessed Renault fan admits that it was more his desire to drive a car with a third pedal, which is a rarity these days, even among performance models. According to Ken, the first few days after he collected his R26 were “shocking”, but he quickly became a RenaultSport convert. “I never expected a car to be this fun, yet composed at speed, and that could dance, do a little shimmy  when pressing on. It was just fun!”, enthused Ken.

So what does he think of the new RS 250? “It feels like the love child of a refined R26 and a Golf GTI.” After driving the new car harder over a series of bends, Ken changed his mind. “The RenaultSport magic resurfaced and the car started to do the RS dance on the road. I was relieved! There is definitely the RenaultSport DNA, and it is alive in both cars, just that it is more immediately apparent in the R26 because of its lower levels of refinement.”

Renault Megane RS F1 Team R26
ENGINE: 1998cc, inline-4, 16-valves, turbocharged
MAX POWER: 230bhp at 5500rpm
MAX TORQUE: 310Nm at 3000rpm
GEARBOX: 6-speed manual
0-100KM/H: 6.5 seconds
TOP SPEED: 237km/h
CONSUMPTION: 11.8km/L (combined)
PRICE INCL. COE: Unavailable

Renault Megane RS 250 Cup
ENGINE: 1998cc, inline-4, 16-valves, turbocharged
MAX POWER: 250bhp at 5500rpm
MAX TORQUE: 340Nm at 3000rpm
GEARBOX: 6-speed manual
0-100KM/H: 6.1 seconds
TOP SPEED: 245km/h
CONSUMPTION: 11.9km/L (combined)
PRICE INCL. COE: Unavailable