What is it?
Just like its harder, sharper Trophy sibling, the entry-level version of Renault’s recently updated Mégane RS has been shorn of its six-speed manual gearbox.
If you've read Matt Saunders’ report on the Trophy, you'll know why. It makes for pretty depressing reading, so I won’t delve into it in too much detail here, but effectively it boils down to increasingly punitive emissions-based taxation in Renault Sport’s home country. A Mégane RS with a manual gearbox will cost French buyers more in tax than one with a six-speed dual-clutch automatic, so it has been dropped altogether. Sad news.
A modest hike in power and torque from the base Megane RS’s 1.8-litre four-pot petrol engine is something of a consolation, though; as is the arrival of new headlight and tail-light designs, an improved infotainment system and a redesigned instrument display. That motor now puts out 296bhp and 310lb ft instead of the 276bhp and 288lb ft it made previously and explains why it’s now called the Megane RS 300 (for 300PS, which is 296bhp) rather than the Megane RS 280.
Otherwise, it’s business as usual. You still get four-wheel steering and a set of rally-style hydraulic suspension bump stops. However, the firmer, more aggressive Cup chassis is now available on pricier Trophy models only so this revised Mégane RS 300 makes do with the softer Sport chassis set-up.
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Shame you can't get away from the family car look. The previous model RS looked far more special.
My 80yr old neighbor has a Megan's in the same color,and, at a quick glance, you swear they looked the same, that's Renaults problem with the Megan's, it's not different enough.
And a golf GTi etc is different enough from another golf? Isn't that their appeal, that they are performance versions of a standard car, people bemoan the spoilers on a type R as too much and love the conservatism in a golf GTi, so would have thought this Megan's to be spot on. I agree that it looks less appealing than the coupe they had previously but it is still a good looking car, but all the manufacturers are doing R line GT line etc that give the opportunity to have the hot hatch look on a more frugal family friendly model.
Oh, I can use the flappy paddles? And it costs me less? And it changes more efficiently? That can't be true, it's project fear.