Road Test: 2011 Renault Megane R.S.

Renault Megane R.S. clearly stands out from the crowd with its sporty looks. The Megane Coupe, in which this R.S. model is based on, looks quite good already in its basic form and therefore gives a good starting point for this faster model. Megane R.S. has a sportier front bumper with wide air intake, rear lip spoiler, side skirts and wider wheelarches to accommodate the 18- inch wheels. Looking from the rear you notice the single, central exhaust tailpipe and aerodynamic diffuser. If you are still confused what car you are looking at, there are Renault Sport-badging on the grille, tailgate, sills, headrests, rev-counter background and dashboard trim. Although other colours are also available, this Sport Yellow is the natural choice for a Renault Sport.

The same sporty and yellow theme that started from the exterior, continues inside the cabin. The sport seats are standard and these Recaro seats with cloth- or leather-upholstery are available as an option. The seating position is very low and gives you a kind of go-kart feeling to the driving. The Recaro seats give a very good support and they feel like track ready. The sport steering wheel is trimmed in full-grain leatherand has a yellow centre-point marking. Steering wheel is both height- and reach-adjustable and the integrated thumb rests ensure the perfect grip. The cabin features a dark charcoal trim which contrasts nicely with the Sport Yellow rev-counter background and steeringwheel stitching. As an extra, you can have the yellow seatbelts and two-tone grey and yellow upholstery, as well as the yellow door-panel and gear lever knob stitching. The aluminium-faced pedals and footrest gives the final touch to the Renault Sport interior.

Road Test: 2011 Renault Megane R.S. - white

Megane R.S. is powered by a 2.0-litre 16-valve turbocharged petrol engine. It produces 250 horsepower and 340 Newton metres of torque. The twin-scroll turbo system makes the engine very enjoyable to drive. 80 per cent of maximum torque is available at 1900rpm, so the Renault Sport drives easily also on the lower revs. However, the Megane Renault Sport really comes alive, when you give it more revs. Above 4000rpm the car really start to speed up, and all the 250 horsepower are available at 5500rpm. The car’s performance feels so good, that 250 horsepower sounds like an understatement. The car is really fun to drive, when accelerating on higher revs, but you don’t have much time to enjoy it as the rev limiter kicks in surprisingly quickly at 6500rpm. The Megane Renault Sport can accelerate from zero to hundred kilometres per hour in 6,1 seconds and reach a top speed of 250 km/h.

What makes the Megane Renault Sport really fun drive, is the fact that it is not just about the high performance engine. The whole car has been updated to the same level with the engine’s performance. Eventhough the Megane R.S. has an electric power steering, which isn’t always the best choice when you want the best steering feel. However, the steering feels very accurate and reacts quickly to the driver’s commands. It also provides quite a good feedback from the road. The high-performance car needs also a high-performance braking system. Megane Renault Sport has a four-pot Brembo callipers and 340mm vented brake discs at the front and 290mm discs at the rear.

Megane Renault Sport is available with choice of two chassis; Sport and Cup. On the road, the standard Sport chassis seems to be working very well. It makes the Megane R.S. very enjoyable to drive on a twistier road, but is also comfort enough for a longer drive as well. The Sport chassis has a specific damper and spring ratings. The diameter of the front anti-roll bar is 23mm. Compared with Megane Coupe, Renault Sport’s anti-roll performance is improved by 12.5 per cent. The Cup chassis is designed especially for the track use. Compared with the Sport chassis, anti-roll stiffness has been increased with a bigger-diameter anti-roll bar (24.2 mm) and the dampers are also specific. The overall anti-roll stiffness is improved by 15 per cent over the Sport chassis. The Cup chassis also comes with a limited slip differential (LSD).