Sporty Megane is a real thriller

RS joins golden age of the hot hatch

VOLCANIC Orange. That’s the colour you should choose for your new Renault Megane RS.

There are lots of reasons to fall in love with this latest hot hatch and this vibrant paint colour is just one of them. The previous generation Renault Sport Megane was the best hot hatch of its generation in its swansong 275 Trophy spec.

One problem though – it wasn’t really a hatchback. In practical terms it was actually more like a coupe that had a tailgate. Not particularly handy for families, in other words. However, the new Megane RS is a proper fivedoor hatch and therefore it will be an easy job to persuade the family that it’s the perfect new car.

It also looks terrific, regardless of colour choice. The wings have been widened by 60mm at the front and by 45mm at the back, and the ride height is 5mm lower than the Megane GT. Both changes give the hot Megane a really imposing stance.

Under the skin is a new four- wheel steering system that Renault calls 4CONTROL. At high speeds the front and rear wheels turn in the same direction, at slow speeds in the opposite direction. The result is a very crisp turn-in and brilliant chassis response. As with the previous Renault Sport Megane, there are two different chassis/suspensions available. The first is the standard Sport set-up and the other is the Cup version, and Renault’s engineers have widened the gap

between them. In other words, the Sport chassis is now a bit softer and the Cup a bit more hard-edged for driving on tracks, and includes a Torsen limited slip differential instead of the Sport’s electronic differential. That said, the latter is still well suited to public roads and UK buyers have traditionally preferred it.

Which made it all the more annoying that at the Megane RS launch in Spain last month, we were given the standard car to drive on the road and the Cup to drive only on the Jerez race circuit.

The Megane RS is now available with the choice between a conventional six-speed manual gearbox and a double clutch EDC automatic with the same number of ratios.

Each car was fantastic in its respective environment and I suspect that the Cup chassis will be great on the road. The EDC gearbox is better than the one fitted to the Clio RS, but I’d still rather have the manual ’box. You can, by the way, order the EDC gearbox with the Cup chassis.

The engine is the same 1.8-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol motor that’s fitted to the Alpine 110 sports car, except in the Megane it produces 280bhp instead of the 250bhp in the A110.

Later in the year there’ll be a Trophy version of the Megane with 300bhp, but it’s more than fast enough with the current power output. Top speed is 158mph for the manual car and 0-62mph arrives in 5.8sec for both versions.

We don’t have a price for the Megane RS yet but it goes on sale officially in June. However, as an educated guess, I’d say they will start somewhere around £28,000 for the Sport with manual gearbox.

As I’ve said before, we’re in a golden era for hot hatches, with the current cars being as much fun as those made in the 1980s, but they are now better made and safer too.

This new Renault joins a bunch of brilliant motors that includes the Honda Civic Type R and the also recently launched Hyundai i30N.

We’ve never had it so good.

Top speed is 158mph and it does 0-62mph in 5.8 seconds