Renault MeganeTrophy

REPORT 7

£ 31,835 OTR/£36,185 as tested/£455pcm

WHY IT’ S HERE

Meh first impressions. Can RenaultSport redeem itself over time?

DRIVER

Stephen Dobie

SUNDERLAND AFC IS THE BANE OF MY LIFE. I’VE LOVED THE CLUB SINCE

discovering football as a toddler and yet, week after week, they do their best to chip away at my adoration. Why is this relevant? Because the same perseverance SAFC asks of me is also necessary with our Megane Trophy.

I adored the previous-gen Megane RS, as intense and rewarding as hot hatches get. But this Megane has proved a tricky bugger to understand so far, a bipolar hot hatch seemingly unsure whether to serve up the precision of its ancestors or the plushness of a Golf GTI. And achieving neither.

In the same way I keep standing in dodgy League One grounds, hoping Sunderland suddenly becomes good, I’ve been driving our Trophy hoping I’ll have The Drive that brings its blurred character into focus. It’s occasionally happened, but usually at commitment levels far beyond its forebears.

My suspicion upon first driving the new RS in 2018 was that it’d be easiest to comprehend in its softest form (comfy Sport chassis, optional paddleshift gearbox), prompting a quiet sit down to ponder just what a boring old man I’d become. This month I’ve been driving our Trophy alongside that exact spec.

It turns out, a Megane Sport with EDC is a better everyday car than… well, every RS before. It’ll slot into your life as easily as any fast VW. But RenaultSport has still mucked up the details: the paddles are too small and the mechanical handbrake has been switched for electronic.

It’s objectively more rounded than the Trophy, much like Liverpool objectively kicks balls better than Sunderland. But I’ll never support another football team, and I’ll always buy the hardcore, manual-equipped version of any hot hatch, even if it means defying logic. Short of the mesmeric, £72k Trophy R, our Trophy would still be my new Megane of choice.