Renault Sport Megane R26R
RENAULT INITIALLY struggled to shift the 230 R26Rs it brought to the UK, despite rave reviews for the £23k hardcore Megane. Today, the R26R is highly sought-after, and the 30k-miler advertised at K-Tec Racing looks conspicuously like good value at £20k.
Building on the already special R26 F1 Team 230, the R26R essentially introduced the 911 GT3 RS recipe to the hot hatch. Weight was thrown out like sand from a hot-air balloon losing altitude: carbon instead of steel bonnet, deleted rear seats and soundproofing, carbon-shelled Sabelt seats (with fiddly four-point harnesses) and a stark interior with bare door cards, button-free steering wheel and blankedoff infotainment.
The 227bhp 2.0-litre turbo engine, six-speed gearbox and limited-slip diff were unchanged from the regular R26, but weight dropped by 123kg to 1230kg. So even a decade on, the Megane still feels seriously quick, and though the soundtrack is a fairly charmless roar of turbo boost, this a responsive, linear and impressively flexible powerplant. An 8min 17sec lap of the Nürburgring was the stuff of records at the time.
The steering is punchy and accurate, the front end as fleet-footed as a skipping world champ, the brakes strong, but where the R26R really scores over the similar-inconcept Mini GP is with its damping and tyres. So despite the hardcore focus and tied-down body movements, the Megane rides with great sophistication, allowing it to scorch across really quite uneven ground without threatening to throw you into the scenery: partly because the springs are 10 per cent softer due to the reduced kerb weight; partly because the dampers are uprated.
Optional Toyo Proxes are as close to a slick as you’ll find on a road car, and the soft, sticky compound adds an almost racecar edge to the handling balance – it’s playfully adjustable, but you’re always pushing against very high levels of grip, providing huge confidence when you chuck the Megane around. Which you’ll inevitably want to do on every single drive.
The R26R isn’t just one of the great hot hatches – it’s one of the all-time great driver’s cars full stop.