The revved up new Renault

YOU wil l not go unnoticed in your new Megane RS 280 should you decide to order it in Renault’s striking launch colour of Volcanic Orange. Sounds dramatic and potentially hideous, doesn’t it? Except it’s not, it’s actually really attractive. The bees around our place thought it was some kind of apian god sent down from heaven to lead them into one final mighty battle against the wasps. Couldn’t keep them away.

Perhaps it was the pearlescent paint that was the clincher, glistening under the summer sun and making the car seem alive before even the merest hint of internal combustion. Strident colours such as this seem to be the way forward with hot hatches nowadays. The new go-faster stripes. And why not? I think they look great.

Design-wise, it is clear from the off that this is no run-of-the-mill Renault Megane. It has that predatorily pert, ripped- andready-to-explode look of Muscle Beach about it. The chiselled bonnet sets the tone as it leers over the front bib, sports grille and new signature, active headlight clusters. It has the intense glare of a superhero just before he smashes some more baddies into oblivion. I like it. It sits somewhere in between the Focus RS (a wee bit conservative) and the Honda Civic Type R (everyone’s favourite psycho let out on day release.)

Road/ race hot hatches have to pretend to be practical, and the Megane RS 280 does as good a job as most. Boot space is OK but no more, as is room for the rear passengers. Of course, the thing that should be noted here is that anyone who buys a hot hatch as a daily driver doesn’t give a monkey’s about anyone but themselves – from a car point of view that is. The manufacturers join in with this by making all hot hatch rear passenger compartments look as sporty as the front, but that’s about it.

Alcantara and a plush bench seat do that here, or at least that’s what it looked like from the front. I think dads who make their families travel in a hot hatch on a regular basis should be deported to the salt flats of Utah and given a taste of their own medicine for, oh, let me see, at least 10,000 miles.

Spookily, though, Renault has given thought to rear-seat backs getting caught in seatbelts when one goes to fold them down, a right faff remedied here by simple clip- style seat belt braces that hold them out of the way.

Also worth a shout-out is the ease with which all four doors close – more reminiscent of a big German limo than a fiery French upstart. Along with the ‘Renault RS’ animated jingle that plays on the quirky touchscreen every time one steps into the footwell. This car also has the most assured keyless entry and exit mechanism I have yet to come across. Generally, the interior design is a little plain (especially for zee French). The mighty Bose sound system, however, is marvellous, albeit pricey at £800.

The RS Monitor Expert will, I’m sure, prove a hit in this new age of ‘must record everything, all of the time but for no apparent reason whatsoever’. This gimmicky technology enables drivers to film and record their driving prowess on their smartphones and even overlay the vehicle’s telemetry info on to video, presumably for equally sad people to watch online. Renault is actively encouraging this. Yawn.

For those of us who’d just rather drive the damned thing, there is much to look forward to. Remember the Alpine A110 that I fell in love with earlier this year? Same engine, my friends. Well, as near as dammit anyway, available in manual or paddle-shift.

The Megane RS 280 starts with aplomb, but merely switch to Sport mode or Race to add a more guttural rasp to proceedings.

The first outlier I noticed was how high the clutch biting point is in our manual version. Two options, then: get used to it, or switch to paddleshift. Say goodbye to your ego: that’s what I’d do given our time together again. Regardless of trans- mission, what happens thereafter had better be bloody impressive, as nowadays the Megane RS 280 has to compete with a never- growing pack of combined enemy firepower: the Audi RS 3, the Mercedes-AMG A45, that lunatic Honda Civic Type R and Ford Focus RS again. Excellent news for us consumers but a nightmare for manufacturers attempting to come up with a USP.

Renault is very good at creating record-breaking front-wheel-drive world-beaters, the problem now being that with more power – 280hp to be precise – keeping all four wheels on terra firma has become more of a challenge than ever before. Cue all- wheel steering, which causes the rear wheels to counter-steer in the opposite direction to that of the front. Usually only found on luxury sports cars, the names of which begin with letters such as P… and end in others such as …orsche. This has the effect of shortening the car’s wheelbase and whipping around the back end just as things feel like they might be going a bit Pete Tong at the front. It works like a dream, and not content with this trick, Renault has also fitted a hydraulic bump stop, ‘damper within a damper’ system to provide added comfort, while ensuring maximum contact with the road from all four wheels. Sounds impressive, doesn’t it? It is.

This car is an absolute joy to drive: throw it around like a maniac, have the odd intermittent blast in to brighten up one’s daily commute, rag around a track, or simply kick back in and drive normally.

There’s something about this Megane RS that really got under my skin. Sure, it will lack refinement for some and not be raw enough for others. Like a wise man once said of religion, the Buddha lacked a bit of seriousness, whereas Jesus could have done with having a bit more of a laugh.

You can’t pl ease al l of t he people all of time but… Oh, you know the rest.

THE CAR HAS THE GLARE OF A SUPERHERO