Renault Mégane RS Trophy
Well the French. Love them or hate them. Either way there are some things they just do better than the rest of the world. When it comes to cooking, they are known for having some of the finest food and most highly rated chefs. Their electronic music is one of the best you can find and they are undoubtedly the fastest when it comes to putting on a yellow vest and break things which are not theirs. Now you could argue that other nations have a better cuisine or even do better electronic music. The going-on-strike-thing however is quite hard to beat, as it seems to have become sort of a national sport. But there’s one more thing they undoubtedly do better than the rest. Hot-Hatchbacks.
The hot-hatch recipe is simple: Small hatchback, big engine in the front, FWD, three pedals and upgraded performance. That’s about it. Back in the days the Renault 5 Turbo, Peugeot 205 GTI, Renault Clio Williams, Clio 182 Trophy and Mégane R26.R were and still are regarded as some of the best hatchbacks ever made. Today however, the recipe has slightly changed as the Germans had a go on it because: “We can zo better zhan zhe French!”. Result: Ridiculously overpowered hatch-backs with well over 300HP, AWD, dual clutch gearboxes and much higher price tags.
What’s your deal with the Mégane RS?
All those modern super-hatches are nice and all, but the Mégane III RS was the car that made me fall in love with hot-hatches. Owning one became a personal goal, whose appeal didn't fade the slightest over the years. A lot of time has passed since and I’m still nowhere near owning one or in fact any car, because I can barely afford a life without a car. The lovely people at Renault Switzerland acknowledged my misery and kindly let me borrow their newest Mégane RS Trophy so I could pretend to own one for a week. It felt a bit like a meeting-your-hero-moment, which was sort of stressful as my expectations were high and I truly hoped it would meet them.
Let’s start with the looks. Do you like it from the outside?
Out of the three Mégane RS generations it is unarguably the best looking one. It adapts the very modern and sporty design language found across the whole current Renault range. The RS model gets some additional Renault Sport badging, aero parts and other bits and bobs which make it recognizable as a sport variant. What also sets it apart from a normal Mégane is the wider track, the flared wheel arches and the colour, which is very… orange. It’s called "Orange Tonic" and definitely is one of the best options available for the car. Not only does it stand out in the mass of dull grey and black cars, it also minimizes the chances of being unnoticed in traffic. It very much reminds me of a health & safety jacket which in the end is quite fitting for such a French car.
What about its abilities as a daily?
The great thing about hot hatches is that you can have loads of fun with them on a proper piece of road and don’t have to compromise much in daily usability. With the RS it’s the same story. Obviously it obtains some minor “disadvantages” that come with a performance upgraded car. The ride for example is quite stiff due to the stiffened suspension and the Cup Chassis. The wider track paired with limited visibility also makes it more nerve-wracking to maneuver in tight spaces. However it can be fitted with optional cameras and parking sensors, which won’t make it any harder to park than a shopping trolley.
On the inside you can get a nice set of alcantara Recaros with red contrast stitching. Apart from being some of my favorite seats they are extremely comfortable sport-seats as they nicely support the lower back and neatly hold you in place when going round bends.
The rear passenger area is not really a place you want to spend hours of your time. For shorter trips it’s absolutely fine and having five doors makes it a lot more convenient to access the rear. Gone are the days where you have to fiddle around the front seat, ruin the perfect driving position and dislocate your passengers kneecaps when putting the seat back in place.
Anything which is not that great?
First one would be the touchscreen and interface. Yes it’s nice and big, but it’s a bit troublesome to find the settings you want to change. Mainly because the interface is unintuitive and the screen doesn’t react that fast. Plus the car is so bumpy that hitting the right area of the touchscreen becomes similar to a game of darts. If you're listening to music you can’t even stabilize your hand on the side of the screen because you’ll turn deaf by the accidental increase of volume. That actually leads me to one of the better extras of the car. The Bose surround system. Not much to say about that except that it's exquisite.
The other major thing I don’t like is the placement of the flappy paddles. They are fixed at the steering column instead of being attached to the back of the steering wheel. If that's a good thing or not comes down to personal preferences but I often found myself searching for the paddles midway through a corner. Other than those two minor unpleasantries there isn’t anything else to bicker about.
Classic French car then. What about the drive?
Now let’s be honest. The only thing you care about is the way it drives because that’s what you’re most keen about if you consider getting a Mégane RS.
First of all there are four different driving modes. “Comfort”, which is useless as the dashboard is odd and the pedal is as responsive as a soggy baguette. “Normal” mode is your sensible day-to-day mode with a nice pedal progression and a simple comprehensible dashboard. Then we have “Sport” which transforms the car into a yobbo and “Race” which is the one to go if you’re really serious about going fast.
Give us some numbers.
To keep it brief. 1.8l 4-cyl engine with a ceramic Turbo derived from F1, 300HP, 420NM of torque at 3200RPM and a 0-100 time of 5.7 seconds. Weight-wise it tips the scale at 1568kg when equipped with the 6-speed “Efficient Dual Clutch“ gearbox or EDC in short. In terms of "which one should you buy" I would recommend the Trophy as it has more power, the Cup Chassis comes as standard, it’s fitted with better brakes, it gets a LSD and better suspension. Price for a Trophy? Starting at 44’100 CHF if you go for the EDC and a bit less for the manual.
Sounds decent. Does it drive as good as you expected?
To find out, I took the RS to its home. France. Up in the Vosges I could fully immerse in the RS experience whilst enjoying great views and even greater roads. Right off the start the engine feels fantastic as it is very torquey. At low revs there is noticeable turbo lag, but personally I like it as it adds character to the car and makes the progression to peak torque a lot more fun. Once you’re up to speed and keep the engine in higher revs, all of the power is disposable at your right foot without any lag whatsoever. The pedal is razor sharp and the steering provides you with lots of confidence and feedback through the corners. Whilst we’re at corners. When entering a slow corner with speed, the equipped Brembo brakes do an incredible job at slowing the car down. In the corner, you can feel the 4-wheel-steering pulling the car towards the apex and once out of the corner the improved limited slip differential equipped in the Trophy, does an unbelievable job. Like really unbelievable. I still can’t comprehend how they managed to build a car where you can get on the power this early with no sign of wheelspin, torque- or understeer. Weight-wise I expected the car to feel quite heavy as the addition of four wheel steering and other bits and bobs add some considerable weight. But no. I never felt like the weight caused any issues under braking or cornering. Overall it feels extremely well balanced and if we consider that the front end has to deal with housing the engine, powertrain, gearbox and differential, it becomes even more evident that the Renault Sport department knows what they are doing.
What about the gearbox?
When I picked the car up, I was a bit bummed that it wasn’t a manual as I always go on about how hot hatches have to be manuals. I quickly got over it because surprisingly the gearbox is really, really good. On my spirited drive, I was actually glad that it had the EDC as the manual would have been quite a handful.
Another thing I highly underestimated was the sound. I never felt like the older Mégane RS models are great sounding cars as their exhaust sound is quite airy and frankly a bit dull. I expected the new one to sound as boring but it didn’t. It was everything else I expected. This thing sounds amazing! In “Normal” mode it’s rather quiet but still lets you know that you’re in a sporty car. Once “Sport” mode is activated the valve opens up and gives you not only a louder car but also a much more aggressive and raspy sound inside the cabin that gets accompanied by some juvenile pops and bangs. It pops and bangs, all, the, time. Needless to say that it made me grin from ear to ear and behave like a 5 year old in a candy store. The down changes too are accompanied by cracks and pops which sound different every time, making clear that the car didn’t sit in a sound chamber to have its sound programmed by some boffins.
Seems like you liked it.
I very much did. But it was still missing something. About midway through my journey through the Vosges I felt comfortable enough to try “Race” mode as it turns off the traction control. Little did I know that “Race” doesn’t only do that. It turns the RS into a track ready missile. The pedal becomes sharper, the range of intoxicating noises gets even wider and the gearbox slaps the gears so hard it gives you a small kick in the back. It was at this point that all the pieces came together and I discovered the true greatness of the car.
Your final verdict then?
As already mentioned I was a bit worried that my childhood “hero” might disappoint. After a week with the car I can safely say that it didn’t. Yes the touch interface might need a bit of work and there sure are better and more comfortable dailies, but when it comes to sheer driving pleasure its without a doubt the most composed and best car I've driven yet. I also think that it's one of the best all-in-one cars you can buy right now. Because whether you have to do your weekly shopping, fancy a sporty weekend drive or feel like tearing up a racetrack, the Mégane RS will handle all of it with ease.
For more information about the Mégane RS Trophy visit the Renault Switzerland website.