Roadtest: Renault Megane R26
May 14, 2008
When Ferrari wins Formula One world championships, its engineers are inspired to create cars such as the fantastic F430 Scuderia, which sports a F1-style paddlebox that'll shift cogs in blink-beating time. It's brilliant.
When Renault takes the top category's top prize, its marketing department wheels out a regular Megane three-door hot hatch with lots of stickers and a really humongous name.
To be fair, the ... take a deep breath ... Megane Renaultsport F1 Team R26 has been got at by the hommes avec spanners too, and with good effect. Obviously it's not in the same league as a Ferrari, it's still a really enlivening drive.
With an everyman $49,990 tag, the R26 is more accessible to those F1 punters who follow the action from their armchairs. Yet it's still F430 exclusive, due to the limited build run.
And Renault's policy is to only build F1 celebration cars when it's winning F1 championships. The R26 celebrates victory in 2006, though it's taken until 2008 to get here. This year Renault's F1 programme looks about as tasty as a soggy croissant. So don't expect to see another R26 equivalent in showrooms for a while yet, though the regular five-door R225 version will continue.
With so many rival cars already here - and more arriving daily (welcome, the Ford Focus XR5 and HSV Astra VXR) - the R26 is up against more competition than its circuit-based namesake faced two years ago.
Some colleagues reckon it's an outside chance due to it being strangely-shaped, having a ridiculous name and being part-coated in garish F1-theme decals. I say get over it. That's not odd; that's just French.
What they've tended to overlook is that while the Megane is not exactly a seriously pretty car - though I reckon it truly looks the business in shiny jet black - it nonetheless is a pretty serious one.
Door count aside, it differentiates from the RS225 by having bigger brakes, stiffer suspension, stickier tyres and a limited-slip differential to better control power delivery to and between the front wheels. Race touches within include a pair of beautiful Recaro chairs.
The 2.0-litre turbo engine is unchanged, but hardly needed any extra work, since it already delivers 169kW/310Nm, with 90 percent of peak torque on tap at just 2000rpm. Work the six-speed manual gearbox and it'll hit 100kmh from a standstill in 6.2 seconds and the standing kilometre in 26.4. Top speed is 245kmh.
For all the technology, there's not total finesse to its bombast; the driver's expected to put in the effort as well to contain the torque steer, thumpy and edgy ride and sometimes nervous steering. You'll need to watch yourself on a wet road, but that's just part of the 'quelle shock' entertainment.
Get to grip with its ways and you'll find it's a sharp, enjoyable funster that mostly holds hard, always sounds right and is pretty much as agile as they come.
With that sort of talent, a few chintzy stickers and a funny-looking bum surely aren't worth the worry.
For: Cracking performance, cheeky exhaust note, driver-focussed.
Against: Jiggly low speed ride, restricted interior, something's bound to fall off.
Score: Four stars.
When Renault takes the top category's top prize, its marketing department wheels out a regular Megane three-door hot hatch with lots of stickers and a really humongous name.
To be fair, the ... take a deep breath ... Megane Renaultsport F1 Team R26 has been got at by the hommes avec spanners too, and with good effect. Obviously it's not in the same league as a Ferrari, it's still a really enlivening drive.
With an everyman $49,990 tag, the R26 is more accessible to those F1 punters who follow the action from their armchairs. Yet it's still F430 exclusive, due to the limited build run.
And Renault's policy is to only build F1 celebration cars when it's winning F1 championships. The R26 celebrates victory in 2006, though it's taken until 2008 to get here. This year Renault's F1 programme looks about as tasty as a soggy croissant. So don't expect to see another R26 equivalent in showrooms for a while yet, though the regular five-door R225 version will continue.
With so many rival cars already here - and more arriving daily (welcome, the Ford Focus XR5 and HSV Astra VXR) - the R26 is up against more competition than its circuit-based namesake faced two years ago.
Some colleagues reckon it's an outside chance due to it being strangely-shaped, having a ridiculous name and being part-coated in garish F1-theme decals. I say get over it. That's not odd; that's just French.
What they've tended to overlook is that while the Megane is not exactly a seriously pretty car - though I reckon it truly looks the business in shiny jet black - it nonetheless is a pretty serious one.
Door count aside, it differentiates from the RS225 by having bigger brakes, stiffer suspension, stickier tyres and a limited-slip differential to better control power delivery to and between the front wheels. Race touches within include a pair of beautiful Recaro chairs.
The 2.0-litre turbo engine is unchanged, but hardly needed any extra work, since it already delivers 169kW/310Nm, with 90 percent of peak torque on tap at just 2000rpm. Work the six-speed manual gearbox and it'll hit 100kmh from a standstill in 6.2 seconds and the standing kilometre in 26.4. Top speed is 245kmh.
For all the technology, there's not total finesse to its bombast; the driver's expected to put in the effort as well to contain the torque steer, thumpy and edgy ride and sometimes nervous steering. You'll need to watch yourself on a wet road, but that's just part of the 'quelle shock' entertainment.
Get to grip with its ways and you'll find it's a sharp, enjoyable funster that mostly holds hard, always sounds right and is pretty much as agile as they come.
With that sort of talent, a few chintzy stickers and a funny-looking bum surely aren't worth the worry.
For: Cracking performance, cheeky exhaust note, driver-focussed.
Against: Jiggly low speed ride, restricted interior, something's bound to fall off.
Score: Four stars.
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