Renault Sport Megane RS

This is a great car I really enjoy driving – I drive the everyday for just about any reason. It’s reasonably economical, it’s a lot of fun to drive. Renault have been great with servicing and warranty issues. I have read that some people don’t like the volume control stalk that’s behind the steering wheel but I think it’s great it’s always in the same spot so it’s easy to use. I get the car… Read more

serviced every 10 months or so. The only issue I have had was with the battery, once it needed replacement a strange intermittent problem with a rear seatbelt buckle occurred. This disappeared with a new battery. Other than this the car has been great. The brakes are fantastic and the handling is superb if you can put up with the stiff ride.

I love this car.

most fun i've had – mines on 201k and it has been very reliable with original motor and gearbox and no issues! the performance is mind blowing. I found this car by accident but omg it is more fun than alot of cars i have owned including c63, toyota 86, evo 10, wrx sti. why? It has a level of precision and responsiveness all those cars don't have. It truly is on… Read more

a different level. The suspension, steering, handling, braking, is on a different league compared to other those other sports cars.

But it does suffer in the ride department (it is bouncy) and it is not as quick off the line at a stop compared to some of those quicker cars due to FWD, but in gear the difference is not really noticeable.

Whoa! Strap yourselves in, boys! – Strap yourselves in, boys, we're in for some chop! Jaysus! I just bought a nice 275 cup premium Megane. The mrs wanted white, and I though white would be easier to live with after just selling my black car because my wife kept complaining about how dirty it was just a few days after washing it. So, we looked around for a white Megane. It had to be… Read more

the 275, and it had to be the premium or the trophy edition, because even though I heard stories about how hard the ride was and how snug the Recaro's felt, I knew I didn't care. Recaro's ticked the box and I didn't care about a stiff ride as I had just crawled out of a lowered Forester S edition and man, if you think the Megane is a rough ride, well, you should have taken a cruise with me in the Foz. I'll show you something to make you change your mind, and we won't have to ride down the Streets of London to prove it. So, we hunted around for a white one. Not an easy car to find with those specs. 275 premium cup edition in white. We looked at one at a car yard in Campbelltown. It was listed as a trophy edition. Had no stripes. Dealer says the stripes might have been taken off. Had no Recaro's. Dealer says they were swapped out for more comfortable seats. Seriously, why am I giving this turkey air time? It was plainly a Cup edition. And it had been in an accident and it had paint runs down the side, and overspray on the rubber seals. We left it there with the salesman running behind us telling us we'd be mad to walk away from the deal. Well, call us mad, but we did. We settled on a black one. Ha ha! But it's a lovely little thing and I promised my wife I would spend every weekend of my life washing and polishing it. Yeah, well that might last a week.

Sadly, my little Renault didn't last that long. Hope it's not an omen for worse things to come! A few days of fun driving and then noticed the dreaded stop light came on. A well known local Renault guy came and checked it over. Water pump leaking! Damn! And I was having so much fun, too!

A proper drivers car, a proper hot hatch – One for the subject matter experts. Uncompromising drivers car delight with serious engineering thought from the Renaultsport team on their flagship model. *Manual gearbox only with engaging gear ratios. *Good power and turbo motor that doesnt run out of puff towards the top end like many. *Limited slip differential - this car hooks up like… Read more

nothing else. An engineering marvel. *Steering well weighted. (Though it is electric) *Pedal placement bang on. *4 Pot brembo brakes, do the job well indeed. *Recaro manufactured CS Sportster seats. WOW. This seating position is bang on and looks the absolute biz. (Many competitor cars cheat you by just using recaro name licensing on their self made seats) *Titanium exhaust by Akrapovic, nice without going overboard on the pops and crackles. *Last 3 door car sold in Australia this size, has benefit of a higher chassis rigidity and lower weight to the entire market that is now entirely 5 doors.

It has some nuances, halogen only headlamps are lacking, high boot lip makes it harder to throw a bike in and aesthetically the wheel arch positioning to the wheel is lacking but it gets all the critical basics all right.

Avoid pot holes and don't skimp on the servicing & periodic timing belt replacement and only ever invest in the best tyres at the OEM sizing, Michelin Pilot Sport 4S.

Renault Megane RS280 – Great car. Looks sexy. Fast. Wide. Low. Sporty. And amazing all at the same time. Great design. Not boring like a VW Golf. Interior is very comfterble with sports bucket seats as standard. Power is absolutely amazing. Done just over 6000km now and fuel economy is improving more I drive it. Sport mode it's a Beast. Handles like a go cart. Pleasure… Read more

to drive. I have the EDC version AUTO. and it's so smooth. Not jerky like the VW Gold DSG box. I love this car.

Love but, compromise – I got a 2015 RS 265 Megane, with the 5 year warranty. This is my review. I'll start off with: this is not a typical comfort sports road car like your V8 SS, or Golf GTi. This is a track ready car, so expect compromises. As previously mentioned, the suspension will be stiff. The ride will be harsh at times. But this isn't a car that is meant to… Read more

live solely on normal road conditions.

Queue: take it to the track. Holy crap. It will keep up with cars that have twice as much power. How? That harsh ride stiffness, the beyond belief limited slip diff, and the grip in the corners. You may not keep up with power horses on the straights, but brake late and corner hardly, they'll be in your rear view mirror.

Now that I've explained that this is meant to be a harsh ride, one that is intended for the track I'll explain living with it:

1) Servicing is easy, and cheap. local mechanics can do it at around $180-250. You can do it yourself if you have the tools for $100. But it is every 10,000km. Timing belt needs changing at 5years, about $900. Not too bad given how fast the engine spins.

2) Driving to and from work can be rough on the road. It can be annoying, but you hit a corner a little faster, or you shift down to 2nd and add a bit of gas and all your worries disappear.

3) People will turn their heads and look at it. It is very pretty, it does attract attention, and there are not many on the roads.

4) Tyres cost between $450 - $1600 for a set. If you want quality, road tyres, expect $800 (without a 4 for 3 deal). They'll last 30,000-50,000km depending on how you drive.

5) Brake pads will wear down within 50,000km. Typical, around $140 for the pads and an hour of labour for any mechanic if you cannot do it yourself.

6) The boot may have a high lip, but for $40 you can buy a lip protector. The boot has fitted 2 full sized pieces of luggage + a backpack, without lowering the seats or removing the top liner. Lower the seats and theres more than enough room for everyday activities.

7) THE BIG PROBLEM: it is a french car, so changing the pollen filter, if you're doing it yourself, is more of a pain than having both arms chopped off one at a time with a blunt spoon stabbing motion. Take it to a service centre for this.

8) THE SMALL PROBLEM: the speakers are below par. Even the premium speakers. I changed them within 2 days. Not hard to change.

9) THE UNEXPECTED: drive it normally, your fuel usage will be 7.5-8.0L/100km at a cost of $90/Tank. Put it in sport mode, drive it lively, and you'll still only use about 8.5-9.0L/100km. This is on a combined highway (25%) and city roads (75%) trip.

For $24,000-26,000 you'll struggle to find a gti with the same km's or as young. And thats a good thing. All cars have their problems, but mechanically this is a wonder.

A love-hate relationship – As a long term fan of BMWs and the E46 330Ci in particular, I recently took a punt on something entirely different and bought a 2012 Megane RS 250 Trophy. The Trophy (or Tropheé, to be linguistically accurate!) is the next model in the range above the basic "Cup" and is better equipped, so worth paying the extra. I have to agree with previous… Read more

reviewers in that to enjoy the brilliant performance of the RS versions you must be prepared to compromise comfort in day to day driving. If this is asking too much then maybe this hot hatch is not for you - find something softer riding and easier to live with.

So, the things I love are:

Exhilarating performance and general responsiveness, flexible, torquey engine when just pottering around

Excellent braking and road holding with massive 340 mm rotors and Brembo four spot calipers on the front

Light, accurate steering

Positive and precise gear change, even with the indirect linkage

Original, aggressive styling, so in character with the car (reminds me of a muscular Staffordshire bull terrier!)

Firm, supportive seats, ideal for use with a four point harness seat belt

Excellent luggage space, especially for a small hatch

Great driving position that helps minimise fatigue on longer journeys

I also don't agree with those reviewers who have criticized the practicality of the boot - for the size of the car it's cavernous and tall. Who cares if it has a small lip on the outside edge?

I haven't had the car long enough to form an opinion on reliability or running costs

The things I don't love (hate, actually) are:

Unacceptably harsh ride on bumpy, country roads, so there are some places I just don't go to in this car. I have explored the possibility of installing softer shocks but it seems no one makes them for the Megane RS models.

Poor instrumentation - even the fuel gauge can be difficult to read and my basic Golf provides more information

Woefully inadequate user manual on a USB stick which has to be downloaded and printed for reference,

No clues about what is a standard feature and what applies only to various models, so some controls actually have different functions depending on which car you have

The manual offers little or no detail on what the various manual controls do or how to dig down behind the icons on the colour display, even for something as basic as resetting the time.

The navigation system would not let me enter my address as a home destination. It kept throwing up a limited number of streets in the area so I had to settle for the nearest available one. (Maybe there is a way around this but I couldn't find it and neither could the Renault dealer.)

You can probably learn to live with these flaws as you get to know the car better or are an intuitive computer whizz but short of finding and installing more comfortable after-market shock absorbers you're stuck with the bumpy ride. Perhaps 18" diameter wheels and 40 profile tyres would help, too.

This could have been a fantastic all round package if Renault had made it a little more user-friendly.

A couple of things I forgot to mention in the "hate" department: one is the very poor rearward visibility from the driver's seat; the car desperately needs a reversing camera. At least it has basic proximity alarms.

The second is the laughable glovebox. About all I could fit in it were a couple of spectacle cases (talk about quirky French design!)

Great Performance But Not Reliable – I am impressed by the performance of the megane. When you’d flatten the accelerator you can feel the surge of power. The brembo brakes work well. It has great styling which stands out from the crowd. The recaro seats are very supportive but are difficult to get out of because of the high side supports. The hatch back opening is simply silly with… Read more

no practicality. It has a high lip with a narrow opening. Difficult to get a push bike out of.

My megane has been expensive to keep on the road besides the usual service costs. I have replaced a drivers side door lock -$400. Clutch slave cylinder in the bell housing - $2k. Car had be towed with 30k on the clock. ABS unit was replaced - second hand - $1.5k. This car is not reliable and is costly to repair. Would I buy another? Perhaps if it came with 7 years warranty and I intended to only keep it for 7 years.

Renault sport megane rs275 – The RS275 is the last model released prior to the upcoming 2018 4 door RS megane. It comes fitted with a titanium akroprovic exhaust, and alcantara everywhere. Lightweight turni wheels and a few other revisions + the added 10hp leaves a car with a significantly higher power to weight ratio. Genuine drivers car, no silly adaptive dampers - has… Read more

sports mode, and race mode (all aids off). Drives sedately under 2000RPM, but pulls hard all the way to redline. Push this car hard and it will reward you, amazing car, 9/10 drivers car. A good RS265 would give 90% of what this car can give. Excellent cars.

Too bumpy – Great for track days but as a day to day car this is not a smooth ride. It looks cool and goes really fast, but that's where the fun ends. It is not comfortable to sit in - the seats are not great - and the ride is not smooth at all. Good space in the boot and all though so at least it is practical for grocery shopping.  Show details

Excellent road car ready to race – Most people only hear about this car and assume it's a decent car, but because of its steep depreciation, dated interior and somehow questionable reliability record, they will give it a pass and walk into VW dealer instead to get a Golf R or GTi. I can totally understand that, in fact, I was almost one of them. However, I chose to be different… Read more

and I gave it a try. Man, WHAT A CAR. It is not just another hot hatch which can do your grocery run and do some fun stuff on the winding road. It is an extremely focus and serious sports car. It has one mission and it is to be the best of its class and it does.

The car handles so extremely well and capable. The 275hp motor has more than enough grunt to pull. The gearbox is precise and gives chunky shifting feeling. Its chassis is stiff, but every points deducting from the comfort band, it adds 10 points to the handling department. It loves to work with its driver and push them and reward those who can drive harder.

What a car.

Depressing – I bought a 2006 Megane 225 last year. Biggest mistake ever. This thing is quickly sending me broke. It's had issue after issue starting on the drive home. Most recently a gear linkage broke. Within days of fixing that the interior got flooded in the rain and now the dual mass flywheel is going and I haven't even dried out the interior yet, despite… Read more

unblocking the scuttle drains there seems to be more water getting in, I'm tossing up whether to cut my losses and just lose the 12k I paid for it as I've spent about 4k fixing the piece of junk.

This car is scalpel sharp and with looks to kill – I've had my 2012 RS265 Cup for nearly 1 1/2 years now so I've had plenty of time to live with it as a daily driver. I've rated it as 5 stars as it is indeed 'excellent'. I bought the 'basic' Cup version mainly because it's what I could afford but didn't mind eschewing leather, sat-nav, etc. as it was the car's core that I was interested in. I… Read more

had read about it's great handling and also about it's harsh ride; both of these proved to be true.

I had just sold my Focus XR5 which was bitter-sweet as I loved the easy torque in the 5-pot engine. I knew the RS265 would have to be driven harder to extract it's potential and again this was the case. Whereas you could prod the XR5's throttle at anything above 1800RPM and get instant response, you really need to have the Renault around 3-4000. No surprises there and the engine is definitely willing, just be prepared to wring it's neck somewhat. I do use the rev limit warning beep to keep me in check as it's a fairly free revver.

By not having the sat-nav option, you get the RenaultSport multifunction display which is a great little toy. It let's you adjust the throttle pedal mappings from 'granny' to 'hair trigger' (my terminology) as well as bring up lap timers, 0-100 sprint timer, G-force gauge and various real-time engine data like temperatures, torque, power, turbo etc. After the novelty of these wore off I didn't play with them much (apart from throttle settings), and only on a race track can you legally use the 0-100 and 1/4 mile timers anyway so it's moot really.

Every time you start the car (with the lovely start/stop button) you will be in 'normal' mode which gives you 250 of the 265 available horses and also a very tame accelerator response, suitable for day to day driving. Press the Sport button and you get full power and can change the throttle pedal 'map' between several settings up to 'Extreme' mode which is really meant for racing as it helps keep the revs high with just a touch of the pedal but can be tiresome in the suburbs especially in stop-start traffic. Basically I hit the Sport button by default, every time I drive it. This adjustability is a double edged sword because sometimes I miss the 'no brainer' approach of other cars. Maybe if it left your last choice as the default..

So how harsh is the ride? It's really hard, to be sure, on some of the suburban roads here in Melbourne but far from unusable. When I picked up my car I just happened to have a neck issue and yes that was hell. I would advise anyone with chronic back issues to give this a miss! Also there are some bumpy roads that I used to take every day, and I started to complete avoid those. The price you pay for track-focused handling and road holding I guess.

And handle it does. I've never tracked my car but have had a few great runs up around Marysville and some other popular twisty bits. I'm no race driver and so I pushed this car nowhere near its limits but even I could feel the sensation of the front end just pulling in more as you pushed it more. The XR5 would've just scrubbed its tyres and pushed wide, squealing all the while. The Megane is almost telepathic in its response and has talents that I will never approach. Not just in corners, but the first time I had it on the freeway at 110 I was amazed at how planted it felt and arrow-straight at speed. The XR5 always had some fidgeting and just isn't in the same league.

The interior is said by many to be bland or boring. I agree it's not as classy as some other Euros but I have no issues with it, even the supposedly complex controls behind the steering wheel and other 'weird' placement of controls that don't bother me. Bluetooth works well enough for hands-free but navigating the setup screens could be better. The Climate control is great even on 40 degree days, and the cruise control holds speed well but only adjusts in 2km/h increments. And Sport mode is turned off automatically when cruise is on which I find silly. There's also a speed limiter which I use a lot here in the Police state.. Seats are fine, rear visibility isn't, boot space is great and rear passengers have reasonable room for a coupe. The 'piano black' touches inside and out seemed a bit naff at first but they are ok. The black alloys look great until the inevitable gutter scrape, at which point the alloy shows through, but what can you do. They also need frequent cleaning or they lose that black gloss and take on the dull dark brown of brake dust.

As far as cost of maintenance and reliability, I've had fixed-price serving at $299 thus far. Nothing has failed and it's never let me down, which is great as I was dubious about Renault build quality (probabaly justified from some horrible offerings in the past). Nothing apart from standard serving has been necessary, other than fitting a new set of tyres. Brakes, pads, rotors, clutch etc. are doing great.

In summary this is a pretty highly strung car that goes like stink if you're prepared to push it, will make you look talented on the twisties, and looks amazing on the road. You don't see too many around which is a plus for me. And it's not too bad on fuel (in mainly burbs driving, not too gentle, I'm around 12 l/100), comparable or better than the XR5 (and much better than my previous Forester XT) but needs 98 RON.

Renault megane rs265 rb8 edition MY 2013 – Excellent car. Bang for your bucks. Highly recommend one. If you like driving its such a great car to be in. Handles well, good boot space, fold down seats, real spare wheel in back. Did have capped servicing for 3years when I purchased it. rb8 has unique colour- pearlescent dusk blue which looks black on some angles and dark metallic blue in… Read more

others. Great value. Not so many on the roads compared to golf gti. Handles great and a lot of power for FF. Check out the reviews from motor writers and you will know that this is a drivers car. No trip tronic or auto here. 6 speed manua, so you know you are driving. Cockpit all driver focused. Recaro leather seats, red seat belts, leather steering, true keyless entry and start- all you have to do is press he start key. Just too many features to list. Does have a firm ride, so not for the family comfort sort, but 18inch cup may be better than the 19, get use to squeaky brakes, well they are Brembo sports brake. Just need to stomped on them a few times. Problem though of your in heavy traffic. No fixed moonroof option- trophy model has that. No dipping passenger mirrors for reverse parking.

Excellent – ITs a really good car. with the ultimate form of sports vechicle which in an afforadable price! 0-100kmh. 6.5s.. you can take off straight away with no problem!!! excellent braking and handling as well~ Performance. outlook, interior...225hp..no same class cars can beat it! Every's great! However, if you are keen on modifying cars. You may find that difficult to find parts. Show details

Excellent – voted No1 in euro hot hatch test recently being S3 Audi and all the usual cannon fodder. Sizzlingly fast sure foot and very comfortable. Stand out from the GTi boredom with a real drivers car. No auto....good you dont steer a drivers car. Go Renault stand out design, cutting edge technology and awsome performance leather recaros would be nice - see euro spec

Bad – Performance but at a cost, a huge cost! These cars are clearly not made to last. I will never buy another Renault. Performance Maintenance costs. Have a 2004 Megane Sport with 90,000kms on the clock. Just to replace the clutch has cost me AUD4,500 - includes replacing the fly wheel (AUD2,100 just for the part). The air conditioning needs repairing as well - have to replace the heater flaps. The whole dash needs to be removed - cost AUD2,000.