For a car I ordered without even driving one, you couldn't at the time, it is rather good.
I seem to have bought a different car!
- Thread starter NickD
- Start date
Helpimonfire
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burrellbloke
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Helpimonfire
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It is incredibly similar to the Clio in many ways, and in others very different. 53.4mpg on the motorway going to Goodwood for one!
burrellbloke
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I gave my new Megane 280 1,000 miles and kept it under 3k revs to run it in. After that I had had enough and wanted to see what is was really like to drive. Saying that I have only just plucked up the courage to take it out on track and have it booked in for Snetterton in October.
Good choice, I also bought mine without actually test driving or seeing one.
Just went on the good reviews and it hasn’t disappointed.
Just went on the good reviews and it hasn’t disappointed.
burrellbloke
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Honest opinion of the car. I thought it was fantastic on track as a standard car. Given that it had just about 800 miles on it and that I was not that familiar with it, the only issue I would say I had was that I had not realised the I had only turned the stability control down rather than fully off, and so a couple of times it did some weird shit, mainly under braking, which initially made me thing the brakes were no good, but not the case. But other than that, I thought that the two lots of 5 of 6 laps that I did on road tyres and standard brakes were highly impressive.
The car slowed for Clervaux, pulled fully on throttle through Hawthorn without understreer. Monstered the curbs. Only went wide at Tower if I took stupid entry speed. was flat through the Esses and would have been though Barcroft if I wasn't thinking that it was less than 10 days old and I had to drive it home. Had no issue with Sunny in or out. or the complex. Braking with the car lent over a bit for the hairpin could cause the stability and ABS to do what ABS often does and under brake and run in a bit deep but that was me, not the car.
In all, the tyres hung on very well for road Pirelli's If there was a failing it would be that they were road tyres and so going to give a little in grip, but they were pretty good. Also, you don't want mega grip on road suspension as rapid direction changes can make a car uneasy.
If I had to judge it, I would say it is very similar in firmness to the standard RS200 Cup suspension. In my opinion it is has better damping control. You can still get air on B road bumps, but the brutality has gone out of it. Brakes seemed to work well, just different pressure from your foot is required.
In the 20 years or so I have been doing and running track days I have never been one that wanted to be out all day, 15 or 20 minutes here and there has always been enough, else boredom sets in. For that, on track, this car worked fantastically. If go to a track, go out do 15 minutes than come in and tall bollocks for then next 30 to 45 minutes and go out again, this is on point. If you want a car to go round and round, you are going to be like every other road car and be on the slippery slope of tyres, of modifications because firstly it will start with tyres and end with this.
I feel the Clio's brakes are better, however, mine were not standard, with braided lines and PBS Pro Race pads, it is not a fair comparison. I thought I would be missing the Recaro seats, which are brilliant and so testament to the N20 seats that I am not. I do like the Renault steering feel better. Difference between hydraulic and electric assistance maybe? Pedal position possibly better also or it may just be the way the different engine technologies work. The Hyundai engine is slower to rev, a by product of modern emissions regs, so heal and toe need revising. None of these is terrible. The one thing I do notice is that it is easier to stall. As a smaller, blown engine, it is not one that wants to pull away easily. It isn't the end of the world, but at the bottom end of the throttle travel there does not seem to be the resolution to gentle increase to say 1.5K revs, but seems very easy to be idle, idle 2.5k. I'll get use to it.
On the plus side, the gearbox is to die for. No Renault that I have ever driven comes even close to this. It will shift to any gear at any revs in the blink of a eye without any protest or even resistance. And the low and midrange torque is just something else. Even on the motorway in 6th at 70 in economy drive mode, press the throttle and impressively quickly is is doing 85. I have overtaken cars on an A/B road in 6th at 50 that I would have had to change to 2nd in the Renault to have felt the same confidence. Change down, and I am genuinely impressed at how quickly this thing can overtake a car. The best way I can put it is rather than have to come over all Fast and Furious with the gear changes, the torque now feels on par with your average family diesel shit box and even if you did use the gears, I don't think the Renault has the road surge.
Basically, without getting into the tenths of seconds and handling nuances of putting them on the limit on a circuit, it most definitely feels a worthy successor to the Clio. It has the same goal, so it should do. If you had a very well known cross country good B road and you know nothing was coming the other way, then maybe the Renault would feel better bouncing off a near 8K rev limit, but only if the gearbox played ball and only for 10 miles or so. But that is the general difference in NA and turbo cars.
However, what the Renault will not do, is drive you back from Croft with the speed limiter set to 72 and delivery you 50mpg in quiet refinement! So, yes, I think this is a great little car.
@NickD thanks for the excellent review.
I definitely know what you mean about the stalling as I have done it myself a few times.
It does seems that it will step up to the mark when I finally decide to replace my Clio 172 track car. I am not brave enough yet.
As I only currently do about 15 minute stints on track days it will be perfect.
I definitely know what you mean about the stalling as I have done it myself a few times.
It does seems that it will step up to the mark when I finally decide to replace my Clio 172 track car. I am not brave enough yet.
As I only currently do about 15 minute stints on track days it will be perfect.
Tiggy Rascal
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