[Auto]Renault Megane RS 300 EDC 2021

[Revo]

 

 

What is it?
Just like its harder, sharper Trophy sibling, the entry-level version of Renault’s recently updated Mégane RS has been shorn of its six-speed manual gearbox.

If you've read Matt Saunders’ report on the Trophy, you'll know why. It makes for pretty depressing reading, so I won’t delve into it in too much detail here, but effectively it boils down to increasingly punitive emissions-based taxation in Renault Sport’s home country. A Mégane RS with a manual gearbox will cost French buyers more in tax than one with a six-speed dual-clutch automatic, so it has been dropped altogether. Sad news.

A modest hike in power and torque from the base Megane RS’s 1.8-litre four-pot petrol engine is something of a consolation, though; as is the arrival of new headlight and tail-light designs, an improved infotainment system and a redesigned instrument display. That motor now puts out 296bhp and 310lb ft instead of the 276bhp and 288lb ft it made previously and explains why it’s now called the Megane RS 300 (for 300PS, which is 296bhp) rather than the Megane RS 280.

Otherwise, it’s business as usual. You still get four-wheel steering and a set of rally-style hydraulic suspension bump stops. However, the firmer, more aggressive Cup chassis is now available on pricier Trophy models only so this revised Mégane RS 300 makes do with the softer Sport chassis set-up.

What's it like?
It undoubtedly remains the more usable Mégane RS. Where the Trophy can feel almost unrelentingly edgy and unforgiving on bumpier stretches of road, the base car breathes a bit more freely. It still feels meaningfully taut and controlled in its body movements when you’re travelling with a bit of pace on, but I’d wager you wouldn’t find yourself scrabbling for the keys to literally anything else when faced with a simple trip to the shops.

This is good news for those who plan on driving it every day - which most people undoubtedly will. The trade-off is that in gaining this extra level of pliancy and ride refinement, you lose a good deal of the bite that makes the Trophy models so exciting when the weather’s fine and you’re actually in the mood for a proper thrash. By opting for the RS 300, not only do you forgo the stiffer Cup chassis, but you also miss out on a limited-slip differential, beefier brakes and an active sports exhaust.
You do notice this in tighter, more technical corners. Tip it in and the Renault’s four-wheel steering still makes it feel really agile and willing to rotate, but it just doesn’t sink its teeth in with the frenzied eagerness I remember from the earlier Cup chassis car. 

The wet, recently defrosted Oxfordshire B-roads I was driving on will have contributed to this impression, but even in such rubbish conditions, lateral grip levels still felt relatively high. Still, you’d get on the throttle early thinking you’d be able to power out and instead be met by an underwhelming response as the Renault scrabbled to put its power down. It’s not that you’d push into dramatic understeer: you just end up exiting a corner slower than you thought might.

The 1.8-litre engine remains as boosty as ever, and on slippery roads, it can spin its front wheels quite freely when that lump of torque arrives. A lighter touch on the throttle can be handy here. Anything too brutal and you can coax a violent amount of axle tramp out of the Renault. 

Should I buy one?
It wouldn’t be at the top of my list if I was in the market for a hot hatch. It might be more liveable with than its Trophy sibling, but I’m sure it wouldn’t be anywhere near as thrilling when the conditions were perfect and the roads were clear. 

Some might appreciate that more sensible balance and there’s certainly merit in taking such an approach. But other hot hatches are just as usable day to day, yet arguably even more exciting, involving and dynamically accomplished than the Mégane. The excellent Honda Civic Type R and Ford Focus ST spring to mind, to name but two.