Like its forebear, the Trophy-R has snared itself the front-wheel-drive lap record around the Nürburgring. Though at 7m54s, the new Megane's time is a full 23 seconds faster than the R26.R's.

Home Car Reviews First Drive: Renault Megane 2.0 TCE GT 5dr First Drive First Drive: Renault Megane 2.0 TCE GT 5dr Prices from £ 23,900 when new Stephen Dobie ...

The previous R.S. Megane had a 2.0-litre turbo engine, but the new car downsizes to a lighter aluminium 1.8 turbo, the same one found in the Alpine A110 sports car (also developed by Renault Sport).

That it’s reasonable to imagine the Renault Megane R.S. Trophy-R as how a front-driven Porsche 911 GT3 would feel shows what a stunning machine it really is.

Renault achieved its record north loop lap time of 7:54.36 by putting the Megane R.S. on a strict diet, and bumping up its power output. The 275 Trophy-R is a stripped back, two-seater version of ...

This happened with the original Clio Renault Sport Trophy, as well as the Megane R26.R and the previous Megane Trophy-R. So the arrival of the Trophy version of this latest Megane R.S. is big news.

The Renault Mégane R26.R, the super sporty version of the popular european hatchback, blew us away. Read our First Drive review of the 2009 Renault Megane R26.R at Automobile Magazine online.

Alongside the new design features, Mégane R.S. has gained the R.S. Replay function, available on R.S. Monitor 2.0. The GT trim is now available with the 2.0T Renault Sport 220 engine.

The previous-generation Mégane R.S. used a turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four, but this one switches to a smaller and more advanced 1.8-liter unit.

By comparison, the Golf GTI Clubsport has the same 296 hp from its 2.0-liter turbo four but is slightly down on torque with 295 lb-ft (400 Nm). Driven: 2020 Renault Megane R.S. Trophy EDC Improves ...

So even though Renault didn’t mess with the 227hp turbocharged 2.0-liter engine, the R26.R still cut 0.5sec from the standard R’s 6.5sec 0-62mph (100km/h) time.