Though at 7m54s, the new Megane's time is a full 23 seconds faster than the R26.R's. It got there via a similarly strict diet, with 100kg stripped from the already honed 275 Trophy.

As well as sporting one of the longest names of any car currently on sale, the Renault Megane Renaultsport 230 F1 Team R26 has also had a somewhat winding route to its launch.

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.

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. In terms of composure, feel and grip ...

The Renault Megane R.S. 300 Trophy takes on our reigning hot hatch champ, the Honda Civic Type R. By: Auto Express. 6 Aug 2019. 29. A new version of a Renault Sport hot hatch is always exciting.

The R.S. pulls hard to its 6250-rpm limiter but in a workmanlike manner and without the savage enthusiasm of the Civic Type R's boosted 2.0-liter. The Renault's throttle response isn't the ...

In terms of technical specifications, the Megane R26.R is powered by a 2.0-liter turbocharger 16-vale L4 engine which produces a maximum power of 230 hp (169 kW).

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.

Is the Renault Megane RS275 Trophy-R the most extreme front-wheel drive hatch on the market? Yes, it is. It might have all the familiar design cues you would expect from a top-of-the-line hot ...