So what does this Trophy offer that my older car doesn’t?
Well, first of all, the Trophy features the new Renault corporate grille; I’m not sure that I prefer it to the old car but it certainly looks dramatically different. The side and rear of the car remain untouched, apart from the addition of the gorgeous Speedline alloy wheels finished in black and the silver Trophy decals over the rear third of the car.
Sounds good - right?
It also offers something that petrolheads around the world respect… a titanium Akrapovi? exhaust system, which, in combination with some fettling to the mapping, brings power up to 201kW/360Nm (hence the 275 name). That means the Mégane is a part of the 200kW club much like the Astra OPC, Golf R and the imminent Civic Type R.
While it’s cool to say that you have a really pricey exhaust, that needs to sound angry, the Trophy simply sounds a bit better than the standard car. After hearing cars like the new Mini John Cooper Works you’d think that the Trophy was a bit muted in comparison.
Interior improvements
Inside, the Trophy is also a nicer place to be, with Alcantara-clad Recaro seats, steering wheel and gear lever. The car just feels better-built than earlier examples. I have driven the RS 250 Lux, 250 Cup, 265 Cup and RB8 all when they were new and the Trophy just feels better made.
There is also the R-Link 2 infotainment system, which, in this model, comes with both the SatNav system as well as the RS Monitor, which provides the driver with live telemetry such as G-force, 0-100km/h time, oil temperature, boost gauge and a host of other track-geek toys. There are still absolutely no cup holders worth mentioning though and the car is beginning to show its age, despite being dressed up very well inside.
Not quite the Trophy-R
Despite what many people think, this is not the Öhlins-damped, lightened “R” version that blitzed the Nürburgring in under eight minutes but rather a more affordable, more usable version of which we will only receive a limited number.
I also noted the inclusion of bigger non-vented brake discs up front, after some research I found that the new brakes are internally ventilated and also do duty on the Trophy-R so I’m inclined to believe that these are better than the slotted items on the previous Cup, Trophy and Red Bull editions.
Usable, you say?
I know that I said it’s more usable than the Trophy-R but don’t get me wrong; this isn’t something that is easy to live with as a daily drive. The ride is hard, it only comes as a manual and it’s a fairly old car now.
But find yourself the right road or a race track and these cars are seriously epic fun and are capable of setting proper lap times, too. The dynamic environment, especially the twisty part is where these cars were designed to excel, and excel, the Mégane most certainly does.
Verdict
After spending a week behind the wheel of the new Trophy I was left quite pleased. The pricing of this new model is good, as are the small upgrades that allow the car to compete with the rest of its segment.
Being an owner of a pre-facelift model I can see that in the five or so years that Renault has been making the car, it’s now perfected its Mégane into as good a car that its platform, engine and suspension will allow.
The problem is that new rivals are appearing all the time while existing rivals have also been getting progressively better. It’s time for a new RS I say, one that can take the fight to the über hatches of this world.
Price: R449 900
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