01 Dec 06
With more power than before, the RenaultSport Megane 230 F1 Team R26 - named after the championship winning F1 car - is the fastest Megane on the road.
The 2.0-litre turbocharged engine - which had been quite happy with 222bhp for a couple of years - now gets a caffeine kick to raise the power to 227bhp. This makes the R26 a tad faster than other quick Meganes, as it'll smash 62mph in just 6.2seconds with a top speed of 147mph in easy reach.
Acceleration and power figures only tell one side of the story though, what's most special about the R26 is not what's under the bonnet, but what's between the wheels - an LSD.
We're not talking tabs and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds here - although a car which induced hallucinogenic chemicals into the driver every time the accelerator is touched could make for an interesting drive - an LSD is a limited slip differential.
Put simply, this gives whichever front wheel with the most grip more power, as it has a better chance of using it. It does get more complex than that, but what you only really need to know is that it transforms the dumpy Megane into a serious driver's car.
