01 Dec 06
Previously, hot Meganes have been fast, but haven't really delivered on the driving front - hence Renault's never-ending tweaking with the dynamics giving us the Megane Trophy, the Megane Cup and the Megane F1. The difference between the first 225s and what we have now with the R26 is huge.
That LSD gives the R26 grip by the bucketload - go into a corner fast and instead of ploughing on into understeer or the power being reined in by the stability control, it just digs deep into the tarmac and throws you through the curves like billy-o.
Surprisingly, with all that power and the LSD, there's no real torquesteer to speak of. The steering wriggles around a little from a full beats start, but apart from then, everything remains pretty civilised.
The ESP system has been tuned by RenaultSport to the point that you'll struggle to make it do its electronic jiggery-pokery, drive with it switched off and there's little difference to the fun to be had - just a bit more smoke from the tyres if you're onto the power a bit too quick out of a corner.
Braking is taken care of by a pair of stonking great Brembos at the front which bite into 304mm ventilated discs like a dog holding onto his favourite bone - and have no discernable fade even after a sustained pounding. The red calipers sit behind 18" anthracite alloys.
The six-speed manual doesn't like to be rushed, especially from second into third - you can easily find yourself in fifth, which can be bloody annoying if you're in full attack mode and want to rack through the gears as quickly as possible.
