Category: Hot Hatchbacks 
Price Range: No data available
Sublime handling, incredible grip, bargain pricetag.
Poor practicality for a hatchback, lack of radio and soundproofing make Megane tiring over long distances.
Raw and uncompromised R26.R will be too much for most. Shame, because it's one of the finest hot hatches to have ever turned a wheel in anger.
If you are a wealthy performance car fan it's unlikely you would have ever have considered a hot hatch to quench your thirst for speed but that's set to change with cars like the new Ford Focus RS and this, Renault's Megane R26.R.
There are two ways to look at the R26.R. Either that it's a last hurrah for the last-generation big-bottomed Megane or that it is nothing less than a racecar with number plates.
Holder of a new front-wheel-drive production car lap record at the Nordschleife, the R26.R with its 8m:17s lap time is quicker round the Nurburgring than many exotic sportscars that'll cost you three times its price.
To achieve the phenomenal performance Renaultsport (RS) had to be ruthless. That's why the stereo was ditched, rear seats dumped, soundproofing binned and rear glass windows replaced by wafer-thin polycarbonate to reduce weight. Renaultsport included a lightweight carbonfibre bonnet and seats to dramatically cut the kerbweight.
To maintain durability and reliability the R26.R uses the 227bhp 2.0-litre turbo from the 'standard' R26. All this weight reduction reduced the 0-62mph time by half a second to just six seconds, but as you'll see it's the winning combination of the bespoke suspension tune, limited slip differential and some very sticky and special Toyo tyres that make the R26.R's fantastic handling and performance completely at odds with the R26.R's affordable £23k pricetag.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Renault Megane RenaultSport
wrote on 18 03 2007