SA Road Tests

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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. I drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under real-world South African conditions. Most, but not all, the vehicles driven are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get where you live.

My most recent drive is on the home page. Archived reviews and opinion pieces are in the active menu down the left side. Hover your cursor over a heading or manufacturer's name and follow the drop-down.


The power and Nürburgring glory: Renault Sport Mégane 275 Trophy for 2015

Because you want it

Posted: 8 October 2015

The numbers
Price: R449 900
Engine: Renault F4R M874, 1998 cc, DOHC four-cylinder, 16-valve, turbopetrol
Power: 201 kW at 5500 rpm
Torque: 360 Nm between 3000 and 5000 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 6.0 seconds
Standing start 1000 metres: 25.3 seconds
Maximum speed: 255 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 9.8 l/100 km
Tank: 60 litres
Luggage: 405 – 1162 litres
Warranty: 5 years / 150 000 km
Service plan: 5 years / 90 000 km at 10 000 km intervals 

You would probably not buy a Renault Sport Mégane 275 Trophy for the school run or for lugging groceries. And you would keep it hidden while working on convincing your favourite person’s folks that you would be a suitable parent to their future grandchildren.

You would buy one for “You” - because you don’t indulge yourself nearly enough - or because you flat-out want it. The fact that it makes more power and torque, is completely committed to the fun of driving and offers more bang per buck than “that” GTI could also have something to do with it.

While its predecessor, the 265 Trophy, was pretty hot, it lost its three-year Nordschleife record in 2014 to a Seat Leon Cupra 280. Renault naturally wanted the title back; hence the quicker 275. Laurent Hurgon took one to the track shortly after the Seat run and clipped four and four-hundredths seconds off the Spanish car’s time.

The new car’s additional 6 kilowatts was thanks, partly, to a titanium and carbon fibre Akrapovič exhaust system from the works of Slovenian bike racer, Igor Akrapovič. Frustrated with overweight and expensive after-market exhausts available at the time, he started making his own in 1990, ended up supplying most factory racing teams and has since extended his magic to cars. He creates them in a sophisticated little factory in a hamlet named Ivančna Gorica.

The system weighs 4.1 kg less than the original exhaust and to quote the company literature: “When the high-revving engine lets out that distinctive deep and sporty Akrapovič sound, the whole package becomes one for all the senses to enjoy.”

Other items for the senses to enjoy include Renault’s Cup chassis, Recaro Alcantara and leather front seats, 19” Trophy wheels with 35-profile tyres, RS Dynamic Management (multi-mode ESP with Normal, Sport and Off modes), Brembo four-piston front brake calipers and the RS Monitor with 3-D Race Telemetry and data download functionality.

Helping you to safely make best use of all the car’s good stuff, Renault SA offers one-day advanced driving courses. They are free for original buyers or priced at R1495 for other interested RS owners. Reserve your spot via the Renault SA website after clicking on the Advanced Driver Training tab.

The car obviously includes such “basics” as six airbags; TomTom Live navigation; dual channel air conditioning; warmed and folding exterior mirrors; cruise control; satellite buttons on and behind the steering wheel; push-button starting; walk-away central locking; one-touch power windows in front; ESP, ASR, CSV, ABS and Brake Assist; rear parking assistance; tyre pressure monitoring and onboard computer. The only add-ons available are metallic paint, fixed glass sky roof or a backup camera.

It has all the connectivity features users demand and the racing feedback monitor with G-force, torque and power usage is quite fun to use although we noticed that, with the display over at mid-dash, it’s difficult to focus on while driving seriously. We would probably use it only a few times and then ignore it.

As expected of this kind of car, the steering is a little heavy and the suspension is quite hard. But the payoff comes with the drive. It’s nimble, quick, responsive and aurally involving. The six-speed manual shifter is easy to reach although a little notchy, ratios are set for acceleration rather than lazy cruising, pedals are nicely spaced and the Recaros hold you snugly. As we said, it’s a personal car; one you buy for “You”, not for anyone else.

In fairness, the boot is decently capacious so you could load a fair quantity of groceries or luggage for travelling, but it is rather deep and the sill is high. Further iffy news is that fully grown rear seat passengers would find it pretty cramped back there. And, with front chairs on lowest settings, room for their feet is a luxury best forgotten – there isn’t any. But let’s skip the boring rationality because this isn’t intended as the kind of car your mother would choose. It’s built for performance, not practicality.

So why would one buy a Renault Sport Mégane 275 Trophy? It’s rather too intense for the daily commute unless the trip is long, and it doesn’t do carpooling very well either. You could strip out whatever’s allowed if you want to go racing, or keep it for lost weekends and crossing country quickly.

Or buy it because you don’t indulge yourself nearly enough - because you simply want one.

Test car from Renault SA press fleet

We wrote up the 2011 RS 250 Cup with more technical detailing here

We also drove a 2019 RS LUX automatic

Now read about the 2020 Megane RS 300 Trophy

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so they can see I do actually exist.

Comments?
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