Renault Megane R.S. 300 Trophy – long-term review

It’s time for Megxit. No, not Meghan and Harry binning off the Royal family in favour of poutine and ice hockey. Rather, time for our longterm Megane to exit TG towers. And given its ride quality, this really is a hard Megxit.

To use Love Island’s tragic vernacular, the role of the R.S 300 in the TG garage was to ‘turn our head’. And just like ITV2’s perma-tanned contestants, the blinding yellow hot hatch rolled into the TG villa with some baggage. Specifically, a big fat loss for the lesser 280 spec in our hot hatch group test. Somewhat of a bitter pill, as up until this generation, fast Meganes had wiped the floor with the competition. Would some extra power and sportiness make a difference?

See, with increased tech and usability, the R.S’s purity has been replaced by extra complexity, making it less fun and predictable than it should be. Plus, its peers – notably the Civic Type R – had played a blinder, offering incredible race-car like dynamic attitude and ridiculous pace. But, over the last six months, I’ve learned that under all that new tech, refinement and complexity is a really solid, engaging hot hatch.

Make no mistake about it, living with something often polyfillas over the cracks of crapness. And – admittedly – I’ve been a victim of this. When I got in the Megane for the first time I chastised it for its notchy, arthritic gearbox. Then I threw the stick around for months on end and got used to it, making my onboard swear jar fill up at half the rate it used to. But then I drove the new Focus ST… then the Civic Type R… and an i30N again and wondered how the hell Renault ever signed the Megane’s shoddy ‘box off.

I even got used to the neurotic four-wheel-steer system. Mainly because I turned it off. Yes, having all four wheels rotate the car is impressive and a wonderful tool to beef up pages of the salesroom marketing pack. It also no doubt opens up a whole new dynamic repertoire, but its complexity and unnatural application in the Megane gets in the way of good old-fashioned fun. And when you do want to have fun, the Megane is more than happy to play along.

With 300bhp and an unsavoury amount of grip, the R.S is exceedingly quick. But more than that, it’s properly punchy and exciting on a British back road. You hunker down into the fantastic Recaros, accept being bucked around by the uncompromising ride, and simply pounce from one corner to the next. It’s simple, analogue driving pleasure. You mash the throttle, chase the revs before coming to a corner where you stomp on the powerful brakes and let the high-calibre exhaust crack like you’ve whipped your friend with a sail, tip it in, tripod it around a corner and repeat. It's hilarious. Certainly far more exciting to drive than the very expensive, very techy Roborace which it recently spent a day with. In fact, over the last few months, I’ve actively vetoed opportunities to go home in far more expensive, powerful and luxurious cars as the Megane has proven to be much more entertaining.

So, as the winter edition of the nation’s favourite reality TV show begins (if you need us, we’ll be in our sanity bunker at the end of the garden) it’s time to say bye-bye to the Megane. But has it succeeded in its task? Has it truly turned my head? Yes, yes it has.

Mileage: 8,345 MPG: 24.9