Gallic, With Extra Garlic

Renault’s third-generation “Exocet” pocket rocket is powerful and flavourful, with its warhead aimed at VW’s Golf GTI guided missile.

- Lionel Seah

IF you think the 1.6-litre Megane GT is a little mild-mannered for a performance hatchback, fret not. The real McCoy, the Megane RS (Renault Sport), will return to Singapore by the middle of this year.

Based on the current Megane, the third-generation RS version gets a downsized 1.8-litre turbocharged engine instead of the previous 2-litre turbo unit. Why so? Apparently, to comply with more stringent exhaust emissions and fuel efficiency standards.

This is the same Nissan- Renault Alliance 1.8-litre motor in the mid-engine rear-drive Alpine A110 halo sports car, but boosted in the front-wheel-drive Megane RS to produce 280hp (up by 28hp) and 390Nm (up by 70Nm). That’s a lot of power and torque, even more than on the previous-generation 2-litre Megane RS265, which produces 265hp and 360Nm.

That’s enough for the latest RS to outsprint the VW Golf GTI to 100km/h by 0.6 of a second, clocking 5.8 seconds in a rush. 

And for the first time in a Megane RS, there’s an optional dual-clutch transmission to widen the market appeal of the newcomer. It’s a Getrag 6-speeder called EDC. Previous Megane RSs were only available with a manual gearbox.

Greater power also requires greater control. For that, the Renault Sport team has fitted the Megane RS with four-wheel-steering (the Megane GT gets it, too), which is typically featured in far fancier performance cars such as AMGs, Ferraris and Lamborghinis.