RENAULT MEGANE R.S.

WONDERING WHERE THE VALUE IS IN THE USED SPORTS MARKET? CHECK OUT RENAULT’S RANGE OF HUMP-BACKED HOTTIES

- ALEX AFFAT

OVER THE YEARS, value-minded enthusiasts have had various pools of vehicles to choose from. For a time, it was the relatively unknown JDM heroes that offered big performance for little outlay, then it grew to more modern Europeans which had been killed by depreciation but weren't yet old enough to develop much in the way of cachet. But in today's wild market, everything is desirable and performance bargains are growing increasingly difficult to find. Perhaps the French have an answer though.

The batch of Renault Sport-fettled third-generation Meganes are diamonds in the rough, offering an accomplished chassis and gutsy powertrains for, feasibly, less than the price of a base model Kia Picanto. The questions only bloom from there, however, as there's a dizzying array of variants which, for the uninitiated, can be hard to wrap your head around.

Today we're speaking about the second-generation of Renault Sport Meganes, based on the third-generation hatchback; namely RS250, RS265 and RS275 variants.

Like the original RS-badged Meganes (built on the second-generation vehicles), the fast Frenchies remained subscribed to the front-drive, six-speed manual, turbo-four formula. Renault's 2.0-litre twin-scroll turbocharged F-series inline-four (comically abbreviated as F4Rt) traces its basic design back to Renault's innovative DOHC 1.6-litre diesel-four of the 1980s. Here, it appears in various states of tune from 184kW/340Nm in the RS250 to 201kW/360Nm in the RS275.

While the strut front/torsion beam suspension layout isn't groundbreaking, beneath the front end sat Renault's torque-steer quelling Perfohub, similar to the Ford Focus RS patented RevoKnuckle design.