Just how much better is a 275 over a 250? If you were buying one today is it worth the extra for the newer car? If I bought a 250 and remapped it to 300bhp what am I missing out on? Obviously the newer car will be nicer in many respects. Basically I want you to help me decide what to buy! I'm looking at low mile 275s' and thinking they actually look better value. This could just be my man maths however!! I'll be doing very few miles and my only essential spec is Recaro buckets and RS monitor. I prefer 18'' wheels.
Hi John and welcome It will all depend on what you are going to use the car for, is it going to be a daily, fast road or track, or a bit of it all. I was wondering the same, normal chassis or cup, if a 250 then you would have the money to fit some quality coilovers, exhaust upgrade, remap etc, £10k would buy a lot of that stuff, it all depends what the end result is your after.
By not being specific about power between 250, 265 and 275 you increase the choice of (good) cars. Particularly if you're happy to map. The only limitation being if you want the balance of manufacturer's warranty. There is a nice Cup S in Sussex for £19k I think.
Yes I've seen that Cup S (white one?). That is what has prompted this train of thought! I'm half thinking there must be a catch?! Seems like a good deal. In answer to previous posts. Yes, Cup pack essential (goes without saying almost!). Car will be used for 3 mile commute in depths of winter, collecting daughter from nursery, Sunday morning hooning. Young daughter means I don't have time for track days. Happy to remap the car too. Can't be arsed with suspension mods.
There's quite a price difference between the 2 so depends on your priorities I suppose. Obviously with a nearly new low mile 275 you've got the balance of the 4year warranty and in theory everything should be tighter,newer,fresher etc and it'died be the facelift if you prefer that. You won't have to worry about belt changes for some time either! On the other hand you can get an older one and keep the money for elsewhere, mods, maintenance,holidays etc I have a Cup S now and I love it,but I've never been in a 250. I previously had an R26!
Not much difference between the two to be honest, the chassis and way they drive is the same. However the sport button adds a better throttle response and the monitor is a good piece of kit, and the Ohlins feel great - I look forward to Spring when I'll have a play with the set up. Personally I wanted Akrapovic, Recaro's, Ohlins so bought a new Cup-S. Flame red is another selling point I like. It's also the last hurrah of a brilliant series. If you aren't bothered by these things a 250 would be just fine. Just make sure you get Cup pack!!!!
This is exactly my dilemma - help make my decision dammit! A virtually brand new 275 on 4k miles for £19k vs 250 on 40-50k miles for £12k. From what I've seen a 250 with Recaros doesn't come much cheaper than that. Believe it or not I actually started out intending to buy an R26. A job change and mission creep have set in since!
Do they actually drive the same though? Broadly speaking the RS models generally get better and better in each iteration. I'm talking Clio and Megane here. I think a couple of the magazine reviews I've read online said the chassis was slightly improved for the 275. Perhaps I wouldn't notice! RS monitor was available on 250 and does basically the same thing on 275 as far as I'm aware. Albeit with improved interface/screen on later car. Is that correct? It's this kind of thing I'm hoping to be filled in on by you Megane experts
It's the same car with some cosmetic tweaks, slightly different options and a tiny bit more power. Depends what you want tbh, is it gonna be modified, tracked etc? If so, a cheaper 250 and spend the change on mods will build a 250 that is massively quicker and more capable than a 275.
I don't intend to track it much if at all. Will do plenty of fast road hopefully. So remap and better pads/fluid will be the extent of any mods.
Personally I'd take a 250 as the front end (for me) on the newer ones is f'ugly. Saying that I think the same with Mk2's! It's a LOT of money to save for what is the same car really, put the rest away for something else.
If it only loses £7k in 4 years then the gap is not that great. Losing less than £150/month is low. I personally value a manufacturer warranty at £500/year so suddenly we're getting closer to the £100/month depreciation, with peace of mind and lower maintenance bills.
Thanks for the input guys. In some ways I do prefer the earlier front end (could they have made the Renault badge any bigger?!).
I looked at an ex-demo 1,000 mile 275 Cup-S a few weeks before I recently bought my 250 Cup; it was black with black wheels and standard seats, exactly as mine are! Interior wise I think they’re exactly the same, or if there are any major differences I haven’t noticed. The Cup-S had 19” wheels I think and mine ‘only’ has 18’s but they’re both the same width. I almost bought the 275 as had got them down to £18k (from about £20k I think), but as it would be a 2nd car and weekend toy I couldn’t justify buying an almost brand-new car for that price which I would only use once a week for a blast. What I did see a couple of weeks later, and eventually bought, was a 30,000 mile 250 Cup in perfect condition (other than wheels needing a re-furb), full service history etc. etc., which I bought for £10k. So I have saved £8k for apparently no real downsides………. I too was already looking at re-mapping the 275 and the maps are the same (at least Superchips’ is) for the 250, 265 and 275 as they are all mechanically identical, therefore I would end up with the same circa 300 bhp regardless of which I bought. Plus for me, a reason for buying an older car was that I knew it would need tinkering with but this is something I enjoy and is a reason I want a weekend toy/hobby, so when it needs new brake pads/discs etc. etc. I will enjoy replacing them myself and can look into upgrading them at the same time. Which would seem more of a waste of money on a brand-new car. So I say, if you see an older 250/265 etc. that “feels” right then get it!! I would definitely recommend the Cup chassis (LSD!!!) though with whatever you choose!
I've had a 250 cup and currently in a 275 trophy. Both drive the same, with the newer cosmetics inside the 275 such as alcantara wheel and RS monitor is good. Power difference is not noticable in everyday driving. Looks wise the pre-facelift 250/265 is better looking that the fugly 275's (IMHO). If I was to do it agaian, I'd buy a good used 250/265 and tweak a few things to make it slightly better.
Don't be fooled into thinking it's just 25bhp, you may only gain that at peak but the increase in midrange torque and power is a LOT more than that.
Went to see it. It’s described as new because it really looks like it. Inside and out. Not a swirl or any damage whatsoever to any panels. Not a hint of parking ding. Wheels are unmarked – front tyres down to about 6mm which is consistent – no evidence of track use either. First registered 31/05 to a local Renault dealership technician who couldn’t justify the finance and part exed with a car that Auto Sussex had rather than sell through the dealership, which makes sense. They paid off the finance so it’s clear now. The only strange thing is that it has the older (slotted) front discs. Either the factory shifted old stocks or he “upgraded”. This was a £28k list car and while he got around 25% off, they don’t make them anymore so I reckon it’d be a smart move, even financially, as I explained earlier. You don't really "save" money by buying a 250, you buy a car lower down the depreciation curve (which on those cars looks very linear). But obviously this is also cashflow dependant. I didn’t discuss price but they might even take an offer.
RSTuning have managed it now. Just needed to figure out the closed loop fuelling and wideband lambda. Personally I would spend the 7K extra on the newer car that comes with warranty/Renault assistance 6/7 year old 250's are coming toward the big bills. You're also starting to go up the other side on the bathtub curve of reliability. It's not JUST 25 extra bhp either. Other things were refined and tinkered with. Touch screen display for the stereo, engine and gearbox mounts, diff lock settings and so forth.
Good on you mate. Doing that for someone you don't know on a common interest in cars and Meganes. If I had a cap, then I would doff it to you sir [emoji106] Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
This is great stuff guys. Keep it coming. Nickfrog you are a star. Thank you. I owe you one. I'm going to sit down tomorrow and give it some serious thought/crunch some numbers when I'm not knackered from work. This is exactly the kind of info I'm after. I want the nitty gritty details. I know they are essentially the same chassis and engine, but the small details add up. I had to Google bath tub curve. Nice!
No worries. It's only 6 miles from my office. Was quite a nice country side drive too. The place is brilliant actually. Very good set up, super clean, good stock, nice people. Refreshing for a profession that sometimes suffers from a bad reputation.
Is that white 275 actually a Cup S? It doesn't have it written on the front wing like all those I've seen online (has Renault Sport instead). I don't particularly care as long as it has all the right bits! 18" wheels is actually a draw for me. I imagine most Cup S came with 19s'.
Yes it's a Cup-S. He just changed the decals to Renault Sport in white to go with the car. The originals are a bit fussy (white, red and a Union Jack). I removed mine entirely. I prefer the 18's too for a variety of reasons, I actually think quite a few Cup-S are on 18' as quite a few regular track day billies bought them.
Could be worth a thought if you drive at night much but for me the 250 wins on night driving easily. 250 (not sure if this was all models?) has bi-xenon directional headlights, that imo are very good. These were not an option on the 275, and the 275s i've been in have had terrible lighting (probably improves with adjustment and new bulbs).
I collected the white 275 yesterday. Very happy! Big thanks again to Nickfrog for checking it out, and thank you to everyone else for their input. It is basically as new apart from one wheel is curbed ever so slightly. Few other minor niggles: - Something rattles on front passenger seat (didn't manifest itself on test drive with dealer sat in it). - Sat nav stopped working half way home (not that I was using it!). Screen just displayed 'no maps'. I had been turning the display on and off a bit. Expect it needs re-setting somehow. - Stop/Start was unavailable the entire 40miles home. Expect this is a battery charge issue, or perhaps it's simply been turned off. Didn't have time to get my head round all the toys yesterday. Just concentrated on having a fun drive back!! Goes alright in the slimy conditions.
Rattle on passenger seat. Just use the handle to push the seat forward as if someone was getting in the back and push it back and should sort it. With sat nav just make sure SD card is fully in. Start/Stop. If you are in sport mode (RS button) then its not available at all.
Well done John. Damn I didn't notice the wheel damage ! Must have happened since then lol. If it's superficial, the Halfords Satin black spray at £5.99 is an exact match. Don't ask me how I know.
It wasn't in sport mode. Thought I would save that for another day given I was taking it relatively easy yesterday Thanks for the tip RE the seat. I thought it would be something as simple as moving it back or forth. RE the kerbed alloy I wouldn't be surprised if someone had been driving it since last week as the washer bottle was completely empty too. Not ideal for my first drive but no biggy. Kind of ironic too as the 182 I traded in had no washer jets! (I did have the good grace to tell them that).
There are so many parameters for the SS not to operate, I doubt there is a fault. If it still doesn't work by May when the days are warmer then look into it.
Get some pics up! The front seat rattle may be the seat belt clip. They have a bad habit of rattling and the sound appears to come from anywhere but that area. Mine does it anytime after somebody has been in the passenger seat and disturbed the clip. Just move it's position when driving and it goes away. Sat nav has only ever done that when you pull the SD card out. Start/stop defaults back to on on every engine start. If the battery is low (which it could be if the cars been sat around for a while or just moved around a garage forecourt) it won't engage. It also won't engage if you have a lot of current drain due to many electrical items being turned on. If the selected interior temp is very different from the actual temp, this too will stop it functioning. Cracking cars - have fun.
You've probably knocked the Sd card when putting something in the cubby hole in front of the gearstick. I do it all the time
