Hi All. Read many a forum of cars and their progression and I've always vowed to make one. Now I've got a car that I can't help but love, I have to make a forum for it so here we are! First few pictures below of when I picked a car up. As you might be able to tell from the photos, when picking up the car it had the grill wrapped in a 3M Carbon Fibre. Now, there was nothing wrong with it but I’m more of an OEM fan and the rear ‘Megane’ lettering badges have got to go. A few posts are going to be added to this in quick succession to get the forum up-to-date with the Meg.
As a detailing enthusiast, I couldn't help but want to spend the first weekend detailing the car and restoring some glory to the Flame Red paintwork. In preparation, I visited CleanYourCar and bought the products that would live up to the job. Admittedly, I was only be able to do it by hand so I couldn't remove the majority of the swirls. One of the finer details.. I mean, who doesn't love an Akrapovic exhaust? If you want to see a few more pictures then I wrote up a post on the Detailing area on the website. Admittedly, my opinion is pretty bias but I bloody love this colour. The transformation and gloss on the car, it's almost like a different colour to what it was when I picked it up.
After cleaning the car for the weekend, I couldn't help myself but take the car out for a hoon. After all, these sorts of cars were made to be driven rather than be a garage queen. Driving it back into my road, I realised that it had a horrific creaking and knocking from the front over the smallest bumps. Where I daily drive the car, it was seemingly getting worse and worse so I bit the bullet. I ordered some uprated front ball joints that were recommended to me and booked the car in at Rentech in Portsmouth; it has quite the reputation as a Renault specialist. Long story shot, last Thursday came about and it was sorting day. A fair few hours later and making it reasonable dent in my pocket, the balljoints on the car were sorted and it was immediately much much tighter to drive. All that was left to do for the time being was to have an alignment sorted and make sure that I was going to be able to use the car to its full potential.
The morning after, but in this case, it was used in a good way! I had the car booked in on Friday morning to ensure that the car was going to be driving at full potential. Now, before the Meg, I'd only owned a stupidly low static Audi Avant so I wasn't used to this. I made my way to The Wheel Alignment Centre in Southampton (would thoroughly recommend) and it was sorted after about 20 minutes. On the drive home I could not believe how much the balljoints and alignment had made the car feel so much tighter. The strong whiff of torque steer had mostly vanished. I was taking it back and came to a roundabout, thought "Why not? He told me to test it properly?" so I blasted it around the roundabout, it held the line perfectly. I blitzed it up the hill, eased off the throttle to immerse myself in several pops from the exhaust. I mean, if you don't want to modify these cars, you really don't have to but I cannot wait for what I have planned. In the meantime, enjoy some of the documentary photos from the alignment below!
On the day of having the alignment sorted, my new gearknob turned up, one that was an optional extra in the Cup-S. It has been a few days since fitting it. With it being aliminium the gear change has improved tremendously with more weighting to it and the driving experience is much better coming into regular contact with a more expensive feeling material. Anyone who is thinking of doing the modification, I'd highly recommend it as it's an easy change over, looks and feels much better too.
Love that, it's what I'd upgrade the 250 to Agree regards the gearknob, made a hell of a difference for me too
Thanks, Gaz. I think it really was worth the money where it's my daily driver and I do like a few toys! Definitely worth every penny and keeping it OEM. I'd love to retrim the wheel to some new alcantara as it's quite worn
amazing how Renault managed to mess up the mk2 with its swivel hub design.Then made a problem even worse with the redesigned balljoint arrangement!
The mk2 swivel bearing thing isn't expensive if you can do it yourself, other wise if you have to pay someone to do it then it is, the mk3 has screw in ball joints, couldn't budge mine so bought an aftermarket set of arms, so will sort the others out when i have the time
Looks so good! Mine is the OEM retrim and it really could've been done better, can't wait to get it done!
Just a Sunday wash that was needed this weekend. As much as I love driving the car, I do want to keep it looking fantastic at all times. I have a few subtle modifications to do which will make a bigger difference. Possibly swapping the 19s for some Tibor 18s soon to go for a chunkier tyre and improve the composure on the road (not that it needs improving or is uncomfortable at all!)
I've just heard that it will handle a fair bit better on the 18s and be a lot more composed. Will be interested to see the difference when I finally get them
Looking really good. Love the flame red. See a few Clio's around and Mazda has a similar colour & it looks lovely. I guess it was only available on the Cup-S and I think the only sold a hundred or so overall so there cannot be that many in Flame Red. Despite all the press stuff been done with Flame Red cars.
I guess it will be the ride quality that will improve with a bit more compliance from deeper sidewall. Which will help handling by virtue of the fact our roads are poor.
It's an incredible colour isn't it! Beautiful car mate, what's the full spec on yours? I'd imagine the 18's are lighter too, and less unsprung weight = better everything. On 18's mine only becomes unpleasant at low speeds on crap roads. I'm eyeing up some TSW's for mine. They are one of the few wheels which come in a large offset and are really light. Tibors will then be demoted to winter wheels. A couple of mine are a little scuffed, and it wasn't me a swear!
It is quite a rare car I think, I've had a few people comment on it and how they haven't seen one on the road, absolutely love it
It's basically got every option ticked I believe, Ohlins, Recaros, Akrapovic, R.S Monitor, Dual Zone Climate Control etc. Absolutely love it! What are 'TSWs'? I quite like the Tibors a lot to be honest and it'll be a hell of a lot easier to clean than the Steevs!
These are TSW Nurburgring's. Really high quality set of wheels. 18x9 ET63 size so they don't spoil the handling (standard wheels are ET65 I believe).
Not my personal cup of tea but I can definitely see the appeal. I fancy some O.Z Superlegerras as my brother can get a very good deal on them for an aftermarket set
Forgot about the unsprung weight also. Some tyre options drop off on 18s. I have ps4s and they are only 19 up. I am not so keen on tibors but some of the aftermarket wheels on a lowered car with wider offset look amazing. The Steev's are a pain to clean as you say and the tyre is quite stretched offering little rim protection.
Yeah, I'll give a good look at tyre options but I've been told 235/40/18 is prime for the Megane. The Tibors aren't the best but for a daily wheel, I don't think you can go wrong, especially if they were in Satin Black. I do really like the Steevs and 19s but wheel cleaning is a mess and I'd much prefer some 18s with chunkier tyres for sure.
225s and 235s both fit, but last time i looked 235s were only £10 more than 225s so might as well go for the extra rubber
Good and bad news.. Bad first.. the person I was swapping wheels with backed out on me at the last minute which is extremely frustrating as I was really looking forward to having 18s on the car but this will have to be put on hold. Good news.. I've booked the first track day for next month, absolutely buzzing for it and can't wait! Just hoping the weather holds out as I'll be on the Potenza RE050A's rather than PS4's but I'm making some brake upgrades in preparation of the day so I look forward to sharing this with you over the next few weeks.
This past weekend my friend and I decided to try and do the brake modifications as a driveway jobby. I have no shame in hiding that I have zero experience in working on cars but my friend is a dab hand so we set about trying to get the car in working order as a little bit of preparation before Abingdon on October 18th. The upgrades I had for the car were below: PFC Z Rated Front Pads Proline Motorsport Lines (HEL but an additional line that doesn't come with the HEL kit) TRS stud kit RBF 600 fluid Upgrades seeming rather simple, we started the day! First off we headed to Halfords in my friends Racing Blue 197 which has a fair few modifications by any means! Picked up some axle stands, blue garage roll and some nitrile gloves to work on the car. Getting back, the Clio was delegated to off the drive and the Megane took centre stage. We got the car jacked up into the air and took all the wheels off. I couldn't resist getting some detailed shots of the car, really tidy underneath and in the arches which was nice to see. Down to business. First things first, we started on getting the stud kit sorted. Hunted around for the right allen key to fit inside of the studs. We covered the bolt in a line of Loctite to keep it in place before torquing it up and letting them set whilst we got the work done. Of course, there had to be one bloody bolt which rounded off so I'll have to order that individually from TRS and make sure I replace that before I forget. Looks so much more stealth and it's so much easier to fit the wheels onto the car, really subtle mod but for £50 odd, you can't really go wrong. Next we started work on the lines which is where we encountered the annoying problem *sigh*. It appears that previous work on the car had meant the bolt to get the front lines off had been rounded off on both sides. We took to an enthusiastic approach of Jeremy Clarkson with a hammer and screwdriver to try and break the line out of the bracket but after literal hours of trying, it just wasn't happening so this is going to have to be outsourced. However, managed to change the front pads over without a hassle and the rear lines were just frustrating but we managed to get it all sorted. Break bleed was next before taking the car round the block to see how it felt. Took the car round the block and the braking difference compared to the stock Brembo setup is tremendous. It doesn't have the most initial bite, which I actually quite like to be honest because you have a bit of room to maneuver with the heel and toe downshifts, but when you plant the foot on the brake, it really does stop. Considering the car is aiming to be a fast road / track car, they're perfect pads. I'll end up giving a more in-depth review after the track day as I'm sure I'll have a lot to say.
Since this update, I've been questioning owning the car slightly to be honest. I love the car, it is very nippy in a straight line, handles corners with pure ease and obliterates B roads for fun but it's missing something at the moment for me. After being in my friend's 197 a fair chunk, I'm almost finding myself hankering for one of those where I was smiling from cheek to cheek at the personality of the car but in the Megane it handles everything so well, I don't find myself smiling as it just, does it? I know it sounds fairly stupid but a lot of people have been telling me it's not all about the power recently and I'm wondering whether I've started at the deep end with the Megane and if I should have something in-between to make me really appreciate it. Since then, I've taken the parcel shelf out, folded the rear seats down and have been driving like this as the exhaust noise comes into the cabin so much more, before it was so refined I could only hear the loudest pops! Even now, I feel like I'm cheating on the car having these thoughts! It would be great to hear what people think, any and all feedback is welcome and it would be great to hear if people have been in similar situations. I'm under no impression that this car is bad, if anything, it's too good. Maybe removing the rear seats and adding a decat is necessary to provide more theatrics, drama and smile inducing noise! Either way, Abingdon is less than a month away and these negative thoughts could disappear.
Interesting that Jamie... I'm considering pulling the trigger on a 275 trophy... (standard) without the ohlins option... can fully sympathise with what you're saying though having owned a number of renault sports previously.....
I love the car, it's absolutely incredible the way that it deals with everything. Oddly, going on a B road blast it was just capable with not much noise.. this was before the rear seats were down. I think I need to remove the rear seats and get it decatted, a clubsport Cup-S has always been my vision with the car and I think I would really regret getting rid of it
A decat will certainly give you more noise.. also the added labour of replacing with the cat at MOT time... I think its a bit of a ballache of a job to do on your own, to then have to "un do" it again and fit the decat post MOT test... perhaps a 200cell sports cat would suit better?? Im currently driving a 2.5T kuga (same 5pot engine as the Focus ST2).. and the sports cat made a noticeable difference to the cars sound.??? An induction kit will also give a greater engine sound... Problem being, you start to lose the original car as renault intended....???
Thinking the decat adds more power but it also adds more theatre which is I think what the car is lacking. I didn't think it would be so refined from exhaust noise really? Sometimes the original car they intended is enough but I love to modify so if I do keep the car it is a large project
I hope so! Abingdon around the corner.. tempted to try and remove the rear seats beforehand but we shall see.. I've heard it's very easy to get them out
I have come back in last year to a cup-s myself. It is a great car. But i understand where you are coming for I used to run a mapped r26 and a 200 at the same time. Up to 8/10th the megane was the better car as you could rely on the torque. But chasing those last couple of tenths the n.a. nature of the 200 and comparative lack of torque that forced you to the reds line all the time was fun. After the r26 I had a 330i . 271bhp straight 6 then an e92 m3. Both were amazing because of the character of the engine and the requirement to rev. Both made great sound if a little subdued in the car (I think that's just modern cars). Even with the araka the engind was the most disappointing element of the meg So if may be you need a n.a. car to chase the red line like a 182, 200, mx5, gt86, m3, 330i, 130i. Giving the meg more power just gives it more torque whichmay not be what you are after.
Not necessarily going hunting for power with the Megane as I think it's the last thing that it actually needs. With the decat, I'm chasing theatrics and drama. I think you could be right, maybe I'm just in a place where I want a car I can ring its neck up to redline and the Clio 200 Cup does just that. I'll have to see how I get on at Abingdon and leading up until then. Regardless, the Megane is absolutely fantastic and I love the car
Get it on track, add some more noise with a decat and induction and enjoy it. If your wanting something to wring it's neck I'd genuine look at leaving it stock power and e joy being able to use it all on the road without ending up at jailspeeds too easily. I think I get where you are coming from, the mid range torque on them makes them too easy to drive and means you don't really have to rev them out, N/A is far, far more rewarding and enjoyable in that aspect imo
Yeah, I'm only adding the decat for the noise aspect to be honest, not more power really. It's reassuring to hear it from you, Jamie where you had the Megane for so long and turned it to and out and out track weapon. After being in friends NA cars, it's just got me thinking about that area and looking for something potentially more fun rather than a capable weapon but we'll see. Did a decat add a lot more noise in your car or was it only a minor change?
Lovely looking car mate. I’m new to megane’s, and hopefully picking up a 265 on Sunday. Would that gear knob fit? Would you mind linking me to one? Thanks
