So, stick with me here guys and girls. You may want a milky brew and a biccy as this could set the cogs turning. With my megane in the garage for the best part of 3 months and probably won't be returned for another month (which is fine btw - good work takes time). I've been contemplating just the crazy amount of money i have spent on the r26 in the last 8 months, and it IS a CRAZY amount of money, when you look at it as a 13 year old french hatchback. As a person who changes car regularly, the Meg was the first in a long time, where I thought, "you know what, this is going to be a keeper". Then you tot up the bills and expense and you wonder, "am I sane and should I part with it?". It's an inevitable thought process for me. Spend alot - is it time to move on. I am sure many of you have had the same conundrum. The dilemma comes when you start to try and think of cars to replace the Megane with. Many car based magazines and forums will till you that few cars can compete with the poise and driver focus of the Megane RS. Its undeniable. Most will lavish praise on it's set up, driveability, purpose etc. I myself went with the Meg 2 and my route has very much seen that car transform it to a hybrid of the best of the mk2 and mk3 parts one way or another. So when it comes to thinking of swapping, that discounts the Mk3 really - i've done it and i don't see that the Mk3 would be any better than my mk2 was(will be). Now i imagine many of you have a mix of Mk2 and Mk3 (probably more mk3 at this point). So you would be unlikely to sell it only to buy another. My question is then, what car offers a comparison to the driver focus and usability of the Megane RS? (be it Mk2 or Mk3). I have often lamented this. I have owned many high performance cars, many hot hatches. My Impreza STI prior to the Megane was a 440HP fire breathing B-Road muncher, but it was not as engaging as the Megane. Didn't have its adjustability, pin point turn in and ultimately didn't put as big a smile on my face. E92 M3 - Manual - Boring. Really didn't feel special at all and while it had to be howling to get the best from it, just didn't really feel, small or light. It was a big ungainly car and ultimately didn't have that zing of an "M" car. M4 - Unless you get the competition - It was useless, extremely fast, but by god did it struggle with power on the road, even in dry conditions it could get twitchy and unsettled on the B-roads wales has to offer. Very accomplished car and those may have had the experience and disagree, but for me, and many others the chassis wasn't up to it. The Comp felt much better but still. It didn't engage, it scared you. That isn't what i want from a drivers car. Now the BMW-s above are 20-30K on the used market. That is double (if not more) the likely price of a (very good) megane. I've wondered about the M2 Comp - but that is a £50K car. The Golf R - Great if you like dumb exhaust noises on gearchanges and going quick in a straight line but like all VW's / Audis / VAG it just feels numb and unalive to drive. Yes you can throw lots of money at them and make them supercar eaters but in a straight line. In the twisties they are not engaging and too over engineered to be good drivers cars. Again a comment i think many owners will attest to. As such, other hot hatches don't really interest me as i don't think many outshine the mk3 megane in its best form. Recent articles have poised them against the best of more modern day cars and have come away stating that the Megane keeps up and feels more engaged. You can argue the improvements in a few years interior/tech wise yes. But ultimately, whilst i read these articles i can't help to think swapping to a Type R or Golf R would be fruitless. Don't get me wrong, i don't think that the Megane is the pinnacle of driving. It can't be. But i do wonder. That if you've had one and you are then in a position to change it, to want more of the same, what does that really leave you with? Do you stick with your circa £15k budget (2nd hand market) and if so - what is comparable? Or like me do you start thinking that the only real way of getting anything as engaging is to either stick with what you've got or increase your budget 100-200%? And thus is the megane really that good? What would you buy and why would you buy it? Criteria being you have to have the same amount of usability as the megane has - i.e. boot space and a useable rear seats? I've added a poll as i'm just intrigued what other peoples thoughts are? The options i've added can all be purchased for up to about £50K on the used market and are as i see it, most of the more common alternatives or driver focussed cars available that could put a bigger smile on your face than the Megane RS can. Or maybe not. Ultimately i'm not sure that you can justify spending 200% of the money to get a car that drives better than the one we've got already. Does that make me crazy? Probably, but i wondered if any of you all had similar thoughts and conundrums when it came to thinking about parting with your RS.
I sold a £20k BMW with 400hp and bought a megane. Straight line speed is one thing, cornering another, but nothing compares to the front end grip from the French rs with a LSD.
Only thing I’ve even really been tempted by was a mk4 Megane trophy, more practicality than my mk2 with the extra doors, big boot and equally enjoyable to drive.
Would also be tempted by a Megane Mk4 with the extra doors. If not I’d go for a civic type R. Like the Nissan GT-R but a big car that won’t fit 5 adults.
The vags like the golf r/s3 do everything but nothing very engaging. Again unless you throw money at it to go 500-550bhp but again through the corners really lacks and sense of feeling
The answer is nothing, I'm afraid. At least not with boot space and rear seats. Time for a multi-car strategy perhaps.
FK8 is a special car ,that was built from the ground up as a hot hatch..thats very rare these days. If you have ever owned a" real" Type R,you will understand the engineering that goes into them. Nothing in its class can match it for all round ability.Its also a true daily driver with its seating position,and one of the best manual shifts in the world. The looks are the biggest stumbling block for many,and i suspect if it wasnt so lairy,they wouldnt be able to make them fast enough to meet demand. But in saying that,they still command very high second hand prices. It will be my next car,but i am hoping they will do something about the styling. I doubt if i will ever sell my R26 though. My mate has the M2C,and while its a monster car,its another level again in running costs. Eats tyres and brakes if you chuck in a few track days, and wont do any more than 20mpg,in real world conditions driving.
He also had a 400hp Golf R before...super fast and capable,but not involving. And before that a Cayman S...quick,poised,but cramped and fell to bits!.. If we didnt have many mechanics in our fold,he would have been stuffed when the manifold studs sheared. Porshe wanted him to have a new head at the cost of a tidy R26!
We went to bedford for a trackday on friday..2 of the quickest cars there???...a fiesta mk4 racecar with a puma engine in it,and my mates mk2 golf race car with a seat leon engine in it!....only thing that went past those 2 was a Ariel atom!.. There was a local lad there with a mini he had spent 30k on...he was holding both of them up...You dont need to spend a fortune to go quick!
I don't think there is anything else i would choose, unless i had a shite load of wonga. Then it would be a McLaren or maybe a Huracan, but then the cost of servicing, tyres etc are going to be huge and then what is the cost if you bin it. I had a Mk2 all be it a 225, thought the next step was a Mk3, never really got on 100 % with the Mk3 possibly 80-90% but there was always the niggling thought it was going to bite me in the ass and a couple of times it did (well on track it did) the Mk2 never gave me that worry. That is why i went back to a Mk2. I look at what goes past me on track, too be honest not much does but it all depends on the track and how long the straights are, Golf R is fast in a straight line but never had any problem passing one even at Spa Did have a passenger ride in a Merc A45 around Spa, wow that car felt so numb it was unreal, i was seriously thinking of buying one, test drove one on the road felt okay, but after that passenger lap around Spa i dismissed that car. I have an SL55 for the road so i don't need another road car. Did look at a 911 a long while ago but you can't get a set of track wheels in there My 2p worth
The only thing things that slightly interests me at the moment are a civic type R, mk4 trophy-r or a Yaris GR with circuit pack .. all significantly more money than my car and would they be 4/5 times better ? I have also always wanted a proper M preferably an M5 but common sense keeps kicking in each time I go to buy one lol I too have spent a stupid amount on my Megane over lockdown and now for the first time ever feel I have to get some sort of return on it, I went to sell it once and then pulled out because I could find nothing to replace it with .. I actually want to keep it and this is from someone who changes cars and bikes with divorce impending regularity ! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Pound for pound and with all the cars I've owned, the Megane is second only to the kit car for fun and apart from that, there's a huge sense of involvement when driving. Something I hadn't had in a road car before
Yeah i think ultimately, one of my issues is that i've always just been a one car guy. I mean owned many over the years, but always really just one at a time. So my cars have been a "do it all" thing - has to be something good to drive, interesting, as well as an element of practicality. Needing a boot and rear seats for the kids. That adds to the "dilemma" i guess of what you choose next. As that criteria won't change for a good 7/8 years. At which point i could get a two seater alongside something else and there'd be no need for practical use. I could get two cars now and just have something like an Elise/Exige/VXT220 and use that as a driver focussed car alongside the megane BUT i like to take the kids to shows/car events etc so i'd always end up using the megane more. So ultimately, a one car set up suits my needs now and for the next few years. I think its interesting just how well we regard our cars. I've been on so many forums and you get the usual "we own the best car" mentality but ultimately there are always threads about what to change to and why's etc. But not here. Everyone commenting so far is of the same opinion as me really, or at least thats how it feels. That bang for buck, miles for smiles, the Megane RS (in any form) is dam hard to beat without spending lots more cash. The one i keep coming back to is the 911 personally. I think it offers very much similar package to the Megane but its still double the money ultimately - which again is a testament to just how good the Megane is.
Having owned a porsche (boxster) I have been put off for life for the repair bills. They are astronomical. The cars are hard to work on too. That said, it was a Porsche and no getting any from the smile you got having that badge. I hear what you are saying clearly, most makes will profess how good they are, something I can't see to process is just how capable the megane is, and thats in standard form.
Yes, big repair bills are something that i am used too unfortunately. I mean since November the Megane will have cost me about 11k - so its not something i'm not willing to suck up if you see what i mean - but of course you'd rather avoid it. Horror stories around the IMS and RMS issues on the 911 are quite common and some threads put the failure rate about 10% which is massive considering (1/10 cars) - not sure if that REALLY is the case. But still its a concern. Another car i've started looking at is the Evora - but again - way more than the Megane and given its a £40k car - is it really nearly three times better than the megane? Based on price - nope. Not at all. There was a thread not so long ago on PH about the E9* M3 - "is it the best car ever" (its not btw its quite boring in the real world that car) - https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=1567592 So (wild statement ahead) is the Megane RS the best bang for buck car of the last decade? Could you go one further and say is it one of the best bang for buck cars ever made?
After changing cars all the time I feel like I’m finally settled with my megane rs after coming from a Audi s3 , used to be changing cars like 2 or 3 times a year. Having owned these, Clio 172, corsa vxr, Astra h vxr, Ford Focus st mk2, fiesta st 180 and Audi s3, the megane is by far the best and most fun to drive in my opinion, fiesta st is probably 2nd just a little slow compared to the others, would love a Porsche probably couldn’t afford the repair bills [emoji23]
I had the IMS and RMS fail on my boxster. Luckily it was caught at engine leak stage. 911 bills are even bigger.
I went from GW R26 Lux (4 years) to E91 330i (4 years) M3 V8 DCT ( 2 years) to Cup-S full spec for last 3 years. Pretty much a straight swap of a 13 plate M3 to 66 plate Cup-S, People think you are mad when you do that kind of thing. In the same time my Wife had Clio Trophy, Z3M Coupe, 130i, STI Widetrack. I look at M2 Comp but cannot justify the price jump either. To be honest I cannot work out if I want to replace the STI either. Both very difficult to replace and as std low miles cars both fairly cheap running costs with minimal depreciation thrown in. Did 200 mile round trip in Meg yesterday. Lots of 50 mph speed zones. 42 mpg on the trip.
Yes, this forum is refreshingly free of fanboy-ism and I think tends to comprise more mature folk who've owned a variety of machinery and are capable of making objective appraisals. Plus RS tends to attract drivers rather than scene people. I've only driven a 997 very briefly and it was a Tip. But everything leads me to believe that any non-GT 997 may just be on the boring side of ticking your boxes. If your kids are little then add a Lotus Evora to your list.
Just saw that you're already looking at these. The difference between the Evora and the Megane is that while they're both fabulous to push hard, the Evora imparts a sense of specialness at any speed in any situation. An RS Megane comes alive when caned but in other circumstances is just an ordinary four-cylinder hatchback. An Evora gives a warm fuzzy feeling even when trundling down to the shops, particularly if you have a sports exhaust that lets the (admittedly of humble origins) V6 growl properly. IMO it beats anything else sub £60k in delivering that "mini supercar" feel...comparable to a Macca or Fezza without the ownership costs (as long as you avoid the early close-ratio gearbox).
I have considered raiding every piggy bank i can find and buying a new poverty spec boxster gts. But even the gearing puts me off that.
My ultimate is the GT4 - but again its not as useable as it doesn't have four seats which is a shame. My ultimate is the GT4 and it would bankrupt me, but ultimately, i couldn't own one as i need 4 seats for 50% of my time. Which may be daft as i could justify owning one and having a small family run-around - but my kids love to come to car shows , races, tracks, events with me so i need 4 seats.
Similar thoughts here. You do wonder does it make sense dropping the equivalent of something like an e92 m3 worth of money on a 2006 Megane but I've struggled to find an alternative. I do slightly prefer my old RS250 to the R26 but we won't start that debAte. What about something light and RWD. Probably looking at slightly modified too. A turbo GT86 or a BBR tuned ND MX5?
I think the only question here is to know which other car can be so competent on a daily basis! Basically we could go to the bread in the morning and after lunch be on a track "scratching other bigger" cars, and come back as if nothing even happened! In my opinion, and without doubting the capabilities of other cars, I think the MRS is one of the only cars that can do everything, without having too many worries, such as maintenance, parts prices, tires, consumption... In my case, if I had to choose another car, I would choose the Audi RS3. It has 5 doors, and it's pretty cool to drive...just in my opinion, I have the MRS but not for tracks or racing, just to have fun when I get the chance!
I like the tuned mx5 idea to.been considering the 3.75 with either throttle bodies or turbo from bbr. I think would be a great partner to megane and outpunch its price point. Yet with reasonable costs and reliability.
This is a great discussion. I was thinking the same - find something cheaper and do some really good performance mods? Or find something older and cheaper and get it up to scratch - How about a nicely kept Lotus Elan M100? No mods necessary. I spent thousands on my R26 back around 2010 and i loved that car. I honestly didn’t want any other car at that point in time - i saw it as the peak of hot hatch development back then, as some would argue it still is!. 285bhp stage-2 RS-Tuning, which if you consider what was on the roads back then, was just so rapid compared to other cars at that time - it was a hoot to drive! The mk1 Focus RS around that time was also tempting but it was more expensive and had stories about bad torque steer and really hard suspension (for a daily). But like so many others have said, the R26 cost me a fortune in maintenance and performance mods and a gearbox rebuild was the final straw. I sold it - I often wondered what happened to it (LT07PZC - black - anyone seen it?!). Now I’m loving my 275 and it’s driving so nicely - ultimately not as connected and agile as the R26 but certainly more comfortable. So what comes next? I would look at Lotus - just fabulous drivers cars and agree on the Evora comments above. A few years ago I was very keen on a Europa S which was limited run, has a boot, and had the VX220 turbo engine, so power delivery more like the Meg, but they’ve got more expensive now... be interested to know if anyone’s come from a Lotus to a Meg.
A mate of mine has a GT86, he's spent a fortune on it, £1500 for a set of tubular manifolds, now he's had the turbo kit think that was £4500 on that, AP uprated brakes £1600 and to be honest they feel shite, now he's looking at new rods and pistons and that is going to be £6k, he paid nearly £20k for it a couple of years ago. It's okay to drive, i did a good few laps at Castle Combe in it and apart from the brakes and the lack of power it did okay, but at that cost it doesn't seem worth it, my Megane will run rings around it, out brake it, out perform it as well.
touring car driver josh cook says a leon 300 is as good as anything for the money..the new one is supposed to be better than any golf..
I like the idea of a B58 more than I like the idea on the M140i. Perhaps eben more so than the S55 in the M3/M2. The engine is epic and so easily tuneable. But the base car seems to need a chunk spent on it dynamically (diff/suspension) to keep up with the Engine (even as std). Repeatedly though we all keep coming up with cars that 'need' tuned out of the box. Whereas the Meg is such a great std package.
Agreed, the B58 is one of the best engines of recent times but the rest of the car is basically just a standard 1 or 2 series with the "M sport" package. By the time you spend tons getting the handling to M car levels you might as well have got an M2 comp in my opinion. Maybe the Supra is a bit better? I've got no plans at all to sell mine, but I do sometimes look through autotrader and think what I'd replace it with. There's really not a lot out there of interest. Personally wouldn't want another hatch or a 4 cylinder as i'd like a total change, which just leaves M cars, Porsches or an Alfa Guilia Cloverleaf which are all huge money.
As a Subaru lover the R205 hatch has just hit the 10 year mark in the last few years but the seem to be coming in at £30k which is pretty much what they were when new. If they had been nearer £20k I probably would have one. I toyed with the Cosworth CS400 when they were at £25k ( I did not realise that was bottoming out) and went out in a couple a few years back but the 2.5 engine paranoia put me off now the price has went up.
Ahh Subaru. I made the jump from a JDM fanboy to RenaultSport following ownership of 7 Impreza's in total, including a SPEC D, RB5, Type R Version 5 2dr, JDM 2.0 Hatch. That trail of ownership was great. The cars are truly capable machines but in a very different way to the Megane. For a rare, well cared for car, prices are strong and as you mention there are a lot of pitfalls to watch out for. The 2.5 engine woes are very real. However, it is the engine to have IMHO. The waves of seemingly endless torque far outweighs what you get in the 2.0. If you were to buy one, i would only look at forged engines. It just would save a lot of possible woe in the long run. For a good reputable company that could cost skywards of £7k depending on the parts you choose. So budget it in if you ever do go for one. I've questioned going back to Subaru if ever the time came to swap the Megane. It's not as sharp a steer but the other "theatre" elements of the cars certainly add that "smile factor" in many other ways. Likewise the EVO. As point to point cars they are both marques hard to beat. Quick in a straight line, quick around twisties, boot, useable and practical for kids / stuff. They tick a lot of the boxes the Megane does. But having had so many i'm inclined to admit, whilst i love Subaru's (WRC kid growing up) the cars are not as useable, fun, arguably reliable as the Megane. But they definitely are fun and put a smile on your face and certainly aren't all as expensive as some of the other stuff that you'd compare to the Megane.
Love the idea of an older Impreza, but massive running costs? One thing which hasn’t been mentioned yet is the rarity of seeing RS Meganes on the road - it is definitely more of a niche following and that is great. I don’t want a German car because everyone else has one . Support the underdog! So that rules out lots of the options on the list... GR Yaris still a contender, but I have a feeling we might see lots more of those soon.
Another Subaru enthusiast here. I’ve had three classics, a blob and a hawk, all JDM. Currently driving a GC8 with a 1997 shell fitted with a 1999 RA DCCD transmission and built 2.1 motor. Agree totally the driving experience isn’t as sharp as RS but is thoroughly engaging in its own way, particularly with a DCCD car which has more rear bias. I wouldn‘t daily an Impreza though - too raw. If you buy well the running costs aren’t scary, but these are old cars now with everything that entails (or least the ones I’m interested in are - i.e. pre 2007).
My wifes daily is a 2005 STI Widetrack with PPP. We have had for 7 years since 25k miles. Now just over 60k. Service once a year every 4-5k. Thats it. No Mods. Lots more reliable than BMW's I have owned a fraction of the age. Great Noise, Thrilling Power delivery at 3.5k. Zero Depreciation. A little thirsty, Ride a bit Hard, Steering lifeless. If you think its hard replacing a Meg try to replace a Scooby.....
I've owned a number of cars, some with much more power than the Megane 250. But none as capable. Even my tiger supercat would not be a match for the Megane in the twisty bits and that was a fully setup hill climb car. I entered a corner way too quickly today. I planted the throttle and the car pulled through without a spec of understeer. This is a very very capable car +1 on the Leon also. But no mechanical LSD from memory
My Brother has just got Civic Type-R FK8, never been in one, not been out in it yet, looking forward to it. And having a good look round it.
