Haven't got round to one of these since owning the Megane (around 2 years), so now is a better time than ever. Car is used a daily with the occasional trackday thrown in for good mix. I'm the 2nd owner, but had the car since less than 150 miles. The car was originally owned by RenaultSport UK as a display model prior to the release of the 265. RS 250 Visibility Pack Cup Pack Leather Recaro's Lots of pics to display of the journey so far - Day I picked it up, parked next to my 197 Cup at the time. Sold the 197 to fund the Megane. Obviously first mod was to remove the M E G A N E badges off the rear. Then add a wee bit more noise from the rear. Scorpion cat-back exhaust with non-res middle section. Then added LED bulbs inside and out. I thought it needed black badge covers to highlight the other black accents. First UK trackday @ Brands Hatch - After a trip to the Nurburgring and around 8,000 road miles I needed new rubber. Wasn't a huge fan of the standard Michelin PS3's. So changed it up with 225 section Michelin PSS. I wanted to lower the stance of the car as well. Not a fan of simply adding lowering springs so went to KW V3's and a proper geo set up. Photo's from a Ring trip 2014 with the KW's fitted - Also fitted braided lines and uprated fluid. Also took part in DN10 whilst out at the Ring -
Car was in need of some new brakes around this point, so went with standard discs and yellow pads. Another track day, this time at Bedford - I always felt that the Megane could handle more power. Thus played it safe with adding an uprated FMIC from Airtec and took the trip up to Paul @ RSTuning who mapped the car. Car made 313bhp and 345lb/ft. Totally transformed the way the car picks up speed. The output figure of 271bhp is pre-map with standard FMIC, BMC filter and cat-back exhaust. Added a Royal Wheels steering wheel in Grey Alcantara with yellow stitching and centre band. Really delighted with the quality of finish. The paint was looking very sorry for itself recently, so spent two days with the friend really to bring it back to life.
Last weekend had a track day at Snetterton. Not been at Snetterton before, but really enjoyed it. The front Yellow pads could do with replacing shortly and I'm in need of some more front tyres. I'll stick another set of Michelin Pilot Supersports on the front and will try DS2500s instead of the Yellows. And a few pictures after the day.
No top mounts for the V3s unfortunately. You'd need Club Sports, and I thought that was a step too far for me. It has got 19 way adjustable bump and rebound though. No overheating issues at all. The Airtec generally runs 10c cooler than the standard item after the remap. The duty on the injectors actually reduced post remap from 85% to 82%. I believe it was £145 fitted.
Beautiful car mate, I hope to find one as good as yours! The steering wheel looks spot on, how well have you found the Alcantara deals with dirt and wear?
Nice thread there!, big fan of the steering wheel as others have said, I really want to get my R26 wheel trimmed, its a bit like the short shifter, you can't put a price on feel
Thanks mate. I use a cover for everyday driving, as the cars a daily as well. The alcantara has stood up really well though including a few trackdays with gloves touching it. I'd fully recommend Royal Wheels. You just need to make sure that your hands are always clean as getting any grease/dirt off the wheel would be a nightmare.
Thanks bud. Couldn't agree more. It's only something little, but it does make a huge difference to how the car feels.
Looks great mate. Completely agree about the steering wheel, I had mine done by Royal last year, part alcantara, part leather, feels somuch nicer than the standard wheel.
I rarely get jealous of someone who has the same car as me.. but I'm not far off. This thread further reinforces my view that the pre-facelift is so much better looking.
I think we had ours done around the same time last year. Is it still holding up well? What have you done? What else do you want to do? Agreed about pre-facelift. Still looks so fresh.
So far, I've had it mapped, cat back system and panel filter. Currently pushing 315 bhp & 368 lb/ft. I am not sure what else I want to do really.. the chassis can deal with the power comfortably. I was toying with the idea of some H&R springs (actually bought them and sent them back) as I wasn't convinced I'd be improving an already stunning car handling-wise. Yours does sit at a nice height by the looks of things, but I'm not a track day goer, so would probably be pointless for me.
Just out of interest, who mapped the car? Very strong figures. Have you thought about de-catting? I'd tend to agree about simply adding springs. If you're not a track day goer then a suspension upgrade such as V3s might be wasted. Although with that you'd struggle to really exploit the capabilities of the chassis on the road, so perhaps springs to lower it wouldn't be the biggest crime.
K-Tec mapped it. Had all the work done on the same day. Yeah, toyed with the idea of de-catting, but can't be arsed to sort it when it comes to MOT and I'm pretty happy with how it sounds now anyway. I'll be looking to trade it in for something like an M3 or Cayman S early 2016 so am hesitant to do anything else to it really.
Steering wheel on mine is just brilliant mate, as you say, surprising how much nice the wheel is to hold when it's a little bit thicker. I wanted to go full alcantara like yours, but was worried about the wear, hence why I just went alcantara top and bottom.... How's your wearing?
It's wearing really well to be honest. I'm a bit OCD about the car being clean so haven't got any dirt/grease etc on it. I also make sure it's covered up when it goes into a garage for work. I've got a best mate who had one fitted to his E46 M3 at the same time, and his has also held up very well. I did think about going half alcantara and leather due to the car being a daily, but even if you needed to change every 18-24 months, £140 isn't the end of the world. However, it still looks great so no complaints from me. The amount of people that comment on it when they sit in the car is pleasing. Many, who aren't Renault people, think it was fitted as standard.
If it was from Royal then Jack has a Megane wheel or two that he will trim then its just a case of swapping over at his. He also does mail order in which you can either send him your wheel and he will retire then return it or if he has any in stock he will trim that then post it out to you giving you 10 days or so to swap them over and return your old wheel
As Jamie says, I didn't want to drive to Aylesbury to get mine fitted, so Jack trimmed a wheel to my specification and posted it to me, after I had it fitted, I just sent my old wheel back. Great service.
Cheers. I really like the look of it. As said, it looks OEM too. Aylesbury is just down the road from the MiLs. Might pop in next time we visit.
Well worth it -Chris- Not wanting to gatecrash Ferg's thread, but for reference, this is my wheel, part alcantara/part perforated leather.
I'll be going for this one to just so it doesn't wear as much where I grip the wheel. Ferg, nice car matey, lovely spec. What did you think of Snett? I've got an evening booked for June 23rd if you fancy round 2 there? :-)
I really enjoyed Snett. Played to the strengths of the Megane in many ways, although was quite heavy on brakes and tyres I found. A few friends had a day there in Feb, in the rain, which looked really slippy. Fortunately it was dry for us. Evening session sounds good. How much was it?
Great thread mate reminded me to do my interior lights at some point, got a link to which ones i need? think ill go with the supersports next when i need all 4 doing - take it your happy with them/much better than the ps3 etc?
Good stuff mate, I'm really looking forward to getting back out. Weather looked like it held up nicely for you. Yeah it's an evening session, £70
Scoobyr, did you have yours fitted or send it off? How easy or hard is it to remove the wheel? That still looks good, and you're probably right about reducing wear, but I think I would go for all alacantra.
I've actually changed the rear number plate bulb LEDs as the originals started to flick. Since I've fitted another set they have been fine. Just search for error free 501 LEDs on eBay. IMO Supersports are on a different planet compared to PS3s. Good all year round and were night and day difference on track.