Right I currently own an Rs 250 Megane and really enjoy it having owned virtually all the renaultsports over the years the 250 is a fantastic car. Now here is my dilemma I am looking to get a new car but have found myself looking at a wide range of stuff and I was looking at a Focus Rs possibly a Mountune 350 upgrade. Has anyone on here owned one and can give me a true comparison or should I stop looking around and go with the a newer 265 megane? My budget is around £25k thanks in advance
Ooph, the Focus RS 5-cyl is an absolute peach, especially with an aftermarket exhaust on (which is approx 100% of the RS' for sale at the moment). With that kind of budget, would you look at something like an E92 M3? One thing I do know about the Focus is that the economy is diabolical and on a level with an M3 etc. Very different cars though, depends what you're looking for. I find the RS great to look at and you never fail to spot one due to the sheer road presence. It may be a bit shouty to most people, but that's an attraction for me
I wouldn't go to another meg, definitely try out something new. If I had a 25k budget I'd be looking at an E92 M3. Focus RS are very nice mind
Always loved the focus rs, as above for the sheer road presence and that exhaust note.. Every time you hear one you know what's coming down the road, just about everyone has an aftermarket system on them haha. I love my 250 to bits also but I wouldn't spend all that extra cash on essentially the same car. I like to change things up myself but each to their own.
Test drove one, 350 Motune, huge torque steer that and image was a no for me, as said, M3 or if can find one a 265 its relatively cheap to get 300 bhp and good handful of torque without it looking at every hedge
Thanks for the advice but is the Focus Rs worth the extra 8-10k extra over the Meg Rs? Test drove a wrx sti 340r today and hated it bit too raw for me but at least that's one less I will have to keep looking
+1 on the M3... spent a lot of wheel time in both the e46 and e92 M3. e92 M3 is an amazing car and totally diff to the Meg. I personally wouldn't consider the RS. 3 other options e92 335i with a whole host of mods, m3 steering parts, JB4, KW etc etc, for MUCH less that £25k? Similar thing with the e82 135i^ If you don't need the extra seats Cayman S?
I was going to save up for 2.9 Cayman from around 2009/10 as they have the newer engines which are supposed to be much more robust. A friend however was selling his R26 and here I am, no regrets at all as I saved a ton of money. E92 is very heavy but that engine is incredible, a friend has been endurance racing one of the factory built cars, they sent me the power curves so I could help model the car in rFactor. Almost reason enough to buy the car. The guy who sold me the R26 has a Golf R, incredible performance from the thing but he gave me a pretty strong impression that he enjoyed driving the Meg more. Its a very difficult balance to strike between handling, feel, performance and long distance comfort, daily usability. It seems to me that the Porsche's and the Megane strike that balance in a surprisingly similar way, E92 M3 very tempting though.
I had an extended test driver in a golf R before buying my other car. The R just made me laugh the whole time, the power delivery the 4WD grip and the 'synth' exhaust noise, truly a fun car but thats where it stopped for me. If you want a nice fast A-B-A car the golf is hard to beat. The meg is a far more focused sports hatch, but that focus comes at a cost. I think the e92 M3 is the engine and the fun factor, you can absolutely ring those in a relatively safe way, i was always happy with traction off... the 911s not so much(at all). The Caymans/Boxsters are my all time favourite cars to drive i had a 981 2.7 for 3 days and a 981 3.4 for 5 days, best cars i've ever driven and the smaller displacement cars defiantly do not leave you wanting more power. They are completely exploitable on the roads with traction&stability off The m97.2s where more robust that the m97.1 engines, but 9A1 engines a MUCH more robust, so far, than the m96 and m97 engines. In short if you can afford a Porsche, in terms or space and cashflow, get it.
