Okay I know a lot of people are interested in these but put off by the quality etc. so thought I'd stick up a review and share my experiences. Buying: So first off it cost me about £160 from eBay and arrived in a couple weeks all snugly packaged. Now let's be realistic this is cheaper than a good night out so it ain't going to be no masterpiece of engineering. Yes the welding is shoddy ( pidgeon shit comes to mind ) and the fins have some inconsistencies but it looks solid and shiny. Fitting: I haven't had the front bumper off a megane before but luckily being a Renault it practically fell off. Once removed along with the cross brace it's a very simple job, two easily accessible jubilee clips and then it lifts up off the tabs either side and she's off, hats off to Renault for a simple design. Looking at the new intercooler it doesn't seem particularly large especially as the OEM item looks considerable in size behind the bumper, but once next to each other it's clear to see the difference. Now here's where it gets interesting. Now as I offered the cooler up it was clear that the locating rings had been positioned in the wrong place, they were too close which meant the cooler wouldn't fit on both at the same time. To rectify this I had to trim the plastic lugs off the car to make them thinner: So now the cooler fits, but as I stand back to admire my work I notice it's sitting pissed as a fart. Upon removing the cooler again ( this is where removing the cross brace makes things easier ) it was evident the N/S mounts were also too high. To rectify I had to cut and file the mount down to sit lower in the lugs. This requires constant removal and refitting after every adjustment to make sure I didn't go too far and make it wonky in the other direction, very time consuming: For those who aren't that fussed you could have got away with not bothering as it securely fitted, but I'm far too fussy with my cars for that. For reference before modifying the mount it was one radiator core different between each side. Although I would imagine each cooler will be different due to lack of quality control. Anyway in the end I got there and it was looking fantastic: Car was reassembled with ease, minus the two plastics trims either side of the OEM cooler, not fitting with the larger item. Performance: I knew it wouldn't turn the car from a modest hot hatch to a fire breathing dragster so wasn't expecting the car to feel any quicker, but I was expecting a longer pause between gears as the larger cooler took more charge to fill up. To my surprise the cars feels genuinely stronger mid range, not much but it's there. Also pleasantly the turbo was just as eager to spool through the box with almost zero additional lag and on a side note the dump valve also dumps a little louder too. Overall for the price I'm well happy and despite the fitting issues which can easily be overcome by anyone with some common sense it was a doddle to fit. For £160 what reason do you have not to!? Thanks for reading and I hope this is of some help to someone.
I uprated mine last month and you definitely notice the difference. The OEM intercooler is piss poor in comparison.
I'm sure the benefits will be even more exaggerated on a mapped car, but my 225 is still running standard boost
Nice review! I myself am waiting for a group buy for the Airtec ones, will be interested to see if there are differences in gains between this one and the more 'high end' ones in terms of performance
Good review mate,might have to give one of these a go I think. I know there was some debate about there being two sizes? Is yours the 13 row one?
No doubt the proper UK built items will offer better performance benefits, whether it's +£300 better depends on how you look at it.
I've had one of these, price wise is excellent! Cooling is improved too... But after getting my forge it does cool much better!
Mine arrives tomorrow Good write up mate and will pass the thread onto mark black as he will be fitting it Thanks
I've fitted one with forge enlarged boost pipes. Fit was good massive difference specially with enlarged pipes. Spend what you wish but for what you get it's spot on.
From what I know boost pipes are a smaller bore on the dci and positioning of the pipes is different too, wouldn't put me off fitting one though.
Your missing the point, guaranteed the Forge will perform better but we're talking bang for buck. Sure the Forge will give you say 30% more efficiency but is it £300s worth more performance? I suppose that depends on your budget and priorities.
I don't think the performance difference is that big, I could be wrong though. I've had two now - one with a forge item and one with a Chinese copy and I can't tell them apart. But I can tell my wallet being 300 lighter!!
