Any new Megane RS 280/300 owners?

[nunpuncher]

Tried using the awful search on here but it seems like very few/nobody on here owns or has ever mentioned the new Megane 280.

I test drove one yesterday after watching/reading several hours worth of lukewarm reviews online and I was pleasantly surprised by the car. I liked the 4 wheels steering, it didn't have the hideous wheel hop that my cupra had (was that purely down to the cup pack diff?), Steering had a nice weight, gearshift was nice and short and direct (not bolt action but still nice) and the engine felt easily as keen and sounded better than both the cupra and the Golf R.

So who's got one? What's your spec and how are you finding it? Would be good to get some views on what it's like to live with.

[GrumpyTwig]

Did your cupra have a diff? Wheel hop seems to plague the fwd MQB cars though.

I've only heard of one person having a 280 and I think they worked for a dealers :/

[Reciprocating mass]

Might try the trophy when there is a few more around but for me currently I still prefer my mk3
Having had a long drive in the 280

[gutbobs]

I was about to post a similar thread. I've got a mk3 275 nav, but the offers on the new Tropy have caught my attention, and I've had a few offers via carwow

Am weighing up the pros and cons at the moment..

the trophy will be a couple of quid cheaper per month, but I'm not comparing apples with apples as I'd be going from a bank loan to a PCP deal (and I'm not sure what will happen with the insurance). I think the GFV is high, so possibly means no equity in it at hand back time

I've also got to throw in the mix that my eldest is starting to struggle to fit his feet in the back of mine as the recaro's have a lot bar across the back. Other concerns are that the warranty expires on mine this year.

That said, I do like an RS Meg, and if I go with the rs300 it'll be the third one I've had

[nunpuncher]

GrumpyTwig said:

Did your cupra have a diff? Wheel hop seems to plague the fwd MQB cars though.

I've only heard of one person having a 280 and I think they worked for a dealers :/

Yes, it had the VAQ diff (electronically controlled mechanical diff so not the xds one that works on the brakes). The car suffered no torque steer whatsoever but the wheel hop was utterly horrendous. The diff was unnoticeable unless you really threw it into a corner.

In contrast the Mégane would wheelspin but none of that horrible hopping. It did suffer torque steer but TBH it was more fun than life threatening.

Framerateuk is the only person I've seen on here with one. Quite amazing there's not more.

[CraigV6]

I’ve got a Trophy on order.
Should arrive in late April / early May.
Replaces my 275 Cup-S.

Looking forward to it.
Had a good test in a manual 280 with Cup and to me it feels like it will be a better day to day prospect than my Cup-S - slightly more forgiving but still with a good degree of focus.
Think it’s the best looking hot hatch for sale at the moment and the interior is also a step above from the mk3.

[gutbobs]

out of interest noseyness, when did you place your order and what spec have you gone for? I've put out the feelers on Carwow, without Recaros/alcantara but I'm wondering if they'll have a significant impact on the GFV..

[nunpuncher]

I'm a bit sceptical about potentially paying £1200 for the alcantara interior. I didn't like it much in the demonstrator as it works better on seats with a bit of contrast (ie leather bolsters, alcantara centres) and I read that the alcantara in the Clio wears really quickly.

I'd say if you're willing to pay 1200 for alcantara the extra 300 to get recaros is an absolute no brainer.

[gutbobs]

The problem with the Recaros in the MK3 is that they have bar running under them that limits foot room for rear seat passengers. One of the driving factors behind my potential upgrade is that my kids are starting to need more space, so I don't want to find myself in the same position again. Also, the alcantara seats are heated so that's nice.

[nunpuncher]

I couldn't get my feet under the alcantara seats either but I did hear the recaros are even lower.

[gutbobs]

That's interesting, thanks. I've read that the recaro's are 20mm lower than the standard seat.

I'd assume that the alcantara seats are the same as the standard one with the cloth replaced with alcantara, so it's a concern if passengers can't fit there feet under.

I better go an look okay one to check it out

[sorrento205]

nunpuncher said:

Tried using the awful search on here but it seems like very few/nobody on here owns or has ever mentioned the new Megane 280.

I test drove one yesterday after watching/reading several hours worth of lukewarm reviews online and I was pleasantly surprised by the car. I liked the 4 wheels steering, it didn't have the hideous wheel hop that my cupra had (was that purely down to the cup pack diff?), Steering had a nice weight, gearshift was nice and short and direct (not bolt action but still nice) and the engine felt easily as keen and sounded better than both the cupra and the Golf R.

So who's got one? What's your spec and how are you finding it? Would be good to get some views on what it's like to live with.

Hi, i've followed you over from the lease thread. Having watched a couple vids on youtube I'm struggling to get the Megane RS out of my head as a reasonable replacement for my golf GTI albeit quite a bit more expensive per month. (that just seem to be the climate at the moment)
Both vids mentioned they were unhappy with the gear knob, & it does look a bit unusual, did you notice?!
The other thing i noticed is that the infotainment looks very inferior to the VW product i'm used to.
As i've said in the lease thread, no demonstrator in South Wales yet as far as I can determine. My current lease runs out in June so i'm starting to feel up against the clock but I don't know if i could 'buy' a car without test driving it though.

[CraigV6]

gutbobs said:

out of interest noseyness, when did you place your order and what spec have you gone for? I've put out the feelers on Carwow, without Recaros/alcantara but I'm wondering if they'll have a significant impact on the GFV..

Manual Trophy, Volcanic Orange, Recaro’s, upgraded R-Link.
Options have no impact on finance GFV AFAIK, just make the car slightly easier or more difficult to sell.

[Hothatch1977]

I am in a Cupra 300 atm, great car but prefer looks of Megane RS.
Cup chassis too hard for me as this will be my daily....test drove last year.

Got some quotes with the 0% deal via carwow on a mega cheap Cupra lease so expect to pay more.
2 years RS 280
Deposit £3,654
£239.52 per month
12k per year, excess miles 8p pm
Only options flame red, manual car
Ready July...works well for me as Cupra goes back August will hand back month early to avoid 2nd service.

Thoughts on deal? Close to ordering that red looks immense in the sun and so rare. Never seen one on the road.
Agree infotainment a little Plastic and dated imo....

[gutbobs]

My current mk3 is flame red and, when it's clean, it's a stunning colour. It's between that and the Pearl white for me.

With regards to the infotainment, I've enabled Android auto/apple carplay on mine and use Android auto all the time. I assume it's available on the mk4 and think it'll look great on either screen but especially the big one.

[nunpuncher]

Hothatch1977 said:

I am in a Cupra 300 atm, great car but prefer looks of Megane RS.
Cup chassis too hard for me as this will be my daily....test drove last year.

Got some quotes with the 0% deal via carwow on a mega cheap Cupra lease so expect to pay more.
2 years RS 280
Deposit £3,654
£239.52 per month
12k per year, excess miles 8p pm
Only options flame red, manual car
Ready July...works well for me as Cupra goes back August will hand back month early to avoid 2nd service.

Thoughts on deal? Close to ordering that red looks immense in the sun and so rare. Never seen one on the road.
Agree infotainment a little Plastic and dated imo....

I got quoted around £3900 and 36x £220 odd for manual 280 with cup chassis pack black paint, bigger infotainment screen and alcantara wheel. I am only on 6k a year so that's why it's less. It's probably the same dealer and today they reduced the discount by 1%.

That pissed me off.

[nunpuncher]

sorrento205 said:

Hi, i've followed you over from the lease thread. Having watched a couple vids on youtube I'm struggling to get the Megane RS out of my head as a reasonable replacement for my golf GTI albeit quite a bit more expensive per month. (that just seem to be the climate at the moment)
Both vids mentioned they were unhappy with the gear knob, & it does look a bit unusual, did you notice?!
The other thing i noticed is that the infotainment looks very inferior to the VW product i'm used to.
As i've said in the lease thread, no demonstrator in South Wales yet as far as I can determine. My current lease runs out in June so i'm starting to feel up against the clock but I don't know if i could 'buy' a car without test driving it though.

Welcome!

I saw the review you are referring to so I did have a good fondle of the knob and it seemed perfectly ok to me. It's the sort of thing you could easily change anyway.

There's lots of weird stuff being said in reviews that don't align to what I experienced on my test drive. The gearshift felt good. One review said it was like stirring a bucket of nails with a plastic spoon. The engine felt pretty lively yet many reviews said it was wheezy at the top end. Most reviewers say the 4 wheel steering feels odd and unnerving. I thought it made the car really sharp and responsive. I can only assume it's me that's got it all wrong since they're the professionals.

I didn't spend much time playing with the infotainment system (car had the upgraded one). The graphics did look decent and menus seemed easy to use but it was laggy and the whole thing does look a bit like a big cheap tablet stuck on the dash. Maybe the fact I didn't look at it once while driving says something about the driving experience. It's a bit naff but I really liked all the different interior lighting colours.

So are there no RS dealers in South Wales at all? The dealer I visited told me all RS dealers have to have demonstrators.

PS. Nice user name. I've got a white 205 GTi in the garage.

[nunpuncher]

gutbobs said:

That's interesting, thanks. I've read that the recaro's are 20mm lower than the standard seat.

I'd assume that the alcantara seats are the same as the standard one with the cloth replaced with alcantara, so it's a concern if passengers can't fit there feet under.

I better go an look okay one to check it out

Yes. The standard seats are identical to the alcantara ones only covered with the same material that geography teachers get their trousers made out of.

I would love to spec the alcantara or the recaros (my kids are still too young to reach the floor). But I'm trying to keep it sensible and it's either fancy seats or cup chassis. The diff is really the only bit of the cup chassis I want. I couldn't face having another car that wheel hopped like the cupra.

[GrumpyTwig]

nunpuncher said:

Yes. The standard seats are identical to the alcantara ones only covered with the same material that geography teachers get their trousers made out of.

I would love to spec the alcantara or the recaros (my kids are still too young to reach the floor). But I'm trying to keep it sensible and it's either fancy seats or cup chassis. The diff is really the only bit of the cup chassis I want. I couldn't face having another car that wheel hopped like the cupra.

If past experience is anything to go by one of the things Renault generally do well are the seats, even in standard trim. They may not always look fancy but they're comfortable and supportive in both normal and spirited driving.

Any car can wheel hop though, my mk3 on worn tires used to do it. The difference being the mk3 didn't hit peak torque till 3000rpm whereas the ea888 in your Cupra hits about 1800rpm(?) so it's expecting more of the tires. Sounds like the 280/300 does the same, though are the tyres 245?! holy moly.

[framerateuk]

nunpuncher asked me to chime in.

I ordered a Megane 280 Cup back in May (literally the day they were announced) and had it delivered in July.

Previous car was a Clio 220 Trophy (and a Megane 250 Cup before that). The Clio was a decent car, and was fantastic when I was commuting Cardiff to Bristol every morning, but when I switched to doing a short commute, I found the lack of a manual a bit frustrating, and it actually made driving the car a bit boring. I guess automatics just aren't for me and it's been great being back in a manual again!

I was lucky with the delivery as I ordered red, which Renault were producing first. I did also have to switch from the all black wheels to the diamond cut (something I was hoping to avoid, but they are the same design so if I do curb them I'll get the whole lot re-finished). Thankfully, unlike the Clio, the rims are inset from the tyre, so you do get a little protection.

Since getting the Megane I've been mostly working at home, so I haven't been piling the miles on that I expected (although that's likely to change soon), so in all that time I've only driven 3000 miles so far.

Anyway, the car has pretty much every option with the exception of the Visio pack (with the auto-dipping headlights) and blind spot alert.

There are some photos here:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

The Cup pack feels very similar to how my old 250 Cup felt, the brakes are nice and progressive (nowhere near as grabby as they were in the Clio) and the general interior quality is a level above the Clio and the old Megane.

I had the Recaros in my old Megane, and these seats (in alcantara) are just as supportive as those, with the addition of being heated.

The new RLink is genuinely very good. It was a bit clunky on the Clio, but the new interface is slick and responsive.

One thing different to the old car is that you don't need to spec the RS Monitor anymore to have full control over the car's settings. So you can adjust things like throttle response and exhaust note easily. You can turn off the synthetic engine noise entirely (as far as I can tell). I didn't mind it when I first got the car, but grew tired of it so it's off now.

The RS Mode settings are pretty useful, you can configure everything. So my 'Normal' setting has no additional engine noise and comfort exhaust note, while I've set Sport to have the race mode exhaust note while still keeping the fake noise off. There's also a 'Perso' mode where you can set it up to your own tastes. You'll probably play with them for a bit when you get the car, but once you've found your settings you'll probably just leave them like that.

I'm not sure if I'll get round to taking it to a track (I have a Caterham too, so it seems silly to risk my daily), but my gut says it would probably feel a little heavier than the MK3, but there's far less turbo lag and it would pull hard down the straights. It's pretty hard to get the rear wheel steering to kick in on the road (it needs a lot of lock and a fair bit of speed), and on track you'd need to be on a pretty tight hairpin to get it to go. It does feel a bit odd at first, but it's not unsettling like some of the reviews have said. It's like an additional sideways movement through the turn. It feels different to oversteer, but I think it's something that you'd get used to the more you drove it.