RS Megane Mk3 - to S2000?

[Buttery Ken]

I'm such an idiot with cars.

My last few have been:

2016 - 2017 - R53 Mini JCW GP (Should have kept it - doubled in value now)
2017 - 2018 - E92 M3 (Should have kept it - worth about £10k more now)
2018 - 2021 - Tesla Model S - company car - quit the job.

2021 - now - 2011 RS Megane 250.

We also have a 2023 Tesla Model 3 LR for family duties.

I love the Megane. It has the Cup Pack and Lux Pack, leather Recaro seats, new re-trimmed steering wheel, and a decent Audison sound system that I had installed. I only really do about 50 miles a week at the moment, and keep talking about taking it on a track day or a blat around North Wales, but never seem capable of making the time to do so.

It's due a service, and also needs a thermostat changing, and a reversing sensor replacing. The cam-belt was done 4 years and 24k miles ago, so I'm tempted to get that done again too. All in that's going to cost me about £1100. The car is currently on 104k miles.

But I'm getting an itch for an S2000 or similar (if such a thing exists). I've always fancied one and had an Accord Type-R many years ago which was brilliant.

Completely different car than the Megane obviously, and I worry I'll regret making the change.

So I think I have two options:

1 - Spend some money on the Megane. Get the service and maintenance work done, clean bill of health and then maybe a remap?
2 - Sell the Megane, add another £7k or so to the pot, and get an S2000 that's probably 5 years older than the Megane. I would probably also need to spend a few hundred to have the Audison kit moved to the S2000 (if it would fit!).

Or is there an option 3? I've considered a newer Megane, maybe a Cup-S? But would it be markedly better?

Budget-wise I'm trying not to outlay too much as we're starting a house renovation, but I don't want to keep putting things off until the right time as the right time will never come!

Thx

[keo]

I know what you are saying about should have kept a car haha but we can’t keep them all!

I have never driven either of your choices but have friends with them. S2000 and Meg RS are both highly spoken about. Personally I have always wanted a RS megane but circumstances haven’t been right.

Have you thought about a Toyota GT86/ Subaru BRZ? Haven’t looked at prices but could be another idea? I had a short test drive of a gt86 years ago and it was good. Handling/ seating position was spot on. Although noise was piped into the cabin, it put me off. Although I have read you can fix this by bunging a hole in the air box.

[Jamescrs]

I think if you are looking at having to put in 7k to change keeping the Megane is a no brainer personally.

The S2000 is getting on now and will require money fairly reguarly to keep it in good shape so I think the maintenance you are looking at on the Megane could easily transfer to maintenance on an S2000.

I've never owned either car but I am a bit of a Renault Sport fan, intact I'm off to look at a Clio 197 later today.

[Jonstar]

I've owned both and many others in your price bracket (check my profile). Mégane is a much better drivers car than the s2000, if you value feedback you will be dissapointed. My advise, get a z4m, massively underated car for not much money.

[Mike230]

I had an R26 and was in a similar dilemma in regards to keep it and remap or sell for something different. In the end I went with the remap, it totally transformed the car and I'd recommend going down that route. I note you are from the North West, check out EFI parts. I would highly recommend them. That's who I used for my remap.

[griffter]

If you buy an S2000 with a decent service history AND NO RUST it should cost buttons to run. They are very very reliable and don’t have surprises at service time if kept on top of and looked after.
When they get expensive is when they’re modified, or if the engine needs a rebuild. Good second hand engines are now £4k plus (with six figure mileages) and for some reason rebuilds are few and far between. But see above - the engines are very strong if kept on top of and looked after. Surprise failures are almost unheard of.

So I think it comes down to whether you want to move away from a turbo hot hatch to a revvy na roadster? The S2000 is not the fastest car on the road, but it is unique at what it does. You can build a MX5 to do something similar, or look at a BMW or Boxster as an alternative. But neither do what the S2000 does.

[Buttery Ken]

Thanks everyone for the responses - really appreciate it.

I'm going to keep the Megane. It hurts to have to spend on it (likely 25% of it's value in the next few months!) but it's a really good, solid, great fun car.

I'd love a Z4M but again would need to throw another £7k or so in for a car 5 years older than the Megane.

So - jobs for the Megane:

- Service, cambelt, water-pump, dephaser etc
- Remap at EFI (thanks - they were on my list! Not far away in Sunny Runny)
- Potentially get the front seats (Recaro Sportster CS) re-trimmed, and seat-belts dyed red.

I think that'll keep me happy for a while.

Cheers all

[Jonstar]

Good decision, they are not cheap cars to run but they are very special. There are VERY few cars I've driven or owned which I would put above it.

[Gurrier]

As a former megane rs250 cup owner id say keep it, they are a special car, i sold mine cheap during covid with a set of KW Clubsport coilovers uprated fmic sports cat/DP and honestly i regret it ever since.

I should have kept mine and just hybrid turbo'd it :P

[Spuffington]

I had an S2000 a good long time ago now. It was a Gen2 (05 car) which I owned for a short period of time during 2006/7 IRRC. It was a super car and I had some great fun in it, but even then I was left thinking it felt a little light on polish and was always slightly let down when I started it. Never quite felt like the most special car other then when maxing it out at 9k rpm or looking at its lovely "hips" - the lines you got around the front wheel arches when looking down on the car from front to back.

At this stage I'm sure it will feel very old and although cost little to run, there are some gremlins though. Models such as mine had seized suspension alignment bolts even back then, which in some cases necessitated whole component replacement. And I understand the late models (Rev3, maybe 4) - the runouts, had engine issues which needed full rebuilds. And then no doubt there'll be the need to take careful looks at the hood - again, back when I owned mine, there were concerns about some of the roof components wearing the inside of the canopy very quickly and a lot of owners had replaced the canvas earlier than they were anticipating. A lot of years and UV will have passed by since then, so it would be prudent to be budgeting for something like that.

All that said, it sounds like you've made the decision to keep hold of the Megane and in a lot of ways sometimes, it's better the devil you know!

[culpz]

Like you said, very different cars. Those Megane's really are hard to beat.

I came from a MK2.5 Focus ST to my FN2 Type R recently and I am actually enjoying the Civic way more than I thought I would. But, if I'm being completely honest, if the Ford was in as good condition and working order as the Honda, I'd probably still have it. Maybe it's more personal preference of turbo stuff as apposed to N/A. Always fancied an S2000 but, for the price they go for, as good as I'm sure they are, I'd probably get something else. That's just me though.