261bhp Renaultsport Megane Trophy

Most powerful roadgoing Megane gets 261bhp and limited to just 50 units in the UK.

Renaultsport Megane Trophy yellow, black roog

Auto Express Car Reviews

By Luke Madden

10th June 2011

One of our favourite hot-hatches is set to get even hotter. Renault has announced a special edition of the Renaultsport Megane 250 called the Megane Trophy.

Riding on the stiffer Cup chassis, the newcomer gets power boosted from 247bhp to 261bhp, with torque increased by 20Nm for a total of 360Nm making this the most powerful road-going Renaultsport Megane to date.

With the increase in power comes slight improvements to performance. The 0-62mph time is cut from 6.1 seconds to 6.0 seconds and top speed increases by 2mph to 158mph.

To mark out the special Megane, Renault offers two paint finishes – a metallic yellow or a metallic black – and 'Trophy' red decals on the air-intakes and doors. A set of 19-inch alloys in gloss black and red also feature.

Inside, the Megane Trophy gets Recaro seats with yellow seatbelts and stitching.

Enthusiasts hoping for a successor to the previous generation Megane R26.R – a trackday machine which featured a stripped out cabin complete with roll-cage and harnesses – will be left waiting but a Renault spokesman refused to rule out an even more hardcore model further down the line.

The R26.R currently holds the front-wheel drive record at the Nurburgring and Renault has released a teaser video of engineers testing the Trophy at the famous track, suggesting they are attempting to beat the 8 minutes 16.9 seconds lap-time set by the stripped out hatch.

The Megane Trophy will be available from the 20th June, but buyers must be quick – Renault plans to produce 500 units in total with only 50 coming to the UK. Prices start from £27,280 – compared to £24,020 for the standard Megane 250 Cup – but the price includes free access to all Renaultsport trackdays in the UK.

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7 Comments

Nice

elegant...to be truthful, I don't often pay attention to Renault, but this is nice. Quite nice indeed.

By thewizardofaz on 14 June, 2011, 6:34am

Diesel version? :-)

By the_lhc on 14 June, 2011, 11:23am

Well done Renault!

They've got it right again. A small car any 17 year old would like to spin round the McDonalds car park on a Sunday night to impress the laydeeees! It looks equally good in both these colours, slick and mean. At my dear old age I'm seriously tempted to relive my youth, push me trousers down below me boxers, get some Tinchy on the sub woof and scare the local rozzers with this one. Oooch oooch init geezer!

By craiglife on 14 June, 2011, 12:08pm

Depp

Renault? Plastic, cheap, only for brand freaks...

By Depp1 on 14 June, 2011, 3:35pm

Renault Rip-off!!

Yes it looks a bit good, but are you seriously saying that improvements of 0.1 secs 0-62 and 2mph extra top speed are anything more than the slightest ECU programming change, I don't think so. Save £3k and stick to the 250.

By asmithdesign on 15 June, 2011, 6:25am

Wow

Looks really nice. Compliments stop there tho as its a Renault and although it will go like stink it will fall apart eventually! Take the seats out (as the only best thing French cars have) and put them in a Jap car and perfect car is born.

By aarontp on 15 June, 2011, 6:27am

@aarontp

That might've been the case once upon a time, but it isn't these days. I've had my Grand Scenic for nearly a year now and nothing has broken, fallen off or otherwise misbehaved. In fact, the car is still as tight as a drum, drives beautifully and is as versatile as I need it to be, and I never thought I would ever say this about a Renault in a month of Sunday's.

By sgtgrash on 15 June, 2011, 2:22pm

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