Any new Megane RS 280/300 owners?

[irish boy]

Zarco said:

Hardly seems worth owning to do 500 miles a year.

Always worth having something you look forward to driving in the garage. Unfortunately a child stops a caterham style any more.

[Quickmick]

Order submitted today for Trophy 300 for June delivery when current Audi S4 goes back. Lease spec, no options apart from black paint. Hopefully will be a suitable replacement for the S4...

[sorrento205]

I still smile at the thought of driving mine even after 6 months of ownership. Its not perfect, but its full of character.

[HipHopapotamus]

On a 2 year lease would you long term owners recommend maintenance for tyres and servicing?

MPG above 25 on average?

Would be my daily used for a 150 mile round trip every few weeks plus a 7 mile commute

Just hoping my old greyhound doesn’t mind the boot. Think the Aberdeen branch have an RS I can see at least

Cheers all

[Quickmick]

I've just signed up for a 2 year lease on a Trophy and had the same dilemma re servicing/maintenance. With it requiring annual servicing and being quite heavy on tyres judging by comments on this thread, I went for maintained including tyres.

[gutbobs]

HipHopapotamus said:

On a 2 year lease would you long term owners recommend maintenance for tyres and servicing?

MPG above 25 on average?

Would be my daily used for a 150 mile round trip every few weeks plus a 7 mile commute

Just hoping my old greyhound doesn’t mind the boot. Think the Aberdeen branch have an RS I can see at least

Cheers all

I'm 5,000 miles in on a Trophy and the MPG since new is over 32. That's a mixture of motorways, city centres and local commuting. I'd say that you'll not got over 25 with the 7 mile commute, but the big riound trip will easily drag the average up

[HipHopapotamus]

Thanks guys

[Paul_P1]

For any recent leases via ALD, did they ask for bank statements as part of the application for credit?

[Quickmick]

Paul_P1 said:

For any recent leases via ALD, did they ask for bank statements as part of the application for credit?

I've just had finance approved with ALD. I had to provide 3 months pay slips but no bank statements.

[g40steve]

Paul_P1 said:

For any recent leases via ALD, did they ask for bank statements as part of the application for credit?

Nothing, just the usual details for the finance forms, dates & times etc.

[damolong]

Quickmick said:

I've just had finance approved with ALD. I had to provide 3 months pay slips but no bank statements.

Same for me

[Joe-y4u58]

Odd - I didn’t have to provide either of those as I recall...

[sorrento205]

HipHopapotamus said:

On a 2 year lease would you long term owners recommend maintenance for tyres and servicing?

MPG above 25 on average?

Would be my daily used for a 150 mile round trip every few weeks plus a 7 mile commute

Just hoping my old greyhound doesn’t mind the boot. Think the Aberdeen branch have an RS I can see at least

Cheers all

MPG about 27-29 on a short drive, 32-35 on a long run. higher at 50mph than 70mph because its quite short geared (compared to my Mk7 Golf GTI anyway). Interestingly MPG was worse in comfort mode on back to back motorway journeys, never used since!

[HipHopapotamus]

Thanks I’m hoping the car will be so fun that I’ll stop grumbling about fuel fairly quickly

[sorrento205]

Yep thats pretty much where i'm at. I'm slightly more bothered by the small tank. I've only achieved >300 miles twice so it feels like I'm at the petrol station every few days. "Race mode" more than makes up for that though

[LasseV]

Aye, there is a thread already!

I'm really interested about Megane R.S 280. It could be almost perfect daily/interesting car in the same package. On paper driving dynamics and drivetrain is spot on for me. I'm planning to do a test drive before summer, maybe in may if situation allows it. I drive quite a lot in different situation and in different kind of roads, icluding gravel and snow. After test drive i know do i want that Cup chassis or not. I really want LSD and and sharp handling, but too stiff suspension is very bad in gravel and snow. And besides, LSD is not always the best solution for daily driver. It will eat tires quite fast, my rear tires lasts like 7500 miles at the moment..

I have to ask few boring questions.

1. What is your MPG when commuting in Comfort-mode? I drive about 50% of my time commuting, and for me it would be pointless to drive in sport-mode or so at that time. If i can save some gas, it would be nice. My car doesn't have any drive modes, so it doesn't save gas at all if you drive sedately or more spiritedly. It is little bit of frustrating.

2. What is your opinion is R.S a good road trip car? How it handles higher speeds? What is your MPG when driving steadily at higher speed, like 70mph? I like to do road trips and my old car is quite good at this.

3. How durable is alcantara interior? I'm thinking to keep this car at least 4 years, so can you recommend alcantara interior or should i stay in standard interior?

4. How mechanically durable this chassis and driveline? I assume quite a lot of R.S sees track duty, so how your car handle it? I'm not a track rat, but i like to go to my local track 1-2 times a year.

And last thing, this thread needs more pics!

[sorrento205]

comfort mode sucks big ones, it really noticeably less power than neutral mode. I found that my MPG was worse when i tried it because I couldn't adapt my driving style to get the best out of it (presumably). I have Trophy so cup chassis, its super crashy on uneven roads. Going faster makes them smoother though. I haven't driven a non-cup to compare.

[HipHopapotamus]

Is comfort a step below the default mode it starts up in?

I had it put in comfort on a test drive for part of it and it felt like the speed limiter was on in 2nd. Weird feeling.

[sorrento205]

When you start up it defaults to the mode of the previous drive, however if anything other than neutral it gives you 15 seconds to confirm you wish to stay in that mode before it switches back. 5 modes:

comfort < neutral < sport < race & personal

Neutral is pretty tasty in fairness, I cant feel any difference in power delivery in sport or race (it just sounds much better with the exhaust valve opening). I usually commute in neutral to benefit from stop/start although this is nowhere near as often as the Golf GTI I had previous. I wonder if its to do with having a lightweight battery?

[LasseV]

sorrento205 said:

comfort mode sucks big ones, it really noticeably less power than neutral mode. I found that my MPG was worse when i tried it because I couldn't adapt my driving style to get the best out of it (presumably). I have Trophy so cup chassis, its super crashy on uneven roads. Going faster makes them smoother though. I haven't driven a non-cup to compare.

Adapting your driving style is easy, especially in trafic

Well, time will tell. I know more after test drive.