RE: Megane Trophy-R = £72k

[epom]

Complain all we want, being honest even at £50k very few on here would buy one. 30 allocated, probably wouldn't get one anyway. This car is not targeted at poor people like me or the standard enthusiast. So why not £72k ? Even £82k, what's £10k to those in the target market ? Bet they'll sell out in no time.

[ColdZinc]

Supersaloons said:

What a bunch of small money talk.... I bought myself a R26.R a few months ago and just went to Wales with it (combining the Silverstone Classics), it is brilliant! Sold the Maranello and the 997 Turbo (manual) and am very pleased about it. The Megane is sooooo much more fun, you just can't believe it if you haven't tried it (and the other fast cars I mentioned). The new Megane must be even more brilliant to drive and so much more satisfying then a A45 or some other rubbish pumped up mass vehicle (read: Audi, BMW, Mercedes). Most of the comments about the price can be seen as remarks from people that really don't have any experience.

Six pages into an article about a brilliant driver's car and finally talk about driving.

I was thinking how much I'd enjoy seeing one of these out on my usual rural Welsh roads. I love the balance of my lowly 218i coupé, so I can only imagine how accurate and alive this must feel.

Anyway, if I see an R26.R in Wales, I'll give a wave.

[British Beef]

Nigel_O said:

Am I getting old, or is the use of "rims" instead of "wheels", REALLY irritating?

Regardless, lets have a comparison...

A brand new Renault 5-door hatch with some very attractive bolt-on bits, within a couple of grand either way of some near-new stuff (all 2018 or later and from the PH classifieds):-

a 500 mile RS4 Avant
a 5,600 mile 2018 M5
a 100 mile AMG E63
a 200 mile F-Pace SVR
a 65 mile Arial Nomad
a 2000 mile Maserati Gransport
a 1350 mile Nissan GT-R
a 3000 mile BMW M850i X drive
a 5(!!) mile Exige 410 Sport
a 10(!) mile Exige 350 Sport
a 2000 mile Cayman GTS
a delivery-mileage M4 CS
a new Chevy Corvette Stingray

I can almost see how a heavily tweaked hot hatch could have a price starting with a 5, but by the time the price is into the 70's it's mixing with vastly superior machinery

Agreed, I think I would take the Exige, Nomad or Corvette from that bunch for occasional road and track blasts!!

£70k is mixing with some really desirable stuff.

The daft bit is that I bet the Standard Trophy with a set of racing slicks (spare set of wheels for track use would cost £4k with slicks) would be hands down faster than this around any race track. Then at the end of the track day spend 10 minutes to change the wheels and drive home with stereo, air conditioning and the extra 2 seats :-)

[cidered77]

Supersaloons said:

What a bunch of small money talk.... I bought myself a R26.R a few months ago and just went to Wales with it (combining the Silverstone Classics), it is brilliant! Sold the Maranello and the 997 Turbo (manual) and am very pleased about it. The Megane is sooooo much more fun, you just can't believe it if you haven't tried it (and the other fast cars I mentioned). The new Megane must be even more brilliant to drive and so much more satisfying then a A45 or some other rubbish pumped up mass vehicle (read: Audi, BMW, Mercedes). Most of the comments about the price can be seen as remarks from people that really don't have any experience.

I have the R26.R as i think #2 on my all time lottery win bucketlist, and a permanent autotrader search open. Don't care about the badge - just adore the car, although only drive the normal R26.

Challenge is the garagr fits two cars, and i love my old Mercedes SL and the familiy (especially the Kid) love it too much as well. So the second car needs to be a daily

So - 6 point harnesses in real life. Talk me through it! Could you concieve of living with them for a daily (short 15min commute; 6k miles per year - SL does the long journeys). I can see a low milage titanium exhaust example that has my trigger finger all itchy...

[cidered77]

British Beef said:

Nigel_O said:

Am I getting old, or is the use of "rims" instead of "wheels", REALLY irritating?

Regardless, lets have a comparison...

A brand new Renault 5-door hatch with some very attractive bolt-on bits, within a couple of grand either way of some near-new stuff (all 2018 or later and from the PH classifieds):-

a 500 mile RS4 Avant
a 5,600 mile 2018 M5
a 100 mile AMG E63
a 200 mile F-Pace SVR
a 65 mile Arial Nomad
a 2000 mile Maserati Gransport
a 1350 mile Nissan GT-R
a 3000 mile BMW M850i X drive
a 5(!!) mile Exige 410 Sport
a 10(!) mile Exige 350 Sport
a 2000 mile Cayman GTS
a delivery-mileage M4 CS
a new Chevy Corvette Stingray

I can almost see how a heavily tweaked hot hatch could have a price starting with a 5, but by the time the price is into the 70's it's mixing with vastly superior machinery

Agreed, I think I would take the Exige, Nomad or Corvette from that bunch for occasional road and track blasts!!

£70k is mixing with some really desirable stuff.

The daft bit is that I bet the Standard Trophy with a set of racing slicks (spare set of wheels for track use would cost £4k with slicks) would be hands down faster than this around any race track. Then at the end of the track day spend 10 minutes to change the wheels and drive home with stereo, air conditioning and the extra 2 seats :-)

arrgh these comments! So badly modify a hot hatch then, and take a punt on doing it yourself for less money. It may work, it may not, you'll also lose 80% of what you spend and may in your example add tyres the chassis was never tested for and go faster but ruin the car's balance and fun - but then again, you might get it right. Crack on...

This *is* desireable to some people (me! me me me!). An 82k starting price 911 before options is not desireable to me, at all. And i know when i park up at the gym at my completely unremarkable market town there will be loads of the f**kers.

People spend 70k on cars. All the fking time. I must have seen 20 today alone - Velars,911s, Cayennes, M4s, E63s, C63s, All Range Rovers etc etc... so why can't people spend 70k on an absolutely mental car with carbon wheels and brakes!?

And it's 50k anyway. Very few will be brave enough for the wheels. And for kicks i just specced a Megane 300 Trophy to 38k. And it's not priced above it's Ford/VW/Honda competitors. 14k premium? Yep - can see why...

[nickfrog]

British Beef said:

The daft bit is that I bet the Standard Trophy with a set of racing slicks (spare set of wheels for track use would cost £4k with slicks) would be hands down faster than this around any race track. Then at the end of the track day spend 10 minutes to change the wheels and drive home with stereo, air conditioning and the extra 2 seats :-)

Not sure that's a brilliant idea. Running full slicks is not always allowed without roll cage or not allowed at all depending on the TDO. And of course the kinematics are not designed for such loads, not to mention oil starvation etc... Besides, the R could also be fitted with slicks, however daft an idea. And at least the spare wheels could be stored where the rear seats are (you can't have more than one passenger on track days}.
Oh and full marks to you if you can change 4 wheels in 10mn.

Edited by nickfrog on Wednesday 31st July 22:10

[Supersaloons]

cidered77 said:

I have the R26.R as i think #2 on my all time lottery win bucketlist, and a permanent autotrader search open. Don't care about the badge - just adore the car, although only drive the normal R26.

Challenge is the garagr fits two cars, and i love my old Mercedes SL and the familiy (especially the Kid) love it too much as well. So the second car needs to be a daily

So - 6 point harnesses in real life. Talk me through it! Could you concieve of living with them for a daily (short 15min commute; 6k miles per year - SL does the long journeys). I can see a low milage titanium exhaust example that has my trigger finger all itchy...

For small trips I only use the hip belt ;-) yes, the R26 radicale was on my list for a long time too so when I kept on moaning about the dullness of my two 'supercars' my friends told me to finally scratch that radicale itch and so I did. Never regret it for one moment....

[Supersaloons]

Supersaloons said:

cidered77 said:

I have the R26.R as i think #2 on my all time lottery win bucketlist, and a permanent autotrader search open. Don't care about the badge - just adore the car, although only drive the normal R26.

Challenge is the garagr fits two cars, and i love my old Mercedes SL and the familiy (especially the Kid) love it too much as well. So the second car needs to be a daily

So - 6 point harnesses in real life. Talk me through it! Could you concieve of living with them for a daily (short 15min commute; 6k miles per year - SL does the long journeys). I can see a low milage titanium exhaust example that has my trigger finger all itchy...

For small trips I only use the hip belt ;-) yes, the R26 radicale was on my list for a long time too so when I kept on moaning about the dullness of my two 'supercars' my friends told me to finally scratch that radicale itch and so I did. Never regret it for one moment....

Did I mention that you feel the lightness and the stiffness and the dampers work and the diff work and how incredible it pulls through corners and the massive grip etc etc. oh and the induction noise makes me smile every time.... so much fun for 'so little money' oh and never to be afraid to crash it (instead of those supercars) etc etc.

[D7Cup]

BIG Renault Sport fan here (bar latest gen products) and not the one to moan about prices of modern cars. However, this IS nuts so let's get this out of the way first.

I of course appreciate that it couldn't have been cheaper than a ballpark £70k for the parts alone (iirc a wheel each cost around £4.5k) - but that doesn't really make it reasonable. The exotic parts is a marketing exercise and Renault is probably going to be selling/sold these cars at a loss, but how about the "normal" spec new Trophy-R?

4 years ago, the previous gen Trophy-R was a bit shy of £40k with fancy exhaust, seats, brakes, lighter wheels, sticky rubber and of course ohlins suspension but people would still moan - unfairly so. That car was/is an absolute machine and better/more enjoy-full to drive than many focused mid engined RWD cars...And you can now get your hands on one for around £25k, which is too much car for the money IMO.

The new one without the fancy ceramics and CF wheels is over £51k and I can't simply figure out why in all honesty. They chopped the rear steer so a few good savings there, they offer the same brakes as the normal trophy and in all essence they add after market parts as they did on the previous gen car. A bit of development for the aero but again that alone can not justify the >£15k pricetag of the normal Trophy300.

Unless I'm missing something?

[fastbikes76]

Talaus said:

How are those belts deemed safe? Certainly not within the ideal range of 20degs



There is a perfectly acceptable strut brace, why couldnt they use that?

First thing I noticed out of the whole thing... those belts are not mounted correctly and far from ideal like that. How could they get it so wrong ?

[gigglebug]

fastbikes76 said:

Talaus said:

How are those belts deemed safe? Certainly not within the ideal range of 20degs



There is a perfectly acceptable strut brace, why couldnt they use that?

First thing I noticed out of the whole thing... those belts are not mounted correctly and far from ideal like that. How could they get it so wrong ?

I received this answer on an earlier thread.

Onehp said:

The rounded 'seat' is where an extra set of (track) wheels° can be stored, now harnesses can be out of they way when using 3-point belt, less so when using the beam...

°Not many 2-seaters can bring those and have a empty boot left to fill with stuff...

[smudge71]

These comments are hilarious

It’s a ridiculous car at a ridiculous price, if you don’t appreciate it don’t buy one!. It’s generally an unobtainable machine for the few.

It’s the GT3RS of hatchbacks. Probably more exclusive if anything.

Probably the nearest thing you could do for similar fwd track performance is to spend £250k on a BTCC

Well done Renault for having the cahoonas to build it and not go for the easy wins of too much power.

Although Danny Ric’s stupid ‘drifting’ at Goodwood did neither him or the car any favours

Edited by smudge71 on Wednesday 31st July 22:41

[Justin Case]

I am glad that a mainstream manufucturer will still buld a car like this today. The price doesn't seem excessive for what you get, whether you need what you get is another question. The only depressing thing is that it is possible that they will end up in the hands of speculators, hidden away, and will never see a track

[nickfrog]

fastbikes76 said:

Talaus said:

How are those belts deemed safe? Certainly not within the ideal range of 20degs



There is a perfectly acceptable strut brace, why couldnt they use that?

First thing I noticed out of the whole thing... those belts are not mounted correctly and far from ideal like that. How could they get it so wrong ?

I spoke to Recaro when I fitted a harness to the Cup S for track use using the OE rear belt fixing points. They were quite happy with the apparently sub optimal angle.

[Kenny Powers]

I’m not normally one to moan about stuff like this, but this just goes to show the ridiculousness of Ring Wars for road cars. Hey we built a racing car that got a record around the ring, and we’re passing it off as a production car. Personally I don’t even trust the power levels of these record breaking cars to be OEM, but that’s perhaps a different topic for a different day.

All that aside, I do think it’s quite cool, and money no object, I’d probably order one just for fun.

[nickfrog]

D7Cup said:

Unless I'm missing something?

The low volume means that dev work and approval, testing etc is only shared between 500 cars. Also remember specific kinematics, carbon bonnet and other bits. Also, it's a classic law of diminishing returns thing.
Price is never based on cost plus but what 32 people in the UK will pay for the car, at least in Renault s opinion. And if they're wrong then the market will correct that and they will be discounted.

The £11k uplift from the previous R seems to mirror the fall in £ value since then.

[Nickbrapp]

72k now, everyone will slate it, 15 years it will be a fawned over classic for £100k

[blearyeyedboy]

^ Much like the R26.R, funnily enough.

I struggle to understand people's indignation.

I like Méganes a lot. I can't afford this one, and even if I could I probably wouldn't buy it because I think it's too extreme for my taste.

But if someone with £72k to spare wants to spend it on this, or a boat that fails to meet the approval of the local Yacht Club, or a gold-plated washing machine for washing machineheads... or 72,000 lottery tickets... or just buy many packets of chips to feed a small town... then what's it got to do with anyone else?

If people go around telling others not to buy something, where does that leave us? It's clearly wrong to own anything more exciting than a Toyota Prius by that logic. Go around telling others what they should or shouldn't drive for fun... and don't be surprised that others start doing the same to you.

I remember someone telling a load of revellers at a wedding that they needed to stop dancing in a fun drunken way because they weren't doing some traditional dancing "properly". Everyone ignored him because he was a knob, and had a better time because of it.

So what if it has 5 doors, or you can go faster in other things for less money, or that you consider it to be poor taste. This Mégane is batst crazy, and we should all be glad when batst crazy things exist. And I salute the 30 batst crazy people who are buying one. I bet they're great people to spend a fun evening down the pub with.

[otolith]

Lovely components, seems a shame to bolt them onto something so prosaic. Still, each to his own.

[cidered77]

Supersaloons said:

Supersaloons said:

cidered77 said:

I have the R26.R as i think #2 on my all time lottery win bucketlist, and a permanent autotrader search open. Don't care about the badge - just adore the car, although only drive the normal R26.

Challenge is the garagr fits two cars, and i love my old Mercedes SL and the familiy (especially the Kid) love it too much as well. So the second car needs to be a daily

So - 6 point harnesses in real life. Talk me through it! Could you concieve of living with them for a daily (short 15min commute; 6k miles per year - SL does the long journeys). I can see a low milage titanium exhaust example that has my trigger finger all itchy...

For small trips I only use the hip belt ;-) yes, the R26 radicale was on my list for a long time too so when I kept on moaning about the dullness of my two 'supercars' my friends told me to finally scratch that radicale itch and so I did. Never regret it for one moment....

Did I mention that you feel the lightness and the stiffness and the dampers work and the diff work and how incredible it pulls through corners and the massive grip etc etc. oh and the induction noise makes me smile every time.... so much fun for 'so little money' oh and never to be afraid to crash it (instead of those supercars) etc etc.

I had an R26 for 5 years - first car ever on track(and now too much of my early retirement potential goes on bloody racing cars!); the diff, the induction noise, and the sheer ease of driving just very very fast on circuit were just brilliant. No other track day car pushed so many buttons - so i went racing to take that experience and add less weight, and further stiffness: it's an itch i need to scratch...

The belts though, the belts. Lap belts for convenience yes, but whilst i back myself driving i've seen too much nonsense on the road to back other people....and lap belts wont help your nose in a crash,. Knowing the faff of real harnesses, i think it might just be a step too far for a daily.