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A moment of magic. That's what you are looking for. In the infrequent occasion, one of the real heroes of the world of performance is replaced, your impartiality can only falter a little, when you cross the fingers and toes, desperate for the first tangible evidence that it's still special.
RenaultSport is one of those cars, but after several hours on the road in the brand new RS 280, no moment has yet materialized. The old one did not leave you with illusions about how special it was. You folded into a comfortable Recaro seat, you hit the ground and you pushed it into life. He beat you as soon as you walked away, crying to be taken to a stretch of road where he could show how incredibly he was developing.
Yes, it could be interpreted as a bit hardcore, but there was a car – despite his humble chbadis at the front – who could be drinking buddies with a Porsche 911 GT3. If you're struggling with anthropomorphism, then their drivers have definitely drunk pals, sharing a steak and beer in the Pistenklause after a day of beating the Nürburgring in submission in like-minded cars.
. But the new does not give me any of this. He still rolls quite abruptly (we have the hardest version of the Cup, traditionally The One You Want), but he is more sober, more adult. His 276bhp is just 5bhp before, so it does not accelerate faster. And it is not so immediately adorable. The gear lever is aesthetically interesting but weird to hold, the unbranded sports seats look like the part but do not allow the perfect driving position, while the steering wheel has Alcantara in places where you do not hold it not. Presumably, it does not gain unsightly wear. Old Mégane felt like an engineer car; this one seems to have had more input from the design team. This makes it a much more beautiful object than before, mental, and it is so powerful in the metal.
Rivals has all bought the old Megane RS and has stripped it to see where the magic was
test, however, which is a concern, considering what the l is waiting in Wales. The old Mégane RS was so exceptional, the rival brands bought one and stripped it to the heart to see where the magic was. Its influence goes through the competitors that followed, including the latest Honda Civic Type R, our reigning hot hatch champion. On top of that, we have gathered the new guy on the block, the Hyundai i30N, and the last – perhaps the biggest – version of the Seat Leon, the Cupra R. All have a four-turbo petrol cylinders that drive their front wheels, via a six-speed manual gearbox and limited slip differential (or electronic running in the same direction).
Yes, the Megane has retained an appropriate gearbox, although a derailleur is optional, and it has matured elsewhere. Its sports exhaust emits the inevitable range of pops and fringes, but the sound is cut off inside the car. In the center of the dashboard, there is a new portrait infotainment screen with a runway telemetry at one end of the scale, and a choice of the color of the rainbow. sky you want for the indoor ambient lighting of the other. Like all cars here, it offers a whole range of driving modes, and unlike them, it remembers your choice when you turn off the car and restart later, a glimmer of hope that engineers still have their word to say. 19659002] This is the only car here without adaptive suspension – you make your choice between Sport and Cup permanently, in the showroom – which could make you think about the impact of switchable modes. But its 4Control four-wheel drive complex has several levels of aggression, so it's really worth playing between Neutral, Sport and Race.
So even though it's been disappointing on the way to the Welsh Hills, a few seconds before I shyly push it into Race and I feel the car hone. The four-wheel-drive steering is new in this category of cars, and I confess that with the rear wheels angle that opposes the fronts, it dramatically shortens the steering circle to typical hot (which the Hyundai is particularly guilty of). No seven-point turn here.
Beyond that, it takes a little time to get used to it. Turn in a corner and he feels absurdly impatient, flicking through the car faster than feels natural. Find a fairly clairvoyant corner to do it with some vigor, however, and that magical moment finally materializes, the rear axle following sharply forward to allow a small, easily controlled slide. On more bumpy surfaces, you can also pick up the inner rear wheel in the air, a proverbial hat tip for its Clio RenaultSport ancestors.
At higher speeds, the rear wheels rotate in the same way as the front, reducing this heat and increasing stability, helping to give the Megane the devouring pace of the campaign we are waiting for. a hot hatch of Premier League. The old car managed everything without four wheel steering, however. The technology has the potential to open a whole new dynamic repertoire, but without being able to explore it properly via the safety of a racing circuit, its complexity actually seems like a good old game.
not such confusion in the Hyundai. Here is a hot hatch of the old school, with the frenzy of something living from the 80s if you dare to unleash its electronic badistants on a wet or poorly made road. But with 1 944 frankly confusing combinations of ridiculously customizable driving modes, there is a configuration for all tastes and levels of talent. And in all of them, it's a car with a sense of contagious humor.
At first knowledge, you could accuse him of being a little artificial; this performance i30N, the high-spec version, gets an extremely youthful sport exhaust that the cynic could describe as "a little too much". The upward lights and the bright tachometer (which increases the red line when the engine is warming up) are also very tacky. However, it takes two corners to throw all your worries about it through the window. Here is a car that flickers and allows you to stay locked at speeds perfectly legal, which is too rare because car manufacturers seek higher powers. It's not a coincidence that the i30N is the least powerful car here, and it's far from being the least fun.
In fact, the Civic Type R is 45cv less than riding the Honda. different clbad of car. Perhaps incredibly for something that looks so cartoonish, it feels very professional. The gear lever is not larger than necessary, and operates here the most precise and efficient change, while the gear shift function of the gearbox only speeds up the gearbox. acceleration when you need it, avoiding the embarrbading sound of the Hyundai. supermarket parking. There is also no frivolous crack of Honda's exhaust, which makes it unique in this group.
The i30 is a hot hatch of the old school, with the frenzy of something of the 80s
Its suspension is absolutely haunting, with a comfort mode that really makes comfort, allowing the car the craziest To be the easiest to live in everyday life, the frustrating touch screen and the ridiculous absence of a fifth seatbelt. The driving modes of the Type R are fixed – if you want a sharper engine and a firmer suspension, you have to have a heavy steering – which seems to lack insight in this business, but also facilitate the entry and the conduct. On the winding and bumpy roads where we are, his pace is quite overwhelming, even the hardest, the R + mode allowing him to soak up everything. The disadvantage is little of the adjustability or interaction of the i30N or Mégane, but the slam-gum rhythm really made for that. He is hypnotizing capable.
Remember, the Leon Cupra R manages to feel just as exciting. There has always been a sense of hierarchy among the VW group's warm hatches, with stowed seats and Skodas. Not here, though; it's all that has happened to its extreme, and far beyond any current Golf, that's why we have not brought it. A potential first in the world of hot torch group testing …
Its familiar 2.0-liter turbo engine has surpbaded the 300bhp mark, while the more cambered wheels are wearing extreme bowl tires. Levels of taste may have come down, however, with the limited Cupra R coming in gray or black, combined with heaps of copper and carbon. As the owner of a gold-plated Clio Williams, this may seem like a hypocritical thing for me, but seeing the Leon finally released in such a division is hard to swallow.
for that. Flipping devil, this car is fast. None of the engines in this test are Duffers, but it's the Seat that's the most scintillating. Driving an old turbo car and the feeling of arriving at the finish is like the big drop on your favorite russian mountain, feeling barely under control of being blasted through your surroundings. The Leon delivers just that, only without the archaic shift beforehand.
Although it does not have a mechanical differential, its electronics do a pretty good job of mimicking one, and it's unrealistently good to gather all that power together and make sure you do not go out no corners with skate handles. These tires even manage well on wet roads. It's an intoxicating car to which you have to attach, with a playful rear axle when you really go there.
In the end, he hangs up being sold, a mere 24 having come to the UK. The R is a good thriller, but it's hard not to feel frustrated with the VW Group, leaving only Cupra engineers on leash for a severely limited race. Imagine if Leon had been so good all his life. Hopefully the last car to wear Cupra as a suffix (rather than a prefix more difficult to understand) is an enticing taste of things to come and not a hardcore finale.
The Megane, meanwhile, remains an enigma even after 500 miles of mixed – often difficult – driving in Wales. It will undoubtedly be much simpler to live than before, and on the tough roads, it still shows the world-clbad body control we know and appreciate from RenaultSport. It's a story similar to that of the lukewarm Clio: the purity of its predecessor has been replaced by additional complexity, making the job less difficult than it should be. If history teaches us anything, it's that the Megane RS is gradually improving throughout its life, and a Megane Trophy of nearly 300 horsepower is not far off.
But for the moment, Hyundai beats Renault. Maybe even Honda, depending on what you want from a hot hatch. The i30N makes sure that some of us just want to laugh, free of anxiety to be as fast as possible. The car is still immensely capable, but in this group it has lower limits, easier to operate, and no matter what your mood, there is not a single player that could not be animated by a double support on its checkered flag button preferred configuration. All this beside the best value for money and the most complete guarantee here.
Still, he must concede victory at Type R, simply one of the most accomplished hot hatches of all time. He may seem a little too serious; Take a look at the speedo on a nice road and you will drive at least 10 mph faster than in the i30N. Yet while the Hyundai has a range of driving modes to tickle your current level of talent, the Honda encourages you to build your own game so you can truly do it justice, and it would take years to tire it out. There is a depth that is absent among its rivals here, but familiar to – you guessed it – the old Megane. From its unmatched speed change to its exemplary damping, moments of magic in the Civic are never far away.
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