get on meganesport.net Pocket Rocket
the megane version 1 was more of a GT car for long distance cruising. even so the fat 18" tyres and great suspension couldnt be described as being a poor handling car in fact if it wasnt for the weird steering it was way more grippy than either my 172MKII or my current 172CUP on the one that i test drove.
however the new facelift versions F1, Trophy, Cup of prefacelift versions all have fimer suspension thicker ARB`s dont quote me on the last one, wider tyres now at 18" x 8 etc.. and crucially the steering has now been revised.
Evo Magazine quotes "The megane offers astonoshing grip for a car of its type !"
also dunno if anyone saw topgear with the 225cup on ?? the car was being absolutley murdered in the corners and they couldnt get it to lose grip and thats the stig in fact the rear wheels were smoking and yet still nothing it cornered flat and hard, to top that off the new golf R32 in the same show gripped about the same but thats 4wd and it understeered more than the megane ! and the track was damp and cold
the cup pack:
The Cup Chassis pack has all of the various engineering changes made to the Megane Trophy including: 18" anthracite alloy wheels, Dunlop Sport Maxx 235/40 R18 (ilo 225/40 R18), drilled front and rear brake discs, Brembo brake discs and callipers, bigger brake master cylinder with Brake Assist removed, revised steering connection and electronic programming, retuned dampers with uprated front and rear springs (25% and 77% stiffer) and dis-connectable ESP
the tyres are specially coated also. and the wheels are 1.5kg`s lighter per corner. official 0-60 times = 6.3 seconds yet auto car did 6.1 in a stock trophy which is sligtly heavier so a 225 cup can do 6.0 to sixty ! same as a wrx impreza
above 80mph the megane starts to use the torque/bhp advantage and pulls an advantage.
for £300 you can have 270bhp 258lbft compared with 180hp (if that, as lots of clio`s arent pushing claimed power) 158lbft the weight difference may help to 60 (although not enough to actually beat a megane to 60) but after that you need a fettled 182 to keep up.
dont think there is ultimatley too much in it perhaps only a few car lenghs but but 90% of meganesport owners are going for the RS-tuning remap and will gain 48bhp and around 40lbft extra thats the same power as an STI with almost a 100 less KG`s than that to give some perspetive.
even adding the BBPT exhaust+ open induction kit has given a RR`d proven 247bhp
the megane has 6.0 to sixty with 222/225bhp most cars with the same power in its class are over 100kg`s heavier audi TT 225, Wrx impreza, leon cupra R there all quite heavy yet the megane is only 1345kg`s the new clioRS is suposed to be 1200kg the megane cup isnt actually that heavy
edit: a megane sport user (Mapped 270bhp + torque) went up against an M3 (new shape) and didnt lose anything upto i think 1.20mp so with the new FMIC, Exhaust + remap 285-290hp should be seen as a max without changing turbo etc.. thats lighter and same sort of power as a Prodrive STI impreza !! and the last time i went up against one of those in my 172 i thought id put it in reverse