cs_rich's RS250 Megane

[The Psychedelic Socialist]

So, in what must be a forum first, I asked for advice on what car to buy, and actually went with the forum's recommendation, trading in the Golf R for an RS250 in what seems to be a bit of a unicorn spec.

RS250 Cup
-Recaros
-Visibility Pack (Xenons)
-18" wheels
-Automatic dual zone climate control
-Automatic headlights & wipers
-Carminat TomTom
-TPMS
-KTEC induction kit (comedy noises)

Aside from the options it seems in really good condition with a folder full of receipts and tellingly a set of Michelin PS4 tyres with decent tread all around.

Couple of pics from the handover today:

Although I did this to free up some money, I was a bit worried about dropping down to an older and ostenibly slower car, but I've been really pleasantly surprised on the drive back. We basically stuck to back roads from Thetford through to King's Lynn and I think I already get what people say about the RS cars. The Golf would certainly have been quicker, mainly due to the confidence inspiring effect of the AWD, but the drive in the Megane was so much more of an event. Hustling it through the gears and feeling the diff pull it through the corners was just fantastic and really addictive. Much more than the Golf I also get the feeling that there's more to learn about the car and how to drive it well. In a straight line though, once you're up and running, I really don't think there's all that much between it and the Golf.

I also had doubts about the comfort of the Recaros for a longer journey as they feel so thin, but both me and my 60yo dad felt no discomfort after an hour spent hooning it round the Norfolk scenery.

Immediate plans aren't particularly exciting, mainly cosmetic stuff like new wipers, red interior LEDs (I'm essentially a chav wot learned how to talk proper init) and a bit of a proper clean.
Beyond that I'm thinking a couple of track days this year before looking into some light modding up at RS Tuning with a view to get a nice reliable 300bhp out of it.

 

[imprezaworks]

Very nice mate.

Cracking purchase

 

[Mbeau]

Awsome purchase. I would advise against LED's as can cause havoc with the light system. I ended up removing all the ones fitted in my Megane.

 

[Coby.]

Lovely car but can't help but feel the wheels let it down.

Never been a fan of the style of wheel, but also really don't like black wheels.

 

[Stay Puft]

Lovely motor

 

[massiveCoRbyn]

Great buy. As you know, I made almost exactly the same change and my feelings were just the same. The Megane feels like a much more special car. Hopefully you will have lots of fun in it.

Didn't realise you were around the wilds of Norfolk either.

 

[JB21]

Great buy. Definitely a car I will own at some point. How was the ride comfort on b roads, and is the clutch light?

 

[Clio_fool]

Will that's that then, you've broken CS with your following advice malarkey. Wrap it up lads, we're done here. ?

Nice buy though?.

 

[The Psychedelic Socialist]

Cheers guys, glad it meets with forum approval ?

Awsome purchase. I would advise against LED's as can cause havoc with the light system. I ended up removing all the ones fitted in my Megane.

Not sure why I thought LEDs were necessary for a red bulb, so I'm just getting some standard 501s in red hopefully avoiding any issues. Might try white LEDs in the boot for a bit more light though.

 

[Speedy300]

Great buy! As a former RS250 and Cupra 290 (very similar to the Golf R) owner, you will miss the aggressive turbo from the VW but I am sure a remap on the megane will sort that.

While the Cupra was a great car the megane felt more special despite feeling much slower. Enjoy!

 

[Rojer]

Really lovely car, congratulations. Very jealous.

 

[JamesBryan]

Mega spec.

Mapped it will be a completely different car!

 

[FatRS]

Welcome to the 250/300 fold. Enjoy.

 

[Jack!]

If they'd of done this model with a semi-auto box I'd have been all over it. Not a fan of the new ones that do have that option.

 

[Ian_182]

Looks like a decent example.
Good luck with it.

 

[The Psychedelic Socialist]

Well, most importantly of all, it has met with the kids approval.

When I told my 6yo daughter I was selling the Golf, she cried. She loved that car and was always egging me on to give it death. One journey in the Megane, and she's converted. Admittedly it was more due to it having yellow seatbelts than anything else but she did make me promise her we'd go the back route home from town at the weekend so we could stretch its legs...

 

[The Psychedelic Socialist]

After much prying and snapping of plastic, I got access to the OBD port today and tried out my OBDLink LX. Just a bit of a play at this stage checking thinks like boost level (1.1bar so it's not mapped) and oil temperatures etc. Something I just wanted to hand for track days / more serious driving etc.

Also turns out that a previous owner replaced all the speakers with Pioneer ones. The sounds isn't that impressive but the old Golf had the full 500W Dynaudio setup so it was never going to be that great. Still, from all accounts the otherwise standard stereo is crap, so nice to have a bit of an upgrade for free.

Finally I installed the red bulbs (not LED) in the interior so it now looks like the inside of a brothel and you need a torch to read anything. Result. Photos taken on a potato obviously:

 

[Gavin.]

Welcome to the club, how you finding it? I still love mine, puts a massive smile on my face.

Feel free to join us over at rsmegane.com

 

[VXR killer]

Welcome to the club, a few on the megane forum fit bluetooth harness and fit a pioneer head unit amp. Still to do mine

 

[Gavin.]

I did a thread on the sound, it's mainly the head unit, I ran a plug and play pioneer amp and some tweeters on the standard head unit but it didn't make a huge difference, running the amp and then adding a Pioneer head unit made a massive difference to the clarity and then I added a small under seat sub for some bass. All using the standard door speakers, still sounds spot on.

 

[The Psychedelic Socialist]

Welcome to the club, how you finding it? I still love mine, puts a massive smile on my face.

Feel free to join us over at rsmegane.com

Really, really enjoying it. Coming from the automatic / AWD Golf it's so much more raw and on the single track roads round our way, it's also a lot more terrifying when the LSD starts pulling the steering wheel over the camber. I've got the seats in the lowest setting (because racecar) and it's taking some getting used to, particularly the approach onto our drive, but other than that, fantastic.

I'm registered on rsmegane.com already but just not particularly active. I had posted earlier today about the speakers and whether the IC / exhaust were standard too.

TBH I'm not that fussed about the speakers. Going back a few cars I was really into it and had an Audi A3 with the B&O system which was absolutely godlike, but that was when I spent 90 minutes a day in the car by myself on a dual carriageway. Nowadays it doesn't do any commuting so I've usually either got my kids in the car (with the radio off) or just a quick listen to Radio 4. So I'm probably going to leave the stereo as-is. Leaves more money in the pot for trackdays and tyres anyway

 

[Gavin.]

Really, really enjoying it. Coming from the automatic / AWD Golf it's so much more raw and on the single track roads round our way, it's also a lot more terrifying when the LSD starts pulling the steering wheel over the camber. I've got the seats in the lowest setting (because racecar) and it's taking some getting used to, particularly the approach onto our drive, but other than that, fantastic.

I'm registered on rsmegane.com already but just not particularly active. I had posted earlier today about the speakers and whether the IC / exhaust were standard too.

TBH I'm not that fussed about the speakers. Going back a few cars I was really into it and had an Audi A3 with the B&O system which was absolutely godlike, but that was when I spent 90 minutes a day in the car by myself on a dual carriageway. Nowadays it doesn't do any commuting so I've usually either got my kids in the car (with the radio off) or just a quick listen to Radio 4. So I'm probably going to leave the stereo as-is. Leaves more money in the pot for trackdays and tyres anyway

Ah yeah saw those posts earlier don't blame you on the sound system, mines purely a road car, I can crash on a straight section of the m6, it aint going on a track

 

[AdDaMan]

Explain the red lights for me?

 

[Ian_182]

Big Pimpin.

 

[The Psychedelic Socialist]

Explain the red lights for me?

Errr... I can't?

I just quite like the way they make a car interior look at night. I'm well aware it also makes me look a bit of a tit, but I'm old enough that I'm not going to let that stop me enjoying myself.

 

[Clio_fool]

Errr... I can't?

I just quite like the way they make a car interior look at night. I'm well aware it also makes me look a bit of a tit, but I'm old enough that I'm not going to let that stop me enjoying myself.

I remember when I was configuring a type R online years ago you could get red footwell lighting, for £200??. You must have increased the value of your car by a grand!

 

[The Psychedelic Socialist]

Privates plates on...

 

[The Psychedelic Socialist]

Looks like the previous owner has done me yet another favour and had the wheel retrimmed in Alcantara. Was certainly nicer than the leather but it had clearly been done a while back as all the pile was flattened down. 10 minutes with some detergent and a cloth though and it's looking pretty decent again:

I also decided to update the boot screen of the satnav to fit the car (as opposed to a picture of some kind of French MPV):

Finally for this week I took it to have the wheels aligned and the steering straightened up. It wasn't far out but with the leather indicator strip at the top it was massively annoying driving down a straight road with about 5° of lock on.

Next up for the midlifecrisismobile, a set of side stripes (sorry).

 

[imprezaworks]

Wish there were like 6k.

Lol

 

[cafcross]

Wish there were like 6k.

Lol

Mate just picked one up on 122k without Cup pack for £4,700.

They’re out there

 

[imprezaworks]

There was a non cup on the Mégane forum 100k was about 6k a little while ago

 

[gez 172]

@imprezaworks

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[The Psychedelic Socialist]

Stripes on:

How long they'll stay on is another matter as I didn't do a particularly great job.

 

[M.C..]

Nice looking car.
I miss my 250 one of the best cars I owned, I fitted a pioneer active sub to the standard headunit and it made a massive difference to the sound one of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0002MNX5K/?tag=cliospnet01-21

Get a map on it mine was doing just over 300bhp.

 

[Darren61]

I thought they’d look s**t tbh.

But I actually quite like them!

 

[The Psychedelic Socialist]

Nice looking car.
I miss my 250 one of the best cars I owned, I fitted a pioneer active sub to the standard headunit and it made a massive difference to the sound one of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0002MNX5K/?tag=cliospnet01-21

Get a map on it mine was doing just over 300bhp.

A trip up to RS Tuning is definitely on the cards for at least a remap / intercooler / oil cooler package. Probably not until next year though as I plan to have a few trackdays this summer as standard before I start with the modding again.

I thought they’d look s**t tbh.

But I actually quite like them!

Yeah, I was worried they'd be a bit too barry but they're reasonably subtle and just help to break up what is otherwise a very large plain area of the car.

 

[The Psychedelic Socialist]

A few bits and bobs in advance of the first track day in it:

Also getting the garage to look at a mechanical whine it's picked up that I'm really hoping is just a wheel bearing (and not a diff bearing).

 

[JamesBryan]

Check the upper gearbox mount too under the battery.

A known weak point on these with track use. Most upgrade them to the next bolt size up.

 

[massiveCoRbyn]

Middle silencer delete? You won't regret it!

 

[The Psychedelic Socialist]

Middle silencer delete? You won't regret it!

Yep. Though I now have a nagging feeling that it's already had it done.

It does have a nice rumble to it, but it doesn't really pop on the overrun so it feels like it's a bit louder than OE, but not as much as the res delete videos I've seen online. I tried waving my phone under the car to see but couldn't really get a good view and most of what I saw looked rusty like mild steel. Presumably most res deletes would be in stainless steel...?

Meh, we'll wait and see.