Drove meganes quite abit, prefer me Clio anyday, better handling not massively slower, tyres are 1k for a megane unless ya like budgets, they can drink the petrol too. Overall a big step up in costs for not much performance. R26 is the 1 to go for as the diff makes a big difference. Oh and ya know the saying it's a renault it will break. The meganes break. Lol window motors, central locking you name it the megane breaks it. Just a warning.
I think it
is a big step up in performance. Maybe not a huge difference as standard, but a couple of hundred quid thrown at a re-map will give 260-270bhp, and ever since I had mine done it is properly, properly rapid.
Without question I preferred my Trophy on a typical English twisty country road, but everywhere else it loses out. In gear performance is in a different league, and the interior is actually a nice place to be. Granted, it's no S-Class, but still another big step up. No problems in mine as of yet, so maybe I got a good 'un.
I see it like this: if you want a blast on some great roads, you choose the Trophy/182. If you want a well equipped, accomplished all rounder with tuning potential, you get the Megane. I miss the lunacy of the Trophy and the way it never failed to put a smile on my face, but the Megane is a worthy replacement in my opinion. It has many of the Trophy's characteristics handling wise, but in a much more grown up package.