Renaultsport 225 specifications
Would suit:
Car-sick toddlers
Price:
£20 000 (about R246 000).
Maximum speed:
235km/h, 0-100km 6.5sec.
Combined fuel consumption:
9.1 litres/100km
My youngest son, Emil, who is two-and-a-half, gets car sick. The last time I borrowed a Bentley we were driving to Switzerland when he started to make familiar moaning noises from the back seat that augured an imminent food expulsion.
We turned around just in time to see his head start to spin and the carton of chocolate milk he had drunk a good half-hour earlier spray, as if from a lawn sprinkler, over the pristine, creamy leather.
The Bentley's elegant stitching clung to its new lactic coating despite our best efforts to scrub it with my toothbrush.
Luckily, it was sub-zero in Switzerland and we soon learned to keep the air-conditioning on max so we were spared the pungent impact of the odours that would undoubtedly have rendered the cabin uninhabitable once springtime came.
Or somebody turned on the seat heaters.
With this experience still in my mind, I was concerned about the Renault Mégane Renaultsport 225 I borrowed for a family trip across the Channel to Normandy. When I first drove this car a year and a half ago I was quite taken by it and, among other things, claimed it was "a car that you could use every day without the kids redecorating the rear seat every time you accelerated", but, dear reader, I must confess that I was talking hypothetically.
The truth was I had not let Emil within a mile of it, as is our policy with any car with more than 100kW. This, you see, is the hardcore version of the car your auntie uses to visit craft fairs, with a 166kW, two-litre, turbocharged engine.
The 225 refers to it's Pferdestarke, by the way; a Continental power rating in which one PS is about 98.6 percent of one horsepower.
Anyway, the Renault also has powerful Brembo brakes, and, ominously - as far as its rating on Emil's vomitometer was concerned - stiffened, lowered suspension. The threat of a terrible, new eruption hung like a diced-carrot-and-custard cloud over our trip.
Astonishingly, he slept for the entire journey, which was a first. The Renault's suspension did jiggle a little over some surfaces, but the throttle, clutch and six-speed gear change were slick, and it was easy to drive smoothly. Above 4000rpm the turbo spools up and lets rip with a pleasing but, again, gentle shove in the back.
Emil remained slumped to one side in his baby seat, clutching his cuddly mammoth, and drooling slightly.
Sucking up mammals
By rights, the Mégane should be far more vulgar - it is designed to compete with lairy lads such as the Civic Type R and the Alfa 147GTA, after all - but, this time, I borrowed the five-door version which, aside from some fabulous 18" alloy wheels and a gigantic air vent mounted low on the front to vacuum up small mammals that stray into its path, is quite sombre.
It offers a far milder driving experience than, say, the old Focus RS or the Mini Cooper S Works, with little torque steer and few tyre squeals. I wouldn't have minded if it had sounded more farty though: I do think a car with sporting pretensions should have a touch of flatulence from its exhaust, don't you?
I couldn't fault the quality, though. Renault has made vast improvements with its interior materials and the way they are put together.
These days, a Mégane is every bit as good as a Golf. At any rate, Emil refrained from making his usual alterations. - The Independent, London