The R in Trophy-R stands for Rowdy

When a manufacturer wants to proof something to the world they often get creative or in case of the Trophy-R they got radical. Your average Megane comes with a moddest 140 hp, 5 seats, normal creature comforts like a big infotainment screen etc. you get it. Then there's the Megane RS, it has a sporty 280 hp, sport seats in the front, all wheel steering, a 7-speed DCT and a louder exhaust. And then there's this:

The Renault Megane RS Trophy-R, what a name! It has none of the features described above. Instead of comfortable sport seats it has agressive Sabelt bucket seats, semi-slick tires, a 6 speed manual transmission, a strut bar instead of a rear bench and a super rowdy titanium Akrapovic exhaust. Oh and it's limited to only 500 cars worldwide. And it costs 60 grand. Unless you get the optional, ultra rare ceramic edition, this one is limited to only 50 pieces and costs 90 grand. YES! 90 grand for a hot hatch! But you get carbon-ceramic brakes and carbon fiber wheels for that price.

All of this for a new record around the Nordschleife. And it did it in 7 min. 40 sec. That's as fast as a Ferrari F430 Scuderia, a Porsche 997 GT3 or even a Bugatti Veyron. Yes you read that right, a 60 grand Renault hot hatch is as fast around the green hell as a track ready Ferrari or Porsche!

Of course they sacrificed quite a lot to achieve such a thing, the exhaust is droning on the highway, the infotainment is straight out of the cheapest Twingo and the clutch is as sensible as a feather.

But all of this doesn't matter when you get behind the wheel and steer it through a twisty road. It has tons of grip, the steering is as precise as a surgeon and the exhaust just screams through the rev band. And the transmission is just delightful as soon as it warms up.

The only thing that disturbs the perfect driving experience is the fact, that it is front wheel drive. For daily driving FWD isnt a bad thing, but as soon as you really get into it, the front wheels just want to pull the steering wheel out of your hands. We could only imagine how ballistic this car would've been if it was all-wheel drive.

Would we get one? Difficult to say, paying 60 grand for a FWD hot hatch seems ridiculous at first glance. But at second glance its more like a sport car than a compact car with a little bit of exercise. I mean you cant really use it for day to day usage, it only seats 2 persons while still having 4 doors and its ridiculously loud for a compact car. But if you want a track toy which stands out against all the Porsche GT3s and BMW M4s, this is the one to get