Renault Megane RS250 vs Golf GTI review

[break]

I think some of you are missing the point.

Different tools for different jobs, us RS people certainly don't look down on the GTI for what it's purposed to do (it's the best compromise of performance/comfort/build quality IMO).

Comparing the GTI to the RS250 is comparing apples to oranges. One is an all round hot hatch, the other is a focuse drivers car packaged in a hatch.

Both are great, both are at the top of the game for their respective classes, and you'd be hard to go wrong putting cash down for either.

The question is merely what do you want in a car? I wanted the best drivers experience possible, so I jumped ship to the RS camp and I haven't looked back. If my needs were different, I'd imagine my choice would be too.

[Capercat]

Having owned both the MK4 & MK5 GTI, I always knew I was buying a compromised semi hot hatch, no secretes there...

I was hoping VW would ramp it up for the MK6, but wasn't too be.
Anyhow, I kinda got jack of seeing soft middle aged women drive around in my car (MK5 GTI at the time), hence the main reason I sold out. Sure it sounds snobby, but at least I'm honest.

[Ideo]

Congratulations, you decided to go with the laggy, boring uninspiring AWD R. You must feel like a grown up buying the lesser S3 eh?

Oh, just another forum opinion

It was the car that best suited my needs. The RS was a better drivers car overall, but wasn't suitable to what I needed. Just a decision based on my needs. Which I fully explained. Don't see the point in getting into a pointless pissing contest about which car is better as they go about it in different ways. Both have pros and cons, and it's up to the buyer to work out which direction they lean.

Break - very good points. I can fully understand the choice. If my situation was different I might have gone the other way.

[sabloke]

Not snobbier than "it's French, enough said!"
Have to admit, I wouldn't like to own a car you see at every corner. Most probably there's so many around because they are good cars, but still...

Not exactly on topic, but since GTIs practicality and day-to-day usability was brought into discussion, I gotta ask: why not Octavia RS? It is a bit cheaper, has more room for "practicality", and, according to the poms, is better built using the same transmission and engine. Or is it that the Golf has a tinge of Premium and Skoda doesn't, not yet? Good on VW for managing to look like a premium brand down under, in Europe they are just like our Toyota

[Ideo]

Not snobbier than "it's French, enough said!"
Have to admit, I wouldn't like to own a car you see at every corner. Most probably there's so many around because they are good cars, but still...

Well, after the 306 XSI I owned for a short period that had some pretty amusing issues...

But I still want to revisit pug ownership in a 306 GTi-6. One of those or a 172/182 cup would make a great little club car/hillclimb whilst still being road legal

[brisgtimkv]

The MK6 interior is a step backwards from the MK5 IMO

Lol. How? Be specific. I might not be happy about losing my door sill strips but that's just a joke. Sometimes I wish vws didn't appeal to insecure, status obsessed yuppies so much. Threads like this make be a little depressed to own one tbh. Hey, at least I'm honest!

[markwid]

Not exactly on topic, but since GTIs practicality and day-to-day usability was brought into discussion, I gotta ask: why not Octavia RS? It is a bit cheaper, has more room for "practicality", and, according to the poms, is better built using the same transmission and engine. Or is it that the Golf has a tinge of Premium and Skoda doesn't, not yet? Good on VW for managing look like a premium brand down under, in Europe they are just like our Toyota

Give each buyer here a bit of credit please. Each knows what they are buying (folks here do some research before buying). No one is fooled by brand positioning. The reason a buyer ends up with what they bought, is because they have arrived at what suits them best.

The prejudice you have against VW brand is noted now...

[Ideo]

Not snobbier than "it's French, enough said!"
Have to admit, I wouldn't like to own a car you see at every corner. Most probably there's so many around because they are good cars, but still...

Not exactly on topic, but since GTIs practicality and day-to-day usability was brought into discussion, I gotta ask: why not Octavia RS? It is a bit cheaper, has more room for "practicality", and, according to the poms, is better built using the same transmission and engine. Or is it that the Golf has a tinge of Premium and Skoda doesn't, not yet? Good on VW for managing to look like a premium brand down under, in Europe they are just like our Toyota

Just saw ya edit.

Because I don't want a 4/5 door car - same reason I didn't look at getting a secondhand Audi S4. If they had a 3 door hatch/coupe version I would have considered it.

[triode12]

The MK6 interior is a step backwards from the MK5 IMO

Lol. How? Be specific. I might not be happy about losing my door sill strips but that's just a joke. Sometimes I wish vws didn't appeal to insecure, status obsessed yuppies so much. Threads like this make be a little depressed to own one tbh. Hey, at least I'm honest!

1. Steering wheel button controls that are not as intuitive as on the mkV to use. Buttons are now clustered in a heap instead of nicely separated.
2. Loss of dedicated button for petrol cap release - now bundled with door locking button - again non-intuitive esp for people who are new to the car. e.g. if you loan the car to a relative.
3. Shortening of door pocket space on both passenger and driver's side doors.
4. Climate control temp displays now integrated with RCD and RNS510 display - leaving no choice but to use either unit as ICE.
5. Chrome accents around angular airvents and steering wheel which look fashionable now but will date quicker than the traditional Teutonic austere look of the MKV dash + steering wheel.
6. Red lighting of MFD now a bland white. Red Looks better with the blue Speedo dials.
7. No more door sill protectors with GTI emblazoned on them.
8. Thinner and cheaper plastics on dash and surrounds compared to MkV. The only carry over from the MKV is the centre console. Compare the plastic of that to the rest of the dash and you will see the difference.

[sabloke]

The prejudice you have against VW brand is noted now...

Oh, come on... What prejudice? GTI vs Skoda RS is a legitimate comparison, many testers asked the same question. I'd say there's prejudice against Skoda if anything... If you have been to Europe you must have noticed that 6 in 10 cars are VWs, a proof of the brand's success. How's that a bad thing, saying they're as popular as Toyota over there? One thing is sure though, like it or not, VW is not a premium brand in Europe. Just look how their very expensive experiments ended up. So no, I'm not looking down on VW but can't see any reason to look up to it, either.

[cme2c]

Talking about special cars: Renault Australia has prepared four Megane Renault Sport 250 vehicles for the Race Off with a number of CAMS regulation modifications.
Note the minimum amount of mods required: "The 184kW/340Nm hot hatches have been fitted with full six-point roll cages and window nets, racing seats with five-point harnesses and fire extinguishers to ensure the drivers are as safe as possible." Can't wait to see how they go!

Lucky for VW, no need to race anything other than Toerags to help shifting lots and lots of cars.

Also, there are no VW engined F1 cars ATM, while there are at least Red Bull and Lotus Renault using Renault engines. This may change if F1 goes to 4 cylinder engines.

Should be a great race. IIRC Coulthard has raced BTCC and Kelly races V8 taxis, so we could be in for a bit of paint swapping....

[cme2c]

No no no... sick of being stuck behind middle aged women driving 10kms under the speed limit in GTI's

That's because their speedos read 10% faster than they are going (the meter, not the swimming costume)

[Corey_R]

6. Red lighting of MFD now a bland white. Red Looks better with the blue Speedo dials.

Don't forget that the speedo dials are not blue anymore, they're white too!

[Capercat]

1. Steering wheel button controls that are not as intuitive as on the mkV to use. Buttons are now clustered in a heap instead of nicely separated.
2. Lost of dedicated button for petrol cap release - now bundled with door locking button - again non-intuitive esp for people who are new to the car. e.g. if you loan the car to a relative.
3. Shortening of door pocket space on both passenger and driver's side doors.
4. Climate control temp displays now integrated with RCD and RNS510 display - leaving no choice but to use either unit as ICE.
5. Chrome accents around angular airvents and steering wheel which look fashionable now but will date quicker than the traditional Teutonic austere look of the MKV dash + steering wheel.
6. Red lighting of MFD now a bland white. Red Looks better with the blue Speedo dials.
7. No more door sill protectors with GTI emblazoned on them.
8. Thinner and cheaper plastics on dash and surrounds compared to MkV. The only carry over from the MKV is the centre console. Compare the plastic of that to the rest of the dash and you will see the difference.

This sums it up well. Now add a middle aged woman behind the wheel

Damn yuppies, what are we thinking

[clover4studio]

The MK6 interior is a step backwards from the MK5 IMO. The RS250 leather Recaro's are better than the "Sports" seats in my 2010 Porsche. Renault have come a long way in this department, but I'm still not liking the big ass.

Looks and design is very subjective. I personally think that the MK6 interior is way ahead of the MK5

Anyway, I didn't expect the link to create such childish debate. I think like the majority of the people said here, they are both very good cars! Just because we have a VW it doesn't mean we can't appreciate other brands when they have good cars (and vice versa).

People complain that there are too many Golf gti/R around but let's turn the table around and assume that Renault Megane RS250/Ford Focus RS cars are everywhere on the road, will it make it suddenly 'uncool'? I just think some people here need to get off their high horses. We are all driving mass manufactured cars :p