Next-gen Renault Megane RS not joining hot hatch power war, manual gearbox a possibility

The new Renault Megane IV was unveiled at the ongoing Frankfurt show, with a warm Renault Sport-tuned 205 hp GT the most potent variant announced so far. No official word on a full-blown Megane RS.

But on the sidelines of the IAA, Renault bigwigs have confirmed plans for the next-gen Megane RS. “Yes, of course there will be one,” Renault design boss Laurens van den Acker told Autocar when asked about the possibility of a new Renault Sport-fettled Megane.

With the Clio RS “growing up” from a three-door, manual-only car to today’s five-door, auto-only hot hatch, there are fears that the next hot Megane will go down the same route. If you, like us, have these concerns, the words of Renault Sport Technologies boss Patrice Ratti will be rather soothing. He acknowledges that there’s still demand for the good old stick shift.

“When we made Clio [RS] the thinking was that the market would go completely towards EDC style units, but the reality is there are still a lot of manuals. The EDC move has done us a lot of good, opening up massive sales boosts in Japan and Australia for instance, our second and third biggest markets, but we now see that probably in an ideal world we would have both EDC and manual options.

“There are two different types of customer and we are doing the work now to see if we can justify going that way. There are no decisions and if I have to have one then it will be EDC, but manual is possible,” Ratti said.

So, while Renault could yet go for a single gearbox option (that’s the EDC dual-clutch auto), Ford and Honda’s decision to stick with manual for their latest Focus RS and Civic Type R hot hatches could prompt the French to follow suit. Autocar says that RS’ influential European customer base is pushing for the return of a manual option.

Ford and Honda have upped the ante in the power stakes – the AWD Focus RS packs 350 PS while the Civic Type R has 310 PS to channel via its front tyres. Today’s Megane RS tops out at 275 horses, and the next-gen car will get a power boost, although Renault won’t be entering into a power war.

Ratti said that the increased power would be in tandem with other technical developments. “It’s an ongoing process of improving everything – the steering, the suspension and so on, and part of that is always wanting more power.

“The [current] Megane RS has gone from 250 hp to 260 hp to 275 hp, so more power is part of the evolution, even if the main focus is always the chassis. We don’t need the most power but we do need the power to be part of the story,” he said.

The next-Megane RS is likely to include four-wheel steering, as featured in the Megane GT, as part of its arsenal. It brings many benefits at all speeds, Ratti said.

“It reduces the turning radius at low speeds and adds agility on winding roads, at high speed it introduces stability, so there is less adjustment and the car steers exactly the moment you turn and also that added stability means we can use shorter steering ratios to make the steering wheel much more alert.

“Furthermore, it also does some of the job of the anti-roll bars, so the whole package can be less stiff. The benefits are numerous,” he explained.

Sounds good? Appetite whet? The next-gen Megane RS, expected to be a five-door hatch, will only surface in 2017 at the earliest, according to reports. Word is that the current Megane RS will continue to be produced until late-2016, so there’s still time if you want a three-door “coupe” RS with a stick shift.

2016 Renault Megane RS 275

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