So at long last after much researching, test driving and driving my wife even madder - I have bought my new car..

It has been a long drawn out process and nearly left me with a BMW, and has involved S5s, M3s, 335s, RS, coupes, jeeps, petrol and diesels and in the end I bought a Renault Megane!

I have driven about a dozen cars in the search, but for my commute every car had a comprimise, and that was either too cumbersome in traffic or too heavy on fuel in traffic, so my journey made me review all the cars I have ever owned, and look at what i liked what I disliked, and my thoughts kept on returning to the Megane R26 I had probably being the bast car I have ever owned for every day usage.

So that led me to buy this...



..full album..

Its a Megane 250RS with the chassis cup - chassis being tighter, lower, mechanical LSD and red brake calipers

My final decision came down to a BMW 335 coupe or the 250, and in the end the 250 won for its back seats, boot, better mpg and its more nimbleness in traffic.

Its 8 months old, and was an absolute steal being £9k cheaper than its original price.

You only have to google for a second and you'll see that the 250 is near the top / at the top of the current mash of hot hatches in most journalists eyes - and its easy to see why. Its so direct, flat and a hoot to drive. Its plenty quick enough at 6.1 seconds to 60 and 156 top end, and feels easy enough to reach those limits every time too, turbo is progressive, there is no immediate thump, but at 3,000 rpm everything gets very quick. Overall stats are very similar to a standard 20VT.

The chap I have bought it from traded in a M3 V8 for the 250 and prefered the 250, but is now getting an Evoque (too much money me thinks, but I did ask for first refusal on the Evoque)

Its a great spec, full leather, cup chassis, keyless entry and go, reversing sensors and all that stuff that adds weight, but thats the current philosphy for cars so hey ho, go with the flow.

So the Mondeo I managed to keep for nearly 2 years, which is pretty good for me, so lets see how this one goes

You should have kept the Mondeo. Better than that heap of French crap.

Yada yada - go and wait to be never let out of a road

Very nice Jim and a good price too.

nice car Jim. I had the pleasure of thrashing one of these round the Silverstone GP circuit. It was a grear car, carried speed through the bends with no issue it certainly did itself proud, didn't even look silly against 370z's, TT RS's and even the odd R8!

Good Choice

Very nice .... definitely on my list of future cars to own....enjoy !

I like it too. I was expecting your next car to be a convertible.

I've read a lot of very good thinks about the RS250 and they always seem to comrades out in top in the hot hatch group tests.

Any plans? I''ve heard they achieve 300+ from a map.

I liked your old Megane, in yellow

The new yellow is awful, very flat and not much too look at all, so I went with white this time, although have wanted a white car for a while (don't know why!!). The pics don't do it justice in my opinion, its quite a big car, but looks very fluid - not too many straight lines on it anywhere..

Most cars seem to hit from 280 - 300+ with simple mods and a remap, but I'll doubt I shall tinker anytime soon..

JimO, new car? Bingo?

That looks very nice,glad to hear its nimble.

How much leg room for the rear passengers ? As good as the coupe ?

Looks very nice

With the recaros the room isn't bad, standard seats are worse due to the seat backs, I can fit in OK, and I am 6 foot 3, although its tight, surprisingly headroom is OK too, even though the roof line looks like it drops down.

Looks great in White with the Black wheels.

So I found out today the car has a sports button that really tightens up the response and makes the car completely different....

Only 3.5 years into the ownership, maybe I really should have RTFM...

Just in time as I am about to replace it, lucky really as I probably would have blown it up by now, had I of known about it previously....

Is the button in the boot or something???

Just on the dashboard, which makes it even worse....

It's the button that switches the traction control off, but gat I didn't realise was if you push it and hold it infor a couple of seconds, it starts sports mode

Muppet