Video Renaultsport Megane 265 Trophy vs Subaru BRZ

EVO magazine put the Subaru BRZ up against the Renaultsport Megane 265 Trophy. This means rear-drive versus front-drive. Evo’s Editor Nick Trott sits in with Editor-at-large John Barker as they take to the evo track.

The limited-edition 2012 Renault Megane Renaultsport 265 Trophy, the fastest road-going Renault ever. It is 15hp more than Mégane Renaultsport 250, plus 20Nm extra torque at 360Nm. The power-to-weight ratio is 191hp per tonne. The improved performance statistics provide a zero to 100km/h time of six seconds and a top speed of 255km/h.

The Asian sports car will feature a 2.0 liter boxer engine with 197bhp at 7,000rpm and 205Nm of torque at 6,600rpm. The engine can be paired to a six-speed manual or a six-speed automatic transmission. The US-spec BRZ will be at least 11lbs (5kg) heavier than the International version.

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2 COMMENTS

  1. There’s a few things I noticed in this video.

    One of course the BRZ tested was the automatic vs. the Megane manual transmission model. What did impress me about the auto in the BRZ was the rev matching downshifts – pretty cool.

    The next note is that the driver, while driving the BRZ, was rather slow to get on the gas to balance the car through the corners. I think he lost a few seconds because of this.

    Thirdly the engine on upshifts seemed to be not in the best part of the rev band – the upper 5-7k range. You can tell because the engine noise gets piped into the cabin from 5k up, and it just got quiet after several upshifts. Not sure if the driver shifted early or if the auto did it for him?

    I have driven the BRZ and it’s balance is excellent overall. Though if you cook it into a corner and lift off the throttle you can make it understeer, which is very easy to rebalance by adding a bit of throttle again, which the driver here did after a second or two delay – transferring the weight to the rear and re-balancing the car. The other odd thing the driver said that is out of character for the BRZ is that if the back gives way it’s hard to get it back. My experience was just the opposite, that the back is very controllable and very fun to play with rear grip levels.. which agrees with most other reviews of the BRZ I’ve seen.

    My only conclusion is that the driver was more comfortable driving the Megane, and oddly out of sync in the BRZ. Personally I found the BRZ to have been the most intuitive to drive of any car I have ever driven…

  2. I also have a hunch – and this has been bandied about on YouTube where the video is hosted – that the driver did not disable the traction control by depressing the TC button for 5 seconds – which would explain his inability to use power-induced oversteer to hasten the car about . . .

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