Coloured Seat Belts & Cold Start Rev Limits.
Speaking of the Ford Focus RS – A Ford Dealer in Canberra still has 2 for sale (green/blue) for @ $63K. Not all the 315 are spoken for atm.
This is a quote from EVO Magazine Feb 2011 comparing the Golf R – EVO X – STI in the snow & wet conditions:
Quote:
What does the Golf R do that the GTI doesn’t. Very little. It certainly doesn’t feel 4 wheel drive or exploit the fact that it is, like the Mitsubishi or Subaru. The article did say the Golf R was solid, esp. over vast distances & pretty quick.
In hindsight:
I forgot to mention that when the Renault Megane RS250 is cold, the engine ECU will not allow the motor to rev beyond 4500rpm. As the motor warms up, the rev ceiling slowly increases until the full monty is available once motor has heated up. Plenty of torque available at 4500rpm.
The yellow seat belts only come on the Megane RS250 Trophee - Recaro Cloth Trim. Leather trimmed Recaro’s or std seats have black seat belts.
I can see why the major motoring magazines and newspapers awarded the Renault Megane RS250 hot hatch of the year. It’s so fun to drive. I feel 10 years younger when behind the Megane RS250 – it does make you feel more alive when working the controls and can be addictive when behind the wheel.
I purposefully organised to take the test drive in the country on rougher roadways in order to show up any defficiencies in the Renault chassis. The suspension & driveline do not only have to deal with the low speed compression stuff like smooth roadway dive/squat, body roll and torque steer ... but high compression stuff like pot holes, one wheel bumps, dishevelled concrete joints, ruts, and mid corner upsets. This way we're asking the chassis and driveline to cope with two factors at once rather than one factor only on smooth roadways.
I agree in the absolute sense that AWD is supreme in terrible conditions. No argument from me on that issue. AWD in the Golf R’s case makes for fast but not so fun when pitched against the Renault Megane RS250. The Renault RS250 is an extremely well executed hot hatch in terms of driver comfort /handling, grip and fun factor. The Clio RS is perhaps a little too hard core imo.
I spent a pretty penny & much time trying to re-tune the suspension on the old MKV GTI in an attempt to get it where Renault have gone with the Megane RS250 straight out of the factory.
Likewise with Ray ... when his almost full fruit Golf R arrives, it may be in need of aftermarket sway bars and a BBK package to bring it closer Renault. That will add another 6-7K onto top of the near 70K purchase price.
The Renault offers this from the factory for 45-50K. My GTI doesn’t require any changes to the motor or suspension, but it’s not the same league as the Renault for the fun and feel-good factor. For the track, I reckon the Renault RS250 could use a tighter LSD.
Cheers
WJ
XDS electronic diff on snow
My understanding is that there are thre main brands of LSD for fwd vehicles: Quaife, Peliquin and Wavetrac. Wavetrac looks the goods to me. Ford Focus RS uses the Quaife LSD. Renault apparently have their own version of LSD. Not sure exactly what type LSD the Renault is running.
Here is a Polo GTI with EDL/XDS electronic diff:
YouTube - 2011 Volkswagen Polo GTI
Could've sworn that this Polo GTI was AWD such is the grip on the snow. Would AWD offer any greater advantage?
The Renault Megane RS250 is not direct injected; rather port injected. It does have a twin scroll turbo for a flat linear power surge as a one-up on Volkswagen. Direct injection is better for fuel metering, economy & power gains - but valve seats can have carbon build-up on them as the valve & valve seats are not cleaned with fuel as the case with port injection. Ray's R32 had the injection system & throttle body taken off for a carbon clean-off at 45,000km service (even though his R32 had 33,000km at the time). Some dealers are now doing this for the 45,000km service on the Golf R32 (MKV) to prevent excessive carbon build up.
Cheers.
WJ
