Renault reveals Megane 265 Trophy 13 | 06 | 2011

RENAULT HAS PACKED more power into its already mightily impressive Renaultsport Mégane 250 to produce a new special edition, the 265 Trophy. The French company has gone to extreme pains to emphasise the newcomer is not a successor stripped-out R26R; it is, they state, simply a limited edition model with subtle improvements to the RS Mégane’s overall package.

Ok, so now that we've got that clear, what has the company done to the 265 Trophy? Well they've increased the power of the Trophy’s 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine by 15bhp over the standard car to 261bhp. Torque is also up, by 15lb/ft to 266lb/ft.

As you would suspect, these change have an impact on performance figures. The 0-62mph sprint drops by 0.1sec to 6.0sec for the Trophy, with the maximum increased by 2mph to 158mph.

No suspension or chassis changes have been made by Renaultsport engineers over the standard 250; it does though come with F1-inspired Bridgestone Potenza RE050A tyres.

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Available in a choice of two metallic paint choices — Liquid Yellow and black — the car comes with a number of styling tweaks, including Trophy decals for the air intakes and doors, standard LED daytime running lights and 19in gloss black Speedline alloys with red detailing.

Inside the 265 Trophy's cabin there's Recaro seats with yellow seatbelts and detailing and a ‘Renaultsport Monitor’; this is a must for those of us who love turning up at Knockhill for a trackday — the 'Monitor' gives real-time engine performance, acceleration, lap time and g-force data.

Priced at £27,820, a £3800 increase over the entry-level RS Mégane 250 Cup, only 500 265 Trophy models will be produced, and only 50 — all with a specially numbered interior plaque — are coming to the UK. The first cars will be delivered at the end of next month.

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Jamie Edwardes