Two runs from naught to 255 km/h or 150 mph within
Renault’s new and most advanced hot hatch ever, the new Megane RS, packs a 1.8-liter engine with 280 PS and its top speed is 255 km/h or 158 mph.
And while it’s really fast off the line and keeps accelerating to around 200 km/h, after that point it seems to give up the ghost and its acceleration slows down quite visibly. It’s as if ballast is hooked up to the back of it as it hits said speed.
The hot Megane’s 1.8-liter engine shouldn’t be to blame, as its claimed sprint time to 100 km/h is 5.8 seconds and with 390 Nm of torque, it should really be no slouch. And yet if you check out the comments below this AutoTopNL autobahn sprint video, you may notice that everybody is commenting on just how slow they think the Megane is.
Some say it may be because the engine doesn’t provide its full power until passing the 5,000 km mark – it apparently has a lower power break-in state of tune which reverts to full power after 5,000 km. I tried to find information on this matter on the web, but my search didn’t reveal any information on the matter.
Do you think it looks slow?