![]() Allied to hydraulic suspension bump stops, in which secondary shock absorbers back up the front and rear suspensions struts, and an optional limited-slip diff said to negate torque steer, the RS puts its ample power down without sacrificing much in the way of ride comfort, reminding us that soothing suspensions have long been a Gallic strong suit. Though few outside the car might know, the RS new four-wheel steering feature made it stand out even more on country lanes. In a world of increasingly bland cars and surprisingly few car color choices, the RS’ iridescent orange finish and its lowered and pumped stance stood out more than one might have expected on French roads, with many longing stares in town squares and autoroute rest areas suggesting that these keen onlookers knew they were observing something special. Gluttonous though we were, really how fast does any baguette, mussel or tarte aux abricots have to get home? Driven in the most aggressive setting, sixty mph comes up in under 6 seconds, while top speed is limited to 155 mph, more than enough for any road situation we’d encounter, especially once we’d reached our destination. (A six-speed manual is a lower cost option.) Three drive modes deliver increasing levels of performance and noise and while we stuck with the standard setting for highway driving, the elevated shift points and intoxicating popping and farting of the exhaust in Sport mode made it, for this driver at least, the preferred default when tracing back roads on our way south from Paris to the Mediterranean coast for a week’s holiday. To the basic B-sized hatchback Mégane formula, today’s RS (as in Renault Sport) adds the 1.8-liter turbocharged four that has charmed us in the mid-engined Alpine A110, recently adrenalized to deliver 300-horsepower and 251 lb-ft of torque and effortlessly served up here through the front wheels via an EDC (efficient dual clutch) automatic, six-speed gearbox controlled by paddle-shifted. The Renault 5 Turbo 2 Will Ruin Your Social Life.Everything You Heard About the Clio V-6 Is True.Perhaps that’s why we found ourselves getting in touch with Renault’s press office ahead of a recent visit to France, itching for a chance to drive the latest Mégane RS, a modern French interpretation of the hot hatch that has excited the members of the European Fourth Estate through two previous iterations (though it’s actually part of the lineup of the fourth generation Mégane, first introduced in 1996.) With Renault’s commitment to total electrification – witness the new E-Tech Mégane, an electric soft-road SUV twinned with corporate brethren Nissan’s Ariya - what might be new, vital and French about the RS? Which, it ought to go without saying to readers of a magazine not called Road & Auto-Pilot, makes us sad. But how long can that be? With the recent cancellation of Hyundai’s Veloster N plus the increasing tendency of carmakers to offer (and customers to buy) high-riding cars, including electric ones, weighing as much as quad cab duallies, the hot hatch and its nimble ways increasingly seem destined for history’s scrapheap. Here in America, while Ford, GM and copious others have already bailed unceremoniously on the segment, we still have Volkswagen’s GTI and Golf R plus the Mazda 3 flying the flag, long may they live. Concurrently, it seems like we’re also nearing that lights out moment for something else we’ve long adored, the automotive genus known as the hot hatch. For all indications are we may be living through the end times for the internal combustion engine, a thing we’ve known and loved all our lives. We’re well into the 21 st Century, yet things lately have a sort of eerie, end-of-the-century feel.
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