Then Jason Chan (WaLauWei) posted this clip up on Facebook...
Okay... did a little reading on it and it turns out, it's actually a very good car. It's already taking stabs at the legendary hot hatch, the Ford Focus RS.
Then not long after, people started spotting it on our roads! Even Paul Tan spotted a few of these. This prompted me to give TC Euro Cars general manager Reza Mutalib a call. He told me, "Guess what, we're actually launching the car on Thursday, 11/11/2010 at Sepang Circuit for the press.". I told him I wanted to check it out and he said, see you Thursday morning 9am!
Come Thursday morning, I got there a little late (had an interesting night with 4 girls and booze which resulted in skinny dipping in the pool...). Got in there and I was asked to register and handed this...
Walked into the pits and there were already motor journalists going for runs out on the partial Sepang Circuit.
Here's a clip of a flyby. The standard exhaust is pretty quite.
There was also this board displaying lap times to give guests a rough estimation on the cars performance.
Spoke to one of the Renault representatives and found out that 15 units were brought in of which 12 were already sold! These owners were also handed their cars there as part of the launch, before I arrived.
The new owners also got a chance to test their new rides on the track.
There was also this... The R26. decked out to look like the R26R.
This one belonged to Datuk Zarim who traded it in for the RS 250 Cup. It's fitted with a couple more accessories. As you can see, carbon fiber hood.
This also has had it's coil overs changed as well as a titanium exhaust. Different rims too.
Lets move on to the star for the day, the Megane RS 250 Cup! This one was a customers car...
Extended and flared out wheel arches.
Comes in a silver...
and white too...
Upstairs, there was a video and brief about the car.
Here, I got to get a closer look at the car. Bumped in to Uncle YS Khong and Ian Khong too!
Diffuser... central exhaust too...
Now this really tickled me.
It's what Renault calls the RS Monitor which gives you real time engine data, a g-force meter, acceleration times, lap times and adjustable throttle mapping! Doesn't that seem a little familiar to you?! After all, Renault does own a big part of Nissan...
These bucket seats are just lovely!
Everything is flared out to give it a muscular stance.
4 pot Brembo's up front coupled with 340mm slotted discs look very good behind the 18" rims.
Most of the newer cars these days have the daytime running LED's as part of their styling.
These Bi-Xenon headlights are directional. They turn according to angle of the steering wheel.
Car is bluetooth equipped for handphone pairing.
Keyless entry with a push start button is a nice touch.
The rev dial is in bright yellow.
After that, I headed downstairs once more. I saw more familiar faces here. Some really old friends of mine, Fai, Adian and Ken! It's been a long time since I last seen them.
Got Ken to taxi me in one so I could shoot a video too. Here's a clip...
I had to rush off after that as I had an appointment at Brotzeit! Very glad I managed to make some time for this. It was most interesting. Now, the Renault Megane RS 250 Cup is a wonderful car and for RM229K, it's really not bad at all! I would seriously consider getting one! The only thing that worries me is Renaults here in Malaysia don't hold resale values very well... Other than that, it's quite a splendid car to have in your garage!
Here are a couple more clips I found on YouTube...
On Fifth Gear, Vicki takes it for a spin...
On EVO it was pitched against the hot hatch of all time, the Ford Focus RS...
Part 1
Part 2
For a more information on the car, please visit Renault Malaysia's official site!
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