Renault Megane 275 Trophy: Ring King

While there’s little chance we’ll see Renault cars sold in the U.S. any time soon, cars like the Renault Megane 275 Trophy make us wish they would reconsider. This incredible little hot hatch has demonstrated its aplomb, its stripped down track variant, the 275 Trophy-R turned in the top front-wheel drive Nurburgring time – just 7 minutes 54.36 seconds, and frankly the car just looks like a ton of fun. XCAR Films recently had the opportunity to spend some quality time with the little French car to put it through its paces.

The Trophy has a 275 horsepower, 2.0-liter engine with 266 lb.-ft. of torque, along with a sporty and lightweight Akrapovič exhaust system. While its 0-to-62mph time of 6.0 seconds isn’t exactly in supercar range, getting around the 154 turns of the Nordschleife is more about handling and driver skill than about raw power anyhow. Though its 158mph top speed isn’t too shabby for a hatchback. Plus, Renault has worked their butts off to make sure the car doesn’t suffer from the kind of torque steer common in FWD cars. It’s even got a limited-slip differential and a sort of torque vectoring braking system to dynamically adjust understeer.

Watch now, and find out all about what makes the Megane 275 Trophy such an impressive little car.