Megane RS Ultime is the last ever Renault Sport

11th January 2023

Ethan Jupp

This year will see the death of the Renault Megane RS and therefore, the death of Renault Sport. An entirely sad occasion, not helped as much as you’d think by the fact that Alpine-tuned variants of Renault cars are on the way to take its place. Still, being Renault Sport, it’s not one to go out without a bang. This is the wonderful Megane RS Ultime, a true last hurrah for the marque’s outgoing hot hatch and the brand itself.

Visually, the new decals mark it out, as well as some gloss black finishers and a new set of hardcore-looking wheels. On the inside, red highlights and Alcantara-trimmed Recaro CS seats are distinctive and add to the focused feel. That said, it’s not exactly sparse. It gets the full suite of infotainment, including a standard-fit Bose sound system and even a 360-degree parking camera – trick.

Based on the Trophy with a dusting of Trophy-R silliness, the Ultime has the stiff Cup chassis, torsen limited-slip differential and hydraulic bump stop suspension, in combination with bigger Trophy-R brakes. New 19-inch Fuji wheels are shod in track-focused Bridgestone Potenza S007 tyres – not a Renault Sport suited to wet weather hoons, we suspect. Especially given the still healthy 300PS (221kW) from the Megane’s 1.8-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine.

We hate to break it to you but there is more bad news to come. See, the Ultime is a run-out model conceived for the markets most loyal to Renault Sport, yet it’s not coming to the UK. All 1976 examples (after the year of Renault Sport’s founding) to be made are destined for Europe and Japan, with the latter getting a manual option too – yes, the existence of this car in right-hand drive adds insult to injury. Back when the Clio 182 Trophy came out, it was a UK exclusive, save for 50 that went to European markets. We wonder what’s changed since then?

Bitter and saddened, waving off Renault Sport will be tough, but we look forward to seeing what’s to come. As the release reads: “Megane R.S. Ultime is the last Megane R.S. series and the last model to feature a Renault Sport logo. Alpine, Renault Group’s sportscar brand will write the next chapters in this story.” Here’s hoping those chapters live up those which have already been written.