New Hyundai i30N vs used Renault Megane RS: which is best?
New Hyundai i30N vs used Renault Megane RS – driving
When the Hyundai i30N first came out, it shocked us at just how good it was, considering that Hyundai was very green to the hot-hatch market. All the major ingredients are there: a crisp accelerator response; meaty brake pedal feel; a slick-shifting six-speed manual gearbox, and well-weighted steering. In isolation, it is a very convincing proposition and far better value for money than rivals such as the VW Polo GTI or Ford Fiesta ST Performance Edition.
However, when pitched against the sharper Renault Megane RS, the i30N is found wanting. Don’t get us wrong, the Megane is by no means perfect; its gearbox can be a tad stiff in use and hard low-speed acceleration can tug its steering left and right, but feels more alive and alert to drive.
That is mostly due to the standard four-wheel steering that you get with the Megane, which, at higher speeds, turns the rear wheels a few degrees in the same direction as the front wheels or increased stability, or in the opposite way when travelling more sedately, to improve low-speed agility. It can feel odd at first, but once you learn to trust the car and what it can do, it becomes quite enjoyable to feel the rear of the RS move around more than that of the i30N.
The i30N is still a hoot, though, and you can customise your experience far more than you can in the Megane, thanks to its programmable N mode. This allows you to set individual parameters for the steering, accelerator response and adjustable suspension. The Megane has different driving modes, too, but they can't match the customisation of those in the i30N.
This lack of customisation becomes apparent when driving over crumbly sections of road, where the i30N's active suspension can be put in a comfort mode to absorb surface imperfections better more effectively than the passive suspension setup of the Megane RS.
However, the Megane gets a limited-slip differential as part of the Cup chassis pack: the entry-level i30N has to go without. What this means is that, after cornering, you can get back on the accelerator far quicker in the Megane than you can in the i30N, which will happily spin its inside front wheel because there is no device to force power across the axle to the wheel with the most traction.
Speaking of power, it is the Megane RS that holds the most, with 247bhp playing to 276bhp. As you’d expect, the Megane posts the fastest performance times; 5.8 sec 0-62mph takes on 247bhp and 6.4 sec. On the public road, you may not notice a huge amount of difference, but during a track day, the RS would leave the i30N behind on the straights.
New Hyundai i30N vs used Renault Megane RS – costs
Unfortunately, you cannot get a discount on a brand-new i30N. That’s not to say that the £25,995 asking price is extraordinarily expensive, because, when compared with rivals of a similar size and specification, the Hyundai is very reasonably priced.
One of those similarly sized rivals would have been the Megane RS 280 Cup, and this would have cost you significantly more, at £29,495. However, get a year-old one and its price will have dropped to £23,500 for something with below-average mileage. A useful saving.
According to our latest What Car? Reliability Survey data, it's the i30N that’ll be the more dependable of the two; as a brand, Hyundai finished in seventh place overall, whereas Renault was second to last out of 31 manufacturers.
The i30N will also come with a five-year warranty, and while Renault may now be offering a similar period of cover, that only applies to examples registered from late 2019 and on. This means a year-old Megane RS will be covered under the old three-year policy, of which only two-years will be left.
Both cars have similar fuel economy (34.9 mpg for the i30N and 35.3 mpg for the Megane) and they all fall under the present flat rate road tax system of £145 per year.
Euro NCAP rates the Megane higher than the i30 for child occupant protection, pedestrian protection and safety assistance technology, but both models were awarded the maximum five-star rating overall. You will have to find a Megane with the safety pack premium option to get automatic emergency braking (AEB), a feature that comes as standard on the i30N
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