Renault's grandly named Megane Renaultsport 225 Renault F1 Team is a limited-edition Megane produced to celebrate the company's success in taking both the Drivers' and Constructors' Formula One Championship titles in 2005. Fair enough, it was success hard won, as it certainly wasn't the walkover it had too often been in Ferrari's glory years. But where Grands Prix are concerned, Renault has more reasons than one to celebrate.What about the anniversary of its first Grand Prix success, achieved 100 years ago with more than a little help from the technology of the time in the first such event ever held? Well worth celebrating, as are the French car maker's F1 titles taken with its own cars and as power-provider for several Grand Prix teams.So has Renault come up with a scintillating quasi-racer? Or a race-ready coupé? No, and quite rightly so. As a prolific producer of road cars Renault is looking to cash in on its Grand Prix success by offering a limited-edition, road-legal sporty model - the Megane F1 Team, for short - which is in dealerships now across the UK.Hardly a car for shy, retiring types or anyone not wanting to be noticed, the Ultra Blue (not French racing blue it seems), wide-wheeled, low-set Megane three-door can be seen a mile off, its yellow and light blue logo topped off with the words RENAULT F1 Team being particularly conspicuous.But that said, it's still a Megane, top-of-the-range maybe but arguably a track-tarted version of the previous hottest Megane hatch, the less radically styled Renaultsport 225 Cup with which it shares Renault's potent two-litre turbocharged 16-valve engine and pleasantly precise six-speed manual gearbox. In both cars, it develops a mighty 225bhp and an awesome 221lb/ft of torque at an impressively low 3000rpm.The result is a remarkably flexible car that can trickle through rush hour traffic without so much as a hiccup but, let off the leash, disappear into the blue horizon at an amazing rate of knots.But it's not just the engine that makes the F1 Team version so easy to drive. The Megane has long been noted for its low, wide stance and its Mini-like wheel at each corner, aspects that make it feel firmly planted on the road. In the F1, it’s all the more so as it rides on what Renault refers to as its Cup Chassis.This comprises huge 18" alloys (black for that unpainted effect and a half inch wider and 1.5kg lighter than the normal Megane 225's 7.5" silver alloys), and Dunlop 235/40 Sport Maxx tyres which exert an enormous grip on the road but do little to cushion occupants from road irregularities - the answer being, where possible, to drive around rather than over them.To ensure you can wipe off speed as quickly as the turbo engine can pile it on, Renault fits soup-plate sized discs and Brembo front calipers, the effect of jumping on the brake pedal being much as it would be if the Megane ran into an unlit skip.Fidgety around town, the stiffened suspension comes into its own on smooth, open roads and, despite the huge power, the driven front wheels rarely feel as if they are about to take you where you don't want to go. Good steering feedback gave me more confidence than I expected, especially as the huge tyres appear able to tame the worst excesses of understeer.Maybe in the rain the front-wheel drive might be a problem but I didn't get the chance to try the car on damp roads. I have a feeling the tyres would, once again, play their role of holding the line pretty well.You can take it from me that generating phenomenal side forces in corners comes as second nature to the F1, so Renault has come up with superb Recaro hip-hugging seats that are as comfortable as they are functional, their warm embrace pinning you in place as the tyres and suspension do the job they were designed to do.With a racy-looking thick-rimmed leather trimmed wheel and stubby gearlever, you feel race-ready the moment you slide inside, but you don't have to go to Brands Hatch to feel at home in the F1. In fact, it's surprisingly civilised, especially from inside where decidedly non-racecar features include climate control, radio and CD player with six-speakers and fingertip control, cruise control, electronic power to get the windows up and down and a raft of active and passive safety systems.Opting for the regular 225 Cup means it's available in many colours and saves the £900 premium. But buy it and you forego £1450 worth of additional kit so I would happily settle on the F1. But I would have to justify my purchase by doing the odd hot hatch circuit day. It's a perfectly acceptable commuter but power like that needs to be let off the leash occasionally. Engine 1998cc, 4 cylinders Power 225bhp Transmission 6-speed manual Fuel/CO2 32.1mpg / 209g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 6.3 seconds Top speed 147mph Price £19,500 Details correct at publication date
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