Hey folks,
Had to come up with a subject heading that was something other than 'car a vs car b'
Anyways, just (well not literally, but recent enough) took a Meggy225 F1 for a test drive and I'd have to say that its one nice car Wanted to see how the Cup setup was and since the demos around seem to be either FF or F1 didn't have much of a choice. Took it on a 30 mile dual carriageway/A road jaunt and I was left genuinely impressed. Unfortunately the roads were pretty straightforward, so roundabouts provided the only real way to test the handling.
As far as the cabin goes I don't know if the Recaros are different to those in the Clio Trophy (my current motor) or maybe its just that they sit lower and you can move the steering wheel in and out and there's more legroom, but the driving position sure felt good. The CD holder in the passenger door was a neat touch and the speedo and tach were well sighted. I prefer not having the plastic inserts on the steering wheel as well, although the redline on the top of it seemed a bit cheesy (funnily enough I've been driving for 18 years and have yet to not know which direction I'm travelling in,lol). With such a fat butt, I excepted the boot to be bigger than it was, sure its bigger than the Clio, but thats one of the reasons for getting a Meg is its bigger and I'd say I was disappointed with that, but the extra legroom for driver and passengers alike is certainly as expected. The site lines seemed pretty good as well (can't remember whether it was here or renaultsport, but who ever said they had problems backing up/parallel parking? c'mon).
Externally the F1 is alot better looking in person, still think anthracite wheels would look better than the shiny black ones, but thats just personal pref isn't it? The different coloured side mirrors is cool though! The blue color is good as well. Is it the same as Tomcats cup cause his sure looks sweet?
Of course most importantly is how it goes on the road. Like I said the roads were pretty basic, but free enough of traffic to give it a bit of welly. Obviously driving a different car and having a sales rep passenger means you're gonna be pretty careful but still put the foot down a couple times :wink: I thought the power delivery was well smooth, turbo or no turbo and either way it wasn't gonna have the Clio's 5k kick. I can see it being a real queue jumper on A/B roads and a treat to settle in behind the inevitable M3/Audi TT pace car on an early morning airport run down the motorway. Turning into the few roundabouts I could without traffic around and thats where you really notice the size/weight. As the subject says, direct comparison to the Trophy are daft, so I'll just say its different, not better or worse, and being on more familar roads I coulda given it a bit more, but it definitely wasn't dissapointing, regardless though, putting the foot down on exiting was excellent. The ride wasn't as firm as I thought it'd be. Obviously not exactly smooth (well actually no where near smooth...I think you'd still need to bring your passport and go through a few timezones to get to smooth :wink: ), but not the bone rattling, vision blurring I thought it could be. One minus was that the engine noise seemed lacking and thats one thrill of driving thats nice to have, I wasn't expecting an AM V8, but I guess thats an after market fix. The 6th gear seems a handy motorway accessory as well for keeping the mpgs up.
Like I said it was only 30 miles, so these are only first impressions, but I'd say after getting back into my Clio and driving back down the same roads I certainly wasn't anything other than satisfied with my 225 taster. For a bigger car with a different type engine...right, right I'll stop there...
The 225 needs to sit alongside the Golf GTi, Focus ST, Astra VXR, Leon Cupra and the Clio 182 with the CTR, Mini Cooper, Fiesta ST and they should stay there. The size difference and engine power/delivery really make direct comparisons moot...he says before directly comparing them The Clio is just so easy to drive quickly around bends and curves, due to its size, setup, steering feedback and relatively non-threatening engine. Even though is was just a taster run, the bigger size and more powerful engine on the 225 and the different steering feel seems to mean you're gonna have to pay better/more attention when your bombing around the back roads.
Anyways just wanted to kill sometime at work :wink: and spout off on my first impressions of the car alotta you people are proud owners of. Maybe some day I'll be a 225 owner as well, but for now I'm gonna stick with the Trophy and continue to chuck it into any and every corner I find
p.s. apologies for the poor readability of this post, couldn't be bothered to edit it afterwards for form and content
Had to come up with a subject heading that was something other than 'car a vs car b'
Anyways, just (well not literally, but recent enough) took a Meggy225 F1 for a test drive and I'd have to say that its one nice car
Wanted to see how the Cup setup was and since the demos around seem to be either FF or F1 didn't have much of a choice. Took it on a 30 mile dual carriageway/A road jaunt and I was left genuinely impressed. Unfortunately the roads were pretty straightforward, so roundabouts provided the only real way to test the handling. As far as the cabin goes I don't know if the Recaros are different to those in the Clio Trophy (my current motor) or maybe its just that they sit lower and you can move the steering wheel in and out and there's more legroom, but the driving position sure felt good. The CD holder in the passenger door was a neat touch and the speedo and tach were well sighted. I prefer not having the plastic inserts on the steering wheel as well, although the redline on the top of it seemed a bit cheesy (funnily enough I've been driving for 18 years and have yet to not know which direction I'm travelling in,lol). With such a fat butt, I excepted the boot to be bigger than it was, sure its bigger than the Clio, but thats one of the reasons for getting a Meg is its bigger and I'd say I was disappointed with that, but the extra legroom for driver and passengers alike is certainly as expected. The site lines seemed pretty good as well (can't remember whether it was here or renaultsport, but who ever said they had problems backing up/parallel parking? c'mon).
Externally the F1 is alot better looking in person, still think anthracite wheels would look better than the shiny black ones, but thats just personal pref isn't it? The different coloured side mirrors is cool though! The blue color is good as well. Is it the same as Tomcats cup cause his sure looks sweet?
Of course most importantly is how it goes on the road. Like I said the roads were pretty basic, but free enough of traffic to give it a bit of welly. Obviously driving a different car and having a sales rep passenger means you're gonna be pretty careful but still put the foot down a couple times :wink: I thought the power delivery was well smooth, turbo or no turbo and either way it wasn't gonna have the Clio's 5k kick. I can see it being a real queue jumper on A/B roads and a treat to settle in behind the inevitable M3/Audi TT pace car on an early morning airport run down the motorway. Turning into the few roundabouts I could without traffic around and thats where you really notice the size/weight. As the subject says, direct comparison to the Trophy are daft, so I'll just say its different, not better or worse, and being on more familar roads I coulda given it a bit more, but it definitely wasn't dissapointing, regardless though, putting the foot down on exiting was excellent. The ride wasn't as firm as I thought it'd be. Obviously not exactly smooth (well actually no where near smooth...I think you'd still need to bring your passport and go through a few timezones to get to smooth :wink: ), but not the bone rattling, vision blurring I thought it could be. One minus was that the engine noise seemed lacking and thats one thrill of driving thats nice to have, I wasn't expecting an AM V8, but I guess thats an after market fix. The 6th gear seems a handy motorway accessory as well for keeping the mpgs up.
Like I said it was only 30 miles, so these are only first impressions, but I'd say after getting back into my Clio and driving back down the same roads I certainly wasn't anything other than satisfied with my 225 taster. For a bigger car with a different type engine...right, right I'll stop there...
The 225 needs to sit alongside the Golf GTi, Focus ST, Astra VXR, Leon Cupra and the Clio 182 with the CTR, Mini Cooper, Fiesta ST and they should stay there. The size difference and engine power/delivery really make direct comparisons moot...he says before directly comparing them
The Clio is just so easy to drive quickly around bends and curves, due to its size, setup, steering feedback and relatively non-threatening engine. Even though is was just a taster run, the bigger size and more powerful engine on the 225 and the different steering feel seems to mean you're gonna have to pay better/more attention when your bombing around the back roads.Anyways just wanted to kill sometime at work :wink: and spout off on my first impressions of the car alotta you people are proud owners of. Maybe some day I'll be a 225 owner as well, but for now I'm gonna stick with the Trophy and continue to chuck it into any and every corner I find
p.s. apologies for the poor readability of this post, couldn't be bothered to edit it afterwards for form and content
