Do you really need a manual hot hatch?
Thursday, 30 May 2019
Do you really need a manual transmission in a modern hot hatch?
While the knee-jerk, almost angry, answer to that is certainly a snippy 'Of course you do! What is wrong with you for even asking that?', after all hot hatches and manual transmissions have always just gone together. It's always just been right.
Sure a lot of them have been available with automatics, some of them truly excellent, but for real enjoyment and proper driver engagement, a manual has always been the way to go.
But is it really? I ask this question because I have recently been driving the Renault Megane R.S.
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Two of them, in fact, back-to-back: a too-garish metallic orange one and a too-subtle black one (I know, never happy, right?), the only difference between them being the alarmingly orange one had a slick dual clutch shifter, while the boringly black one packed that holy grail of hot hatch transmissions; a six-speed manual.
The availability of the dual clutch transmission marks the first time a self-shifter has been available in the R.S., coinciding with the fact that the hot hatch has switched to a five-door configuration for the first time as well - all previous R.S. models have been solely a manual three-door proposition.
The DCT/five-door switch clearly indicates that Renault is casting a wider net with the latest R.S., hoping to broaden its appeal beyond the hardcore enthusiast and into the territory occupied by that other icon of hot hatch legend - the Volkswagen Golf GTI - by being more simultaneously ferociously fun and family friendly. Well, friendlier, at least.
But that manual one is still the better drive, right?
Well, it's not quite that simple. But we'll get to that. First off, let's touch on what is the same about the two. Physically, apart from the transmission and a few differences due to those transmissions (the manual has a traditional handbrake, while the auto gets an electronic one), there is little difference.
They look the same, get the same equipment and are priced $3,000 apart, with the DCT claiming the premium. Both get the same 205kW/390Nm 1.8-litre four-cylinder turbo engine that is superbly powerful and impressively flexible and refined, and both are also surprisingly refined when not going full-noise.
But you buy a Megane R.S. to go full-noise, of course, and it is here that it still truly impresses. Utterly ballistic when you ask full commitment from the engine, the acceleration is almost instant and deeply satisfying.
What it isn't, however, is as blatantly feral as previous generations, again signifying Renault's move towards a friendlier, more accessible R.S., which is great and works extremely well - but does lack some of the sense of occasion that the superbly angry older cars possesed.
While the engine presents a friendlier front (still with all of the performance though), the Megane's ride and handling still leaves the likes of the superb Golf GTI in its wake. Really.
The sportily firm, but not brittle or aggressive ride gives rise to some nagging doubt that Renault may have softened things up too much here, relying on the optional Cup chassis pack to take up the slack for the hardcore enthusiast, but chucking the R.S. into a corner for the first time dispels all those concerns in one superbly grippy, beautifully adjustable moment.
Despite not having the Cup chassis's trick front diff, the standard R.S. feels every bit like it does, with an approach to corners that is best described by saying 'the harder you go, the better it gets'. The R.S's ability to cover distance on a winding road at a simply staggering rate is truly a thing to behold, with a hefty stab on brakes super-late into a corner being followed by precise and razor sharp turn-in and glorious amounts of communication and feedback going on through the steering wheel and chassis.
It is massively satisfying and extremely addictive in either manual or automatic form.
But here is where we get to the differences.
While traditionally I would gravitate automatically to the manual (sorry), the Megane throws up a slight wrinkle by offering a superb dual clutch shifter and a slightly, well, average manual.
The dual clutch is pleasantly amenable at low speeds around town, without doing anything particularly special to stand out from the crowd, but go hard on a winding road and it is truly superb. The way it hammers through the gears with a ruthless precision and lightning fast speed is utterly fantastic, while the aural delight of all the bangs and pops on the overrun, and the satisfying boom between gear shifts when going hard are equally delightfully addictive.
But the manual does none of this, even seeming slightly quieter under heavy acceleration than the manual, which is disappointing. But even more disappointing is the fact that it isn't actually all that special. It's a perfectly good manual shifter, but it isn't particularly slick or satisfying to use, which it really should be.
If the R.S. boasted a super-slick, short throw shifter like, say, the Mazda MX-5, then I would be sold in an instant, but the comparatively slow shift action (when compared to the DCT's lightning shifts) takes the edge of excitement off, but worse is that it never feels that satisfying to slot into place either.
A slick DCT that brings more drama or an uninspiring manual that fails to particularly satisfy? Believe it or not, that's still actually a tough choice, but I would probably lean towards the angrier drama of the DCT.
That said, manual R.S. costs $59,990, while the DCT costs $62,990, and if $63k was your absolute top spend, then I would definitely go for the manual car and tick the Cup Chassis option that brings stiffer suspension, different wheels and that superb limited slip differential that makes the R.S. a true road weapon.
Either way, the new R.S. dramatically broadens the hot hatch's appeal and that fact that you actually have the choice is a very good thing indeed.