The Renault Sport Megane RB8 Is A Special Edition Hot Hatch You Forgot About

Given the utter dominance of Mercedes-AMG F1 over the last few years, the stunningly successful run of Red Bull Racing and Sebastian Vettel feels like an awfully long time ago. You might well have forgotten, then, that RBR engine supplier Renault made a couple of special edition RS Meganes to celebrate all that winning: the RB7 and RB8.

What you’re looking at here, to give it its full name, is the Renault Sport Megane Red Bull Racing RB8. It takes that long title from the Adrian Newey-designed car that Vettel and Mark Webber raced in 2012, the penultimate season of the team’s four-year driver’s and constructor’s championship-winning streak.

It’s a hot hatch you’re unlikely to have ever seen IRL. Of the 250 Renault made, only 30 made it to the UK. All are finished in unique Twilight Blue paint, the same hue used by the F1 car, with a series of Red Bull decals dotted around the bodywork so people know this isn’t an ordinary Megane RS. Completing the look is a set of 19-inch ‘Steev’ wheels and red-painted brake calipers.

Inside, it’s mostly as per any other RS, although you do get special floor mats (which are looking a little tired on this one) and RBR-branded sill trims. Lovely.

Renault added the must-have Cup pack as standard, giving the car a more focused suspension setup and a limited-slip differential. A 262bhp 2.0-litre inline-four engine (unfortunately named ‘F4RT’) drives the front wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox and the aforementioned diff.

This one has all original paintwork in mostly good condition save for a few bad bits of lacquer. More of an issue is the wheels, as they’ve been repainted, in the advert’s words - “poorly”. They’re kerbed, too. Best budget for a refurb.

The interior is in decent condition for the age of the car (14 years) and the mileage (89,308), and it’s in mechanically perfect condition. A couple of months and 2000 miles ago, it had an oil and filter change, along with a fresh front ball joint, wheel bearing and driveshaft.

At the time of writing, the bidding is at £7,000 on Collecting Cars with six days remaining. For a regular 265 of a similar vintage, you’re generally looking at £8000 - £10k.

Tempted?