Renault trio do it again

It must have been interesting sat on the Renault table at last week’s What Car? awards. In the hot hatch category there was a short-list of three vehicles – the Twingo Renaultsport 133 Cup, the Clio Renaultsport 200 Cup and the Megane Renaultsport 250 Cup. You will no doubt have spotted that all three of these potential winners are from Renault, and it’s the second year in a row the French firm has achieved that feat. For all its problems – lacklustre design on the current range and, bizarrely, an industrial espionnage scandal involving leaked secrets on its pioneering electric vehicle programme – the Renaultsport team do know how to build a hot hatch. In the style of a BBC presenter, other cars are available – Golf R, Leon Cupra R, MINI Cooper S, Polo GTI, 500 Abarth – and I know for a fact all these were considered for the short-list. But none made it; as one of the What Car? team said, the stock versions of the Twingo, Clio and Megane are hardly class-leaders, but with the expertise of Renaultsport they certainly cut the mustard. So what was the overall winner? The Megane edged out its siblings, just as it did in 2010. The test team say the Cup version “grips and changes direction like a Scalextric car” yet amazes because it’s so undemanding to drive.