OCTOBER 2019 | CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK 99
Sports Car Giant Test 2019Back at base in Betws-y-Coed, toes gradually thawing, core temperatures
rising and adrenaline subsiding, the debate runs long into the night. How
to separate that little lot?
First to fall is the Supra. Each of us is impressed by Toyota/BMW’s small-
but-brawny coupe but it’s outpointed here. Driven in isolation it’s a lissom
sports car with GT leanings: involving to drive while also being rounded
and easy to live with. In this company it’s just a little too soft, a little too
leisurely in its responses.
On some of the lumpier bits of Snowdonia its suspension runs out of
ideas before the others (even if its nose is never at risk of running out of
clearance, unlike the supercars). It’s a thoroughly enjoyable car, but doesn’t
transcend its price and class as we thought it might.
The Megane comes closer to staging an upset. Standing nearly twice as
tall as some of the protagonists here (and twice as visible since Renault’s
decal department has run amok over its Arctic White paint), it looks like
we’ve brought a kitchen appliance to a gunfight. But it’s one of the sharpest
driving experiences here. We were all moderately terrified of damaging
its optional carbonfibre wheels and raised a collective eyebrow at their
£3k-a-corner cost but one fractional turn of the alcantara steering wheel
and suddenly they seem like an awfully good idea. You feel their reduced ⊲