Christmas presents don’t get much better than a Megane R26.R

“I never saw the car and never drove it but I negotiated a price and bought it”

Dan Baines always wanted a Megane R26.R and the perfect example landed two years ago

Christmas Day 2023 is one that Dan Baines will never forget. “Ever since seeing one at Silverstone years ago, I’d always wanted a Mégane R26.R,” he says.
“Last December, I found a 2009-reg with 44,000 miles for sale. It was being offered by a friend in the trade. I trusted him. I never saw the car and never drove it but we negotiated the price on Christmas Eve by WhatsApp and on Christmas Day I bought it.”
The Mégane R26.R is the track-focused version of the regular Mégane R26 and was launched in 2008 costing – are you sitting down?-just £24,000. The 2.0-litre turbo engine was unchanged and produces the same 227bhp.
The gear ratios were unchanged too, but the lever has a shorter throw. Despite this, at the end of our first drive of the model we concluded: “As a genuine driver’s car the Mégane R26.R has few rivals, and