Mégane vs Fairlady
Let's have a Car based Karaoke, okay?
*** And I go la la la la la she's got the look ***
The Fairlady has a very effective low slung lean and sleek look. The front has an EB110 Bugatti flavour and a shape that is just sportscar. Good job Isao Sono & Toshio Yama****a .. The Mégane hasn't got the same proportions with the chunky squat look to it that doesn't tick the boxes for me. It is very much a shape issue and I am sure this one has bags of bubbly charm to it if I got to know it...
Fairlady - Modern sleek Sports car with a slight sleezy edge - win
*** She Drives Me Crazy ***
Very easy round here thanks to the fine young cannibals, a Front wheel drive car will just suck the fun out of driving and drove me insane. The Rear Wheel drive Nissan will let you enjoy the ride as you gobble up the miles.
Win for the Nissan
*** Inner Self ***
When dealing with cars one of the first battles is how big is that hunk of metal in the middle of the car: the internal combustion engine. The Renault has 2 litres, the Nissan has 3 litres.
Win for the Nissan
*** Baby Don't Forget My Number ***
Both cars have the same sort of cylinder size, but the Nissan has 2 more and in a nice compact V6 layout, the Renault is your basic four pot in a line. 6 always better than 4.
Win for the Nissan
*** Critical Mass***
Mass under the effect of gravity or some other external force will tell you the weight of an object - and so the lighter Renault will let you generate more cornering forces to equal the Nissan. The Renault does have a big advantage here and is one of the few good aspects of the car.
1387kg vs. 1510kg
Win for the Dainty Deippe Renault
*** The Right Stuff ***
And by right stuff I mean lashings of raw powah! The Renault is okay pushing that four pot to an impressive 261 horsepowers, but Nissan, You got it (The right stuff) on paper the twin turbo should develope 276bhp that is 15 more Wyld Stallyns...
Win for the Princess Babes, I mean the Fairlady dude.
*** Wild Thing ***
Some time you just need to Torque to get the job done. I've not got the exact numbers here but you trust me when I say that the Nissan has more low end peak torque than the Renault. (39.6 vs. 36.7)
Win for the Nissan
*** Gasping for Air ***
Both cars are turbocharged by not one but by two turbochargers, so neither will struggle to breathe like a naturally aspirated car would.
Shared round
*** Every Rose Has Its Thorn ***
The Gearbox on the Renault is a thing of beauty 6 gears all closly packed that really extracts the most from the engine - however, every rose has it's thorn... Just like every gearbox has a rev limit but the Limit on the Renault is a real pain, And just like a cowboy, this gearbox sings a sad sad song once you get to 147mph. The Fairlady? Limited to a speed that is 37 (Thirty Seven!) of your finest Imperial English Miles per Hour which is about one French kilometre per minute. every minute. (A football field every 6 seconds...)
147mph - Mégane
184mph - Fairlady
Emphatic win for the Nissan
*** Sins of Omission***
Understeer is a reprehensible sin that no car should willingly embrace, The Nissan tried it's best back in 1989 with rear wheel steering and a balanced weight distribution. The Mégane is a front wheel drive car, but it understeers like a horror and the more you lower the mechanical grip of the tyres the worse the understeer effects the car in comparison to the well balanced Fairlady. (I fix this by bolting on hard grade tyres at the rear because life is too short to endure understeer!)
Nissan Win
*** Buffalo Stance ***
Being a model you need lots of colourful clothes... the Foxy Frenchy has four chips - Black white grey or the signature Jaune Sirius (Part Deux).
The Japanese Jalopy has twice as many chips and as good as Jaune Sirius (Part Deux) is the Fairlady has this round won. 4 chips -Mégane
8 chips - Fairlady
Another win for the Nissan
*** Love Shack ***
15 miles down the Atlanta highway... oddly the Director of the music video to this quirky song from 1989 was also the director of the "Box Cutter" episode of Breaking Bad in 2011... (1989 and 2011 - wow like poetry, it rhymes.) Usual trip to the 18 mile venue of velocity. Route X. Now the gearbox round has already scuppered the usual top speed element to this... so onto the next song...
*** Straight Up ***
How fast could each cars do the initial 5000 meter run at Route X? (That is a straight bit of track that goes up an incline at the end... Straight/Up... Someone told me no one liked Paula Abdul!)
82.6s - Mégane
74.9s - Fairlady
*** Surprise, You're Dead ***
But can a thing from 1989 really outpace a car 22 years younger by a minute after just one lap?
Route X - Single Lap
7m55.2 - Mégane
6m33.6 - Fairlady
Epic win for the Fairlady in a result that didn't come... from out of nowhere.
*** This Time I Know It's for Real ***
Okay, so we ran a test at a big oval how about a Real track in a seasonal event? How about Tsukuba...
Tsukuba Seasonal Fastlap
67.8 - Mégane
68.3 - Fairlady
Not sure just where the Nissan gains the time but on a track where it does dribble like an idiot at speeds close to 150 that close ratio box gives it a real advantage at staying in the power band. The Nissan was okay but its top speed advantage was lost here.
Both cars however were easily able to get Ryk a crisp 500,000+ windfall in Kazulas and a spiffy new Lancer Evo IX. (Ryk liked that.)
Narrow win for the Renault
*** Burning Inside ***
And with these cars the One has a reasonable handling aspect, small spoons of understeer and oversteer in places a bit of power wheelspin on corner exits if you hoon it - but in such modest amount you would have to be a total Maldonado to Lose control. The Renault has one flavour of handling issues and that is a big bucket of pushy understeer that saddens my heart in every corner. The Fairlady may be a bit simple in the corners, but the Mégane is worse if you really attack a corner the fronts will over load and the inside front will overheat, you could say it was burning inside...
Nissan wins
*** Two Hearts ***
Two hearts beating as one... but which engine beats faster? Oddly the winner is the larger engine which is much older... Has technology regressed that much? The Rev limiter would suggest so. 6000rpm = Mégane... 7000rpm = Fairlady.
Win for the Nissan.
The only winner was the Nissan Z Fairlady 300ZX by Datsun
- The Megane had alot of issues for me, But if you can live with the understeer, and clattering into the rev limiter at any meaningful track (Sorry Tsukuba) then maybe the Dieppe hot hatch is the car for you.
This review was brought to you by the following Musical acts (In no order!)
(Sepultura) (Phil Collins) (Paula Abdul) (Ministry) (Nuclear Assault) (Roxette) (Tone Loc) (Milli Vanilli) (Neneh Cherry) (B-52's) (Donna Summer) (New Kids On The Block) (Testament) (Faith No More) (Poison) (Fine Young Cannibals) (Autopsy)
and the numbers 19 and 89 and a few references to
'Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure'
maybe both. Anyway, my times unless I give another go:
