Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 is powerful, fast, and FAR better than the £72k Renault Megane Trophy-R

LET’S pretend you’ve got £75k to spend on a fast car. Would you go for a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 or a Renault Megane?

Hang on, hang on. Don’t jump in. Let’s look at the evidence first. One is like honey. You can’t top it. The other is a Renault Megane.

One is guaranteed to make you more attractive to the opposite sex. Or the same sex if you like. The other is a Renault Megane.

One has a sweet mid-engined naturally aspirated flat six. The other is a Renault Megane.

Whatever the French were smoking when they slapped a £72,000 price tag on a front-wheel drive hot hatch, we’ll never know.

But it makes the delicious Cayman GT4 look cheap, even more so the £73k drop-top version.

You really really need to be into your Meganes to walk past a Porsche dealer and buy a Trophy-R instead.

Now before anyone says the 300hp Megane is easier to live with because it has four doors and four seats, that’s only half right.

Yes, it has four doors but it’s a two-seater, like the Cayman GT4. The rear seats have been removed for lightness and replaced by a strengthening strut and a cradle to take an extra set of carbon wheels to the race track.

I’m sure the Megane is very fast and playful and an absolute giggle to hustle down a B-road — but it’s no more practical than the Porsche.

And it looks a bit Halfords. Now let’s run the rule over the GT4. Do you know that moment when your Nando’s order arrives?

Times that excitement by 1,000 and you are still not even close. This is one of the most thrilling and satisfying cars I’ve driven. Built for pure driving pleasure.

Powerful, rear-drive, GT3 front axle, short-throw six-speed manual, faultless handling and balance and stiffer than a grandad at a strip club.

You can sense the motorsport engineering at every corner. This isn’t a car you can drive fast. This is a car you’ll want to drive fast.

The 420hp 4-litre flat six is taken from the current 911, only with the turbochargers removed and the cylinders substantially bored and stroked out.

Yes, you read that correctly. The chassis is adjustable for track day use (toe, camber, anti-roll bars) and the Auto Blip button (for automatic throttle-blipping downshifts) will make you look like a pro.

The cabin and seating position is just sublime. But perhaps the most compelling reason to buy a GT4 is that it’s an investment. It shouldn’t lose money.

The last GT4 cost £64,000 in 2015 and immediately rose in value to around £110,000. They’re still worth around £80k today.

Note. The new one isn’t limited like the old car but first-year production has already been allocated.

Now you might think there’s a clever twist at the end and I’m going to say that as brilliant as the GT4 is, you should go for the Megane. No, mate. Cayman GT4. All day long.