I hadn’t seen the large, standing pool of water some 40ft before the sharp left-hand corner, and that sort of complicated my plans to slow the Renault right down from 130mph, thus ensuring trouble-free progress around the bend.

Of course I obviously eventually figured out what to do about it, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this now — though more details about that incident later.

First, meet the Mégane Renaultsport 225, a car that makes you want to drive as though your hair’s on fire. On sale next month, it is the hottest Renault Mégane you can buy, with 225bhp on offer from its 2 litre turbocharged engine. The headline figures are 0-62mph in 6.5sec and a top speed that’s a shade under 150mph. By any measure you care to apply, this is a very quick car.

It looks quite snorty, too. Viewed from the front, the Mégane 225 sports an almost comically large air intake below the bumper, while another unique touch is its foglights, set down low on either side of the intake. I’m not so sure about the aesthetic effect of these — they make the car’s face look like some sort of bottom-feeding crustacean.

Moving around to the side, though, there’s no doubt that those fat 18in wheels do a great job of filling the Mégane’s wheelarches, and at the back of the car we find rather purposeful-looking dual exhausts mounted in the middle of the bumper. Finally, atop the tailgate can be found a very discreet spoiler that Renault claims increases the car’s stability at high speed.

But to make the Mégane 225 more of an enthusiast’s car to drive, Renault has done considerably more than just sticking in a hot engine and tarting up the wheels.

The rear suspension, for example, has been stiffened to reduce body-roll. And at the front the suspension has been completely reworked to improve traction and reduce torque steer. This is the characteristic you sometimes experience in overpowered front-wheel-drive cars where the steering wheel squirms this way and that in your hands under the effect of torque as you accelerate. In addition, the brakes are bigger and the steering has been recalibrated for a more sensitive response.

The result is a car that inspires confidence at high speeds on challenging roads. The steering, while feeling a little more numb than that of the best, provides terrific precision for placing the car accurately through bends. Nothing much upsets the composure of this Mégane, but you pay for that with a ride quality that suffers over rough, broken tarmac. That said, it rides better than I would have guessed it could over most motorway and A-road surfaces.

The turbocharged engine punches really hard, too. Strong response from low revs means you don’t have to constantly stir the manual six-speed gearbox, and once the engine swings past 4000rpm the car goes absolutely ballistic.

However, using all of the performance is a strangely characterless experience. The 225’s engine note is more of a noisy blare than a sonorous, sporty yell. The engine in the Clio V6, for example, makes such a glorious noise that its large performance almost feels like a fringe benefit.

Inside the car are plenty of sporty cues to remind you that this is the hottest Mégane going. The leather seats have orange stitching, as does the leather on the steering wheel. Even the seatbelts are orange. All of the foot pedals are aluminium, and although that looks great they are a bit slippery when wet.

I found the seats very well bolstered at the sides and quite supportive, but they felt a bit like overstuffed armchairs, and I couldn’t get the driver’s seat as low as I would have liked. The steering wheel adjusts for both rake and reach, though, so getting the driving position right is a straightforward-enough task.

So here is a seriously quick hatch with — I think — quite funky good looks. But it doesn’t provide the most engaging of enthusiasts’ drives. Sure, it is objectively a very quick car, but as is the case with the dull exhaust note, so the chassis also feels a bit lifeless. Over a favourite bit of snaking B-road, the best hot hatches are constantly communicating the level of grip left — and the precise attitude of the car — through the steering wheel and chassis. And while this Renault is competent and very composed in these respects, it just doesn’t seem to want much help or involvement from its driver.

The Mégane 225 costs £19,500 for the three-door Sport Hatch or £20,000 for the five-door hatch. It’s generously equipped at the price, with standard-fit air-conditioning, cruise control, leather upholstery and a six-disc CD changer. Ford no longer produces the Focus RS, so the Mégane 225 doesn’t face its most obvious competitor. The rivals Renault points to in its press literature are more expensive or less powerful: the 247bhp Audi S3, which costs £23,665, the 250bhp Alfa Romeo 147 GTA at £22,450 and the 197bhp Honda Civic Type-R for £16,013. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Renault doesn’t care to mention the 225bhp Seat Leon Cupra R, most definitely worth a look at £18,015.

Back to the standing pool of water at the end of a long straight at the Albi race circuit near Toulouse, where the car was launched. I reckon I was still doing about 90mph when I hit it, which meant way too fast for that left-hander. But the Renault’s electronic stability-control brain, which even has understeer control, conspired to save me from myself. So I made it back to the pit-lane of the racetrack, where an indulgent Renault techie explained that the Bosch system they use is quite good, but stressed that the laws of physics will not, ultimately, be denied justice. And as if to prove the techie fellow’s point, a journalistic colleague of mine went out and crashed his Mégane in style.

VITAL STATISTICS

Model: Mégane Renaultsport 225
Engine type: Four-cylinder, 1998cc
Power/Torque: 225bhp @ 5500rpm / 223 lb ft @ 3000rpm
Transmission: Six-speed manual, front-wheel drive
Fuel/CO2: 32.1mpg (combined) / 209g/km
Acceleration: 0-62mph: 6.5sec
Top speed: 147mph
Price: £19,500
Verdict: Funky looking, very swift and very competent, but it's really no sports car

THE OPPOSITION

Model: Mini Cooper S Works (£18,386)
For: Classless appeal, great looks and a great drive
Against: Mini becoming a bit common

Model: Honda Civic Type-R (£16,013)
For: Higher build quality with a belter of an engine
Against: Not exactly the most relaxing car to drive