RE: SOTW: Renault Clio Renaultsport 172
Discussion
Tin Hat said:
Great fun, but weird driving position - Reminded me of my old MG Metro!
You can remove the 4 10mm (ish?) spacers from beneath the seat rails. Doesn't sound like much of a reduction but I found that it made a surprising difference. You'd need to add a couple of washers so the seat doesn't drag on the carpet.I'm also considering adding a steering wheel spacer.
RacingBlue said:
Mr MXT said:
A steering wheel cover on a <100k mile car? Do they wear that badly?
Yep - my 61K '05 car is suffering from the 'melting' problem.They're great cars, but I don't think I'd be brave enough to buy a sub £1K one. The list of things that would need replacing would be never ending.
Lovely cars these, in some respects I prefered then to the MkII 172.
They did a special edition in green with gold wheels and a grey leather interior, for the life of me though I can't remember the name of it.
LuS1fer said:
No mention of a cambelt/dephaser so there's £800 straight off. Sadly, these "performance bargains" require the right upkeep because they are fast cars that can kill you and I suspect once you spend the money putting it right, it will be long past being a bargain. The reality is that you can't really "shed" fast cars like this, they always need to be at the top of their game.
No one in their right mind would pay £800 on a £1000 car to get this done. Its a shed, no point in spending silly money at a dealers to keep up service records when you can diy it. Admittedly its not the simplest car to do a belt change on (though far from tye most difficult) and is well within the scope of a moderately competent diyer.
Normally i look at the sheds and think yeah why not, 10+ year old renaults are possibly worse than a new one! and i have plenty of experience on them, LOL
I like the concept, small light car, 172 horses. what could go wrong?
If it was made by someone who was more reliable it could be tempting but renaults i'm afraid scare me into thinking its going to brake at any moment.
I like the concept, small light car, 172 horses. what could go wrong?
If it was made by someone who was more reliable it could be tempting but renaults i'm afraid scare me into thinking its going to brake at any moment.
vwsurfbum said:
Normally i look at the sheds and think yeah why not, 10+ year old renaults are possibly worse than a new one! and i have plenty of experience on them, LOL
I like the concept, small light car, 172 horses. what could go wrong?
If it was made by someone who was more reliable it could be tempting but renaults i'm afraid scare me into thinking its going to brake at any moment.
Well said. I like the concept, small light car, 172 horses. what could go wrong?
If it was made by someone who was more reliable it could be tempting but renaults i'm afraid scare me into thinking its going to brake at any moment.
French crap, and not really rewarding enough to be worth the hassle.
I'm out.
MagicalTrevor said:
You can remove the 4 10mm (ish?) spacers from beneath the seat rails. Doesn't sound like much of a reduction but I found that it made a surprising difference. You'd need to add a couple of washers so the seat doesn't drag on the carpet.
I'm also considering adding a steering wheel spacer.
If you could find anymore about this modification I would be interested to hear...I'm also considering adding a steering wheel spacer.
greggy50 said:
If you could find anymore about this modification I would be interested to hear...
It's very simple (this is off the top of my head!)- Remove two plastic caps underneath the seat (nearest the sill)
- use a deep socket to remove the nut
- Just behind the exhaust in the centre there is a recess with another nut, use your socket to remove them. They're accessible, just work it out from the seat position
- The seat will be loose now but still connected by the airbag cable.
- Rock the seat forward (careful not to dislodge the cable) and using a flat screwdriver pry off the black plastic spacer. It should come off in one piece but don't worry about breaking it.
- Rock the seat back and do the same at the front.
- Before you put it back together get some wide washers (I used 2 per corner) and just use come silicon sealant to stick them to the floor, maybe squirt a bit extra in there to stop any water (unlikely but can't see the harm).
- If you don't use washers then the seat will drag and be difficult to move back and forward. It will be more difficult anyway but fine.
- If you get airbag warning lights then you've dislodged the cable underneath. Just reconnect it.
I got a 1.2 3 door for me and my son to share he is 18. Never liked french cars much, I paid £250 as a stop gap had it over a year now starts every day picked up 4 big boys in it for a year dong school run, goes ok when in in by myself handles really well very chuckable. Never broken down stunning car. Interior is very flimsy i replaced mine as it was totally shagged. All plastic bits are broken but hey its makes it a bit lighter. next car for fun will be a 172
vwsurfbum said:
If it was made by someone who was more reliable it could be tempting but renaults i'm afraid scare me into thinking its going to brake at any moment.
Terribly misinformed there chap, the RenaultSport models are built in Dieppe and are well known to be much better built than their 'run of the mill' counterparts. So... they ARE made by someone more reliable.I'd agree with you if you were referring to the normal Renault models though.
soundcriminal said:
I got a 1.2 3 door for me and my son to share he is 18. Never liked french cars much, I paid £250 as a stop gap had it over a year now starts every day picked up 4 big boys in it for a year dong school run, goes ok when in in by myself handles really well very chuckable. Never broken down stunning car. Interior is very flimsy i replaced mine as it was totally shagged. All plastic bits are broken but hey its makes it a bit lighter. next car for fun will be a 172
Pretty good lurking there. When I was about 18/19 a friend had a 172 that he let me borrow. Felt like nothing else at that age. I wanted one so badly and it led to my love of Renaultsports. Had 5 nowI bought one for £1400, and it needed the following in just 3 months.
This was on a car with full service history. This was a car, that despite PH experts telling me it was a banger, that was commented on by 2 different garages to be a "cracking little car in great condition".
I will say that when it worked, it was fast and fun to drive.
My advice to anyone who wants one of these - spend a bit more. In fact, get a Cup model instead. There's less to go wrong and the cambelt swap is so much easier (and therefore, cheaper).
I'd run an absolute mile from this one.
- Cambelt, dephaser, aux belt, water pump - £700
- Rear shock absorbers - leaking
- New exhaust (not the cars fault)
- New brake pipes
- New brake pads
- New steering wheel (again undoing someones rubbish mod)
- New windscreen wiper motor
- New radiator
- New throttle body
This was on a car with full service history. This was a car, that despite PH experts telling me it was a banger, that was commented on by 2 different garages to be a "cracking little car in great condition".
I will say that when it worked, it was fast and fun to drive.
My advice to anyone who wants one of these - spend a bit more. In fact, get a Cup model instead. There's less to go wrong and the cambelt swap is so much easier (and therefore, cheaper).
I'd run an absolute mile from this one.
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