RE: PH blog: in defence of the Clio RS
Discussion
How can you lot criticize it so brutally (apart form the looks) when there are no reviews and no one knows how it drives is beyond me,stop the b
ks and make your judgement when you drive one.
As said the car is directed to the big part of the market,not to the purists anymore,and makes like VAG etc have done this ages ago,Renault just did it now.
They said it will have some drastic performance changes from the N/A Clio 200,and this is going to be showed in laptimes when the new car is faster and will surprise many.
I believe this will cost about 25k so it will not be so well received but i see this selling much more all over Europe than the last gen and filling Renault stocks.
And apart from the huge headlights and the huge badge it looks good,as a person that loves driving this is a huge disappointment for me too but i see to what market this is directed so im not negative io the slightest.
ks and make your judgement when you drive one.As said the car is directed to the big part of the market,not to the purists anymore,and makes like VAG etc have done this ages ago,Renault just did it now.
They said it will have some drastic performance changes from the N/A Clio 200,and this is going to be showed in laptimes when the new car is faster and will surprise many.
I believe this will cost about 25k so it will not be so well received but i see this selling much more all over Europe than the last gen and filling Renault stocks.
And apart from the huge headlights and the huge badge it looks good,as a person that loves driving this is a huge disappointment for me too but i see to what market this is directed so im not negative io the slightest.
Swervin_Mervin said:
How will it drive? My wager:
It will have more grip and cornering speed than the outgoing model. Just as the Mk3 did over Mk2, and Mk2 over Mk1.
This does not, contrary to popular belief, mean it will be more fun. On that matter, and in my opinion, the reverse is true.
Nail on head - My favourite ever car to drive, was my friends MGB on worn tyres. Huge fun, very communicative and a great learning curve. It will have more grip and cornering speed than the outgoing model. Just as the Mk3 did over Mk2, and Mk2 over Mk1.
This does not, contrary to popular belief, mean it will be more fun. On that matter, and in my opinion, the reverse is true.
I'm sad to say that I really hope this is a complete flop for them. It won't be, but I really hope it is.
Hoygo said:
I believe this will cost about 25k so it will not be so well received but i see this selling much more all over Europe than the last gen and filling Renault stocks.
I don't think it'll be anywhere near 25k. The Megane 265 is currently about that price. Though I'm sure if you ticked all the options you'd get it up to 21/22k.....jaik said:
I'd say the Twingo RS is closer to the original Clio RS than this in ethos and "fun factor".
Actually, I'd say the Twingo was far more like the mk1 Clio 16v being about the same size, weight and power. Edited by jaik on Friday 28th September 12:36
I loved my Valver back in the day but even that, at less than 1k kg's felt like you had to rev the nuts off it to move it. I always wanted to turbo it either with a kit or an R5 GTT engine swap. Never did, too much hassle.
Regarding this engine noise thing that has a lot of you deeply upset. I'd like to look at it from a different perspective.
I drive a BMW with what can only be described as the worlds quietest exhaust. When I first got the car repeatedly I would find myself trying to start the engine only to realise it was already running!
You may say "just get an aftermarket exhaust" which I confess would sound tremendous. However, I dont want to hear it all the time. At 2am in a residential area I like the fact it makes very little noise.
I find boy racers with 4" bore exhausts revving them to 7k rpm's every where among the most anti social people in the world.
SO - how about sound proofing the car from the rest of the world and pumping the noise directly in to the cabin for the driver to enjoy - when they want to?
wab172uk said:
It's not the engine that's the problem (easier to tune), it's the fact it ONLY comes in 5 doors, and has no manual gearbox.
As above. Renault have built some cracking Hot Hatches, so why can't they understand what people want out of one?
- * people want manual gearboxes in hot hatches!!! ***
Limpet said:
As well as emissions, I think the comments on the 197 illustrate just why forced induction is becoming the norm. High revving naturally aspirated engines simply don't have the guts to haul today's lardy cars around without needing to be thrashed to within an inch of their lives.
Given that it's an automatic, what does it matter? Stick it in D and mash the throttle, if it needs to drop gears it will. No fun, but that doesn't seem to be important.RenaultSports biggest market by far is the UK. The reason for this is that during the 90s until the mid noughties they continued to turn out some hardcore hot hatches when the likes of Peugeot and Ford lost focus (no pun intended..) It's not what they add to the clio that made it so good, it's what they didn't add. Did you know that the clio 172 cup has so much brake bias to the front that the rears have an MOT exemption because they will otherwise fail!! No bells and whistles, just a big engine in a small car and set up beautifully. I paid £12800 for a brand new Clio 172cup from Renault 10 years ago, 120,000 miles later I still have it. It was a bargain then and now it looks like a steal. In 10 years time will we be saying the same about this new model?
I fear that RenaultSport may gradually be losing it's market share. Their success was built upon offering something different from all the others, now the product seems to be more and more comparable to everything else on offer. If I had to buy a new turbo-charged 4-door hot hatch now it'd be a 6 month old Mazda 3 MPS for 16-17K. I'd still be keeping my 172 cup though. That car I will never sell.
I fear that RenaultSport may gradually be losing it's market share. Their success was built upon offering something different from all the others, now the product seems to be more and more comparable to everything else on offer. If I had to buy a new turbo-charged 4-door hot hatch now it'd be a 6 month old Mazda 3 MPS for 16-17K. I'd still be keeping my 172 cup though. That car I will never sell.
I really don't understand how car-makers manage to produce such wilfully ugly cars. BMW are the worst at this; they have a cracking vehicle dynamically underneath the 1-series yet they made it look desperately ugly (E- and F-Series). Renault have done it with this iteration of the Clio, previous versions such as the 182 looked superb; neat, precise and lithe. Peugeot seem to be coming out the other side - the 207/307 et al were horrendously ugly, and even the RCZ had a schnozz that would make small children cry. The facelift has done wonders for that car imo, and does the rest of it justice.
Ford are heading down the 'ugly' route as well. The Mk1 Focus was a brilliant bit of design with a crisp geometry that was pleasing to this eye (although the interior was a little hit-and-miss). The Mk2 was still a smart-looking thing but the new one looks like a blobby mess from Korea c.2002. Dare I say that not only are all cars within a manufacturer's range starting to look the same (yes Audi, I'm talking about you) but cars are all starting to look the same no matter which manufacturer they're made by?
A car - whether you like it or not - says a lot about you as a person and I can't help but think that many are immediately put off by a car that is in no way pleasing to the eye.
Seriously, take the badges off most modern hatchbacks and I'd have no clue who the manufacturer was.
Ford are heading down the 'ugly' route as well. The Mk1 Focus was a brilliant bit of design with a crisp geometry that was pleasing to this eye (although the interior was a little hit-and-miss). The Mk2 was still a smart-looking thing but the new one looks like a blobby mess from Korea c.2002. Dare I say that not only are all cars within a manufacturer's range starting to look the same (yes Audi, I'm talking about you) but cars are all starting to look the same no matter which manufacturer they're made by?
A car - whether you like it or not - says a lot about you as a person and I can't help but think that many are immediately put off by a car that is in no way pleasing to the eye.
Seriously, take the badges off most modern hatchbacks and I'd have no clue who the manufacturer was.
Edited by Funk on Friday 28th September 16:56
dandarez said:
'...everyone's favourite hot hatch.' ?
Speak for yourself, and cry oui, oui, oui all the way home!
I was going to take issue with that too - RS Clios have never been my favourite hot hatch, I've been pretty lukewarm with them tbh. The 182s I drove never blew me away, hence me getting an EP3 instead, and the 197 and 200 aren't the most attractive cars to me either. However, in light of the potentially disastrous future of RS, an 2010-ish RS Clio in that lovely knock-off version of Porsche's Viper Green, does seem attractive, like something I might want to own one day. I don't think I will ever lust after this new Clio - the last bastion of old school hot hatchery on the market is now gone, replaced by a 5 door auto. Speak for yourself, and cry oui, oui, oui all the way home!
Papa Hotel said:
Ah, I know who Carl is. 
However "maybe" and "can't remember" aren't exactly conclusive. Also, the question was about many European markets, I don't think three constitutes many.
Indeed 3 isn't many. The UK is still a very significant market for Renaultsport and indeed drives some of the developments / ideas. Sometimes though things are presented as a 'fait a compli' and there is little that can be amended. I am sure the new Clio will drive brilliantly and the lack of manual 'box will not detract from the experience. However "maybe" and "can't remember" aren't exactly conclusive. Also, the question was about many European markets, I don't think three constitutes many.
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