RE: SOTW: Renault Clio Renaultsport

[LY99]

LotusAlfaV6bloke said:

I would love to borrow one of these for the weekend! (But I would never want to own one)

Surely loads of fun and I think they look very good, like a smally nippy car should. Not sure the one in the ad is worth a punt though.

You can borrow mine for a weekend if you want, I'll swap you for a weekend when the Excel when its done

Bought one for 1500 quid in May last year, as a everyday shed. X-reg, cable throttle, 115k miles. Gets 40mpg and only had to replace the rear dampers due to one leaking.

Only electrical problem I've had is a loose connection on the passenger seat airbag sensor. 5 minutes with the soldering iron - jobs a good'un

[jon_r]

80quattro said:

V88Dicky said:

80quattro said:

V88Dicky said:

900T-R said:

Solution: get that elusive 172 Cup - there's nothing much electrical or otherwise on that car to break?

Only electrical fault I had with mine during 4.5 years of ownership was the driver's window came of its regulator/ assembly. Or is that mechanical?

No ABS
No Traction Control
No Air Con
No HID lamps
No side airbags
No seat airbags
Thinner glass
Lightweight wheels
No spare wheel
Less soundproofing
Single CD
Cloth seats (with flat rear benches)

0-60 = 6.5 seconds
Lots of fun!

Edited by V88Dicky on Friday 7th January 13:46

Not so. The later 53 plate cars had AC as an option. You'll be telling me the 172 Cup was only in blue next..

No I wont. A very few were produced in silver towards the end of the 172 Cup's life.
I took delivery of mine in Oct 2002, and AC was definitely not an option then.

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2175662.htm

Interior pic just shows the climate control panel. 'factory fitted air con 1 of only 33 cups with aircon in th uk' is cobblers as well. Plus the Cup was only sold in the UK and possibly Holland IIRC.
My favourite RS Clio was probably my Ph1 Scarab Green 172 Exclusive that I had as a company car in 2001. I haven't seen one of them for ages.

Edited by 80quattro on Friday 7th January 22:11

Compelled to post after reading the thread. A rare thing!

There were 33 Iceberg 172 Cups sold with climate control. I collected mine in September 2003 and sold it 46k later having had no mechanical failures or breakdowns. This included many Ring trips and Trackdays. I bought another 172 12 months ago today and have covered 21k this year (averaging over 40mpg), again with no problems at all.

People who tar all French cars with the same electrical or mechanical 'internet wives tales' really are misguided. One bonus though is that they do leave these fantastic hot hatches to the rest of us who can fully appreciate them.

A 172 for £1000? Bargain.

[Tycho]

coley20 said:

s1rallyemark said:

Petrolhead_Rich said:

Nice fun little hatchback, but this one rings many alarm bells:

advert said:

just had head rebuilt fully at great expense

updated advert said:

i bought the car 4 months ago with a snapped timing belt.

So potential damage to pistons, also doesn't bode well for previous service history if they have let the timing belt snap either through over-revving or not replacing....

Whining (could be nothing, probably wheel bearing or similar, could need a new gearbox, could even be something wrong with the engine)

article said:

This one has not bee chavved

advert said:

standard apart from upgrade air filter and exhaust is stainless steel.

So it's got a crappy Halfrauds universal air filter stuck on it and a non-standard exhaust, the two standard Chav Mods!

Great little car, but not this one, and not quite for £1000 yet me thinks!!!

Air filter maybe but the exhaust on all Renault Sport Clios rot so its cheaper to get a SS replacement

I agree, a SS maybe a bit chavy, but it is better than the OE one, they have a life time guarantee and are about half the price, no brainier really, I think you will find that most RS clios have aftermarket exhausts on them after they are about 5 years old

^^^ This, Renault wanted £1500 to replace the exhaust with an OEM one but K-Tec wanted £750 all in and it was a SS one. No contest really.

I got a 72K service with cam belt change and a new exhaust for the same as an OEM exhaust only.

[coley20]

Tycho said:

coley20 said:

s1rallyemark said:

Petrolhead_Rich said:

Nice fun little hatchback, but this one rings many alarm bells:

advert said:

just had head rebuilt fully at great expense

updated advert said:

i bought the car 4 months ago with a snapped timing belt.

So potential damage to pistons, also doesn't bode well for previous service history if they have let the timing belt snap either through over-revving or not replacing....

Whining (could be nothing, probably wheel bearing or similar, could need a new gearbox, could even be something wrong with the engine)

article said:

This one has not bee chavved

advert said:

standard apart from upgrade air filter and exhaust is stainless steel.

So it's got a crappy Halfrauds universal air filter stuck on it and a non-standard exhaust, the two standard Chav Mods!

Great little car, but not this one, and not quite for £1000 yet me thinks!!!

Air filter maybe but the exhaust on all Renault Sport Clios rot so its cheaper to get a SS replacement

I agree, a SS maybe a bit chavy, but it is better than the OE one, they have a life time guarantee and are about half the price, no brainier really, I think you will find that most RS clios have aftermarket exhausts on them after they are about 5 years old

^^^ This, Renault wanted £1500 to replace the exhaust with an OEM one but K-Tec wanted £750 all in and it was a SS one. No contest really.

I got a 72K service with cam belt change and a new exhaust for the same as an OEM exhaust only.

Id say £750 seems expensive, probably the going rate, but still seams a lot, is that cat-back?

[Riggers]

TimS2000 said:

Great shed - if it isn't a money pit like some previous posters have suggested!

However...

article said:

It's pretty fair to say that, with the arguable exception of the first V6 version and the nasty RSi warm hatch from the mid-90s, Renault has failed to make a bad fast Clio.

What a crock of st - the RSi was a bloody good car for its time - read any review of the time and you'll see it was very well rated against the competition (it was a 4 or 5 star car in Performance Car mag). Of course you'd rather have the 16v or Williams, but if you couldn't afford the car/insurance, then the RSi offered plenty of performance and a fantastic chassis (although slightly softer compared to the previously mentioned two). I suggest you do some more research or actually drive one before making such sweeping statements in future

It's a warm hatch. More or less by definition I would say that makes it not so hot...

And it's hardly a sweeping statement, more just a bit of a throwaway comment to help introduce the article. Guess I must have hit a nerve.... Perhaps I shouldn't have used the word 'nasty'

[Tycho]

coley20 said:

Tycho said:

coley20 said:

s1rallyemark said:

Petrolhead_Rich said:

Nice fun little hatchback, but this one rings many alarm bells:

advert said:

just had head rebuilt fully at great expense

updated advert said:

i bought the car 4 months ago with a snapped timing belt.

So potential damage to pistons, also doesn't bode well for previous service history if they have let the timing belt snap either through over-revving or not replacing....

Whining (could be nothing, probably wheel bearing or similar, could need a new gearbox, could even be something wrong with the engine)

article said:

This one has not bee chavved

advert said:

standard apart from upgrade air filter and exhaust is stainless steel.

So it's got a crappy Halfrauds universal air filter stuck on it and a non-standard exhaust, the two standard Chav Mods!

Great little car, but not this one, and not quite for £1000 yet me thinks!!!

Air filter maybe but the exhaust on all Renault Sport Clios rot so its cheaper to get a SS replacement

I agree, a SS maybe a bit chavy, but it is better than the OE one, they have a life time guarantee and are about half the price, no brainier really, I think you will find that most RS clios have aftermarket exhausts on them after they are about 5 years old

^^^ This, Renault wanted £1500 to replace the exhaust with an OEM one but K-Tec wanted £750 all in and it was a SS one. No contest really.

I got a 72K service with cam belt change and a new exhaust for the same as an OEM exhaust only.

Id say £750 seems expensive, probably the going rate, but still seams a lot, is that cat-back?

Sorry, I meant £750 for the exhaust and 72K service. Same as 1/2 an OEM exhaust only.
This is the exhaust

[KM666]

ninos said:

KM666 said:

MagicalTrevor said:

ninos said:

Jonny_693 said:

MagicalTrevor said:

angusc43 said:

MagicalTrevor said:

ninos said:

Nice find, great little hot hatch, just a shame its French and will almost certainly be suffering or will suffer from dodgy electricals. Good for 6 months hooning or track car though then move it on

Shame, you obviously know nothing about these cars. Electrics are certainly not on the list of 'known problems'

Eh? My wife's got a 2000 1.6 16V. The interior lights are random. I disconnected them all at one point as they would turn themselves on and drain the battery. The alarm is random (sometimes works, sometimes not, sometimes sets itself off for no reason). The passenger side window switch or relay is random. Bulbs keep blowing in the dash. The front indicator failed the other day. I spent 30 mins skinning my knuckles replacing the bulb just find it mysteriously started working again. Oh and the sunroof has a mysterious on/off rattle which would cost more than the car's worth to fix.

Everything else works fine but electrics are CERTAINLY dodgy on these cars.

Despite all that, great shed. If my wife didn't insist on a 4 door for the kids I'd deffo swap for one of these as a city run about.

Oh FFS, now you're not reading what I'm saying!!!

RenaultSport does not equal Renault. You can't say 'RenaultSport 172s have rubbish electrics because my Non-Sport 1.6 16v had dodgy electrics'.

Are you trying to tell us that just because they are put together in a different factory they use better quality electrics i.e looms and other components? If you are then you're deluded.

He won't answer that mate because he doesn't actually know!!!!

Sorry everybody for the quotes, I'm on an iPhone and deleting the text is awkward.

I'm not suggesting that the electrics are different!
This is what I'm saying:
- completely different model to the ones with electrical problems
- made in a completely different factory by different people
- no evidence of electrics being a problem on 172ph1 models other than in complete isolation, this suggests a 'one off' or a car with a history of problems
- you seemingly refuse to accept the above and can't provide any reason to suggest that 'electrics is a problem on 172ph1 models'

Please just accept that you're talking about a different model that doesn't actually have the problems you mention.

dont sweat it! all he did was come out with a load of stuff about how crap poverty spec clios 'leccy was, then quotes the one single bad review he could find! i did it right back about his hyundai but of course when its his car in question its a completely differant model to his and of course his personal example is a shining beacon of korean quality!

Yeah you got me back, are you 5 years old or just a keyboard warrior?

Magicaltrevor- I accept your point that it's a different car, put together in a different factory by different people. I wasn't actually comparing my Clio to the reanaulsport, I was probably guilty of generalising all renaults however I now see this is not the case.

What you have to understand though is that although they are different cars, they still share a lot of the same electrics regardless of how they're built, by whom and where. Although it's clear to see from here that electrics are not really an issue compared to other faults listed, they do go wrong sometimes.

did i miss the email PH sent out saying that your the only person on pistonheads whos allowed to spout rubbish about something of which they have no knowledge and then back it up with a sourse that fits your opinion?

[ninos]

MagicalTrevor- I accept your point that it's a different car, put together in a different factory by different people. I wasn't actually comparing my Clio to the reanaulsport, I was probably guilty of generalising all renaults however I now see this is not the case.

What you have to understand though is that although they are different cars, they still share a lot of the same electrics regardless of how they're built, by whom and where. Although it's clear to see from here that electrics are not really an issue compared to other faults listed, they do go wrong sometimes.


[/quote]

did i miss the email PH sent out saying that your the only person on pistonheads whos allowed to spout rubbish about something of which they have no knowledge and then back it up with a sourse that fits your opinion?
[/quote]

Yeah I have a copy and can pass it on!!!

[StuMI16]

Its a £1000 car , what are you expecting , its £500 quid cheaper than most others because its got some niggles , they might be big , they might be small

spend £1000 on it and the smile it sticks on your face from ear to ear will make you forget , if it dies , break it , plenty of people want parts

[matthewg]

Well said fella.

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2368485.htm

How stupid is the seller in the above advert?

Could be doing with a clean but I don't see the point?!! wtf.

[jarrus464]

Good shed,

For £1000 you can't argue, toss up between this and a GTI6. Both would make a great backroad/track toy.

[ukaskew]

Thought I would add an update to this long lost SOTW. It piqued my interest so I kept half an eye out for any that came up locally. In April a Phase 1 172 in Black came up for just over shed money (£1300), not far up the road from me, 6 months tax and MOT, a huge folder of pretty much everything ever done to it and it all seemed very well looked after (the body/paint is better than my missus 3 year old Focus). My little Ignis Sport sold for more than I was expecting so I was happy to go slightly over standard shed budget.

Anyhow, I viewed, I bought. It wasn't to be a stripped track special, but my daily drive and only car. A bit risky for a 10 year old performance Renault knocking on the door of 100,000 miles, but you only live once. It had a few cosmetic mods which I probably wouldn't have bothered with myself (wheels and diamond painted black) but otherwise it's standard apart from the obligatory exhaust replacement (the OEM items don't last too long), which thankfully was just a stainless steel copy of the original, i.e. still hidden from view; and the even more essential steering wheel re-trim (they literally melt apart) which looks of a far far better standard than when it was brand new.

7 months later and I haven't regretted it at all. MOT last month just required a new rear caliper, and I replaced the rear shocks as they felt a bit worn. All in (6 months tax, service, MOT, caliper, shocks) it's cost me £350 so far. It comfortably manages 40mpg+ on a long run, and nearer to 35mpg for my daily commute (only 12 miles per day all in stop start traffic).

Everything electric is happily still electrified and working fine, air con is suitably blizzard like and it was even pretty comfortable for a few hours sleep during the Britcar 24hr race back in October.

Who knows what the future may hold, but it's fair to say I've already got £1300 worth of enjoyment out of it.

Edited by ukaskew on Saturday 10th December 16:47

[John D.]

Bargain.

[TomJS]

ukaskew said:

Thought I would add an update to this long lost SOTW. It piqued my interest so I kept half an eye out for any that came up locally. In April a Phase 1 172 in Black came up for just over shed money (£1300), not far up the road from me, 6 months tax and MOT, a huge folder of pretty much everything ever done to it and it all seemed very well looked after (the body/paint is better than my missus 3 year old Focus). My little Ignis Sport sold for more than I was expecting so I was happy to go slightly over standard shed budget.

Anyhow, I viewed, I bought. It wasn't to be a stripped track special, but my daily drive and only car. A bit risky for a 10 year old performance Renault knocking on the door of 100,000 miles, but you only live once. It had a few cosmetic mods which I probably wouldn't have bothered with myself (wheels and diamond painted black) but otherwise it's standard apart from the obligatory exhaust replacement (the OEM items don't last too long), which thankfully was just a stainless steel copy of the original, i.e. still hidden from view; and the even more essential steering wheel re-trim (they literally melt apart) which looks of a far far better standard than when it was brand new.

7 months later and I haven't regretted it at all. MOT last month just required a new rear caliper, and I replaced the rear shocks as they felt a bit worn. All in (6 months tax, service, MOT, caliper, shocks) it's cost me £350 so far. It comfortably manages 40mpg+ on a long run, and nearer to 35mpg for my daily commute (only 12 miles per day all in stop start traffic).

Everything electric is happily still electrified and working fine, air con is suitably blizzard like and it was even pretty comfortable for a few hours sleep during the Britcar 24hr race back in October.

Who knows what the future may hold, but it's fair to say I've already got £1300 worth of enjoyment out of it.

Edited by ukaskew on Saturday 10th December 16:47

Tempting as a shed commuter/station car. How is on a day-to-day basis? Anything negative to report?

[ukaskew]

TomJS said:

Tempting as a shed commuter/station car. How is on a day-to-day basis? Anything negative to report?

Pretty minor things really, it obviously needed new rear shocks, which was cheap and easy to sort (£100), and I noticed from my driveway after a few months that it drops a bit of oil (only enough for it to have needed half a small funnels worth added between oil changes to top it up). The interior rattles, but that goes without saying, as I've owned them from new before and that was no different.

The interior has held up well (compared to the 172 Cup I had it's very luxurious), the leather on the seat bolsters has cracked but everything else is in great condition, the rear bench is extremely comfortable and looks pretty plush, I presume it hasn't carried many passengers as it looks as good as new.

The clutch on the Phase 1 is pretty darn heavy (not just mine, they all are), which wasn't great fun on the commute initially, but after a month I obviously developed the muscle to deal with it as I don't notice it at all any more.

Maybe I got very lucky (or waited for the right one), but my experiences with Renault have been overwhelmingly positive.. I've driven well over 150k in various Clios (this is my 4th, and 2nd Renaultsport) and have only ever had to replace standard wear items and have never used my RAC cover. I tend to get a basic service/oil change in-between the normal service intervals, which probably helps.

A bunch more pictures here...

http://chrisharrison.smugmug.com/ClioSport/Ph1/

[Mr2Mike]

ukaskew said:

7 months later and I haven't regretted it at all. MOT last month just required a new rear caliper, and I replaced the rear shocks as they felt a bit worn. All in (6 months tax, service, MOT, caliper, shocks) it's cost me £350 so far. It comfortably manages 40mpg+ on a long run, and nearer to 35mpg for my daily commute (only 12 miles per day all in stop start traffic).

Thanks for posting this. I've been very tempted by a 172 for ages, primarily because of the excellent performance/fuel economy ratio but so many people have been rather negative about them. The only thing that slightly puts me off is the chocolate gearboxes which do genuinely seem to be a weak point, but it's not that big a job to DIY.

Phase 1 appeals to me more due to 15" wheels (decent rubber is much cheaper for 195/50R15 than for 16" wheels) and it has a proper throttle cable instead of the drive by wire effort in the later cars.

[ukaskew]

The Crack Fox said:

Each to their own and all that, but I am regularly amazed at the amount of admiration for the Clio 172/182s, personally speaking they are the most over-rated car of the last decade. I just don't get it.

For £1300 I can't fault it, it will easily go as quickly as I'm willing/comfortable to attempt on a public road (both around corners and in a straight line), yet it's relatively cheap and easy to maintain and still as practical as a standard small car.

For me it ticks all the boxes, and it's a real life bargain as well, not just cheap to buy initially. 15" wheels = bargain tyres, the parts are cheap, 35-40mpg, £130 a year to tax, and at 29 years old it cost me £220 to insure.

I'm not sure of too many other cars that could tick all of those boxes in the real world.

[anonymous-user]

The Crack Fox said:

Each to their own and all that, but I am regularly amazed at the amount of admiration for the Clio 172/182s, personally speaking they are the most over-rated car of the last decade. I just don't get it.

Driven one? I'm not getting defensive, I'm just wondering.

[Mr2Mike]

The Crack Fox said:

Each to their own and all that, but I am regularly amazed at the amount of admiration for the Clio 172/182s, personally speaking they are the most over-rated car of the last decade. I just don't get it.

What would you suggest that equals or betters the Clio in all areas? i.e. a modern looking petrol engined hatchback with exemplary handling, excellent performance and excellent economy all available for shed money.

The 306 GTi meets some of the requirements, but is somewhat slower and they are thirsty. Nothing in the VAG camp of this era can hold a candle to the level of feedback you get from the Clio. In fact the only area I can see the Clio getting beaten is in the quality of the interior.

[veevee]

A 306 gti isn't somewhat slower, real life 0-60 and track times almost identical; and is a bit more practical...

The 172/182 is a great car though, fuel economy is definitely a plus, would really like one if they were very slightly bigger.

People saying 'oh it's a french car' when they've obviously never been in, or driven one, gets boring. I've had several and I've never had any problems with the electrics; plus I can't think of anyone who do proper hot hatches as well as the French.