Moving on from a Clio 172??

[Oh Behave]

So I've owned my little Clio 172 Cup for nearly 3 years now, bought it in standard trim and converted it into a great little track car (looked after by Mark Fish). It still surprises me how quick it is round the smaller circuits and can keep pace with much more expensive machinery. However, I am getting the itch to move on to something different, with more power but not just a point and squirt car. The purist in me says go for RWD but there are also some FWD cars I've got in mind (budget 5-15k, 20k at a stretch). Want to keep it road legal....

E36/46 M3
R32 GTR
Megane R26/R26R/RS250 or 265
Integra DC2
Cooper S R56
Elise
Evo/Scooby

Or I could turbo & LSD the Clio but prices are coming in 3.5 to 4k and for that money I might as well buy something else as a decent base car.

So has anyone made the transition and what did you go for? Options welcome, and sorry to say no suggestions of MX-5s . Not really a fan of caterhams/ westfields either.

Thanks

[Oh Behave]

All good suggestions and ones I haven't considered. VX220 turbo over the NA though?
Always liked the RX-7, my sisters ex used to have the FC and it was rapid.... but never see many of them on track days

[Oh Behave]

DaveH23 said:

If you like the clio then why not a clio v6? How much do they fetch these days?

A decent one will set you back >25k, and I don't think they're as well balanced as the 172/182s....

Some great suggestions, the Ginetta looks . Might have to do some researching into a supercharged VX

Edited by Oh Behave on Wednesday 25th May 06:55

[Oh Behave]

IrateNinja said:

I had this exact problem except with my 182 Cup. The Clio was just so much fun for so little expense, it took a while to find something with the same (or better) ratio.

I've ended up going for something completely different and picked up a Mk5 Golf R32.

Interesting move, what made you go for the R32?

There was a modified R26 at Brands last week and it was fairly rapid....

[Oh Behave]

egor110 said:

I guess if you got a integra you'd just swop the electrical problems for rust.

Do you think a Teg would be that much quicker than a Clio?

[Oh Behave]

egor110 said:

I haven't driven a integra so don't know, they do seem to be a very sorted fwd car though.

If you want something quicker the rs megane ticks a lot of boxes, they got the handling sorted ( get the cup version) the turbo can be mapped for more power if you wish , it's just finding a reliable one without the electrical niggles.

If you want to go fast , the next question is what sort of fast ?

My saab aero is miles quicker than the clio once moving , 3rd gear and it just pulls and pulls however i think on a tight track or b roads my clio cup would be quicker because i wouldn't need to slow down as much for corners and could accelerate out of corners earlier.

In the aero 1st and 2nd gears are limited otherwise you just spin the tyres , so it's only when you get into 3rd you really pull.

Edited by egor110 on Wednesday 25th May 10:19

How quick is a good question and one I've been thinking about. I went out in a standard supercharged elise (220? I think) at Bedford last month and it felt very quick. However, I'm not sure if I want to go that fast as a). if you come off at those speeds there is a greater risk of damage/injury b). I wouldn't want to rely solely on a cars power and natural handling abilities. To me part of the challenge is taking my driving skills to the next level hence starting in a Clio. I have friends with cars over 400bhp but feel the car is beyond their capabilities to drive fast.

So you're right maybe a R26 will be the ticket, which points me in the direction of a 26R maybe? (thinking low depreciation too?)

[Oh Behave]

rb5er said:

Apparently the Polo GTi is the best car money can buy.

On a serious note, can you get an Exige for 20k?

My money would be on that or and elise with an engine conversion or evo/impreza. The old ones are quite light and so not really heavy on consumables.

Think exiges start at low 20s...

Spec C Scooby could be a riot!

[Oh Behave]

QBee - thanks for the response. I should probably elaborate on my current cars:

118d - work hack and dog transporter
E90 M3 - weekend car
Clio - dedicated track car (caged, buckets etc)
Also have access to my GFs 4 x 4.

However, I find the management of 3 cars a pain (servicing, tax etc) and I hardly use the M3 so my thinking is to chop in both the Clio and M3 for a track (10-12 days per year)/weekend/occasional car and something that is a bit of a keeper and won't lose too much in value.

I guess I really need to drive some and see which one I like the most. It wasn't me at Cadwell btw! My good friend has a 5.0 Chimeara (in purple) which is up for sale soon

[Oh Behave]

wellground said:

Just an idea, and from experience it might help on the road driving/track car/retain value front. I have a manual box Evo 10. They handle well and properly fast, but can make a nice road drive, plus as they came into the UK in much lower numbers than previous Evo's (as they stopped making the Evo)they are now starting to go back up in value. Plus being 4WD, it's a hoot in the wet. Just an off the wall idea. Hope it helps.

It would have to be the 9 MR for me but running one as a daily would be horrendous on the fuel consumption I suspect

git-r said:

R32 GTR

extremely good fun to drive in a rwd sense, incredibly over engineered and actually going up in value.

Still feel modern despite their age.

I've always hankered after a R32 GTR, and considering they won Bathurst etc would make a very capable track car with the right set up. Plus future values look solid. And the sound

I think in my head I've narrowed it down to one of these or a R26R, two entirely different propositions I know!

[Oh Behave]

NJH said:

R26.R can be as much as 3x the price of a good R26. To make a regular use track car you would be much better off buying an R26 and stripping it of weight which is what the R26.R is at the end of the day anyway. Thing is though I half agree with a previous poster, my own R26 has turned into somewhat of a money pit doing things to it and in part that was the fault of getting sucked into modding thing aka ruining a perfectly good car. Its my road car and only occasional use track car (I have a ground up built Porsche 944 race car). Its my personal opinion but I think the Megane is best kept close to stock, on mine the clutch went within a month of tuning the thing then you learn that the intercooler is also incapable of coping with more than stock boost, they really don't seem like a good modding base to me as the whole car seems to have been made by Alpine pretty close to what is possible from a mk2 Megane with any sensible engineering safety margin. Out of the box though I was amazed how good it was on track, just rubbish gear change and weak stock pads both of which are easy fixes, doing it again I would keep to those couple of things and forget all the endless stuff on the net about modifying them.

My thinking behind a R26R over a standard R26 is as follows:

To buy a half decent R26 will set you back say 6k, to cage, strip it, put buckets and harnesses in, realistically 3k, and then a few more upgrades and I'd say you're easily approaching 12k outlay which is pretty much dead money once you want to change/sell. If I buy a R26R for say 19k, I don't think I'd essentially lose 12k on it doing limited miles per year and already it is set-up for track etc

VTECMatt said:

The Elise chassis is fabulous, whether it is VX or Lotus both are brilliant, imho the best thing about the car is you have to learn to drive properly, no abs, no pas, no esp etc just make it a thrilling experience both on road and track. I am bias having owned them for 13 years and the perfect upgrade from the Clio, I moved up from an EK9 track civic type r and found the step up a good one.

Thanks. Apart from being a passenger in one, I've never driven one so maybe I should.

[Oh Behave]

Nuttah said:

Renault 5 gt turbo?

are these good on track?!

[Oh Behave]

Nuttah said:

Indeed, even with just a set of coilovers and some good tyres and they are very capable car's 200kg lighter than a clio equivalent to two large 15 stone men that's a significant difference in a little hatch back engines are easy to tune for more power, 180ish hp is simply a larger turbo, inter cooler and change the carb jets. 200+ easy enough with a cam and a bit more boost and don't be put off by the old school pub talk of reliability, chavs just used to fit bleedvales and wind them out thus running lean any wondering why they went pop, run any turbo car lean and that will happen, fit an AFR guage and set them up correctly and you will have no issues with hard track use. plenty of people from the rtoc had dedicated renault 5 track car's with no issues with reliability what so ever.

Edited by Nuttah on Tuesday 28th June 10:52

Thanks, I've seen a few of these at Mark Fish and by all accounts they go well. Might be worth investigating further...although I expect finding a clean one might be difficult

[Oh Behave]

Vladikar said:

I've recently bought a R26R and my last car was a GTR so I was a little worried about the obvious difference but having now owned it for over a week I would 1000% recommend one of those from your list!

It won't lose any value either which is a massive benefit for me.

What is you like about it? On holiday next week but starting to look when I get back