Thursday 4th December 2014

Renaultsport Clio 200 Cup: Spotted

Still pining for the old fast Clio? Early 200s are now under £7K...

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So now it is just Renault remaining. Ford produced a great fast Fiesta straight out of the box, Peugeot now has its own equal too and therefore the world is waiting on Renault to produce another legendary quick Clio. There is certainly potential in the current car; it is far from the lost cause many portray it to be. Let's wait and see. But hopefully not for too long.

No Recaros but good other than that

Anyway, that's more than enough justification, if any were required, to have a peruse of the classifieds for an old 200. The car that raises a smile to whomever you mention it to. The praise has been constant since its 2009 launch, addressing the flaws of the 197 while still being imbued with a heap of old school charm. What more is needed from a hot hatch than a engine willing to rev well beyond 7,000rpm, a six-speed manual and a chassis of the highest quality? You want it to be prettier? Well you can't have everything or nothing is perfect, choose your idiom. But 2.0-litre naturally aspirated engines aren't the future, it had to be replaced and, for now, the turbocharged and dual clutch Renaultsport Clio hasn't captured the imagination as previously.

On top of their dynamic excellence, the great thing with fast Clios is they're cheap. Bar the Williams and the V6, all the Renaultsport cars are depreciating or reached their lowest value. Don't forget the Trophy too, still available for less than £6K and surely worth every pound given the accolades heaped upon it.

Last of a line and cheap with it - do it!

But we'll stick with the 200 for now. What's the ideal spec? Well really you want a Cup with the Recaros and some bright paint. Not only does this Gordini Blue car score on two of those (there are some with the seats but not many), it's also one of the cheapest 200s for sale at £6,945. And really, what more could you want?

The mileage isn't anything horrendous, having covered 10,000 miles a year in the first five years of its life. Being five years old it will be due a cambelt so there's perhaps some negotiating room there. Don't forget the full PH Buying Guide if you do fancy one. There's a long MoT and it's HPI clear but there's no mention of any tax in the advert. Regardless, it looks ready to plaster a grin across the face of whoever is lucky enough to be the next owner.

Without the limited edition status of something like a Trophy the Clio Cup will continue to depreciate but running costs shouldn't be an issue, thirst aside. There's a reason they downsized the engine and if you get into the 30s in mpg you're ... driving too slowly. It's still a Clio at the end of the day too, with everything good (many shared parts are fairly cheap) and bad (the interior perhaps) that that entails.

But for £7K, what other hot hatch would you have?

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RENAULT CLIO RENAULTSPORT CUP 200
Engine: 1,998cc four-cylinder
Transmission: Six-speed manual, front-wheel drive
Power (hp): 200@7,100rpm
Torque (lb ft): 159@5,400rpm
MPG: 34.4 (NEDC combined)
CO2: 195g/km
Year registered: 2009
Recorded miles: 54,000
Price new: £16,750
Yours for: £6,945

See the original advert here.

[Axionknight]

I have an 11 plate Cup model as a second car which I bought in September last year - it's great fun for hooning around in and very sure footed and forgiving when driving it hard/on the track (my first track experiences were in this car).

Living with it day to day might be a bit tiresome, it's small, thirsty and the engine is fairly noisy due to the gearing at motorway speeds, but when you get a nice empty, well sighted b-raod, it's a brilliant little car - nippy enough, fun to rev out, composed and damned good fun, I found it to be a far better prospect than the VXR Corsa of the same age, which by comparison felt far more rough and ready when pressing on.

[Axionknight]

davyvee said:

Trophy is the better road car. 200 the better track car.

The trophy would munch through a bumpy b road whereas the 200 would be jittering away some way behind.

I'm not so sure, the general ride quality in my 200 Cup wasn't great, but it was deft and agile - and fairly composed when pressing on.

My friend has an FN2 Type R on 19" wheels and the ride in that is worse imo, love the car though.