Renault Clio 197 - Racing Blue
Discussion
I'm just about 1 week into ClioSport ownership now and it's safe to say I'm still smiling! Coming from a boggo standard family hatch, this puts a smile on my face just pressing the Start button!
Spent the day cleaning, tidying, back-to-blacking and generally giving the car a good going over. The seats still need a good steam clean, but I'm happy with it for now until the weather brightens up
Team HEKO wind deflectors and a PH smilie are on order!
My commute to work is fairly short, stop-start, and with no good roads in my immediate area I'm waiting to give her a proper drive! Off to Cannock in a couple of weekends time, and then early April is a trip to Snowdonia which should be absolutely perfect!
I'll try and keep this thread fairly up-to-date with various bits I do to the car, no immediate "mods" are planned as my wallet has taken a rather large hit sorting the purchase, tax and insurance out!
Spent the day cleaning, tidying, back-to-blacking and generally giving the car a good going over. The seats still need a good steam clean, but I'm happy with it for now until the weather brightens up
Team HEKO wind deflectors and a PH smilie are on order!
My commute to work is fairly short, stop-start, and with no good roads in my immediate area I'm waiting to give her a proper drive! Off to Cannock in a couple of weekends time, and then early April is a trip to Snowdonia which should be absolutely perfect!
I'll try and keep this thread fairly up-to-date with various bits I do to the car, no immediate "mods" are planned as my wallet has taken a rather large hit sorting the purchase, tax and insurance out!
Edited by CallorFold on Saturday 28th February 18:32
NFox said:
Looks great mate, I was very close to buying one of these but I have had two 182s and fancied the type r!
I looked at a couple of EP3's myself before moving onto the 197's 
They're fantastic cars but after seeing a couple, they all looked rather worn and tired with pretty high mileage.
197 has always been on my watch list - this was one of the first I went to look at, and after seeing 5-6 more it was quite easily the nicest
pollysmate said:
they are great cars, i've had mine nearly 2 years now and love it, i would only sell to buy a younger car
Looks tidy! Not a fan personally of the decals but I do love the cup spoiler! Taken me a little while to get used to 1st and 2nd when the car is cold, it's a bit jumpy but with the TC turned off and a tank of V-Power, it seems considerably better. NFox said:
Yeah it did take a while to find one in an acceptable condition. Managed to get a premier with 60k on the clock and its in pretty good nick all round. Few marks etc as you'd expect on a 9 year old car but I am to restore it to its former glory over time
Sounds like a good find! I really like the Premier seats over the standard ones. I was trying to find something below 100K and it was the lack of/"missing" service history that let most of them down. Keep it looking good, keep up with the maintenance and keep those receipts! So the car looked nice and clean from a few feet away, but up close almost the entire bottom half of the car, especially down the sides, were plagued with tar spots.
In between the bouts of rain, I grabbed myself some AutoGlym Intensive Tar remover and set to work - it was far from wipe on-wipe off but well worth the effort! There was even a couple of small black scratches that I assumed were where paint had been scratched off, but in fact were marks on top of the paint which have now also been removed! Bonus!
In between the bouts of rain, I grabbed myself some AutoGlym Intensive Tar remover and set to work - it was far from wipe on-wipe off but well worth the effort! There was even a couple of small black scratches that I assumed were where paint had been scratched off, but in fact were marks on top of the paint which have now also been removed! Bonus!
Couple more little bits done -
Swapped out the front Wiper Blades for some decent Aero Blades;
Valeo Silencio X.TRM Flat - can immediately tell the difference with these, they clean the screen considerably better than the previous blades.
I don't often use the rear blade so I figured I'd save a few ££ on the Bosch blades and try a Lucas branded one - definitely not the best idea I've had, the colour mismatch is awful so I've had to return this!
Next up was an idea I got from the 197 Forums, an aluminium foot rest plate - there is already a carpet rest over to the left of the clutch but so save getting this all tatty and worn, for £10 a proper footplate seemed a good idea and it was just a case of sticking it down -
Swapped out the front Wiper Blades for some decent Aero Blades;
Valeo Silencio X.TRM Flat - can immediately tell the difference with these, they clean the screen considerably better than the previous blades.
I don't often use the rear blade so I figured I'd save a few ££ on the Bosch blades and try a Lucas branded one - definitely not the best idea I've had, the colour mismatch is awful so I've had to return this!
Next up was an idea I got from the 197 Forums, an aluminium foot rest plate - there is already a carpet rest over to the left of the clutch but so save getting this all tatty and worn, for £10 a proper footplate seemed a good idea and it was just a case of sticking it down -
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