My Renaultsport Machine - Glacier White Clio 200 Cup
Discussion
Hello all, I recently sold my beloved Honda Civic EP3 Type R (build thread here: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a... and bought myself a GW Clio 200 Cup. I have wanted one of these little cars for a long time so finally got around to buying one. Kinda the wrong order, as most people go from a Saxo, to a Clio, to Civic Tye R, then onto Subaru etc. However, I love the design and handling characteristics of Renaultsport cars and fancied trying one out. I am also about 5 years behind all the other guys who owned a Saxo when I did (FMP etc.) and they have since moved on to bigger and better things, however, I am a late bloomer so to speak, so bear with me 
After many many viewings and test drives of a few dogs, I finally found one via one of the guys on the Clio 197 forum (Ed) so thanks Ed! Had to go to Northern Ireland to find a good one with the specification I was after (Recaro's, White, Cup chassis) as all of the ones I looked at here were either not what I was after, or had something wrong with them. I don't plan to modify it as I don't think it's required. It's also my daily driver as I already have a highly tuned Peugeot S2 106 Rallye on bodies, so this is supposed to be my sensible machine! As you can tell I have a penchant for small fast French hatchbacks
Overall the car is very clean and in excellent condition, mainly owing to the fact that the lad who owned it before me is a Renault technician so he maintained it very well, and also liked detailing so the paintwork is mint. After the long ferry journey and drive back from Liverpool to Hertfordshire she was running nicely, and I was getting used to it.
I will probably just carry out a few small tweaks to tidy it up further, and get it really nice and mint. If I do anything mechanical it will be a brake upgrade in the form of some AP discs or the like. It already has an Akrapovic exhaust system so that satisfies my lust for modifications so far!
Needless to say, I am in love with the car already and it really does handle like a slightly softened race car. Fantastic little machine it is.
Firstly, after reading about the drain holes blocking and water ingress becoming a problem, I decided to tackle this as one of the first this afternoon. Went ok, not a bad job overall just fiddly, and it started p*ssing it down halfway through so I lost my sense of humour with it after a while. I also had to make a puller (bit rough but it did the job) as my wipers were on uber tight and I didn't want to damage anything by forcing them off. This worked a treat. As it happened my drain holes weren't blocked, but there was still a lot of dirt and crap in under the scuttle so gave it a good clean anyway. A few hours later i'd got the job done, cleaned and refitted all the plastics, and more importantly cleaned the scuttle area and ensured the drain holes were nice and clear. A few pics of the work. I will get some better photos of the car once the god-damned weather sorts itself out and I can clean the thing.
Interior:
Wheel and brake (calipers in great condition too, another seemingly difficult box to tick when finding one!)
My DIY bodged puller (really must buy a decent one at some point they are very handy to have):
Scuttle before:
Scuttle after:
With a bit of luck I can clean it tomorrow and get some more photos up.
Plans so far are to buy a full set of proper Renaultsport mats, some black Renaultsport 'RS' centre caps, two new front tyres, and possibly a silver Renaultsport steering wheel insert. A nice touch is that she has the FF steering wheel fitted, which is much nicer than the skinnier cup version.
That's all for now!
Lewis
After many many viewings and test drives of a few dogs, I finally found one via one of the guys on the Clio 197 forum (Ed) so thanks Ed! Had to go to Northern Ireland to find a good one with the specification I was after (Recaro's, White, Cup chassis) as all of the ones I looked at here were either not what I was after, or had something wrong with them. I don't plan to modify it as I don't think it's required. It's also my daily driver as I already have a highly tuned Peugeot S2 106 Rallye on bodies, so this is supposed to be my sensible machine! As you can tell I have a penchant for small fast French hatchbacks
Overall the car is very clean and in excellent condition, mainly owing to the fact that the lad who owned it before me is a Renault technician so he maintained it very well, and also liked detailing so the paintwork is mint. After the long ferry journey and drive back from Liverpool to Hertfordshire she was running nicely, and I was getting used to it.
I will probably just carry out a few small tweaks to tidy it up further, and get it really nice and mint. If I do anything mechanical it will be a brake upgrade in the form of some AP discs or the like. It already has an Akrapovic exhaust system so that satisfies my lust for modifications so far!
Needless to say, I am in love with the car already and it really does handle like a slightly softened race car. Fantastic little machine it is.
Firstly, after reading about the drain holes blocking and water ingress becoming a problem, I decided to tackle this as one of the first this afternoon. Went ok, not a bad job overall just fiddly, and it started p*ssing it down halfway through so I lost my sense of humour with it after a while. I also had to make a puller (bit rough but it did the job) as my wipers were on uber tight and I didn't want to damage anything by forcing them off. This worked a treat. As it happened my drain holes weren't blocked, but there was still a lot of dirt and crap in under the scuttle so gave it a good clean anyway. A few hours later i'd got the job done, cleaned and refitted all the plastics, and more importantly cleaned the scuttle area and ensured the drain holes were nice and clear. A few pics of the work. I will get some better photos of the car once the god-damned weather sorts itself out and I can clean the thing.
Interior:
Wheel and brake (calipers in great condition too, another seemingly difficult box to tick when finding one!)
My DIY bodged puller (really must buy a decent one at some point they are very handy to have):
Scuttle before:
Scuttle after:
With a bit of luck I can clean it tomorrow and get some more photos up.
Plans so far are to buy a full set of proper Renaultsport mats, some black Renaultsport 'RS' centre caps, two new front tyres, and possibly a silver Renaultsport steering wheel insert. A nice touch is that she has the FF steering wheel fitted, which is much nicer than the skinnier cup version.
That's all for now!
Lewis
Edited by Track_Cit on Sunday 1st March 00:48
Thanks chaps.
It's probably not as savagely fast in terms of acceleration when comparing to the Civic as the power delivery is more linear, and you do not get the vtec 'rush'. However, it revs to 8K still and has a lot of umph if you really give it some stick through the gears, very much like the Honda actually. This is deceptively fast I would say. Handling wise, this is much more sophisticated than the Honda. It's just so tight and precise. Great fun to drive and inspires so much confidence through the corners, and when you turn in it just wants more.
Tyres are fine for daily to be honest. They are very good I have found so far. Not expensive either really. They are loud at around 50mph on the motorway, but otherwise they are fine. I just go faster to alleviate this minor problem!
Some more work today. Annoyingly it was really nice which wound me up considering I was out in the rain yesterday - never mind! Today I tackled a few more mundane jobs, but ones that make a difference to the overall appearance of the car. Spent ages cleaning the bay and under the bonnet, also cleaned door shuts, rubber seals, boot hinges and around that area, hoovered it all out inside and generally got her looking mint. Needs a good clean outside again but will get onto that soon. Hopefully Wednesday as it's my birthday and i'm taking the day off work!
A few photos of today's efforts. Still need to take some of the whole car but will preserve those until she is gleaming. Starting to look like new though now I am stoked on it!
Scuttle clean from yesterday (bit of a cack photo but you get the idea):
Engine bay all cleaned and under bonnet. Going to remove the intake pipe and clean it up as it's messing with my OCD. However it's too tight to clean it properly in place, hence why it's grubby still.
Inside door shuts cleaned:
Interior hoovered (one side, started lashing so couldn't complete driver side):
Little black covers removed where keyless entry sensors presumably go on the FF model. Gave these a good clean:
Done:
Door and wheel shot, no reason for this photo just liked the angle:
Really love the shape of the car it's a lovely design. Looking forward to giving it clean and getting some new mats for it hopefully this week.
will update further then.
Thanks.
It's probably not as savagely fast in terms of acceleration when comparing to the Civic as the power delivery is more linear, and you do not get the vtec 'rush'. However, it revs to 8K still and has a lot of umph if you really give it some stick through the gears, very much like the Honda actually. This is deceptively fast I would say. Handling wise, this is much more sophisticated than the Honda. It's just so tight and precise. Great fun to drive and inspires so much confidence through the corners, and when you turn in it just wants more.
Tyres are fine for daily to be honest. They are very good I have found so far. Not expensive either really. They are loud at around 50mph on the motorway, but otherwise they are fine. I just go faster to alleviate this minor problem!
Some more work today. Annoyingly it was really nice which wound me up considering I was out in the rain yesterday - never mind! Today I tackled a few more mundane jobs, but ones that make a difference to the overall appearance of the car. Spent ages cleaning the bay and under the bonnet, also cleaned door shuts, rubber seals, boot hinges and around that area, hoovered it all out inside and generally got her looking mint. Needs a good clean outside again but will get onto that soon. Hopefully Wednesday as it's my birthday and i'm taking the day off work!
A few photos of today's efforts. Still need to take some of the whole car but will preserve those until she is gleaming. Starting to look like new though now I am stoked on it!
Scuttle clean from yesterday (bit of a cack photo but you get the idea):
Engine bay all cleaned and under bonnet. Going to remove the intake pipe and clean it up as it's messing with my OCD. However it's too tight to clean it properly in place, hence why it's grubby still.
Inside door shuts cleaned:
Interior hoovered (one side, started lashing so couldn't complete driver side):
Little black covers removed where keyless entry sensors presumably go on the FF model. Gave these a good clean:
Done:
Door and wheel shot, no reason for this photo just liked the angle:
Really love the shape of the car it's a lovely design. Looking forward to giving it clean and getting some new mats for it hopefully this week.
will update further then.
Thanks.
Thanks guys.
Yes I still have the rallye too, I am going to try and get it mapped and on the road/track this summer I hope.
Its a fast car but you have to thrash it to get the speed from it. It's pretty similar to my type r in that respect. But it doesn't feel as 'urgent' as the type r. This is a lot of fun of twisties though. Different car to the civic really.
A couple of arty Instagram shots from this evening:
And I really like this one:
Yes I still have the rallye too, I am going to try and get it mapped and on the road/track this summer I hope.
Its a fast car but you have to thrash it to get the speed from it. It's pretty similar to my type r in that respect. But it doesn't feel as 'urgent' as the type r. This is a lot of fun of twisties though. Different car to the civic really.
A couple of arty Instagram shots from this evening:
And I really like this one:
Edited by Track_Cit on Thursday 22 October 15:29
Yes they are fun alright, I just keep getting stuck behind numpties lately so can never really open it up properly. It does stick to the road though I will say.
Ok some more work today - feel dead tonight after a day of working on it. It was my birthday so had the day off, what better way to spend it than playing with the car
Firstly I took the rear lights off and cleaned all the gunk out from behind them, like new now.
Then I spent ages hoovering the rest of the car, mainly drivers side and cleaning the seat rails and all the nooks and crannies. I have oredered some new mats for it too which will freshen up the interior. They should arrive next week I think.
Then I cleaned the engine bay some more, looks mint now.
I also cleaned the whole car but it got dark before I could take photos, so will try and get some tomorrow!
Poo behind the light:
Cleaned:
Light refitted and looking good:
Cleaned inside the fuel filler cap (need to replace the rubber cord):
Hoovered interior (took AAAGES):
Cleaned engine bay:
Hopefully will get some shots up of the whole car tomorrow
Lewis
Ok some more work today - feel dead tonight after a day of working on it. It was my birthday so had the day off, what better way to spend it than playing with the car
Firstly I took the rear lights off and cleaned all the gunk out from behind them, like new now.
Then I spent ages hoovering the rest of the car, mainly drivers side and cleaning the seat rails and all the nooks and crannies. I have oredered some new mats for it too which will freshen up the interior. They should arrive next week I think.
Then I cleaned the engine bay some more, looks mint now.
I also cleaned the whole car but it got dark before I could take photos, so will try and get some tomorrow!
Poo behind the light:
Cleaned:
Light refitted and looking good:
Cleaned inside the fuel filler cap (need to replace the rubber cord):
Hoovered interior (took AAAGES):
Cleaned engine bay:
Hopefully will get some shots up of the whole car tomorrow
Lewis
I really like the 197's in white too.
I went for a drive yesterday as the weather was nice and took a few photo's. Gave her a bit of thrashing once warmed up on the back road. She reaaaally does stick to the road I must say. Impressed with it. First time i've been able to open it up as I always seem to get stuck behind some dawdling incompetent jerk in an MPV or Honda Jazz whenever I head out the door, however, yesterday lady luck was on my side!
The snaps. She is also very clean as I spent the day washing it this week
I went for a drive yesterday as the weather was nice and took a few photo's. Gave her a bit of thrashing once warmed up on the back road. She reaaaally does stick to the road I must say. Impressed with it. First time i've been able to open it up as I always seem to get stuck behind some dawdling incompetent jerk in an MPV or Honda Jazz whenever I head out the door, however, yesterday lady luck was on my side!
The snaps. She is also very clean as I spent the day washing it this week
Couple more recent updates on this which I have finally got around to uploading the photos of. Got some new mats, new window seals (real nightmare job that was), and a new dash clock display surround as mine was scratched up.
Also removed my speedo cluster and got rid of a dead bug that had gotten in there which was messing with my OCD!
Box of goodies:
Mats:
Centre console clock surround removed - after work night time job this was, hence flash.
Clocks out:
The offending bug:
Gone with the help of my camera lens air blower device:
New rear window seals - what a ball ache job this is.......
The old cracked seal, will try and take some photos of the bits fitted at some point:
That's all for now,
Lewis
Also removed my speedo cluster and got rid of a dead bug that had gotten in there which was messing with my OCD!
Box of goodies:
Mats:
Centre console clock surround removed - after work night time job this was, hence flash.
Clocks out:
The offending bug:
Gone with the help of my camera lens air blower device:
New rear window seals - what a ball ache job this is.......
The old cracked seal, will try and take some photos of the bits fitted at some point:
That's all for now,
Lewis
Thanks guys. It's a really fun car alright. The only trouble I do find is trying to drive it sensibly, it just makes you want to tear all the time. Now I am used to it and found it's limitations, I must say the handling is just excellent. You can just throw it into corners and it just wants more, especially with the sticky tyres. Cracking machine.
In spirit of Evo magazine and Top Gear driving missions, I decided to go on a little (long) mission to Wales for some driving and photography on bank holiday Monday. As this is a real drivers car, I thought where better to take it than to some real driving roads? So, I went to Wales. Weather was stunning, roads were clear (for the most part), had a good time. Drove all around Brecon Beacons and some (pretty much all actually) of the roads were just amazing. Super smooth asphalt, no traffic, beautiful scenery, absolute motoring Heaven. I didn't get there until about 3:30PM as didn't leave my house until midday, but it kinda worked out well as there was no-one around really so had the roads and scenery to myself. Was very peaceful in between the bursts of noise from the Akrapovic!
Here are my photos anyway - enjoy
The infamous hair pin - some of you will recognise this section! I felt like I had entered the promised land when I found this!
The tool of choice:
Losing the light now, see how the mountains in the background had a lovely orange glow from the setting sun, was pretty breathtaking.
In spirit of Evo magazine and Top Gear driving missions, I decided to go on a little (long) mission to Wales for some driving and photography on bank holiday Monday. As this is a real drivers car, I thought where better to take it than to some real driving roads? So, I went to Wales. Weather was stunning, roads were clear (for the most part), had a good time. Drove all around Brecon Beacons and some (pretty much all actually) of the roads were just amazing. Super smooth asphalt, no traffic, beautiful scenery, absolute motoring Heaven. I didn't get there until about 3:30PM as didn't leave my house until midday, but it kinda worked out well as there was no-one around really so had the roads and scenery to myself. Was very peaceful in between the bursts of noise from the Akrapovic!
Here are my photos anyway - enjoy
The infamous hair pin - some of you will recognise this section! I felt like I had entered the promised land when I found this!
The tool of choice:
Losing the light now, see how the mountains in the background had a lovely orange glow from the setting sun, was pretty breathtaking.
Edited by Track_Cit on Thursday 22 October 15:22
Edited by Track_Cit on Thursday 22 October 15:22
Edited by Track_Cit on Thursday 22 October 15:23
Few little updates on this. Something I have been meaning to do for a while, I finally got around to cleaning my seatbelts. Although the car is mint overall, the previous owner is/was a mechanic, and obviously used to hop in and drive home from work with grubby mits, therefore part of the drivers belt was really grubby, and needed a right good clean! I followed a bit of a guide on the Renault forum and adapted it slightly, and really pleased with the results. I also gave the Recaro's and clean and the whole interior looks brand new now, so pleased with it.
Here are the photos. PS: Vanish soap bar combined with a scrubbing brush worked excellently at shifting the grime:
Lower part of seatbelt compared to the upper part:
The product I used to clean them with, along with some soap powder in the water:
Top part of belt cable tied off:
Soaking before a scrub:
Dirty water!
Drying them off with an AutoGlym chamois:
Drier and looking way better:
Clean drivers side vs Passenger side (yet to be cleaned):
Drying properly:
Clean seats and looking mint (minimal wear too!)
Gave it a full detail too:
Finally, I may be thinking of putting this up for sale as I really fancy a Megane now, however, having trouble finding a Megane in the spec and condition I want, so I will continue to do bits to the Clio until then. I've ordered a K&N panel filter which I will fit this weekend, and I also need some new tyres so thinking of getting some Michelin Pilot Cup Sport 2's. Not cheap, but the best!
Thanks
Lewis
Here are the photos. PS: Vanish soap bar combined with a scrubbing brush worked excellently at shifting the grime:
Lower part of seatbelt compared to the upper part:
The product I used to clean them with, along with some soap powder in the water:
Top part of belt cable tied off:
Soaking before a scrub:
Dirty water!
Drying them off with an AutoGlym chamois:
Drier and looking way better:
Clean drivers side vs Passenger side (yet to be cleaned):
Drying properly:
Clean seats and looking mint (minimal wear too!)
Gave it a full detail too:
Finally, I may be thinking of putting this up for sale as I really fancy a Megane now, however, having trouble finding a Megane in the spec and condition I want, so I will continue to do bits to the Clio until then. I've ordered a K&N panel filter which I will fit this weekend, and I also need some new tyres so thinking of getting some Michelin Pilot Cup Sport 2's. Not cheap, but the best!
Thanks
Lewis
Edited by Track_Cit on Thursday 22 October 15:24
M1TT J said:
Any idea on the kind of money you'd want if you sold it?
Thanks guys. It's a brilliant car to be honest, I love it. Only reason to sell is for a Megane, and I think i've found one. I have this up currently for £8.5k but would certainly be open to any sensible offers. At present I am thinking of trading it in against the Megane if it doesn't sell first....I drove a Megane on Sunday, and while it's a more refined and bigger car, I would debate that it's better to drive. The reason I am changing mainly is because I am starting to do a lot of mileage for work and I don't want to put loads of miles on the Clio.
In terms of the differences, the Clio feels more exciting and manic, twitchy, precise, raring to go. The Megane is really fast, but the steering is no where near as precise and does not provide the same level of feedback as the Clio. Also the gear change isn't as notchy and satisfying. However, I think for me personally the other characteristics of teh Megane will be more suited for my day to day driving. I will miss the Clio. It's been my favourite car that i've owned. If anyone is considering one I would say go for it. Give it a chance to shine and you will see why it gets so many good reviews in the press. Cracking little beastie
I actually think on a tight back road it would be faster than the Megane, despite the lack of power. The cup chassis makes it stick like anything.If anyone is interested the advert is here. It's going to be traded in on Saturday otherwise, all being well. And I got mileage wrong it's actually only on 47.5k not 49.
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/r...
Edited by Track_Cit on Monday 19th October 14:12
Edited by Track_Cit on Monday 19th October 14:13
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