Clio V6; pictures and waffle

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Hi all,

This is an overdue post as I’ve had the car for well over a year now so I’m going to use it as an excuse to post a few pictures…


Having moved to London for university several years ago I quickly bought a motorbike, (Excuse the misleading non-London photo):






Whilst this was perfect to riding around town I found it to be very much style over substance, which is saying a lot considering my Dad has a couple of Harleys.

So with uni complete and now working in Oxford it was time to find a suitable car. Some options considered were Z3M Coupe, E36 M3 GT, Elise 111R amongst other.

I was looking for something fun and fast but also something ‘special’. I was looking forward to road trips, B road blasting and track days so it needed to tick a lot of boxes.

Amongst the list of potential cars was a Clio V6, largely because my brother had already owned one for some time. This proved to be very influential on my decision, but it also required some persistence.

I began looking and must have viewed 4 or 5 before mine was posted for sale on the V6Clio forum. With the values of these cars having dropped so low over the past few years a lot of the cars I viewed were in very poor condition and would have required a significant amount of time and money to get back to a good standard. Fortunately, my car to be was posted up for sale on the V6 forum and within a few days it was seen and bought.

Enough talk; pictures:


Having been collected:




Parked in Oxford:




First go on track with Pistonheads at Silverstone




As is customary I had my first spin at the end of the old pit straight, a little too much trail braking into the corner brought the back around very quickly and off I went into the, thankfully generous, run off area. Rather embarrassingly I had to sit and wait for the rest of the session to drive past as I sat waiting for the car to restart.

I was never particularly keen on the grey wheels so I had them painted back to the original silver at the first opportunity. I had them done through Scott at SG Motorsport who had looked after the car for the previous owner and had been used by my brother on several occasions in the past. Scott’s reputation precedes him and to put it shortly, if you have a Clio V6, it has to go to him.



At Kimbolton Fayre this year on the V6Clio stand:



I now live London (again) so the car sits idling waiting for the occasional weekend trip, however it does occasionally make it down.

At Hexagon Classic in Kensington:




With V6Clio at Silverstone classic; for those of you who don’t know these cars do come in colours other than blue and silver!




On an early Sunday morning drive with some quicker, more expensive and carbon fiber-y cars:



Just a gratuitous picture:



Last weekend was the most fun that I have had in the car as we took a road trip to Anglesey via the Evo Triangle and the Black Mountain Pass.
The photos that are clearly of another level to those shown previously were taken by Khalid Bari Automotive Photography - https://www.facebook.com/KhalidBariPhotography/?fr... and Art from Woofsnap - http://www.woofsnap.com/

















For those that made it this far I’ll finish by mentioning the changes the car has from standard:

Nardi steering wheel
Lightweight TTV Flywheel
Phase 1 clutch
Solid top mounts
Recaro Trendlines
Janspeed ‘Spike’ backbox
Clio V6 Trophy coils

Recaro Sportsters and KW V3s with a setup from Centre of Gravity are on the wishlist.

Also, I know that the previous owner Mick is on here so hopefully he will be pleased to see the car running well, being looked after and most importantly used.

Cheers.

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Thanks for the positive comments. Despite the pictures of it covered in filth it does get very well looked after!

Defcon5 said:

I thought these were going up in value rather than down. Good to see one being throughly used!

Sorry I was unclear; the values are going up now but as they had previously gone down they didn't get looked after as they should!

mick_coupe said:

My old car, still going well i hope ?

Mick

It goes very well! A bit of occasional TLC but that's because I'm trying to get it in the best condition possible. I hope the Elise is doing well?

dom9 said:

Interested to hear your thoughts on the lightweight flywheel. I feel it's the one mod that would make a big, positive difference to my car...

But no, I won't be doing it... for value reasons

My car came with the flywheel but I did drive my brothers before he had one installed. The revs rise and fall more quickly and give the car a little more urgency, but I am not the best person to ask for a side by side comparison. Those that have had it done all give very positive comments, some saying it's the biggest transformation to the car of all modifications.

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Jitstar said:

Love a bit of Phase 2, being an owner myself; silver suits it perfectly. Was that the Chelsea Car Club run, looks like a lot of fun?!

Interestetd too to hear your thoughts on the TTV - may get Scott onto it next time the engine gets dropped, so plenty of time to put money aside for it and maybe an LSD at the same time.

Have a Quicksilver exhaust - which is very loud (maybe too much, but got used to it) - but car also lives in Central London during the Summer, hopefully see you around.

Enjoy - it's the first car I've owned where I've genuinely thought I could never sell it - really gets under your skin!

It was Chelsea Car Club, yes. Are you a 'member'? It was great fun, very nice people, very well organised and the Welsh roads and Anglesey (all of which I was driving for the first time) were a lot of fun.

From my limited experience of both I would say get it done. From hearing others opinions I would say get it done sooner rather than later!

I like the Janspeed as it gives more volume than standard and crackles and pops but I'd really like an Orbisoud - they don't make the sports version anymore though, perhaps I'll have to get a 'race'.

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sidekickdmr said:

I’m not sure what will happen to the values though, will they continue to climb, or hover around the 30k mark?

Hopefully they will keep going up but it's a very niche market! I always pay attention to the values but it's very hard to gauge where your car might be, especially as a lot change hands without ever going on the market. I think there are some very optimistic dealers attempting to artificially push up the average market value, most don't fall for it as generally those looking to buy a car like this do their homework. The rarer colours, unfortunately those you have mentioned, will always command higher prices.

Ginger goblin said:

The TTV flywheel is a very worthwhile upgrade. Interestingly the production notes for the ph2 highlight the lacklustre nature of the engine when being revved and place the blame with the DMF. Getting rid of it makes a big difference, as does sorting the (pretty dire) throttle response out.

What are your thoughts on the throttle response, I find it to be incredibly immediate. So much so in fact that the pedal is tricky to modulate on a bumpy road and you and your foot bounce up and down in the seat. With that being said heel and toe comes quite easily, perhaps all the doing of the flywheel because, as I said before, I have limited experience with the dual mass.

These two factors make heel and toe(ing) quite hard to perfect in a standard car and mean that non-intuitive, early inputs are required to offset the lazy power delivery. None of this is apparent unless you begin to really push the car and not many do unfortunately and even fewer are open to modify these cars extensively now that they are seen as "investments". A lot of latent potential is there to be released. They are are great cars to tinker with.

To modify or not are of course an owners prerogative, but there are a few parts of the car where Renault fell short and it just improves the drive to much to make a few changes, many of which are very easily reversed!

Danm1les said:

Lovely car, whats with the panel gap around the side of the headlamp? The other V6 MK2's don't appear to have it but yours does? Almost like its got the wrong front wings on designed for the older headlights?

Some cars have large gaps to the side of the headlights like mine and no gap at all where the front corner of the light sits against the bumper, some have no gap at all and a larger gap at the front whilst some sit in between. The nature of a car that was 'hand built' I suppose!

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keemaklan said:

What motorbike is that? It looks SO nice.

I adore Clio V6s. What a car. Top PH'ing chap. Carry on...

It's a Triumph Thruxton with some expensive and time consuming modifications to the rear lighting/numberplate setup to remove the hideously large rear mudguard and shiny plastic lollipop indicators. I believe the newer retro style Triumphs are a vast improvement but this one was a death trap (aren't all motorbikes?).

BrotherMouzone said:

I saw you and your group at Anglesey.

Love Clio V6s; they're such cool cars!

Nice GT3, one of my picks of the day.

Slightlybald said:

Nice. How does it handle? Read that they were a bit of handful...

It has great amounts of grip until you really push it and then you get a whole load of understeer. The reputation these cars have for spinning are less to do with overcooked oversteer and more to do with unsettling the car. With the short wheelbase and the highly mounted engine it's easy to 'get a wobble on'. This can happen either by trail braking too much and bringing the back around too far; once it decides to come around it does so very quickly. Lifting off or applying significantly more throttle through a long corner, once you've entered the corner you are committed to not lifting off or all hell breaks loose, literally. And finally a mis-timed gear changed, it's best to have the car in straight line before changing otherwise this really unsettles the car.

All that really applies to the track, it's absolutely fine 90% of the time on the road, even when pushing it, although with standard suspension the camber in the road and lumps and bumps really push it around. If it's wet expect some aquaplaning and serious oversteer that you probably won't be able to save. All in all good fun until it goes wrong!

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Ginger goblin said:

Have you considered that the throttle control issues you refer to could relate to the solid top mounts on standard dampers (that may be on the way out?) and also the comfy but squishy and very unsupportive standard seats not exactly holding your legs firmly in place?

Great summing up of the driving characteristics by the way. Basically, don't be a dick and the car will return in kind!

I had the same issue with standard top mounts and I believe the dampers are in good health. I've got Recaro Trendlines in it which are certainly more supportive than the standard seats. Whilst I can see those being an issue my brothers car on new KWs and with Recaro Sportsters has the same characteristics! I am very intrigued by this throttle controller, I'll have to look into it.

Basically! Treat it with caution and try to be smooth and you might think the perception the Clio V6 is rubbish, however once you start to play with the limit it becomes very 'involving'!

mick_coupe said:

Glad to her all is well.The Elise has long gone, replaced with an Exige S.

Mick

Nice! I've been looking at the Exige S and the Alfa 4C for potential next cars, how do you like yours? Great fun on Welsh roads I imagine, any time on track?

Edited by 10 on Tuesday 13th December 14:03

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Ginger goblin said:

The pattern has repeated itself a few times on v6clio.net - Trendlines, KW v3s, Spike silencer, clear engine cover, TTV, Trophy coils, Pilot Super Sports.

The problem with the remap 'craze' was that it turned out that all the company/ies were doing were playing with the throttle maps to give more immediacy and provide the feeling that the car had more power. This could also be the cause of the issue. Or it could just be that you need a bit of time to adjust to the TTV. Who knows?

That sounds familiar, the only thing I'm missing the suspension, I don't know about the re-map though. I know that there is a map out there to make the throttle more linear, it might be worth doing especially if there is a chance of re-map already having been done. The car came with the flywheel and I've had the car a year and a few months so I would hope I am used to it by now! I think there is only so much you can do to these cars to alleviate some of the 'character', but I knew what I was getting into!

BrotherMouzone said:

Sadly not a real one but an imposter (Carrera 2 with factory-fitted GT3 aerokit and wheels). My first time at Anglesey also; I was having a great time until I managed to lock myself out of the car with the key in the boot. (hence the two AA vans)

Ah, I had my suspicions but didn't have a close look around it, I was concentrating too much during the day - so much so I didn't even notice the AA vans, although we left shortly after lunch having had a long session as soon as we changed to the coastal trap and had a long drive home. Still, could be worse!

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All my other pics in this thread have disappeared, and since I haven't updated this in a few years, I though I'd put some pics up for posterity.

Since my last post I've taken the V6 to the Alps, Cheddar Gorge and more recently, Wales.

Prior to going to the Alps I went out on a few drives:



Not in its natural habitat:



Friends and I spent a couple of weeks cycling In the French Alps there, so used it as an opportunity to blast the cars around. This did mean taking a bike in or on the car:





Using a sucker mount, which was actually very successful, was pretty simple and meant I could chuck them in the footwell and go for a drive without all the roof accouterments.

Towards the end of the holiday we drive over to Switzerland, with the aim being to drive the Furka, Susten and Grimsel passes.

At the top of the Furka:



Then the Susten...



...and the Grimsel:





The justification of buying a mount for the bike was fairly unfounded given that a few weeks prior I had bought myself a 'practical' car:

(given the car was released in the 90's, this seems appropriate)





Over the past ownership the 480 has had a lot of money and hours put into it and, whilst it was a good example to start with, it runs and drives extremely well.

Back onto the V6, it recently had a refresh and some work done on it including:

- KW V3s
- ITG Airbox
- New clutch and lightweight TTV flywheel
- Gearbox refresh

Following that I though I'd put my cleaning skills to work:





It took a day to clean and protect the wheels so I haven't had a chance to get onto the paint yet! Needless to say, having had that work done and some new bits it drives better than it ever has in my four, years of ownership.