PH blog: in defence of the Clio RS
Words in praise of the new Clio RS have been few and far between - Dan attempts to redress the balance
The reasons for the outcry are easy enough to understand, the burden of expectation dumped on the new Clio RS by the outgoing car suitably formidable and new-school stuff like a turbo engine, five doors, dual-clutch transmission and the rest enough of an upset to really rattle the cages of the more purist fans.
Like me. Six months in a 197 Cup long-termer got me hooked on the Renaultsport way of life, this followed by the satisfaction of a long-held dream and purchase of a 172 Cup of my very own. I recall slavishly reading every word on it when it launched thinking "that sounds EXACTLY my kind of car" and just under a decade later I was proved right. OK, it tried to kill me a few times. But we parted friends.
But I'm not as worried about the new Clio RS as most seem to be, even with that emotional baggage. OK, I'll concede the dual-clutch only transmission does sadden me. But the rest? I'm willing to hold judgement until I've driven it. And I think we all should.
Renault folk are bullish too. I put the frosty reaction to the car to someone there and he shrugged it off with "we had the same reaction to the 182 over the 172, the same for the 197 over the 182, etc, etc."
Thing is, Renaultsport cars have rarely been that impressive on paper. The Clio 2 was, frankly a tad over-engined and hardly sophisticated. The 197 heavy, under-geared and with a very peaky power delivery. The responses to criticisms have always been engineering led and not especially easy to communicate in words alone. You can prattle on about the effect of putting Sachs racing dampers with an on-paper value equivalent to 10 per cent of the car's overall cost as much as you like but until you've driven a 182 Trophy you won't understand. And the way a Cup chassis'd 197 or 200 rewards with GT3-like focus and enthusiasm on track remains utterly unique in the hot-hatch market.
The Megane 265 proves Renaultsport can engineer a turbocharged car that thrills and the bigger picture stuff like fuel economy (rarely into the 30s in my 197) and CO2 meant downsized forced induction was inevitable. I can live with that and the Megane's engine is revvy and feisty enough, which bodes well. The Clio 3's kerb weight, rarely mentioned and yet nearly 200kg more than my old 172 Cup, was an issue too, exacerbating that lack of torque. And the new one should be quite a bit lighter, by how much TBC but, typically, Clio 4 is -100kg over the equivalent Clio 3.
Core values, like properly set-up fixed-rate dampers available in Sport or more focused Cup options, are where Renaultsport really shows its class. And if the Clio handles like a lighter, more nimble Megane 265 you'll hear no complaints from me.
So I'm more optimistic than most. It'll be interesting to see how the 208 compares too. With this and the Fiesta ST on the way it's going to be a cracking year for hot hatches...
Dan
A turbo engine gives you torque, which is what you need when dealing with a lot of weight. Think lorries as an extreme example.
The fake noise is the icing on the cake really, I can't imagine why someone would think that's a good idea!
More -confusion is less badder.
Edit: And pumping fake engine sound into the cabin is idiotic. I can picture a scene with a suited marketing man wearing Louis Walsh's inane, hatred-proof grin telling a group of cringing, frustrated engineers about the plans for this.
I'm a huge RS fan/owner anyway, so probably a bit biased, but I think it looks good - 5 doors suits me.
Not a fan of N/A engines particularly anyway - thrashing an engine everywhere to make progress seems a bit childish to me these days, things have moved on.
The gearbox interests me too - my misses has a boxster S with the PDK box. Brilliant. Again, things have moved on. I understand this is Renault's first attempt at such a 'box, so it might not be, just have to wait and see.
Anyway, these days, Pistonheads' threads often tend to berate as the default setting so i'm not sure Renault Customer Services will be panicking just yet!!
Different league I know, but when out in my cousin's GTR it never really crosses my mind - what this thing really needs is a manual gearbox and the turbos removed??!!
More -confusion is less badder.
So what number clio is this?
-2?
I don't think the Turbo engine is too big an issue (remember the R5GTT), it's everything else that's the problem.
It's bloody horrible to begin with.
Why would anyone buy this over a cooper S?
I saw the concept and thought it would tick all the boxes of a DD for me, with added fun for those days when I feel like it.
The 200 may be fantastic, but with engine figures like my old CTR, it looks like you have to cane it everywhere to get performance, which gets tiring and annoying.
More -confusion is less badder.
So what number clio is this?
-2?
It is a horrific carbuncle on the face of Renault Sport. Have it removed or at least pay somone to paint it in stealth matt black so it's grimacing wombat face goes un-noticed.
2/10 - must try harder.
In fact the Mk5 Golf R32 is wider, heavier, taller and as fast as an E28 M5, which makes you wonder whether in 20 years time the average hot hatch will weigh two tonnes and have 550bhp.
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