RE: The best used Renault Sport cars to buy in 2021

[Trevor555]

Great thread, brings back memories.

I was in sales for Renault in the 90's

I remember my first drive in a 5 turbo.

We were selling the last run of the bobby basic 5's for £3995 brand new.

Other memorable cars were the 9 turbo, the 21 turbo, and a bit later the 19 16v and the Clio 16v

We had a white Clio 16v in at one point, the sales manager said it was the only one in the UK? White was not a popular choice back then.

I loved the V6 espace's, not sure they had any competitors at the time, Galaxy 2.3 wasn't up to much.

We had a couple of A610's that came in for service, very quick car in their day.

I was blown away when the first Spider came in and I thought I'll buy one one day.

Should have kept it, sold in 2008 for under £15,000

Sorry no pics to share of them all, no smartphones back then lol

And to add, the Renault workshop was the busiest workshop of any main dealer I've worked at, very profitable it was.

The poor old Honda workshops back then only really did routine servicing.

[frayz]

Mine I paid £6500 with 8k on the clock in 2011.
It’s now had quite a bit of work done and even though it’s on 135k miles, it’s got an agreed insurance value of £8k.
However in reality it’s probably irreplaceable to me as I don’t think I would ever find another.

[Derek182]

In 2005 I had around £12000 to spend on a new small hot hatch, test drove a Mini Cooper (I think a Cooper S was around £17000 at the time) and a Clio 182 Cup. The Cooper was fine, well built, handled nicely but not exactly exciting but I'll never forget the Clio test drive, we were on a B road near the dealer behind a slower car, came to a short straight with a car just appearing towards us in the distance, the salesman said there was plenty of room to overtake so I pulled out and floored it, couldn't believe how quick it was!
Went home and ordered an Inferno Orange Cup, started doing trackdays in it, decided it was too expensive to risk crashing so sold it to buy a 2002 172 Cup which was mildly modified for track work and was my daily and track car for 3 years. At the time I don't think you could lap quicker for less money.
After a number of years of boring family road cars ( and a Westfield in the garage) I've bought a Clio 200 Cup which once again is going to be my daily/slightly modified track car.
For me there is something about Renaultsports in terms of lightweight performance which no one else does as well!

[Alex_225]

plenty said:

Alex_225 said:

You're likely either buying to add to a collection or perhaps you're better off with an R26 with the back seats removed? A car you can afford to risk on track? Suppose it depends on how deep your pockets are of course.

I reckon a low-miles R26.R will be extremely cheap to run. Being newer and lower miles it will cost you less in maintenance than a leggy R26. And will depreciate less and even have a chance to appreciate.

Of course this assumes you have access to capital. Money has never been cheaper.

Oh the R won't be overly costly to run, no more so than a normal RS. That said the cambelt is a pricey job but that's the main concern really. Thing is an R is in the region of £20k+, a 50k mile R26 is £7-8k so perfect for sticking on the track. My worry with using a rare, sought after version like the R for it's intended purpose is smashing it up and extra wear and tear on a rare model.

[spanky3]

I've owned 4 Renaults and every one has been flawed but great. The 19 16v was the most memorable - cue a 20 year old photo. No doubt it's long since gone to le graveyard,

[Hothouse]

Laughing at so many questioning the increasing prices for all these wonderful RS models....and then admitting that they have more than one, often several, parked up in the garage.

I'm hooked. Started with a 5GTT that was just light years ahead of anything else I had been in before. Then a Williams 1 Not sure if it is my rose tinted specs but still suspect it was the most fun car ever. I've never driven a 1*2 but going by the comments here I suspect the willy might have had a similar level of 3 wheel, into corner as fast as you dare, controllability. Was an early adopter of the V6 255, buying a 2yr old in 2005. A glorious mini exotic that i can't ever see being sold/ replaced. Recently felt the need for some back to basic RS fun so found 2012 34K RS200 for £8K. Would defo have been tempted by 182 but thought 200 appeared better value given nearly 8 years younger.

The breadth of offering from Renault is surely to be praised by any petrol head. As some have said before, its not just these pure bred RS models but things like the 21 turbo, 16 valver, Avantime, A110. Did I also hear someone say v6 espace?

Wonder where my old Williams no 089 is now ???

[Don1]

Those bonnet vents of that era.... What wonderful yet utterly useless designs. The scooped 16v one I liked even more than the Escort Cosworth vents.

[Koolkat969]

frayz said:

Mine I paid £6500 with 8k on the clock in 2011.
It’s now had quite a bit of work done and even though it’s on 135k miles, it’s got an agreed insurance value of £8k.
However in reality it’s probably irreplaceable to me as I don’t think I would ever find another.

That's a great valuation and I guess that's taking into account all the extra bits you've added to your car. Could I pls ask who you're insured with?

[Car 54 where are you]

Had R5GT Turbo new in '89.
Would love one again.

[Zarco]

ch37 said:

Worth noting, early Renaultsport Clios are one of the few cars where seeing an aftermarket steering wheel (or on the flipside, a low mileage car with an OEM steering wheel that looks like it's done 250k) should be of no concern whatsoever.

My 172 Cup wheel completely melted after 4 years, 50k. Very common issue, I seem to remember after a lengthy thread on a Clio forum that wearing a ring was a common reason for them starting to go, sun block was another suspect.

Was just sunlight/UV I think that did it. I kept mine covered under an old T-shirt when it was parked and it didn’t really get any worse over the three years I had it (I bought a 2yr old 172 Cup as my first car when I started working out of Uni).

If it was suntan lotion it would have lasted 5min as I can get sunburnt on a cloudy day

[anonymous-user]

No R26 on the list seems an oversight. They are a quarter of the price of an R26R and 95% of the car.

They are also starting to appreciate in value by the looks of things.

Edited by anonymous-user on Saturday 20th March 13:36

[dhamilton99]

Im on my 2nd 182 and would absolutely have another. Had an Arctic Blue one that I picked up in early 2018 for £1500. Stupidly traded it in a few months later for a Mk3 ST. Picked up a silver one last year which I'm going to be using for trackdays soon.

[Colonel D]

I've just seen a fifth Turbo 2 for auction, since around Christmas time. All of them in Japan on a couple of different sites. One has popped up a few times in over a year, maybe a high reserve and not selling, but to see another 4 of them come up in a few months is strange. JDM Auction watch has some very nice European cars on occasions.

[Darren61]

Derek182 said:

In 2005 I had around £12000 to spend on a new small hot hatch, test drove a Mini Cooper (I think a Cooper S was around £17000 at the time) and a Clio 182 Cup. The Cooper was fine, well built, handled nicely but not exactly exciting but I'll never forget the Clio test drive, we were on a B road near the dealer behind a slower car, came to a short straight with a car just appearing towards us in the distance, the salesman said there was plenty of room to overtake so I pulled out and floored it, couldn't believe how quick it was!
Went home and ordered an Inferno Orange Cup, started doing trackdays in it, decided it was too expensive to risk crashing so sold it to buy a 2002 172 Cup which was mildly modified for track work and was my daily and track car for 3 years. At the time I don't think you could lap quicker for less money.
After a number of years of boring family road cars ( and a Westfield in the garage) I've bought a Clio 200 Cup which once again is going to be my daily/slightly modified track car.
For me there is something about Renaultsports in terms of lightweight performance which no one else does as well!

Was this YS54RVT by any chance?

[HotHatchFan]

Koolkat969 said:

It's the same owner from new.

something a bit odd here then, his year of birth, according to his profile is 2000, so he bought it when he was 5 years old?!

[HotHatchFan]

I love a Renaultsport! Currently own a 172 Cup, 182 Trophy and a Cup packed 200 (MK3)

[white_goodman]

Derek182 said:

In 2005 I had around £12000 to spend on a new small hot hatch, test drove a Mini Cooper (I think a Cooper S was around £17000 at the time) and a Clio 182 Cup. The Cooper was fine, well built, handled nicely but not exactly exciting but I'll never forget the Clio test drive, we were on a B road near the dealer behind a slower car, came to a short straight with a car just appearing towards us in the distance, the salesman said there was plenty of room to overtake so I pulled out and floored it, couldn't believe how quick it was!
Went home and ordered an Inferno Orange Cup, started doing trackdays in it, decided it was too expensive to risk crashing so sold it to buy a 2002 172 Cup which was mildly modified for track work and was my daily and track car for 3 years. At the time I don't think you could lap quicker for less money.
After a number of years of boring family road cars ( and a Westfield in the garage) I've bought a Clio 200 Cup which once again is going to be my daily/slightly modified track car.
For me there is something about Renaultsports in terms of lightweight performance which no one else does as well!

I've been tempted by a fast Renault a couple of times but ownership has always eluded me (likewise a fast Ford). The first instance was my first car in 2000. The first dealership that I visited (a little independent in the village) had a gorgeous white R5 GTT on a J-plate up for 3k and I fell in love instantly, even though I was never a fan of the normal R5. For some reason they wouldn't sell it to me ie they said that someone else had put a deposit on it even though it had not been taken off sale, so I ended up with a mk3 Astra 1.4 instead.

I also contemplated a new Clio 182 in 2004 to replace my written-off 205 GTi 1.6 but unlike you, the test drive left me a little disappointed. I also test drove a Puma, a MINI Cooper S, a Celica 190, an NB MX5 and an EP3 Civic Type-R and it was the Civic that sparkled most for me. However, I ended up with the MX5, as the Civic would have been 3 grand to insure! The Celica would have been a close second choice for me.

I'm starting to think that my indifference to the Clio was the fault of a crap test drive route, so the salesman's fault really. The problem that I have with the Clio 182 now though is that they offered great value when new and when they were down to 2-3k but 5k now seems a little steep? Not a problem unique to the Clio. I'd love another 205 GTi or a mk2 Golf GTi and they were great when you could pick a decent one up for 2k but hard to justify at today's prices. Perhaps I'm a bit out of touch with the 5k used market but could you not get something faster/more exotic for 5k? Audi TT, BMW 130i/E46 330Ci, mk5 Golf GTI, mk3 MR2, EP3 Civic Type-R, RX8/350Z, maybe even an early mk7 Fiesta ST/Mk2 Focus ST?

Looking back though, Renault were the vanguard in the hot hatch market for much of the 2000s and maybe Ford or VW taking over the baton going into the 2010s? I didn't care for it much at the time and working in the motor trade in the early 2000s, I had to deal with a lot of badly built and unreliable Renaults, which tainted my view of the brand somewhat but I think that the Megane R26 looks fantastic now and I haven't driven a mk3 Clio RS but the regular mk3 Clio is one of the best small cars that I have driven. It's a shame that they dropped the ball with the mk4 Clio RS and although a great looking car, I think the lack of 5 doors in that class limited the appeal of a 30k mid-size hot hatch in the mk3 Megane RS.

I do however quite fancy a mk4 Megane RS. More interesting/rare than a Golf GTI/R and less boy racerish than a Hyundai i30N/Civic Type-R. I think it's probably the best-looking mid-size hot hatch out there right now. Too bad they canned the manual transmission.

Clio V6 and Alpine aside, >30k for a Renault still seems like a bit of a stretch to me though.

Edited by white_goodman on Sunday 21st March 01:25

Edited by white_goodman on Sunday 21st March 01:28

[LordHaveMurci]

HotHatchFan said:

I love a Renaultsport! Currently own a 172 Cup, 182 Trophy and a Cup packed 200 (MK3)

What are your thoughts on the 1*2’s, do you have a favourite?

[Prohibiting]

This is a great article.

I bought a mint 172 Cup last summer to use as a weekend car for £4,800 which I knew was at the top end, but it’s honestly stunning. It has a few tasty mods such as a Ktec exhaust system, grams springs, rare Sabelt RenaultSport steering wheel and mapped to 190bhp. I love it and keep telling myself it’s a keeper.

[LordHaveMurci]

Prohibiting said:

This is a great article.

I bought a mint 172 Cup last summer... mapped to 190bhp.

If only it were that simple

Sounds like a great car though, enjoy