RE: SOTW: Renault Clio Renaultsport 172

[LARK F1 GTR]

The steering wheel rim was not suede is previously mentioned - they were made from neoprine, which basically means they were made of rubber. They disintegrated pretty much as soon as anyone put their hands on the wheel!

The thumb grips melt on the phase2 cars, a new wheel (if you're mad enough to buy one) is about £300 !

The seats wear out badly on them, especially the drivers seat bolsters & seat base.

I'm not sure if it's been mentioned, but 'I believe' it was an option to have the standard OZ wheels in 16" but that's quite rare.

I've driven a fair few of them, they do handle well but I hate the standard exhaust & engine note on them. I found that you have to rev the nuts off of them to make them move, at 5K they're screaming, which doesn't sound good at all.

Edited by LARK F1 GTR on Friday 14th December 23:30

[KM666]

mr hat said:

Here's mine, 72k,

Iceberg Silver?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/harry_s/2324839819/

This is titanium Silver for those who want to know. I think this was one of the last Cliosport meetings at smeatharpe. The Clio is the old mans now 180k miler.

[sbridgey]

I love mine, fantastic little car, especially when it does this


8028081074_927c6a0850_o by sbridgey, on Flickr

[hwajones]

Fantastic!

[artdealer]

Phil from Renaultsport.co.uk forum bought a 03/53 facelift 172 part exchange off me for £1250 in need of a dephaser pulley and some TLC. Not a bad car though with good history and few owners. He has maintained a thread 'Phil's 172 Track Project' which covers most of the tips and traps of budget price 172/182 ownership to fast road / track day spec. When I took the car in, there were a few similar facelift cars (2001 onwards) in the £1250-£1750 price range.

[TheArchitect]

Ive been looking at these now for a few months and once my insurance is up for renewal and Ive been to Austria skiing I'll be selling my golf and getting one of these. I'd love a 172 cup in the second face lift type. I'm a bit boring though and am shopping for a clean unmodified car as insurance doesn't seem to like mods.

[GrumpyTwig]

TheArchitect said:

Ive been looking at these now for a few months and once my insurance is up for renewal and Ive been to Austria skiing I'll be selling my golf and getting one of these. I'd love a 172 cup in the second face lift type. I'm a bit boring though and am shopping for a clean unmodified car as insurance doesn't seem to like mods.

Depends on the insurer, ones you find on comparison websites that will be true for but adrian flux / greenlight and similar companies tend not to have such a dim view on mods.

It'll be a bit of a change from a derv Golf though, a good one mind if you can live without the torque.

[MagicalTrevor]

artdealer said:

Phil from Renaultsport.co.uk forum bought a 03/53 facelift 172 part exchange off me for £1250 in need of a dephaser pulley and some TLC. Not a bad car though with good history and few owners. He has maintained a thread 'Phil's 172 Track Project' which covers most of the tips and traps of budget price 172/182 ownership to fast road / track day spec. When I took the car in, there were a few similar facelift cars (2001 onwards) in the £1250-£1750 price range.

I searched for that thread using the name above and I can't find it. Care to share a link as I'd like a read, thanks

Found it
http://www.renaultsport.co.uk/community/forum/Foru...

[anonymous-user]

mr hat said:

Here's mine, 72k,

Lovely example there. Standard?

I love a standard 172 or 182, there aren't many around. This is mine, 95k miles now.

[anonymous-user]

sbridgey said:

I love mine, fantastic little car, especially when it does this


8028081074_927c6a0850_o by sbridgey, on Flickr

Best photo I've ever seen of a Clio! Love these little things, so stiff.

[DaveL485]

Paid £500 for my '53 plate last year with a busted PS pump, did all the belts and dephaser and it's been a total hoot ever since.

Great motors, compete with stuff, price wise, way out of their league. My 133,000 miler racked up 167bhp on the rollers too, spot on what its supposed to be. Brilliant shed!

[kazino]

Wow, that is a top value shed. Amazing

[TameRacingDriver]

RenOHH said:

Lovely example there. Standard?

I love a standard 172 or 182, there aren't many around. This is mine, 95k miles now.

That is very nice.

I do think that the 172 Cup is the best looking 1*2 variant there was (and I include the Trophy in that). It also has the benefit of being lighter and cheaper to service / run. In the very unlikely event that I bought another it would be the one for me.

[Mr2Mike]

I very nearly bought a 172 instead of my Civic Type R, the big attraction being the better economy as I do about 60 miles a day. However, the fragile gearboxes and rather uncomfortable driving position are what swayed me to the Honda in the end.

[renorti]

good little cars, though £1000 is the high end to pay for the old 172 shape
plenty for sale ,though £1000 should see the later shape 172{ 51-53 reg}

[Mark Smith]

I've owned my Ph1 172 for 4 years and 3 months. Its been a brilliant car to own and so much fun to drive. It had no service history when I bought it from a trader but it felt right so I bought it. Ok it needed new tyres and rear brakes straight away and the exhaust snapped not long after but once that was sorted it was happy motoring. I've done 19 trackdays in it and put over 40,000 miles on it taking to over 130,000 on the clock. It's as sharp now as when it was new. I had it remapped six months ago and its showing 167.1 bhp a the flywheel with 130,000 miles on it so I'm well happy. Its been really reliable and we go everywhere in it. I've done loads of long distance trips including Dieppe and The Inner Hebrides twice without any problems and drive it to trackdays and back without any dramas at all.
Other people turn up to trackdays in all sorts of trick cars and have wheels fall off, engines blowing up, the list is endless. I arrive with loads of kit in case of problems and end up lending it to others to fix their cars. I've never had to touch it on a trackday except to top up with fuel.
Its 12 years old now and still shiny and dent free. I have no plans to sell the car and it should last for at least another 12 years if I keep on top of it.

[MagicalTrevor]

renorti said:

good little cars, though £1000 is the high end to pay for the old 172 shape
plenty for sale ,though £1000 should see the later shape 172{ 51-53 reg}

Not a chance (and I'm not saying that because I've got Ph1). £1000 is the lowest these cars go for and you should be paying nearer £1300-£1400 for something decent and well looked after.

[tercelgold]

only1ian said:

Now i know SOTW has run out of ideas! They are featuring EXACTLY the same car as the last time it made SOTW back in January 2011:

http://www.pistonheads.com/doc.asp?c=162&i=229...

Not just the same model but quite possibly the ACTUAL car itself that or clio cups all come with the same after market steering wheel cover! Check that mileage matches some receipts and MOTs...

Also nice to know deprecation has stopped!

Date of Liability 01 04 2012
Vehicle Status Unlicensed

"The car is taxed until the end of December 2012"

Must be two different cars, but for the articles sake it may as well have been the same.

[exgtt]

Mr2Mike said:

I very nearly bought a 172 instead of my Civic Type R, the big attraction being the better economy as I do about 60 miles a day. However, the fragile gearboxes and rather uncomfortable driving position are what swayed me to the Honda in the end.

The boxes are a bit hit and miss, many reported failures, many have covered 100k with no issues. I think a bit of respect and bi annual oil changes will work wonders. The box oil is as easy as an engine oil change luckily. There much stronger than the earlier box as fitted to 19 & clio 16v's. At £700 to get a decent replacement fitted its not the end of the world but obviously a risk at shed money.

[Skyedriver]

Will read the rest of this thread later as it's 8 pages long BUT would this make a competitive Roadgoing Class Hilclimb car?