Clio 200 to replace my Swift Sport?

[Reks]

Not getting many replies in French Bred section so thought I'd post here. Thinking of replacing my Swift Sport with an RS200 (Clio 3). Can anyone give some advice?

Budget is around £8k and I'm thinking a "full fat" with cup chassis. Is this a decent budget to get a good one?

Also heard about synchromesh issues. Can anyone shed a bit more light on this? How much would I expect to pay if I had issues and how likely am I to have issues?

Anything else I should look out for?


Currently doing around 5k miles a year so fuel consumption shouldn't be a big issue. Other car I'm considering is FN2 Type R.


Cheers

[TimLambert7]

£8k for a Clio 200 is possible but the Full Fat option may be tricky! (Unless prices have come down since i was looking a few months back).

Could be worth looking at the upper end of the 197 market as you'd easily bag a nice one for that much.

Excellent cars and in a different performance league to Swift Sport.

[TREMAiNE]

Budget should be fine - there are great examples out there at the price with almost every option ticked:

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/r...

For any issues and costs; go straight to the RS forums - http://www.cliosport.net/ - This site is filled with Clio Gods.

I'd take a 200 over the FN-2, I think it looks a lot nicer. I've driven a Swift Sport and loved it - it actually reminded me a lot of the Clio 200 I'd been a passenger in a few months before.

[anonymous-user]

£8000 would bag you a nice r26 megane

[lamboman100]

tom2502 said:

£8000 would bag you a nice r26 megane

Seconded.

[GrumpyTwig]

tom2502 said:

£8000 would bag you a nice r26 megane

But a Megane isn't a Clio, if you're after the faster car sure the Megane will do it but despite sharing very similar philosophies they're quite different experiences.

For the mk3 you're better off taking a look here http://www.clio197.net/

I wouldn't rule out late 197s particularly the R27s as they're near enough dammit a 200 cup but with slightly different box ratios.

As for the boxes themselves, if you buy a 3-4 year old car now and it's not needed a new one it'll likely be fine. Replacing one is no more or less expensive than any other manual car. Plenty of them have done relatively high miles 80+k miles and not had any issues, it's a bit hit and miss.

[Kenny Powers]

Fabulous cars, but the gearbox is terrible even when it isn't broken. Easily the worst shift in any modern car I can remember driving.