Renault Clio 197 - Racing Blue
Discussion
I'm just about 1 week into ClioSport ownership now and it's safe to say I'm still smiling! Coming from a boggo standard family hatch, this puts a smile on my face just pressing the Start button!
Spent the day cleaning, tidying, back-to-blacking and generally giving the car a good going over. The seats still need a good steam clean, but I'm happy with it for now until the weather brightens up![biggrin](/inc/images/biggrin.gif)
Team HEKO wind deflectors and a PH smilie are on order!
My commute to work is fairly short, stop-start, and with no good roads in my immediate area I'm waiting to give her a proper drive! Off to Cannock in a couple of weekends time, and then early April is a trip to Snowdonia which should be absolutely perfect!
I'll try and keep this thread fairly up-to-date with various bits I do to the car, no immediate "mods" are planned as my wallet has taken a rather large hit sorting the purchase, tax and insurance out!
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/KMdVoLPB.jpg)
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/YN5xZs72.jpg)
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/GfrvtCMF.jpg)
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/ik0n4j8k.jpg)
Spent the day cleaning, tidying, back-to-blacking and generally giving the car a good going over. The seats still need a good steam clean, but I'm happy with it for now until the weather brightens up
![biggrin](/inc/images/biggrin.gif)
Team HEKO wind deflectors and a PH smilie are on order!
My commute to work is fairly short, stop-start, and with no good roads in my immediate area I'm waiting to give her a proper drive! Off to Cannock in a couple of weekends time, and then early April is a trip to Snowdonia which should be absolutely perfect!
I'll try and keep this thread fairly up-to-date with various bits I do to the car, no immediate "mods" are planned as my wallet has taken a rather large hit sorting the purchase, tax and insurance out!
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/KMdVoLPB.jpg)
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/YN5xZs72.jpg)
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/GfrvtCMF.jpg)
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/ik0n4j8k.jpg)
Edited by CallorFold on Saturday 28th February 18:32
NFox said:
Looks great mate, I was very close to buying one of these but I have had two 182s and fancied the type r!
I looked at a couple of EP3's myself before moving onto the 197's ![smile](/inc/images/smile.gif)
They're fantastic cars but after seeing a couple, they all looked rather worn and tired with pretty high mileage.
197 has always been on my watch list - this was one of the first I went to look at, and after seeing 5-6 more it was quite easily the nicest
![biggrin](/inc/images/biggrin.gif)
pollysmate said:
they are great cars, i've had mine nearly 2 years now and love it, i would only sell to buy a younger car
Looks tidy! Not a fan personally of the decals but I do love the cup spoiler! Taken me a little while to get used to 1st and 2nd when the car is cold, it's a bit jumpy but with the TC turned off and a tank of V-Power, it seems considerably better. Yeah it did take a while to find one in an acceptable condition. Managed to get a premier with 60k on the clock and its in pretty good nick all round. Few marks etc as you'd expect on a 9 year old car but I am to restore it to its former glory over time ![smile](/inc/images/smile.gif)
I will always have a soft spot for 182, 197 and 200s though. Absolutely adore them all!
![smile](/inc/images/smile.gif)
I will always have a soft spot for 182, 197 and 200s though. Absolutely adore them all!
NFox said:
Yeah it did take a while to find one in an acceptable condition. Managed to get a premier with 60k on the clock and its in pretty good nick all round. Few marks etc as you'd expect on a 9 year old car but I am to restore it to its former glory over time ![smile](/inc/images/smile.gif)
Sounds like a good find! I really like the Premier seats over the standard ones. I was trying to find something below 100K and it was the lack of/"missing" service history that let most of them down. Keep it looking good, keep up with the maintenance and keep those receipts! ![smile](/inc/images/smile.gif)
So the car looked nice and clean from a few feet away, but up close almost the entire bottom half of the car, especially down the sides, were plagued with tar spots.
In between the bouts of rain, I grabbed myself some AutoGlym Intensive Tar remover and set to work - it was far from wipe on-wipe off but well worth the effort! There was even a couple of small black scratches that I assumed were where paint had been scratched off, but in fact were marks on top of the paint which have now also been removed! Bonus!
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/HvWvXU8Q.jpg)
In between the bouts of rain, I grabbed myself some AutoGlym Intensive Tar remover and set to work - it was far from wipe on-wipe off but well worth the effort! There was even a couple of small black scratches that I assumed were where paint had been scratched off, but in fact were marks on top of the paint which have now also been removed! Bonus!
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/HvWvXU8Q.jpg)
Couple more little bits done -
Swapped out the front Wiper Blades for some decent Aero Blades;
Valeo Silencio X.TRM Flat - can immediately tell the difference with these, they clean the screen considerably better than the previous blades.
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/ZX3Kf9zR.jpg)
I don't often use the rear blade so I figured I'd save a few ££ on the Bosch blades and try a Lucas branded one - definitely not the best idea I've had, the colour mismatch is awful so I've had to return this!
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/i4QvbotM.jpg)
Next up was an idea I got from the 197 Forums, an aluminium foot rest plate - there is already a carpet rest over to the left of the clutch but so save getting this all tatty and worn, for £10 a proper footplate seemed a good idea and it was just a case of sticking it down -
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/ZbKXbn8w.jpg)
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/KSE2vYoJ.jpg)
Swapped out the front Wiper Blades for some decent Aero Blades;
Valeo Silencio X.TRM Flat - can immediately tell the difference with these, they clean the screen considerably better than the previous blades.
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/ZX3Kf9zR.jpg)
I don't often use the rear blade so I figured I'd save a few ££ on the Bosch blades and try a Lucas branded one - definitely not the best idea I've had, the colour mismatch is awful so I've had to return this!
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/i4QvbotM.jpg)
Next up was an idea I got from the 197 Forums, an aluminium foot rest plate - there is already a carpet rest over to the left of the clutch but so save getting this all tatty and worn, for £10 a proper footplate seemed a good idea and it was just a case of sticking it down -
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/ZbKXbn8w.jpg)
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/KSE2vYoJ.jpg)
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff