The warm baguette - 2005 Clio Trophy
Discussion
Well, the start of the year has been anything but smooth. I had a plan to sell my rarely used weekend car (a mint Lotus Elise S-Cup to a lovely chap who s currently enjoying it on the ) My intention was to buy a mint car from my birth year (a Mk2 16v GTI. I had a Mk1 a few years ago and loved the experience) I thought this would be my Sunday blast car, but also something I could take the family out in.
Long story short, I bought a mint 16v GTI, three weeks later I sold it (wasn t as advertised and I lost money. It wasn t a great dealer experience)
However, I have an acquaintance (an Instagram friend) who loves French hot hatches. Since I was selling the Elise, he d been trying to help me get into a Clio Trophy. He s an active member of the UK Trophy scene. So, I m now the proud owner of a 2005 three-owner, 79k-mile Capsicum red Trophy.
I ve been lucky to own a few nice and exciting occasional use cars over my 22-year driving career, but I had not owned a French car. I had lusted over the 205 Rallye but couldn t find a decent one in the last couple of years. I digress.
A few weeks into owning the warm baguette, I can confidently say I haven t driven as many miles in a weekend fun car in the first couple of weeks as I have in this one. I ve also confirmed that big-engined, lightish-weight hot hatches are a lot of fun on tight British b roads.
The little T is in wonderful condition for its age, but as with anything, there s still some work to do. I ve already polished the headlights (when the Mrs was away for the weekend - tsk tsk - took much longer to get to the result than I anticipated) and re-fitted the alternator (it had bolts missing - made the engine bay sound like engine was going to fall apart). It s going off to Mick at Diamond Motors in a few weeks for an annual service and a check-over. I need the fancy Sachs dampers rebuilt (they re a bit pogo-ish so off to BG motorsport ) and the bonnet needs a good polish (there are some weird bubbles in the lacquer). But other than that it s in good order
it s only been a few weeks with my first French car experience, but I have a good feeling about this. The Lotus owners community was friendly along with being a great resource, already my experience with the T community is just as positive. I ll report back once it s been through the service and check-up. Fingers crossed!
Long story short, I bought a mint 16v GTI, three weeks later I sold it (wasn t as advertised and I lost money. It wasn t a great dealer experience)
However, I have an acquaintance (an Instagram friend) who loves French hot hatches. Since I was selling the Elise, he d been trying to help me get into a Clio Trophy. He s an active member of the UK Trophy scene. So, I m now the proud owner of a 2005 three-owner, 79k-mile Capsicum red Trophy.
I ve been lucky to own a few nice and exciting occasional use cars over my 22-year driving career, but I had not owned a French car. I had lusted over the 205 Rallye but couldn t find a decent one in the last couple of years. I digress.
A few weeks into owning the warm baguette, I can confidently say I haven t driven as many miles in a weekend fun car in the first couple of weeks as I have in this one. I ve also confirmed that big-engined, lightish-weight hot hatches are a lot of fun on tight British b roads.
The little T is in wonderful condition for its age, but as with anything, there s still some work to do. I ve already polished the headlights (when the Mrs was away for the weekend - tsk tsk - took much longer to get to the result than I anticipated) and re-fitted the alternator (it had bolts missing - made the engine bay sound like engine was going to fall apart). It s going off to Mick at Diamond Motors in a few weeks for an annual service and a check-over. I need the fancy Sachs dampers rebuilt (they re a bit pogo-ish so off to BG motorsport ) and the bonnet needs a good polish (there are some weird bubbles in the lacquer). But other than that it s in good order
it s only been a few weeks with my first French car experience, but I have a good feeling about this. The Lotus owners community was friendly along with being a great resource, already my experience with the T community is just as positive. I ll report back once it s been through the service and check-up. Fingers crossed!
Edited by oxnop on Saturday 4th April 16:07
Tickle said:
Lovely - I had a Trophy in-between Elise ownership. Great cars!
Thank you. Clearly it’s not going to have the poise of an Elise (still think a sorted Elise has to be one of best handling cars on a dry twisty road) but I’m hoping I can get this into a close ball park on the fun scale. oxnop said:
Tickle said:
Lovely - I had a Trophy in-between Elise ownership. Great cars!
Thank you. Clearly it s not going to have the poise of an Elise (still think a sorted Elise has to be one of best handling cars on a dry twisty road) but I m hoping I can get this into a close ball park on the fun scale. Edited by Tickle on Sunday 5th April 10:07
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