2011 Renault Lutecia RS
Discussion
A f
king what?
Stay tuned, I'll explain. If you, like me, have catastrophic levels of car autism, you'll already know what it is and why it's called that.
It started with a text in a group chat, along the lines of "Does anyone want this for what it cost me?". The reasoning wasn't particularly clear, but a few grainy photos followed. Most of you will be familiar with the Japanese auction photos of Skylines, Imprezas and Evos, but probably not of these! (Unfortunately can't include them, because if USS auctions somehow find this thread, the lad I bought it off will lose his auction access)
Anyway, cost price was a VERY attractive price, and the car was a different take on a formula I know and love (If you look at my previous threads, I've got loads of ropey old NA Hondas). I've had a particularly st couple of years, so felt I deserved a bit of dopamine. I feel like I'm over-justifying this for some reason, even though it's not the most extravagant purchase...it's not exactly a Ferrari F40 
ANYWAY, since some of you will be wondering what a 2011 Lutecia RS200 is, here are the photos I was sent when it arrived at the Port of Kawasaki:
So yeah, it's just a Clio RS200
The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed an extremely nice option/upgrade. More on that later...
Oh and here's the auction sheet:
Very little of note! The bottom left section with a few things handwritten is a list of defects found by the inspector, so even if it's handwritten and not translatable via Google, the less that's written there, the better!! On the diagram there's again very little, but handily they partly use Western letters, so those marked with a P are distinguishable as paint/lacquer issues. The AU1 on the drivers door should be a minor dent/scratch (A = scratch, U = dent, 1 = severity on a scale of 1-3. Higher than 3 and the panel will simply be marked as X which means it needs replaced) I've not been able to find this on the car, there's a pin dent from a shopping trolley or similar, but no scratch.
So then, the wait began.
It was over weirdly quickly, and then it was panic stations trying to figure out collection. If I remember correctly, the vessel had docked and left within a day or so, and then I knew it'd be a matter of days before it'd be ready for collection.
So with collection day looming, the plan was to go full 'wing it and hope for the best' (book an MOT a mile from home in Cheshire, buy a one-way train ticket to Bristol and get an Uber to the port, with a full jerry can in tow) but I chickened out in the end and rented a 3.5t recovery truck from some guy on Facebook. Technically it should've been possible, but there were just a few too many steps where I could be stopped. Maybe next time....
A seriously diverse mix of cars coming in from Japan from Micras to Impreza STIs to Mercs and Audis. LOADS of Prii.
First sight:
A few other interesting sights at the port:
Not sure what the UK 5 Series was doing there!
Back to les Français Civic:
Love the font on the dials, and the yellow tachometer is excellent!
Surprisingly it started like it'd been driven yesterday. (tbf, it had! But before that, it'd sat for 6-8 weeks on a boat, and before that, about a month at the port in Japan!)
The steed I rented is seen here. 4 years old and 220k miles, thing was certainly earning its keep! A few warning lights on, but honestly drove pretty well. I expected to hate it, having spent half a day in a Transit a few years ago and wanting to commit war crimes against Ford by the end of it. No major complaints, plenty of power/torque, comfy enough and quiet enough. A few occasions I looked down at the speedo and bricked it as I hadn't been intending on going anywhere near as fast as I was
The one I rented was a Nissan, I know it's also a Renault and Vauxhall, but I'm not sure which company designed it. One of those will be ruled out shortly however....
Was very cool to get to see the inner workings of a major port, felt like a bit of an urbexer, except it wasn't derelict and I'm not a prick who thrives off confrontation.
The following pic suggests that the truck is very much a Renault design, rather than the Nissan/Vauxhall versions
The battered key is for the 72 plate truck, and the perfect one is the spare for the Lutecia:
As you can see, Liquid Yellow is amazing, and tbh, if it had been any other colour I wouldn't have bothered (except Alien Green, obviously!)
Turned out to be quite a long day! Jumped in the trusty Bora, Cheshire > Walsall to collect truck > Bristol Port > drop Clio off at home in Cheshire > back to Walsall to return truck > back home in the Bora.
Rear fog is already there, so no MOT dramas other than making sure the tester records the mileage as miles and not KM. (I haven't converted it and won't be, from the experience of driving my Impreza, it's fine)
MOT next, and my first opportunity to drive it other than on/off a recovery truck.
Forgot to take any photos of the underside while it was on the ramp, but its basically spotless. Shell itself is like new, not even a rusty bolt head anywhere to be seen. There are a few tiny bits of rust between adjoining stampings of metal on things like the front subframe and rear beam. It's clear that water collects there and just sits. It'll be a case of wire brushing and painting. It really is minor though, barely worth mentioning - if they continue rusting at their current rate, they'll still last 100 more years
With it sat on my drive, I could finally have a proper look around it and see what was worn/broken, and which knobs and buttons did what:
First of all, colour is fantastic!
Morning Prosperity is the boat on which it arrived. It's certainly not a comment on my character - I'm NOT prosperous in the morning (unless I'm still up from the night before... thread coming soon on another car I won at auction at 6am while absolutely steaming after a My Chemical Romance gig, which is unfortunately still stuck in Japan 2 months on, but that's a whole other story)
Here's the Google translation of the auction sheet:
This sticker confirms no radiation is present.
Seems to have been smoked in unfortunately, as with the majority of cars that come from Japan.
Really not sure what these marks in the roof liner are, are they a common thing on Clios? My thoughts are either tar staining from cig smoke (but this is usually a general tint to the whole roof liner, not a pattern like this), or water marks from a leak somewhere in the roof. No panoramic roof or sunroof etc though, so I don't think this is likely. I want to wrap the roof liner and pillar trims in black alcantara anyway, so as long as it's not a leak it doesn't really matter.
As with my Impreza, it's clear that this car has lived outside in a fairly southern part of Japan where there's a LOT of sun, and therefore exposure to UV. The interior is in very decent nick aside from being dirty and smelling a bit of cigs, so it's a shame that the dash has cracked at the edge of the airbag panel. Not sure if it can be repaired, or if it'd be easier/cheaper to just get a dash from a scrapyard. It's unfortunate that the dash and paint have suffered, but I'd much sooner deal with the damage that comes with this, over the damage that comes from a damp, salty environment....
This wasn't obvious on the auction photos, but in fairness it was mentioned on the auction sheet, The front bumper, bonnet, and front half of the roof have damaged lacquer from the sun. I'm still hopeful that it'll be saveable via the medium of polish, but I'm expecting it'll need painting to get it looking 100%. Front bumper has a scuff so that'll definitely need paint.
The black bits (nose section, mirrors and B pillar trims) have suffered way worse than the yellow bits, and these were even visible in the grainy auction shots. These will definitely need painting. Not sure what to do with them, I like the black but they were available with an option that had these painted in a metallic anthracite, which I'm 50/50 on. I think I want a very dark metallic grey, darker than the OEM anthracite but lighter than the standard black mine has.
More UV damage. Definitely want to source a replacement sticker, its a cool little nod to where it spent the first 15 years of its life!
Not sure what happened to the door handle, but it was like this when I picked it up from the port and wasn't mentioned on the auction sheet, so can only assume it was a heavy-handed worker at one of the ports.
Turns out it has RS Monitor, which I thought was only a thing on the Megane RS!
Very cool if completely pointless!
Includes a G meter, 0-60, quarter mile and lap timers among other functions!
Here's a weird thing which makes no sense at all:
Both the main key and spare key have no battery, or contacts for a battery! However they're both the same key that I assume you get with a Euro/UK spec Clio, and they have the lock/unlock buttons and circuit board.
Then there's this horrid aftermarket fob which operates the remote locking. There's no way to lock or unlock it without this, as there are no lock barrels that are accessible without popping covers off the door handles.
I can only assume Renault remote locking uses a frequency that can't be used in Japan for whatever reason, and Renault decided to just disable the keys and use a locally-sourced remote locking fob on these?!
Finally, a few photos I took on the way back from the MOT:
[url]
|https://forums-images.pistonheads.com/377537/202608234601048[/url]
So, there it is! It's currently at VTECDirect having a load of maintenance done, as it unfortunately didn't come with the service book. It's having the cambelt, dephaser, water pump, aux belt as well as all fluids and filters. When Ben got it apart, it appeared that the cambelt and water pump had been replaced and they looked fine. He said the dephaser looked pretty much new, and I know they're much better on the 197/200 than the 172/182 and don't need replacing as often (or at all?) but with it having no history I wanted to just do everything.
Still isn't registered, thanks to a self-inflicted 6 week delay due to me sending £9.37 less than the DVLA decided they wanted to tax it. I did research it, and it seemed to be £196.88, but apparently they wanted £205.25... DVLA only accepts cheques or postal orders, apparently it's still 1983 in Swansea. Took them 3 weeks to reject it, and another 3 weeks for me to receive the whole application back, in order to immediately send it back to them with the correct postal order. Apparently an online or over the phone payment is too much to ask...
king what?Stay tuned, I'll explain. If you, like me, have catastrophic levels of car autism, you'll already know what it is and why it's called that.
It started with a text in a group chat, along the lines of "Does anyone want this for what it cost me?". The reasoning wasn't particularly clear, but a few grainy photos followed. Most of you will be familiar with the Japanese auction photos of Skylines, Imprezas and Evos, but probably not of these! (Unfortunately can't include them, because if USS auctions somehow find this thread, the lad I bought it off will lose his auction access)
Anyway, cost price was a VERY attractive price, and the car was a different take on a formula I know and love (If you look at my previous threads, I've got loads of ropey old NA Hondas). I've had a particularly s
t couple of years, so felt I deserved a bit of dopamine. I feel like I'm over-justifying this for some reason, even though it's not the most extravagant purchase...it's not exactly a Ferrari F40 ANYWAY, since some of you will be wondering what a 2011 Lutecia RS200 is, here are the photos I was sent when it arrived at the Port of Kawasaki:
So yeah, it's just a Clio RS200
The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed an extremely nice option/upgrade. More on that later...
Oh and here's the auction sheet:
Very little of note! The bottom left section with a few things handwritten is a list of defects found by the inspector, so even if it's handwritten and not translatable via Google, the less that's written there, the better!! On the diagram there's again very little, but handily they partly use Western letters, so those marked with a P are distinguishable as paint/lacquer issues. The AU1 on the drivers door should be a minor dent/scratch (A = scratch, U = dent, 1 = severity on a scale of 1-3. Higher than 3 and the panel will simply be marked as X which means it needs replaced) I've not been able to find this on the car, there's a pin dent from a shopping trolley or similar, but no scratch.
So then, the wait began.
It was over weirdly quickly, and then it was panic stations trying to figure out collection. If I remember correctly, the vessel had docked and left within a day or so, and then I knew it'd be a matter of days before it'd be ready for collection.
So with collection day looming, the plan was to go full 'wing it and hope for the best' (book an MOT a mile from home in Cheshire, buy a one-way train ticket to Bristol and get an Uber to the port, with a full jerry can in tow) but I chickened out in the end and rented a 3.5t recovery truck from some guy on Facebook. Technically it should've been possible, but there were just a few too many steps where I could be stopped. Maybe next time....
A seriously diverse mix of cars coming in from Japan from Micras to Impreza STIs to Mercs and Audis. LOADS of Prii.
First sight:
A few other interesting sights at the port:
Not sure what the UK 5 Series was doing there!
Back to les Français Civic:
Love the font on the dials, and the yellow tachometer is excellent!
Surprisingly it started like it'd been driven yesterday. (tbf, it had! But before that, it'd sat for 6-8 weeks on a boat, and before that, about a month at the port in Japan!)
The steed I rented is seen here. 4 years old and 220k miles, thing was certainly earning its keep! A few warning lights on, but honestly drove pretty well. I expected to hate it, having spent half a day in a Transit a few years ago and wanting to commit war crimes against Ford by the end of it. No major complaints, plenty of power/torque, comfy enough and quiet enough. A few occasions I looked down at the speedo and bricked it as I hadn't been intending on going anywhere near as fast as I was
The one I rented was a Nissan, I know it's also a Renault and Vauxhall, but I'm not sure which company designed it. One of those will be ruled out shortly however....
Was very cool to get to see the inner workings of a major port, felt like a bit of an urbexer, except it wasn't derelict and I'm not a prick who thrives off confrontation.
The following pic suggests that the truck is very much a Renault design, rather than the Nissan/Vauxhall versions
The battered key is for the 72 plate truck, and the perfect one is the spare for the Lutecia:
As you can see, Liquid Yellow is amazing, and tbh, if it had been any other colour I wouldn't have bothered (except Alien Green, obviously!)
Turned out to be quite a long day! Jumped in the trusty Bora, Cheshire > Walsall to collect truck > Bristol Port > drop Clio off at home in Cheshire > back to Walsall to return truck > back home in the Bora.
Rear fog is already there, so no MOT dramas other than making sure the tester records the mileage as miles and not KM. (I haven't converted it and won't be, from the experience of driving my Impreza, it's fine)
MOT next, and my first opportunity to drive it other than on/off a recovery truck.
Forgot to take any photos of the underside while it was on the ramp, but its basically spotless. Shell itself is like new, not even a rusty bolt head anywhere to be seen. There are a few tiny bits of rust between adjoining stampings of metal on things like the front subframe and rear beam. It's clear that water collects there and just sits. It'll be a case of wire brushing and painting. It really is minor though, barely worth mentioning - if they continue rusting at their current rate, they'll still last 100 more years
With it sat on my drive, I could finally have a proper look around it and see what was worn/broken, and which knobs and buttons did what:
First of all, colour is fantastic!
Morning Prosperity is the boat on which it arrived. It's certainly not a comment on my character - I'm NOT prosperous in the morning (unless I'm still up from the night before... thread coming soon on another car I won at auction at 6am while absolutely steaming after a My Chemical Romance gig, which is unfortunately still stuck in Japan 2 months on, but that's a whole other story)
Here's the Google translation of the auction sheet:
This sticker confirms no radiation is present.
Seems to have been smoked in unfortunately, as with the majority of cars that come from Japan.
Really not sure what these marks in the roof liner are, are they a common thing on Clios? My thoughts are either tar staining from cig smoke (but this is usually a general tint to the whole roof liner, not a pattern like this), or water marks from a leak somewhere in the roof. No panoramic roof or sunroof etc though, so I don't think this is likely. I want to wrap the roof liner and pillar trims in black alcantara anyway, so as long as it's not a leak it doesn't really matter.
As with my Impreza, it's clear that this car has lived outside in a fairly southern part of Japan where there's a LOT of sun, and therefore exposure to UV. The interior is in very decent nick aside from being dirty and smelling a bit of cigs, so it's a shame that the dash has cracked at the edge of the airbag panel. Not sure if it can be repaired, or if it'd be easier/cheaper to just get a dash from a scrapyard. It's unfortunate that the dash and paint have suffered, but I'd much sooner deal with the damage that comes with this, over the damage that comes from a damp, salty environment....
This wasn't obvious on the auction photos, but in fairness it was mentioned on the auction sheet, The front bumper, bonnet, and front half of the roof have damaged lacquer from the sun. I'm still hopeful that it'll be saveable via the medium of polish, but I'm expecting it'll need painting to get it looking 100%. Front bumper has a scuff so that'll definitely need paint.
The black bits (nose section, mirrors and B pillar trims) have suffered way worse than the yellow bits, and these were even visible in the grainy auction shots. These will definitely need painting. Not sure what to do with them, I like the black but they were available with an option that had these painted in a metallic anthracite, which I'm 50/50 on. I think I want a very dark metallic grey, darker than the OEM anthracite but lighter than the standard black mine has.
More UV damage. Definitely want to source a replacement sticker, its a cool little nod to where it spent the first 15 years of its life!
Not sure what happened to the door handle, but it was like this when I picked it up from the port and wasn't mentioned on the auction sheet, so can only assume it was a heavy-handed worker at one of the ports.
Turns out it has RS Monitor, which I thought was only a thing on the Megane RS!
Very cool if completely pointless!
Includes a G meter, 0-60, quarter mile and lap timers among other functions!
Here's a weird thing which makes no sense at all:
Both the main key and spare key have no battery, or contacts for a battery! However they're both the same key that I assume you get with a Euro/UK spec Clio, and they have the lock/unlock buttons and circuit board.
Then there's this horrid aftermarket fob which operates the remote locking. There's no way to lock or unlock it without this, as there are no lock barrels that are accessible without popping covers off the door handles.
I can only assume Renault remote locking uses a frequency that can't be used in Japan for whatever reason, and Renault decided to just disable the keys and use a locally-sourced remote locking fob on these?!
Finally, a few photos I took on the way back from the MOT:
So, there it is! It's currently at VTECDirect having a load of maintenance done, as it unfortunately didn't come with the service book. It's having the cambelt, dephaser, water pump, aux belt as well as all fluids and filters. When Ben got it apart, it appeared that the cambelt and water pump had been replaced and they looked fine. He said the dephaser looked pretty much new, and I know they're much better on the 197/200 than the 172/182 and don't need replacing as often (or at all?) but with it having no history I wanted to just do everything.
Still isn't registered, thanks to a self-inflicted 6 week delay due to me sending £9.37 less than the DVLA decided they wanted to tax it. I did research it, and it seemed to be £196.88, but apparently they wanted £205.25... DVLA only accepts cheques or postal orders, apparently it's still 1983 in Swansea. Took them 3 weeks to reject it, and another 3 weeks for me to receive the whole application back, in order to immediately send it back to them with the correct postal order. Apparently an online or over the phone payment is too much to ask...
Edited by Jaaack on Sunday 23 August 14:01
Edited by Jaaack on Sunday 23 August 14:13
Cool, quite a find.
The aftermarket fob thing looks to be a cobra one (or at least the same shell they used). You can buy new casings, including the little rubber lanyard that always breaks on eBay for a few quid.
https://ebay.io/m/qHYxiI
The aftermarket fob thing looks to be a cobra one (or at least the same shell they used). You can buy new casings, including the little rubber lanyard that always breaks on eBay for a few quid.
https://ebay.io/m/qHYxiI
That looks lovely; glorious colour (my pal has a Megane RS in that colour I'm sure of it) - it's in the bad books currently 
Having had quite a few JDM Honda's in my youth, x1 Evo VI and then x2 BMW E39s that hailed from Japan, you cannot get cleaner underneaths unless it's straight from factory
Can wholeheartedly recommend Bilt Hamber Dynax UB and UC for the under-sealing
And re the dash; having seen quite a few Honda's that have had similar issues pass through the doors of my pals up here (Grinspeed); the owners ended up getting them flocked, and they looked great, could be an idea
Having had quite a few JDM Honda's in my youth, x1 Evo VI and then x2 BMW E39s that hailed from Japan, you cannot get cleaner underneaths unless it's straight from factory
Can wholeheartedly recommend Bilt Hamber Dynax UB and UC for the under-sealing
And re the dash; having seen quite a few Honda's that have had similar issues pass through the doors of my pals up here (Grinspeed); the owners ended up getting them flocked, and they looked great, could be an idea
I mentioned in the initial post that this car has a particularly special optional extra fitted and then forgot to elaborate
It was visible in the auction photos, but I wouldn't have noticed had the lad I bought the car off not pointed it out. I didn't realise how special it was until I received the above photo when it was parked at Kawasaki port. It's a SiFo rear diffuser, but I'd just assumed it was fibreglass or ABS. In the above pic you can see it's carbon, which was a nice bonus!
I started doing a bit of research into SiFo, and recognised their logo from the Clio V6 Trophy car on Gran Turismo 3!
Turns out they're a Japan-based manufacturer of extremely high-end Renault tuning and racing parts. They entered a Renault Sport Spider in JGTC in 1997!
Anyway onto the diffuser itself, I found some photos on SiFo's Flickr account:
The quality is outstanding, as you can see! Really nice bit of kit.
It's an actual blown diffuser. Like wot they av in F1, innit.
The image above is from a blog post from 2012 on the website of a Renault dealership in Japan (yes, I've been having a proper trawl this afternoon...) The post is as follows, obviously it's auto-translated so doesn't make total sense, but you can understand the gist of it.
"This is Onishi from Minoh sales. We display them in our showroom, That product from Lutecia Sport
'Carbon Rear Diffuser'
Mainly during circuit driving,
This is an item for applying downforce.
R.S. Parts Development Shop, Original design by SiFo. Regarding aerodynamics, Apparently, the person responsible for the design is the same person as the new GT-R.
We have achieved both design and aerodynamics! The Renault Polle's commitment to authenticity. Personally, I like the muffler area. (Apparently, it's called a blow diffuser.) Some say it's a shame that muffler cutters are gone. Indeed, the glossy rear view shifts sharply to a fierce look. What really feels like Renault is, I'm intentionally making it this way. In other words, A shape that makes it easy to utilize exhaust power for downforce Functionality first, without compromising design! This blow diffuser Redpull on the RB6 is apparently used by them. It truly is a genuine product focus.
It looks like a Ferrari and looks cool. By the way, the main unit weighs 4.0 kg, It is 1.8 kilograms lighter than the stock model. Like a 'titanium muffler' The specific utility is not quantified. However, I am confident that you will be able to confirm it.
Below, we will briefly explain the manufacturing process. First, Carbon is used from the shaping stage of the diffuser. I attached another piece of carbon, Two layers of highly durable carbon are added, totaling four layers. on top of that Insulation material is applied to strongly block muffler heat. vacuum the caramel, Eliminates bubbles and other barriers between the four layers, enhancing the strong adhesion of carbon. Next, it is baked in a large circular pressure cooker. Finally, Attach four vertical fins manufactured using a similar process.
The entire surface is coated with UV protection, Exhaust cover and Installed the LED rear fog lamp, and the piece is done. It's an elaborate, so to speak, artisan work. Since it's a genuine product, the price is high.
The original cost is 385,000 yen (including labor). Right now, it's a clearance sale, We offer it at a special price.
How about 265,000 yen (including labor)?
Please feel free to contact me or the service front desk."
385,000 JPY is just under £1800 at today's exchange rate! And to be fair, looking at the quality, it's absolutely justifiable. As I said earlier, the quality is brilliant, and now I've been under the car and looked at how it fits, the fitment is excellent too, nothing like most aftermarket carbon or fibreglass parts. Easily as good as OEM!
There are loads of blog posts on that dealer's website by a salesperson called Onishi, and they seem to live and breathe Renault. I'm going to email the dealer and see if Onishi still works there and can shed any more light. The posts stopped in 2021 so I'm not too optimistic. It seems they did sell SiFo parts via official Renault dealers in Japan, and that's what I want to find out. I'd really like a copy of that poster in the last pic, seems to be a proper Renault advertisment and the car in it does appear to have a SiFo diffuser. There's no way of knowing, but it could even be my car in the ad! Not many of them in Japan seem to have the Speedlines optioned, the one in the ad does, and mine does...
I wasn't fussed on how it looked from the auction photos tbh, I just liked the cool factor. But now I've got the car here, I think it looks great! As you can see, the lacquer has unfortunately failed in the Japanese sun, so it needs respraying. Not sure whether to go with a gloss lacquer, or a satin like it has originally. Leaning toward the original satin finish though.
I'm going to contact SiFo via their social media and see what they can tell me about the diffusers. Hopefully they sell stickers as I'd like a couple for the car From poking around their website, they even do a chassis bracing kit for the Kangoo, for some reason!!
I'm trying to find a Japanese brochure for the Lutecia, and having trawled Buyee I've had no luck. So if anyone happens to have one they'd sell me....
I'm looking for another Lutecia to import and sell on, but annoyingly, I saw that this one had sold and I hadn't spotted it come up for auction (They usually only come up a couple of days before they go through auction, and I do check for them most weekdays, but I guess I dropped the ball)
Paint looks a little bit ropey, and it's an extremely boring colour, but...spot anything?
It has a SiFo diffuser!!
Annoying, but any guesses as to what it sold for?!
91,000 JPY, aka £419
It'd be more like 10x that (genuinely) by the time it's here and on the road, so wouldn't have really been worth bothering with I don't think, other than for the SiFo to put on a Clio/Lu in a proper colour.
Still on the lookout for another Liquid Yellow or Alien Green one, and then I'd sell one of them. The SiFo will be staying with me for whichever one gets kept though
It was visible in the auction photos, but I wouldn't have noticed had the lad I bought the car off not pointed it out. I didn't realise how special it was until I received the above photo when it was parked at Kawasaki port. It's a SiFo rear diffuser, but I'd just assumed it was fibreglass or ABS. In the above pic you can see it's carbon, which was a nice bonus!
I started doing a bit of research into SiFo, and recognised their logo from the Clio V6 Trophy car on Gran Turismo 3!
Turns out they're a Japan-based manufacturer of extremely high-end Renault tuning and racing parts. They entered a Renault Sport Spider in JGTC in 1997!
Anyway onto the diffuser itself, I found some photos on SiFo's Flickr account:
The quality is outstanding, as you can see! Really nice bit of kit.
It's an actual blown diffuser. Like wot they av in F1, innit.
The image above is from a blog post from 2012 on the website of a Renault dealership in Japan (yes, I've been having a proper trawl this afternoon...) The post is as follows, obviously it's auto-translated so doesn't make total sense, but you can understand the gist of it.
"This is Onishi from Minoh sales. We display them in our showroom, That product from Lutecia Sport
'Carbon Rear Diffuser'
Mainly during circuit driving,
This is an item for applying downforce.
R.S. Parts Development Shop, Original design by SiFo. Regarding aerodynamics, Apparently, the person responsible for the design is the same person as the new GT-R.
We have achieved both design and aerodynamics! The Renault Polle's commitment to authenticity. Personally, I like the muffler area. (Apparently, it's called a blow diffuser.) Some say it's a shame that muffler cutters are gone. Indeed, the glossy rear view shifts sharply to a fierce look. What really feels like Renault is, I'm intentionally making it this way. In other words, A shape that makes it easy to utilize exhaust power for downforce Functionality first, without compromising design! This blow diffuser Redpull on the RB6 is apparently used by them. It truly is a genuine product focus.
It looks like a Ferrari and looks cool. By the way, the main unit weighs 4.0 kg, It is 1.8 kilograms lighter than the stock model. Like a 'titanium muffler' The specific utility is not quantified. However, I am confident that you will be able to confirm it.
Below, we will briefly explain the manufacturing process. First, Carbon is used from the shaping stage of the diffuser. I attached another piece of carbon, Two layers of highly durable carbon are added, totaling four layers. on top of that Insulation material is applied to strongly block muffler heat. vacuum the caramel, Eliminates bubbles and other barriers between the four layers, enhancing the strong adhesion of carbon. Next, it is baked in a large circular pressure cooker. Finally, Attach four vertical fins manufactured using a similar process.
The entire surface is coated with UV protection, Exhaust cover and Installed the LED rear fog lamp, and the piece is done. It's an elaborate, so to speak, artisan work. Since it's a genuine product, the price is high.
The original cost is 385,000 yen (including labor). Right now, it's a clearance sale, We offer it at a special price.
How about 265,000 yen (including labor)?
Please feel free to contact me or the service front desk."
385,000 JPY is just under £1800 at today's exchange rate! And to be fair, looking at the quality, it's absolutely justifiable. As I said earlier, the quality is brilliant, and now I've been under the car and looked at how it fits, the fitment is excellent too, nothing like most aftermarket carbon or fibreglass parts. Easily as good as OEM!
There are loads of blog posts on that dealer's website by a salesperson called Onishi, and they seem to live and breathe Renault. I'm going to email the dealer and see if Onishi still works there and can shed any more light. The posts stopped in 2021 so I'm not too optimistic. It seems they did sell SiFo parts via official Renault dealers in Japan, and that's what I want to find out. I'd really like a copy of that poster in the last pic, seems to be a proper Renault advertisment and the car in it does appear to have a SiFo diffuser. There's no way of knowing, but it could even be my car in the ad! Not many of them in Japan seem to have the Speedlines optioned, the one in the ad does, and mine does...
I wasn't fussed on how it looked from the auction photos tbh, I just liked the cool factor. But now I've got the car here, I think it looks great! As you can see, the lacquer has unfortunately failed in the Japanese sun, so it needs respraying. Not sure whether to go with a gloss lacquer, or a satin like it has originally. Leaning toward the original satin finish though.
I'm going to contact SiFo via their social media and see what they can tell me about the diffusers. Hopefully they sell stickers as I'd like a couple for the car
From poking around their website, they even do a chassis bracing kit for the Kangoo, for some reason!!I'm trying to find a Japanese brochure for the Lutecia, and having trawled Buyee I've had no luck. So if anyone happens to have one they'd sell me....
I'm looking for another Lutecia to import and sell on, but annoyingly, I saw that this one had sold and I hadn't spotted it come up for auction (They usually only come up a couple of days before they go through auction, and I do check for them most weekdays, but I guess I dropped the ball)
Paint looks a little bit ropey, and it's an extremely boring colour, but...spot anything?
It has a SiFo diffuser!!
Annoying, but any guesses as to what it sold for?!
91,000 JPY, aka £419
It'd be more like 10x that (genuinely) by the time it's here and on the road, so wouldn't have really been worth bothering with I don't think, other than for the SiFo to put on a Clio/Lu in a proper colour.
Still on the lookout for another Liquid Yellow or Alien Green one, and then I'd sell one of them. The SiFo will be staying with me for whichever one gets kept though
Edited by Jaaack on Sunday 23 August 20:24
Edited by Jaaack on Sunday 23 August 20:30
That is very cool and certainly the right colour! Look forward to seeing how good it ends up looking. 
Boring fact but you could even get the RS Monitor on the Twingo 133. When I ordered my Gordini, I spec'd it but due to how they were manufacturing them, it was going to push it to the back of the queue and I waited 3 months for the car anyway so I unticked the option.
Boring fact but you could even get the RS Monitor on the Twingo 133. When I ordered my Gordini, I spec'd it but due to how they were manufacturing them, it was going to push it to the back of the queue and I waited 3 months for the car anyway so I unticked the option.
Benmac said:
Cool, quite a find.
The aftermarket fob thing looks to be a cobra one (or at least the same shell they used). You can buy new casings, including the little rubber lanyard that always breaks on eBay for a few quid.
https://ebay.io/m/qHYxiI
Ah brilliant, thankyou!! Appears to be the very thing. I'll get 2-3 ordered and I should be good for a few years then The aftermarket fob thing looks to be a cobra one (or at least the same shell they used). You can buy new casings, including the little rubber lanyard that always breaks on eBay for a few quid.
https://ebay.io/m/qHYxiI
danb79 said:
Can wholeheartedly recommend Bilt Hamber Dynax UB and UC for the under-sealing
And re the dash; having seen quite a few Honda's that have had similar issues pass through the doors of my pals up here (Grinspeed); the owners ended up getting them flocked, and they looked great, could be an idea
Thanks, I don't intend on driving it when there's salt on the roads tbh, so in theory I don't need to protect it. Dynax is great though, maybe clear Dynax wouldn't b e the worst idea. I hate the thick black stuff that people slazz all over their immaculate cars!And re the dash; having seen quite a few Honda's that have had similar issues pass through the doors of my pals up here (Grinspeed); the owners ended up getting them flocked, and they looked great, could be an idea
I'd always say cavity wax is the most important step in rust protection, but a pleasant surprise when Ben @ VTECDirect removed the arch liners, was cavity wax spilling out of holes in the chassis! Surprising that Renault bothered doing this on a cheap car which realistically isn't intended to live beyond 10-15 years!
Flocking could be an option for the dash, but I don't like how it collects and clings onto dust. I did think about wrapping it in alcantara, but I don't want to affect airbag deployment if the worst happens. I'll probably just replace the dash, or ignore it
Though I have heard they can be filled and painted by a smart repairer, so we'll see how much effort it is to remove and replace - if it's pretty simple I'll just get a dash from a scrapyard for £20!
UK_Scat_Pack said:
Nice purchase! Hope you enjoy it.
BTW, you can insure an import on the VIN, book an MOT near home and legally drive it on the road there that’s what’s most importers do. Saves a fortune in transportation costs.
Cheers, I've only driven it a few km but initial impressions are promising!BTW, you can insure an import on the VIN, book an MOT near home and legally drive it on the road there that’s what’s most importers do. Saves a fortune in transportation costs.
That's exactly what I've done! However I don't think I could be certain I'd be able to get it out of the port without trade plates, I asked the company at the port when I exchanged my Bill of Lading for the keys, and they said to ask the Police on the gate. When I asked the Police on the gate, they said to ask the company I'd already asked
The other fly in the ointment would be getting onto a train, and then into an Uber with a jerry can full of petrol
I may attempt it when I pick the next car up, but only if I get a lift down to the port rather than public transport!
I drove my Impreza back from Newcastle upon Tyne without plates after insuring the VIN, but it had already been extracted from the port by another company.
macron said:
+1, great write up OP!
Thanks I wrote most of it on Saturday night after drinking a few ciders and most of a bottle of Kahlua, so my words might've been slighty influenced...alfabeat said:
Nice little car!
That staining on the headlining is probably a leak from the aerial or the 3rd brake light?
Will check those! The roof lining will be coming out and being wrapped in black alcantara, so I'll investigate while it's out.That staining on the headlining is probably a leak from the aerial or the 3rd brake light?
MTK1919 said:
Lovely car, colour and interesting write up.....keep the updates coming!
That door handle is a right mess.....i'd be a bit miffed at that tbh!!
Thanks! Updates will continue for sure.That door handle is a right mess.....i'd be a bit miffed at that tbh!!
Not much I can do about the door handle other than replace it, I'll get one from a scrapyard. There are no photos from before it shipped that confirm it was intact, so I could never prove who was responsible. Wouldn't be worth the hassle anyway, I can't see it costing more than £20 to sort
Nice buy, should be a well-preserved example of a great car.
Incidentally the reason it isn't called a Renault Clio is that Honda was already (since 1984) using the "Clio" name in Japan for one of its multiple separate dealership networks. Ironically it appears that the Lutecia was sold in Nissan "Red Stage" dealerships in Japan, 2011 being the heyday of the Alliance.
https://racingspirits.net/en/blogs/culturahonda/ho...
Incidentally the reason it isn't called a Renault Clio is that Honda was already (since 1984) using the "Clio" name in Japan for one of its multiple separate dealership networks. Ironically it appears that the Lutecia was sold in Nissan "Red Stage" dealerships in Japan, 2011 being the heyday of the Alliance.
https://racingspirits.net/en/blogs/culturahonda/ho...
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