RE: Renault Clio 182 Trophy: PH Hero

[rtz62]

Yipper,the PH’er that knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing, including sensible comments based on experience.
But please don’t have a go at the poor chap, he amuses us all. I think.
Anyway, there’s a guy around the corner from me who has a Trophy, and in line with other cars he has owned (including an Avantime) looks absolutely mint. Really must ask him for a look at it next time I go by.
As for the comment about paying extra for a Trophy over a lesser model, you could say the same about many cars, why buy a Mk2 Escort Turbo over an XR3i etc, but I guess this is reflected in their desirability on the used market. Let’s face it, a Mk2 Golf GTi 16v is/was barely any quicker in everyday driving than the 8v but all other things being equal punters will pay ££££ extra for that little badge and small increase in performance.

[f1nn]

Having covered many miles in both Saxo VTS and a Clio Trophy when they were both new, to think that a VTS, as good as they were, would be able to hang onto a Trophy on a flowing country road is misguided.

The over engined feeling midrange, and added compliance the Sachs dampers, added to the inherent balance of the 182 chassis was sublime, and still ranks as the best fun I've had driving a car.

[Trophy-GTA]

lord trumpton said:

Ive got a 1 owner 29k mile minter tucked away at work.

Me too. On 29k. Completely standard and garaged all its life.

[RBH58]

LSD is always nice but FWD cars that produce high rev power with modest torque can get away with out it. On the turbo Renaultsports it makes a very big difference.

[CedricN]

Would love to try a trophy one. Only tried the normal rs one back in the day, i remember it feeling quite dull and disconnected compared to the 924 i was driving at the time. I wonder how it would feels years later compared to the modern stuff we have today..

[cib24]

Looks like the Trophy in the article already sold.

[RBH58]

LSD is always nice but FWD cars that produce high rev power with modest torque can get away with out it. On the turbo Renaultsports it makes a very big difference.

[Stu-C123]

I bought mine in 2009 and had it for nearly 4 years. It was the first "fast car" I ever had then I sold it to buy an Elise. Wish I'd just hung on a bit longer and kept the Clio too!

For me that little car embodies everything that modern performance cars seem to lack - I guess you could call it character. I loved it's eagerness, the revvy little engine and those twin tailpipes, set off by the sports exhaust the previous owner had fitted. I got to know all its little rattles and imperfections.

It's a perfect example of why you really don't need £100k and 400+ horsepower to have a truly great driving experience.

[wst]

aaron_2000 said:

They're a 21st century 205 GTI, only more so. Buy the best one you can find with no mileage on it, store it until EV is the norm, then sell it for £50k plus.

That's a really boring way to get £50k

[swanny71]

Really didnt need to read this article today.
Sold mine on Saturday, been regretting it ever since!

[culpz]

aaron_2000 said:

They're a 21st century 205 GTI, only more so. Buy the best one you can find with no mileage on it, store it until EV is the norm, then sell it for £50k plus.

Or you could, you know, buy one and enjoy a proper old school hot-hatch and still sell on for a profit at the end, even with a few extra miles on it?

There's a guy on one of the the Clio Sport pages on FB, who's trying to sell his modified Trophy but without the Turini's or the Sach's dampers. It still has the rear spoiler but he's still probably going to get between £4-5k out of it with between 120-130k miles on it. It seems that the values hold well regardless.

[dickyf]

could you let me have some details please.
thanks

jago-fq3vy said:

Totally brilliant car, I bought the best one I could after watching Harry Metcalfe’s YouTube video:

https://youtu.be/BTTI-aMKn60

Unfortunately young family and work commitments mean it doesn’t get used so I may stick it up on pistonheads tomorrow for someone else to enjoy...

[egomeister]

culpz said:

There's a guy on one of the the Clio Sport pages on FB, who's trying to sell his modified Trophy but without the Turini's or the Sach's dampers. It still has the rear spoiler but he's still probably going to get between £4-5k out of it with between 120-130k miles on it. It seems that the values hold well regardless.

Seriously?! Might as well just buy any other Clio without those!

[Bonefish Blues]

egomeister said:

culpz said:

There's a guy on one of the the Clio Sport pages on FB, who's trying to sell his modified Trophy but without the Turini's or the Sach's dampers. It still has the rear spoiler but he's still probably going to get between £4-5k out of it with between 120-130k miles on it. It seems that the values hold well regardless.

Seriously?! Might as well just buy any other Clio without those!

Was my reaction too.

[blade7]

Always liked the 182, 3 years ago I looked for one as a runaround for her indoors. At the time I couldn't find one that hadn't been well hammered or had dodgy history. I gave up in the end and bought her a new Fiesta ST. How would the Cup compare to the ST?

[culpz]

Bonefish Blues said:

egomeister said:

culpz said:

There's a guy on one of the the Clio Sport pages on FB, who's trying to sell his modified Trophy but without the Turini's or the Sach's dampers. It still has the rear spoiler but he's still probably going to get between £4-5k out of it with between 120-130k miles on it. It seems that the values hold well regardless.

Seriously?! Might as well just buy any other Clio without those!

Was my reaction too.

Funnily enough, that was my exact response. He was gauging interest in how much he'd get for it. I personally said that, without those things, it's basically just another 182.

However, he was still being offered good money for it. You could easily replace both those things and get it back to standard. It's still a Trophy at the end of the day and luckily it hadn't been resprayed or anything like that.

[cjm]

f1nn said:

Having covered many miles in both Saxo VTS and a Clio Trophy when they were both new, to think that a VTS, as good as they were, would be able to hang onto a Trophy on a flowing country road is misguided.

The over engined feeling midrange, and added compliance the Sachs dampers, added to the inherent balance of the 182 chassis was sublime, and still ranks as the best fun I've had driving a car.

I don't think anyone suggested a Saxo VTS was faster?

[ChocolateFrog]

wst said:

aaron_2000 said:

They're a 21st century 205 GTI, only more so. Buy the best one you can find with no mileage on it, store it until EV is the norm, then sell it for £50k plus.

That's a really boring way to get £50k

Assuming you could get that much for it in 20 years time, your profit would be significantly less after buying it, maintaining it and inflation.

Think I'd buy a good regular 182 Cup and not worry about using it.

[wst]

ChocolateFrog said:

wst said:

aaron_2000 said:

They're a 21st century 205 GTI, only more so. Buy the best one you can find with no mileage on it, store it until EV is the norm, then sell it for £50k plus.

That's a really boring way to get £50k

Assuming you could get that much for it in 20 years time, your profit would be significantly less after buying it, maintaining it and inflation.

Think I'd buy a good regular 182 Cup and not worry about using it.

That'd be a really good way to not enjoy what's purportedly the best chassis setup since sliced bread.

"It's an excellent car so I'm not going to drive it."

PistonHeads - 20 year investments matter.

[Johnnytheboy]

Thoroughly enjoyed mine at the time, but replaced it with a mk2 Focus RS, which as much as PH would disapprove, is a far better car in almost every way.

The Clio's handling was sublime.

But it was fragile, had a turning circle worse than the Focus, and the peaky power delivery got rather wearing. Not because it was peaky, but because the power band was very narrow as it wasn't super high revving, so accelerating through the gears had a very on-off quality to it.

But I'd love to have kept it if I had infinite money and space.

Though I would probably have had to go to Silverstone to get the dampers fixed about five times by now.