Renault Clio V6 255
Discussion
As the British summer started to unleash the destructive power of the sun, I found myself sipping beer and browsing the classifieds for an expensive, flawed Clio with shocking fuel economy. I didn’t have a pressing reason to buy this glorious Clio V6, but as a serial French hatchback enthusiast I guess it was only a matter of time before things reached their natural conclusion.
So, without further ado… Please allow me to introduce Renault Clio V6 255 #227.
It’s a lovely phase two example in Titanium with a huge history folder and just 20k miles.
The car was a commission sale through 4 Star Classics and had been on the market since late 2016. It had been priced quite enthusiastically at first and despite a big price drop a few months ago, still needed quite a bit of money spent to recommission it for road use after extensive storage.
In the end, we settled on a price and I picked up the car on 15th June.
The recommissioning works were completed by Mark Fish Motorsport last week and included the cambelt, auxiliary belt tensioner and idler pulley, water pump and seal, coolant, air filter, cabin filter, brake fluid, rear brake pads, spark plugs, 5w/40 fully synthetic oil, aircon regas and a brand-new set of Michelin Pilot tyres.
I haven’t had the camera out just yet, but here is a shot from the advert:
I bought the car to use, so don’t have any immediate plans apart from driving it. In the medium term, I’ll be keeping things as original as possible and investing in cleaning products and preventative maintenance as required.
So, without further ado… Please allow me to introduce Renault Clio V6 255 #227.
It’s a lovely phase two example in Titanium with a huge history folder and just 20k miles.
The car was a commission sale through 4 Star Classics and had been on the market since late 2016. It had been priced quite enthusiastically at first and despite a big price drop a few months ago, still needed quite a bit of money spent to recommission it for road use after extensive storage.
In the end, we settled on a price and I picked up the car on 15th June.
The recommissioning works were completed by Mark Fish Motorsport last week and included the cambelt, auxiliary belt tensioner and idler pulley, water pump and seal, coolant, air filter, cabin filter, brake fluid, rear brake pads, spark plugs, 5w/40 fully synthetic oil, aircon regas and a brand-new set of Michelin Pilot tyres.
I haven’t had the camera out just yet, but here is a shot from the advert:
I bought the car to use, so don’t have any immediate plans apart from driving it. In the medium term, I’ll be keeping things as original as possible and investing in cleaning products and preventative maintenance as required.
DoubleTime said:
Apparently there are several mods that can be done to the V6's to make them far more compliant on the road and mitigate some of their quirky factory spec characteristics..
I think a lot of those modifications are targeted at the phase one.In the development of the phase two, Renault made a number of changes to improve handling. The wheelbase was stretched by 23mm, there was a new rear subframe, the damper mounts were repositioned and stiffened, the suspension was reworked, the rear wheels were moved 15mm back, the trailing arms were lengthened by 10mm, a thicker anti-roll bar was added and stiffer springs were thrown in.
I guess there is always the possibility of spinning into a fiery death, thanks to the short wheelbase, rear-wheel-drive, mid-engine configuration and lack of traction control!
Lovely car and something that I regret not buying before - having owned our 182 from new back in 2004 (and it still only on 54k), I have been tempted several times by V6's particularly when they were hitting the bottom of that curve - I remember seeing ph1's for well under £10K - those days are certainly over!
I think that these are definitely something that we may not see the like of again - in this age of downsizing, why would a manufacturer go to all the work of fitting a big NA engine in the middle of a hatch and completely reworking for RWD, when they could just stick a turbo on the existing engine (and a lairy bodykit) and create a halo model. Given the work that will have gone into the engineering and the real presence these have, I think that they will continue to stand out as something special!
Looking forward to seeing and reading more about your ownership experience!
I think that these are definitely something that we may not see the like of again - in this age of downsizing, why would a manufacturer go to all the work of fitting a big NA engine in the middle of a hatch and completely reworking for RWD, when they could just stick a turbo on the existing engine (and a lairy bodykit) and create a halo model. Given the work that will have gone into the engineering and the real presence these have, I think that they will continue to stand out as something special!
Looking forward to seeing and reading more about your ownership experience!
I actually remember when these used to be available on the used market for a fairly reasonable price, given what you got for your money.
It's at no surprise to see the numbers they have shot up to, in terms of what people are asking for them.
Seriously awesome cars. Just when you thought a standard Clio 172/182 was silly enough!
It's at no surprise to see the numbers they have shot up to, in terms of what people are asking for them.
Seriously awesome cars. Just when you thought a standard Clio 172/182 was silly enough!
t4thomas said:
I think a lot of those modifications are targeted at the phase one.
In the development of the phase two, Renault made a number of changes to improve handling. The wheelbase was stretched by 23mm, there was a new rear subframe, the damper mounts were repositioned and stiffened, the suspension was reworked, the rear wheels were moved 15mm back, the trailing arms were lengthened by 10mm, a thicker anti-roll bar was added and stiffer springs were thrown in.
I guess there is always the possibility of spinning into a fiery death, thanks to the short wheelbase, rear-wheel-drive, mid-engine configuration and lack of traction control!
I recall the poster showing pics of his phase 2. It was aftermarket mods he did to it. I recall geo being a big one. Can't recall the rest but there were a few listed. In the development of the phase two, Renault made a number of changes to improve handling. The wheelbase was stretched by 23mm, there was a new rear subframe, the damper mounts were repositioned and stiffened, the suspension was reworked, the rear wheels were moved 15mm back, the trailing arms were lengthened by 10mm, a thicker anti-roll bar was added and stiffer springs were thrown in.
I guess there is always the possibility of spinning into a fiery death, thanks to the short wheelbase, rear-wheel-drive, mid-engine configuration and lack of traction control!
C70R said:
What a fantastic beast. This and the Sport Spider were truly gamechanging cars from Renault, before they reverted to FWD hatch type.
I do see what you're getting at. These are much more special but even the standard 172/182's have that great over-engined feel about them, regardless of them being FWD.I'll be honest, i never really got the Sport Spider. The love for fast Renault's, for me, started with the Clio's and Megane's, so maybe it was a bit before my time.
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