New Car - Trophy #433
Discussion
**Warning essay content**
Having now owned the Trophy for 6 weeks & 3k miles, i thought i had better put a little thread up about it ...
Basically, since October last year, id been rolling around in a Golf Gti Edition 30, which really wasnt to my taste & did shoddy mpg. As such, since March, i'd been commuting 30 miles a day in the saxo - not so quiet, but not so dull either.
Things had to change though, for starters running two cars isnt overly cheap, & secondly, with me moving in with the better half and only having space for one car each, i needed something that would do a daily 85 mile commute & satisfy my urge for fun ...
After a great deal of consideration, i dismissed the idea of a 330 as whilst it was probably the best overall/sensible car i could get for my monies, it wasnt an M3, & certainly wasnt a track car. Which left me with an MCS or, wait for it, yet another clio. MCS mpg would make baby jesus cry, so i ended up deciding that it would be yet another clio
I decided to start looking for a low mileage 182 for about £4k, that i would subsequently fit Recaro's, Turini's, H&R's & the JMS inlet to. My intention was to change cars in July (as it was then May).
Then a chap on Cliosport put up a for sale ad for his Trophy, & my friend Mike and i decided to go & have a look to see to see what all the fuss was about ... on the way there we both laughed about how we always follow our hearts & buy the 1st car we see.
30 minutes later i owned a Trophy. Oops!!
Queue urgent stripping/selling of saxo, selling of golf, slight panic at having 3 cars sat on the drive & moving of house - all in 2 weeks. The cars did make for a nice photo though:
Since owning it, i've done 3k miles (i think the previous owner did that in 6 months lol) and it hasnt skipped a beat, averaging 36mpg as well which is nice on the wallet - a gay would buy a diesel for 25-30k miles a year, but not me Whack the cruise on & its a nice, albeit slightly bumpy commuting tool ...
Handling wise, it is actually amazing, you point, it goes, normally on 3 wheels!! Not as adjustable as the saxo, but a lot more ultimate grip, & definately a marked improvement on both the 182 (cup-packed) & 172 cup that i had before ...
Speed wise, personally i think its slower than the saxo, & the 172 cup, but according to Surrey Rolling road its only got 173bhp (with a map & exhaust lol), so its not surprising, obviously weighs more as well, with all that faux cow on the seats.
Brakes, well, the pads are ok in day to day use, but well, they caught fire last night after a spirited half hour excursion, so i'll need to get my DS2500's on there sharpish!
Mods wise, it already had:
Since then, i've accumulated/fitted:
Future plans (when i eventually get bored of it) are for:
First impressions. Well, its the best car i've owned. Seriously!!
A couple of pictures, apologies for the other nail:
Cheers for reading
:
Having now owned the Trophy for 6 weeks & 3k miles, i thought i had better put a little thread up about it ...
Basically, since October last year, id been rolling around in a Golf Gti Edition 30, which really wasnt to my taste & did shoddy mpg. As such, since March, i'd been commuting 30 miles a day in the saxo - not so quiet, but not so dull either.
Things had to change though, for starters running two cars isnt overly cheap, & secondly, with me moving in with the better half and only having space for one car each, i needed something that would do a daily 85 mile commute & satisfy my urge for fun ...
After a great deal of consideration, i dismissed the idea of a 330 as whilst it was probably the best overall/sensible car i could get for my monies, it wasnt an M3, & certainly wasnt a track car. Which left me with an MCS or, wait for it, yet another clio. MCS mpg would make baby jesus cry, so i ended up deciding that it would be yet another clio
I decided to start looking for a low mileage 182 for about £4k, that i would subsequently fit Recaro's, Turini's, H&R's & the JMS inlet to. My intention was to change cars in July (as it was then May).
Then a chap on Cliosport put up a for sale ad for his Trophy, & my friend Mike and i decided to go & have a look to see to see what all the fuss was about ... on the way there we both laughed about how we always follow our hearts & buy the 1st car we see.
30 minutes later i owned a Trophy. Oops!!
Queue urgent stripping/selling of saxo, selling of golf, slight panic at having 3 cars sat on the drive & moving of house - all in 2 weeks. The cars did make for a nice photo though:
Since owning it, i've done 3k miles (i think the previous owner did that in 6 months lol) and it hasnt skipped a beat, averaging 36mpg as well which is nice on the wallet - a gay would buy a diesel for 25-30k miles a year, but not me Whack the cruise on & its a nice, albeit slightly bumpy commuting tool ...
Handling wise, it is actually amazing, you point, it goes, normally on 3 wheels!! Not as adjustable as the saxo, but a lot more ultimate grip, & definately a marked improvement on both the 182 (cup-packed) & 172 cup that i had before ...
Speed wise, personally i think its slower than the saxo, & the 172 cup, but according to Surrey Rolling road its only got 173bhp (with a map & exhaust lol), so its not surprising, obviously weighs more as well, with all that faux cow on the seats.
Brakes, well, the pads are ok in day to day use, but well, they caught fire last night after a spirited half hour excursion, so i'll need to get my DS2500's on there sharpish!
Mods wise, it already had:
- Ktec remap
- ITG panel filter
- Ktec Ultra silenced exhaust
- DS Performance pads, Brembo HC Discs, braided lines & Dot 4
- Alpine IDA-X200 iPod headunit
Since then, i've accumulated/fitted:
- Genuine RenaultSport mats
- Parrot CK3100 Handsfree
- Pogo Alert Speed Camera detector
- V6 airbox inc. ITG filter
- De-Cat (not fitted yet)
- 15" Pro-Race 1.2's inc. PE2's/T1R's for track
- Ferodo DS2500 pads
- 2 x OMP 4 point 3" harnesses
- Phoenix Gold 5” Components
- ’Si’ Towing Eye
- Variable Wiper Stalk
- New cambelt/aux belt & coolant change at JMS Tuning
Future plans (when i eventually get bored of it) are for:
- Mark Fish -15mm springs
- Koni Adjustable rear dampers
- JMS RS2 inlet when they become available 2nd hand. Im tight.
First impressions. Well, its the best car i've owned. Seriously!!
A couple of pictures, apologies for the other nail:
Cheers for reading
:Edited by Sir_Dave on Monday 12th July 15:48
OJ121 said:
Cant imagine stepping from a Golf into a Clio unless forced.
The golf was numb, boring & had no sensation of speed. It understeered like a pig & to cap it all was a DSG/auto. In addition, the mpg was worse than my old Z3M. Worst car i've ever had the displeasure of owning, hence why i prefered driving my saxo.Martin_Hx said:
Brakes on fire 
What pads were on there ? Had the previous owner got budgets do you think ?
Nah, they were Ferodo DS Performance, so decent enough, just not up to my favourite stretch of twisties, the DS2500's have sorted out the problem, so far What pads were on there ? Had the previous owner got budgets do you think ?
Re: the rear shocks/springs. These would purely be to add additional adjustability/stiffness for track. As you can imagine, the setup is sublime for road use ...
Edited by Sir_Dave on Tuesday 13th July 09:08
Great thread, i'm should be shortly looking for the same 4k budget 182 or 172 cup as a toy for myself.
I'd come to the decision of buying a Clio as i couldn't think of another car for the money that is only 5 years old but will be entertaining enough to be a hoot.
What would your opinion against buying a 182 or a late 172 Cup, i like the idea of having a few creature comforts and the plusher seats in the 182 also appeal, what i'd like to know is does the 182 ultimately handle and perform as well as the 172 cup or are they streets apart? I'm hoping it will feel a little like my old Integrale Evo2 without the 4wd.
Cheers for any advice.
I'd come to the decision of buying a Clio as i couldn't think of another car for the money that is only 5 years old but will be entertaining enough to be a hoot.
What would your opinion against buying a 182 or a late 172 Cup, i like the idea of having a few creature comforts and the plusher seats in the 182 also appeal, what i'd like to know is does the 182 ultimately handle and perform as well as the 172 cup or are they streets apart? I'm hoping it will feel a little like my old Integrale Evo2 without the 4wd.
Cheers for any advice.
The 172 Cup is a better handling car, but of course is much more focused too. I went for a 182FF as it is still great fun to drive but provides a compromise if it is your only car. It has comfy seats, air con, cruise, xenon lights etc etc and I have enjoyed mine for the past 19k miles or so 
Martin_Hx said:
Off down to Cornwall in a week so ill keep an eye out 
Enjoy Cornwall, some awesome roads down there!!Unfortunately, whilst my parents live near Lands End, i live in Basingstoke, so you probably wont see me anywhere
Re: the 182 (cup-packed) vs 172 Cup, both handle very well, but from a ultimate driving perspective i prefered the cup, purely as you had to think a little more when driving it on the limit, ie no abs/tc, etc when driving quickly on a wet nurburgring ... 172 Cup is also noticeably quicker & feels more 'raw' due to the lighter weight. 182 does have more creature comforts however.
I personally find that both the 182 & Trophy mask a drivers inability a wee bit more than the 172 Cup, whether that is a good thing or not is entirely up to you i guess.
nice car mate i have got trophy 228 are you on cliotrophy.co.uk? I have had mine nearly 6 months, i agree with what you said about the VTS i previously had a few 106 gti's and i think they were more out and out fun with them being a bit more raw. The trophy has much more grip though. I think they should of made the trophy like a 172 cup, light weight, no traction control, air con ect
are you on cliotrophy.co.uk? I have had mine nearly 6 months, i agree with what you said about the VTS i previously had a few 106 gti's and i think they were more out and out fun with them being a bit more raw. The trophy has much more grip though. I think they should of made the trophy like a 172 cup, light weight, no traction control, air con ectFew more updates after yesterdays tinkering
A few of the Failsport/JMS/Surrey lot are attending a track day at Snetterton on Monday, so i thought i had better make the necessary changes to the podgy Trophy ...
1. Rear seats/isofix bar came out, & my harnesses from the saxo went in.
2. Turinis came off, 15" pro race 1.2's (with PE2's) went on.
3. DS2500's fitted (again from the saxo), along with a fresh load of Dot 4.
First impressions are that the wheels have not only improved the ride quality, but when combined with the removal of the rear seats, etc, one of the Trophy major gripes, ie its simply 'too balanced' has been partly redressed. However, whilst the back is still slightly more adjustable, re: wayward, this seems to have upset the front a little, leading to a tendency to understeer on the limit - something that Mark Fish mentioned would be an issue on track ...
Re: cornering speed, having taken it to my local 'rounabout testing area', it carries considerably more pace than the saxo, but its natural tendency on the limit is understeer, with the back end still not wishing to play in the way that the saxo did. This imho limits its adjustability on the throttle, which as said previously is something that i'd like to redress if possible. No super lift-off oversteer in this badboy ...
So, i'm going to mess about with tyre pressures (all at 32 psi at the mo), & essentially see how it fairs at Snetterton, my feeling is that i want a little more hardness at the rear, so i'll probably purchase the adjustable koni's in order to make the necessary amendments. I'd also like the ability to adjust the front's, ie soften them off for day to day use, so will be de-pinning the Sachs as well.
Speed wise, with the removal of the rear seats, its obviously added 20bhp but in all seriousness, its louder & as such, placebo wise, feels a bit quicker - still needs inlets/de-cat fitting though ...
Yum:
A few of the Failsport/JMS/Surrey lot are attending a track day at Snetterton on Monday, so i thought i had better make the necessary changes to the podgy Trophy ...
1. Rear seats/isofix bar came out, & my harnesses from the saxo went in.
2. Turinis came off, 15" pro race 1.2's (with PE2's) went on.
3. DS2500's fitted (again from the saxo), along with a fresh load of Dot 4.
First impressions are that the wheels have not only improved the ride quality, but when combined with the removal of the rear seats, etc, one of the Trophy major gripes, ie its simply 'too balanced' has been partly redressed. However, whilst the back is still slightly more adjustable, re: wayward, this seems to have upset the front a little, leading to a tendency to understeer on the limit - something that Mark Fish mentioned would be an issue on track ...
Re: cornering speed, having taken it to my local 'rounabout testing area', it carries considerably more pace than the saxo, but its natural tendency on the limit is understeer, with the back end still not wishing to play in the way that the saxo did. This imho limits its adjustability on the throttle, which as said previously is something that i'd like to redress if possible. No super lift-off oversteer in this badboy ...
So, i'm going to mess about with tyre pressures (all at 32 psi at the mo), & essentially see how it fairs at Snetterton, my feeling is that i want a little more hardness at the rear, so i'll probably purchase the adjustable koni's in order to make the necessary amendments. I'd also like the ability to adjust the front's, ie soften them off for day to day use, so will be de-pinning the Sachs as well.
Speed wise, with the removal of the rear seats, its obviously added 20bhp
but in all seriousness, its louder & as such, placebo wise, feels a bit quicker - still needs inlets/de-cat fitting though ...Yum:
Mini Cooper S?
I wouldn't fancy trusting that netting in an impact to restrain the wheel! You can get fairly cheap tie down straps from the likes of TRS and OMP that would do a better job. Stripped out cars do feel faster don't they
Used to love blasting about without the back seats in my rallye.
I wouldn't fancy trusting that netting in an impact to restrain the wheel! You can get fairly cheap tie down straps from the likes of TRS and OMP that would do a better job. Stripped out cars do feel faster don't they
Used to love blasting about without the back seats in my rallye.Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff