Neith's Renaultsport Clio 197
Discussion
After what seemed like forever, I finally managed to sell the S15 Silvia a little while ago (see thread here for that). I was starting to have some issues with it and it was showing that it wasn't really built for being a daily during British winters. The bodywork was beginning to show some signs of rust and mechanically it was starting to let me down (such as injectors failing a few weeks after spending a grand fixing other things!). I decided that I needed to sell and thankfully it's gone to someone who is going to restore it to its former glory.
I've always been a huge Gran Turismo fan and consequently always bought Japanese cars (Gen 7 Celica 140, EP3 Civic Type-R and the aforementioned S15). I really wanted a Skyline but between the issues I had with the S15 and the current prices on Skylines I knew I couldn't justify it. I started to look around at things like WRX Stis, FN2 Civic Type-Rs and so on but most were either really high mileage or showed signs of being ragged. It was then I noticed the Clio, at a dealer fairly close by. I'd heard good things about the Renaultsport cars and after seeing it I put down a deposit and drove away a few days later.
The car is a 2008 197 with the standard chassis/suspension setup. It's only done 56,000 miles and had a full service history, most of which is from Renault dealers. As an added bonus, it had the cambelt changed at 54,000 miles which saves me a massive headache later!
The only things I need to sort are new tyres (currently on ditchfinders on the front and almost completely knackered Falkens on the back...) and refurb the alloys as they're quite badly kerbed. Aside from that, the car drives absolutely spot-on (with the exception of the well-known cold start 'kangarooing' that most of these do) and I love the eagerness of the engine. NA throttle response is so nice after driving a turbo for a few years and it makes a decent noise to boot. Once the new tyres are on I'll be checking out what it's like on some of the B-roads and maybe do a couple of track days too.
Totally different car to what I would typically get but I'm happy with it so far. Even the standard seats are extremely comfortable and have very good lumbar support. Only bad things are terrible rear visibility (small back window) and the standard radio is pretty basic with no USB functionality. Looking at getting an expansion box to sit in the glove box later to sort that out but all in all these are small complaints. I also need to be very conscious of how wide the thing is; it's actually wider than the S15 because of the flared arches!
I've always been a huge Gran Turismo fan and consequently always bought Japanese cars (Gen 7 Celica 140, EP3 Civic Type-R and the aforementioned S15). I really wanted a Skyline but between the issues I had with the S15 and the current prices on Skylines I knew I couldn't justify it. I started to look around at things like WRX Stis, FN2 Civic Type-Rs and so on but most were either really high mileage or showed signs of being ragged. It was then I noticed the Clio, at a dealer fairly close by. I'd heard good things about the Renaultsport cars and after seeing it I put down a deposit and drove away a few days later.
The car is a 2008 197 with the standard chassis/suspension setup. It's only done 56,000 miles and had a full service history, most of which is from Renault dealers. As an added bonus, it had the cambelt changed at 54,000 miles which saves me a massive headache later!
The only things I need to sort are new tyres (currently on ditchfinders on the front and almost completely knackered Falkens on the back...) and refurb the alloys as they're quite badly kerbed. Aside from that, the car drives absolutely spot-on (with the exception of the well-known cold start 'kangarooing' that most of these do) and I love the eagerness of the engine. NA throttle response is so nice after driving a turbo for a few years and it makes a decent noise to boot. Once the new tyres are on I'll be checking out what it's like on some of the B-roads and maybe do a couple of track days too.
Totally different car to what I would typically get but I'm happy with it so far. Even the standard seats are extremely comfortable and have very good lumbar support. Only bad things are terrible rear visibility (small back window) and the standard radio is pretty basic with no USB functionality. Looking at getting an expansion box to sit in the glove box later to sort that out but all in all these are small complaints. I also need to be very conscious of how wide the thing is; it's actually wider than the S15 because of the flared arches!
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