RE: Chris Harris video: Renaultsport Clio 200 Turbo
Thursday 28th March 2013
2013 will be remembered as the year that two cornerstones of the fast car community were altered against the will of the vociferous legions that honour them. Porsche gave the GT3 a PDK gearbox; Renault did the same to the Clio RS and added a turbocharger into the shame.
Does this look boring to you? Thought not...It is easy to dismiss the Renaultsport Clio 200 Turbo as a foppish, bloated machine unworthy of succeeding possibly the greatest uninterrupted hot-hatch dynasty of them all - too easy in fact. You have to try and understand what Renault is attempting to do with this car and, even though car makers are reluctant to discuss future plans, you have to guess where this first version might lead in the future. After all, turbocharging makes for much easier tweaking.
Chris Harris video: Renaultsport Clio 200 Turbo
Chris grabs the new Renaultsport Clio by the scruff of the neck and asks if the magic is still there
Does this look boring to you? Thought not...
So I've tried to see from both sides: as the bloke with the current Clio 200 Cup, light seats, induction kit and track day addiction, but also the ordinary fast car lover who spends all their time on the road. And, perhaps most importantly, I've tried to remember what it was like to be young and for a car like this to be one's first rung on the fast car ladder. For that generation I'm not sure paddles, symposers, RS buttons and forced induction are anything other than gold dust.
Discussion
As a twenty something I was fortunate enough to have a couple GT turbos, a Williams and eventually as a thirty something a V6 clio.. And now as a forty something SWMBO wants something with five doors, an auto box and decent fuel economy.
This could very well be the answer. And I might even enjoy driving it too.
This could very well be the answer. And I might even enjoy driving it too.
Excellent vid again!!
Having spent a fair bit of time in the now old Clio cup 200 (also liquid yellow) it was a horrid car for daily use commuting in traffic and to and from meetings
This does look more reasonable for that but I do really dislike the 5doors (well hidden or not they are still pretty obvious) and odd that it lacks recaro's as well
I think it will sell well and the trade off's are more than acceptable for the people now buying these
Having spent a fair bit of time in the now old Clio cup 200 (also liquid yellow) it was a horrid car for daily use commuting in traffic and to and from meetings
This does look more reasonable for that but I do really dislike the 5doors (well hidden or not they are still pretty obvious) and odd that it lacks recaro's as well
I think it will sell well and the trade off's are more than acceptable for the people now buying these
k it, I'll probably buy one in a few years. 
Finally they gave this car what it always needed, a easily tunable turbo motor.. but then went and buggered everything else up, small engine, paddles on thier own might be ok but a gearnob too!?! Are you teasing us mr frenchie? four doors=FAIL on any car, rubbish styling, its now a french Golf.. and just look at the poorly placed led lights and cheap plastic under the rear taillights.. wtf!!
If my life has ever become so sad and mundane that i ever buy Golf.. even an r32 or this car, id throw myself off a cliff. New Clio is ugly, boring, cheap, underpowered and no im still not going to buy a clio.
On the positive side, it was a nice review, i do love Chris's roadtests!
Oh and one more thing.. could they make the renault badge a bit bigger so i can see it from outspace...
If my life has ever become so sad and mundane that i ever buy Golf.. even an r32 or this car, id throw myself off a cliff. New Clio is ugly, boring, cheap, underpowered and no im still not going to buy a clio.
On the positive side, it was a nice review, i do love Chris's roadtests!
Oh and one more thing.. could they make the renault badge a bit bigger so i can see it from outspace...
I have to say it does sound more promicing than the other reviews I have heard so far about the New Clio 200 Turbo. I am not a fan of the looks of the Fiesta nor the new Peugeot 208 GTI so in my view the Clio looks better than them. I am still not sold on the gearbox. What I would love to see is a back to back with Chris driving the Clio 200 Cup against the new Clio 200 Turbo.
Chris keeps going on about the 'hardcore'.... it's the hardcore that have kept the communities behind the current cars alive. I'm not sure alienating your core support is anything but akin to cutting your nose of in spite of ones face.
Turbo engine is fine, good in some respects as the 197/200s do lack the ease of driving it gives and the fuel consumption on the mk3 Clio's is terrible.
5 doors.... well it's not what most buy a small hatch for but it's not the end of the world.
EDC? I'm sorry, I've driven Golf GTIs with the DSG transmission and you just lose a chunk of the fun and engagement as you never really feel like your right foot is connected more interpreted by the ECU/Gearbox. It makes it faster in a straight line but that was never the point in an RS model was it?
Oh and it looks pig ugly, the 200 took a while to grow on me and I still think the front end is a bit 'salty' but even having now seen a few in the flesh the front end looks like someone redrew the 200 while looking in the back of a spoon.
The mk3s aren't without fault but at least they were relatively true to the RS spirit.
Turbo engine is fine, good in some respects as the 197/200s do lack the ease of driving it gives and the fuel consumption on the mk3 Clio's is terrible.
5 doors.... well it's not what most buy a small hatch for but it's not the end of the world.
EDC? I'm sorry, I've driven Golf GTIs with the DSG transmission and you just lose a chunk of the fun and engagement as you never really feel like your right foot is connected more interpreted by the ECU/Gearbox. It makes it faster in a straight line but that was never the point in an RS model was it?
Oh and it looks pig ugly, the 200 took a while to grow on me and I still think the front end is a bit 'salty' but even having now seen a few in the flesh the front end looks like someone redrew the 200 while looking in the back of a spoon.
The mk3s aren't without fault but at least they were relatively true to the RS spirit.
The Vambo said:
It does seem like it would be a good car to own as a do it all and makes all the hyperbole seem a little premature.
Harris swears he never used the handbrake on that video so it looks like it has a really mobile rear end.
Apart from where the rear wheels were locked in the slow motion bits?Harris swears he never used the handbrake on that video so it looks like it has a really mobile rear end.
This new Clio does seem to be very colour sensitive - in red like in the video it really looks rubbish, where as in yellow it isn't too bad. My biggest beef is it doesn't look like an RS - it doesn't look special enough, more like a posh high spec standard version.
Edited by RacingBlue on Wednesday 27th March 20:44
Key thing here is that there seems to be plenty of slack left for a harder core version. As Chris says, the 197 seemed a bit limp (after the 172 Cup and 182 Trophy) but look what it spawned.
This in infinitely tuneable which will appeal to a new audience and when Renault release the next level of spec and performance in the form of a Trophy'esqe version with faster shifts and a harder character it will no doubt be lorded.
When has Dieppe let us down before? Watch this space, it will be awesome.
This in infinitely tuneable which will appeal to a new audience and when Renault release the next level of spec and performance in the form of a Trophy'esqe version with faster shifts and a harder character it will no doubt be lorded.
When has Dieppe let us down before? Watch this space, it will be awesome.
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