petersen

I have ordered a Clio Cup to replace our 3rd car as I wanted a cracking FWD car (have AWD & RWD).

Drove the Cooper and Standard 172 and preferred the Clio to the Cooper, although was not entirely happy with it. But with engine mods, , straight through exhaust and some nice Clio racing options, I think this will finally be the car I will be happy with using everyday to travel the 30 miles in traffic on the A13 to and from the City (I need something to play with the white van men!!!!)

Plus I had a Clio Williams 1 in the "old" days and hanker back to that period!!

[Edited by petersen - 7/5/2002 3:25:41 PM]

Flatlander

I'm sure this has been done plenty of times but hey what hasn't - time to make my mind up.

Which one do/would you recommend :-

Cooper S - Good build quality, good residuals & dealers, Pricey, long lead times ?

Clio Cup - Cheap, V.quick, but suspect build quality & s**t dealers ?

Racing Puma - Superb Handling & Looks, suspect build, Slightly underpowered ?

Not interested in CTR................

Rich D

iTrader: (12)

Well, out of the 3 you've selected...

Have driven a Cooper (not S) and was not overly impressed. The handling is good, the brakes are superb but it was not quick. The S is obviously gonna be better, but still once you add on all the options they get very expensive

Not that keen on Puma either. Good chassis, but girly looks and lacks power. A bit dated now too.

My mate has a Clio 172 and I am a named driver on his insurance so get to drive it a fair bit. Pretty quick, good handling, superb brakes, very well specced up and cheap too, my pick of the 3 cars here.

Doing a trackday at Elvigton on Saturday in it actally.

JohnMcC

Why dont you fancy the CTR?

Personally, I would go for that over the three youve chosen here.

But if it had to be from those three then it would be the Clio for me. Having said that, I dont know an awful lot about the Racing Puma (in terms of what its like to drive...).

duckson

iTrader: (2)

Why dont u go for a test drive in them? pay a visit to your nice dealers!

duckson

iTrader: (2)

Have u taken a CTR out for a test drive?

Little Miss WRX

Well the new Cooper S is trying to be British and let's face it - it isn't I am afraid that would severely affect me buying it. Next point is I don't like the look of it anyway.....

The Clio? Hmmmm, great to drive, again not a good looker.

I like the Puma's looks out of them all, but don't think it is value for money.

So, in all, not much help.

Get yourself test drives of them all and report back to us

Rich D

iTrader: (12)

Well, I borrowed a Y Reg mk1 Clio 172 for the day yesterday and took it to Elvington to thrash round the track all day!

Had a superb day and was very happy with the way the 172 performed. In fact people kept coming and asking me what had been done to it and if it was standard. It is a standard car except for a Green induction kit which won't really give it much more power, but the noise it makes is superb. It barks at you and really sounds amazing past 5000rpm when the VVT kicks in.

I ended up pushing an S3 Audi round the track who eventually bowed out and indicated to let me past and then to my surprise the same again with an RS500 Sierra Cossie.

The Clio really did surprise a lot of people there, including me!

However, although good, it aint the best handling fwd car I've ever driven...

I found that the mk1 Clio is set up to be quite neutral and the front has a tendancy to wash out if you push it hard through tight corners. Does seem to want to understeer and didn't really wanna go sideways, but this is probably due to a) the weight of the 2.0 litre engine over the front wheels of a small car and b) Renault setting it up like that to be safe. Another contributing factor is obviusly the tyres and the surfacew I was driving on, but it does understeer on the road so it aint just the tyres.

Unlike my old 106 GTi, which I have also taken to Elvington in the past, as well as other trackdays. Soooooo easy to get the back end out and you can really drive it sideways by playing with the steering and the throttle. What a superb chassis that car had, really was a brilliant drivers car. Although not quite as fast as the Clio, you'd be surprised at how little there is in it too, as the 106 has a lot less power and a smaller engine, but in a drag race up to 90-100mph they are very closely matched.

Anyway, I know that the mk2 Clio 172 has got different steering and suspension to the mk1, so should be an even better drive. I have not driven the mk2 yet, but another of my friends had his mk2 172 round Elvington last year and that definately seemed to handle better, even from the passenger seat.

Would be *very* keen to get my ands on a mk2 Cup Sport 172 now and would definately buy one.

hades

I would dispute your comments the build quality of the Cooper S. They may be BMW and feel nicely put together, but they ain't built well IMHO. My brother's cooper has, in 6 months, had both seats, the steering system, the gearbox, and several smaller things completely die. I rate the dealer - and BMW UK - well below your opinion of the renault dealers. Needless to say, he'l be getting rid soon.

If you can live with the cockpit/driving position (doesn't suit everyone), I'd go with the Clio. IIRC, the cup actually has a better power weight than a clio V6, which appeals