lumby

After 4 years of import sti scooby ownership - i have finally thrown the towel in with the hassle and cost of having to find a shell garage to fill up every 2 days and the general running costs !

Decided on a new clio 172 and i have to admit its great - yes its not as quick but its a different sort of quick you can just chuck into a corner and it just hangs on - it reminds me of my old 5 gt turbos go kart handling and all the kit to boot - I even got a £200 refund on my insurance !

made up and not regretting it at all - that said i have only been without the scoob for one day !

zoog

I did a similar thing, after 2 integrales in a row and a brief interlude with a Merc i figured that the most fun for the least cash and hassle was a Clio Cup. Had it a week and no regrets, 38-44 mpg on a run and 28 caning it. Real world speed no different from the 'grale, very gripy and goes like a scalded cat.

Also, normally-aspirated throttle response and engine braking and consequently enhanced mid corner adjustability using the throttle I missed with the turbos, which is a big factor in driving enjoyment.

Gary VR6

Me, too, Well sort of. I never got to be a scooby owner, despite test driving 10 or so during Feb this year. I'd got £13k ready for a my00 when I accidentally test-drove a clio cup and thought wow!; I bought it there and then. Had a golf vr6 for 18 months before this, 2 vti civics before that, and 2 205 gti's before that; Clio reminds me of the 205's - right foot down and hang on with both hands!!!!

andym172

Do you guys know where's the cheapest place to buy a Clio Cup?

Andy.

RB5#295

From what a few owners have told me, Clio 172's go much better on Optimax though...

TVR Gary

Morning Guys.

I went the other way, started with a 172 and have just moved up to a new STI8. I have to say the performance difference is emmense. The kick from the STI is massive compared to the gradual build from the 172. HOWEVER I loved the 172 to bits and as you guys say 30 MPG even when you nail it is great. One point to you all, if you want to make your car more powerfull, ie around 10BHP and sound like a real car, get it to Janspeed in Salisbury and have the full de-cat system put on. My car was used to make the prototype and it sounded great and went like a rocket. Worth every penny, mind you I would say that coz I got it done for free....haha.

Anyway, happy 172'ing to you all

Gary

ps, I may be a little greedy but I still have a 172 coz the missis drives one as well. Couldnt be totally without now could I?

Gary VR6

Andy - look on autotrader for cups and you should find Chapel Walks garage in Warrington selling new ones for £11,500. Otherwise look for used ones with low miles like I did - I paid £10,800 for a 52 reg with 3000 miles 6 weeks ago from Lookers (renault main dealer) in Chester. There's quite a few around...

robby

Gary, which system did you have - mild or stainless? and what tailpipe was it?
I had a Magnex on mine but took it off as it kept catching on the rear axle and the tailpipe welds cracked.

was it loud or LOUD!!!

Cheers

TVR Gary

Robby,

I had several tail pipes etc put on the car till Janspeed and I decided on the best. We ended up with twin rounds of approx 3 inch bore I think. Oh and its in stainless steel.

She was rolling road tested and the new system gave around 3BHP throughout the rev range. But at the top end revs where the standard car was starting to tail off with the Janspeed the power was still increasing. We then took the system off and de-catted it. We estimated around 7BHP increase from doing this so all in all around 10BHP. My other half has an identicle car which is standard and I could pull away from it on both acceleration and mid range torque.

With regards to the sound she was DB tested at 93DB at 4000 revs. So quiet loud but not overly obtrusive. I will admit that after a 300 mile journey me ears were ringing slightly though. Around town and ring roads she sounded gorgeous. Everyone turns their heads to look. Something the standard car would never do.

If you buy one make sure you ask for the exact same spec as Gary had on the prototype car because they were thinking about putting an extra silencer in to quiet it down abit. I wouldnt recommend it though because mine was brill the way it was.

Janpeed main man is called MATT and he is very very good.

Cya

The_Gza

You'll need to remember that the decatted systems are only available for the Mk1 172 at the moment. MkII 172's and Cups have a twin lambda sensor (before and after the cat) which means it won't run properly without the cat, unlike the Mk1

You can still get a cat back system for the MkII/Cup though. Magnex do a twin 3.5" or 6x4" oval, and K-Tec also do a twin 3" system.

I've got the K-Tec system on my Cup and it's LOUD! Got it rolling roaded last Sunday and it's now putting out 182bhp @ fly with just the exhaust and Pipercross panel filter Thinking about adding some extra sound deadening in the boot floor though - the resonance around 4k means it's an uncomfortable motorway crusier. Saying that, the noise on full throttle is fantastic - a real meaty note that sounds pure evil

TVR Gary

The_GZA
I dont agree with what you say. Mine was a mark 2 and it ran fine with a full Manifold back De-Cat system from Janspeed. No problems with engine management, no lights coming on etc. She was rolling road tested before and after and the BHP gains were there to be seen.

dogmaul

not all mk2's have twin sensors some imports only have 1

jimblive

robby,
i have a magnex on mine and ever since it was fitted i have had a knocking/banging noise when driving hard, almost sounds like the rev limiter banging away. did your magnex make the same nosie as i can not trace it to anything else.

The_Gza

Gary - fair enough. All of the MkII 172's I've came across have 2 lambda sensors, and I've been told by three companies that you can't decat the MkII yet due to this.

Do you know if yours had one or two lambda sensors? If it's got two and it worked fine, then I'll be straight on the phone to Janspeed Did your exhaust come in 3 pieces? i.e. could I order just the decat pipe from the manifold to the center section?

It may be that as dogmaul states some of the earlier and/or import 172 still have the single lambda sensor, hence can be decatted.

dogmaul

i will look on mine but aint got a clue what im looking for lol

The_Gza

dogmaul - you'll see a t-piece coming off of the exhaust before the cat (with what looks almost like the top of a spark plug with wires coming out of it) attached, and then possibly the same just after the cat.

I'd take some pics to show you, but given a) I'm at my work and b) I haven't got my camera with me, that might be a problem

dogmaul

lol i will do it later then

bluenose172

iTrader: (2)

Chris,

Dunno of this makes a differnece, but throughout the MK2's life there have been 2 differnet CAT sections to the exhaust, one like mine, that has a single CAT, and most likely one like yours that has a duel CAT.

Paul

The_Gza

Lo Paul

The mystery deepens then - I was under mine when the exhaust was getting fitted having a good look about to see if decatting was going to be possible. I could only see one cat under there, and two lambda sensors either side of it.

Cheers


Chris

robby

Gary, i'd probably go for a janspeed with the extra silencer as i'd probably get peed off driving on motorways if it was too loud

Jimblive, magnex only list an exhaust for the mk1, mine is a mk2 and i was told by people the exhausts should be identicle. It seemed as though the magnex was about 2" too long as the bendover the rear axle would touch slightly when the car was taken off the ramp, when driven it got a lot worse so i'd suggest you look at the bend to see if it's rubbing. Another thing was the backbox couldn't be adjusted much so the tails would sit too high pushing the bumper up a bit (about 1.5")

I noticed mine has 2 sensors before the cat but was told by renault (who replaced the cat) that there were 2 types, i think the mk1s and early mk2s had 1 sensor

jimblive

cheers robby,
mine is a late mk1 and they did spend 2hrs trying to fit it so might be a similar problem. i'll have a look this weekend and see if its the same problem.