Renault Clio Sport172
 

Hi Guys,

Help! I'm thinking about getting a Renault Clio Sport172.

Does anyone have one? Has anyone had one? Are they reliable? What are the pros and cons?

Cheers Sel :)

I had one from new and my mrs had one too.

Great car, computer hardly ever registered below 30MPG no matter how I drove it. Good equipment level. Build quality was acceptable, no creaks or rattles. Cheap servicing, not too hard on tyres, cant think of anything bad to say really......other than dealers not the best, but hey they are all great when selling you a car but couldnt give a monkeys from there on in.

Oh and the bus style driving position takes a little getting used to

I had a Mk1 and it was **** quite frankly.

The newer ones, especially the Cup are cool though.

My GF has an 02 model, which I'm driving all the time at the moment while the scooby is inside for the winter. Dont agree with the 30+ mpg though as ours is getting only 25, mostly town driving though.

Only problem so far was the refusal to start for a while, which was sorted under warranty (a faulty batch of components that affected various Renaults).

Great fun to drive, but I find that you need 3rd gear to overtake in the tighter situations!

Much easier to drive around town than the scooby, but wheelspin is a problem at roundabouts and junctions, especially in the wet obviously.

You need to watch the wheels when parking, all ours are heavily kerbed and the tyres are easily damaged at the same time.

Oh, and you can also fit 2.4 metre lengths of skirting into them with the seats down, which amused me no end :D

Mine did 29-33MPG with heavy driving ......... My missis averaged 37MPG in hers .....yours must be a badun

To be fair as I said it mostly does town driving at 40 mph or less. Is much better on long journeys :)

Great car.

Like Gutmann, I had a Mk1 and my missus currently drives a MK1 also. Agree with everything he says. Quick/fast little car with good equipment levels and great seats (in the Mk1 - they got sh1tter in the mk2).

Watch out for power steering - it went on mine and was fixed under warranty and it's not sounding too healthy on the missus's car at the moment.

Don't listen to any of the build quality bollox that you'll hear on here. mine squeeked and rattled less than my 03WRXppp!

Yes dealers are sh1t!!!

New 182 with cup suspension is very tempting but then so is a V6 255!

There's a 52 plate V6 near me for £16k. Did try to tempt the GF to swap her 172, but said she'd feel a bit of a **** putting the shopping under the bonnet :D

my friend had a clio about 1 year and the handbrake was coming off! a year old when you pulled the handbrake it was about to come off from the bolts and the only thing holding it on was the cable oh btw the way he is a copper and doesnt exactly drive fast or do handbrake turns

You can pick up the 172 for around £6500-£7000 now.

Quick, good handling cars but in the end they are indeed french.

A friend has just bought one and I love the details such as the blue on the dash, steering wheel etc I was expecting more :( maybe I've read too much hype but it wasn't as quick as I expected :(

My mk1 172 was utter cack, never ever buying french again :mad:

Dipster

Mine to. Terrible car.

Whiney PAS, knocking/clonking suspension, crap seating position. Just overall a horrible place to be!!!

Clearly a mixed bag of views here!!! bought my wife a Mk1 172, love it, got 45k on the clock now, no major issues, few warrenty bits early on inc power steering pump, and a wheel bearing went the other month. Great on fuel, goes very, very well on Optimax, fit Eibach springs and it handles superbly. We also have adjustable racelogic traction and launch control which is a good addition on the MK1. It's seen a bit of action at Santa Pod (14.9 sec 1/4 mile possible) and I honestly enjoy driving it as much as the WRX!

I suppose mine was a laugh but I couldn't tolerate the sheers crapness of the quality.

The interior quality didn't bother me, it just felt like if I thrashed it she'd just break in some way. Monkey metal components.

When I looked into it I concluded that it was a great drive but its biggest flaw was that it was French. I have a rule that I will never buy a car that's not either Jap or German (and the German thing is pushing its luck tbh!)

If you do a search, there are loads of these threads and they all come up with different niggles and faults, ranging from little bits falling off, to safety faults that are intolerable,

Go for it, if you can put up with all the faults, but you might be lucky and get a good one. Some people report 40k plus miles and no probs. Shame as they could have had a real winner. Frogs.... :(

MB

my missus has got a 182 with cup bits, i agree with the 30 plus mpg and the wheelspin issues, otheewise a great car, good fun for the price, not a patch on a decent scoob/evo though but a fraction of the cost to run
mark

I've got a test drive in a 182 with full cup package on thursday, i'll let you know what I think.
Renault have got a cracking offer on at the moment until the end of jan so may have to put an order in.

Steve

I had a 2002 172 for just over a year and it was the only car i've ever had that i didn't buy bits for to tart it up as it had almost everything i wanted in a car and it looked so good (ok so many wont agree). I did fit a magnex cat back but took it off after 2 weeks as it was too noisy (standard zorst is 1 piece so need cutting if you want to fit just a backbox)
I managed 34mpg on average around town with wheels spinning in 1st, 2nd and 3rd on wet roundabouts :-)
TBH i've been thinking of getting another

Thanks everyone you've all been very helpfull!

I think a test drive is in order, just to see how they drive for myself.

cheers Sel :)

I drove a cup before the 172 and it was like driving a metro (interior looks/ comfort not driving appeal) - i chose the 172 for all the extras fitted as standard

Finally found your tongue then Sel, good on ya girl. :D
getting some good replies here, excellent.

If by "Bus driving position" means you're sat quite high, that might be a good thing as you're such a short arse. ;) :D

Do let us know when you've found one, and I'll take it for a razz up cold pool, that'll soon tell you if it's a good un. :D:D



Andy

I had a Cup and did 18k in it - thought it was a great car. Fuel economy was fantastic for the performance - once averaged 42mpg over a 650 mile trip round the Highlands! - much better than my CTR, and performance wise, there's little in it. The CTR is quicker above 80, but the Cup had the legs on it until then.

Preferred the feel (if not the look) of the interior plastics in the Cup to the CTR - and despite being stripped out, even the Cup has more creature comforts than the CTR (trip computer, variable wipers, remote stereo controls etc).

Only serious downer was the sheer crapness of the dealers - well the two I had to deal with anyway.

Pound for pound, it's still the best new car performance bargain out there - if I could find a decent dealer, I'd probably have another one :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/The_Gza/Cup_2.gif

I have a 2000 X 172 mk1 that has just done 30k. Cracking little car with a decent interior as well. I too struggle to get the mpg to drop below 30 around town :) and can average 40mpg cruising on motorways. Lots of fun to drive with excellent performance & decent handling and ride that has improved to go kart like levels after having eibachs fitted at minimal cost to ride quality. Fabulous brakes as well.
Dealers are pants though.

Darren

A few of my views on the 172 in here :)

I'm glad my mate (Fuzz), got me to join SN. The guys on MLR are no where near as helpful or friendly as you guys IMO.

Cheers again for all ya help guys :)

Sel

Nice little car, handles well, quick enough but has absolutely no road presence, looks like your neighbours 1.1 gl.........no one even notices it ever.....but if thats not what you want, then.......yep, its spot on.

I have a 40,000 mile, y reg 172 and now have a WR1. If it weren't for the fact that the Clio is in the garage with no tax or insurance (still haven't got around to selling it!!), it would probably get driven almost as much as the scoob. It was great fun to drive, never had any problems with it and can't get the average mpg below 33 no matter how hard I drive. Although it may not be the best quality build in the world, it is also not the most expensive car in the world!! You wouldn't regret buying one so long as you get a good one.

I currently have an 03 Cup... and i must admit it is very good, and very quick on the lanes... used to have a 95 WRX with exhaust, filter, etc.etc.. and IMHO the cup would stay with it.. maybe not on some of the faster A roads (120 +) but on a twisty B road the cup would say goodbye....

It has by far the best turn in of any car i have driven.(or except for the VEMAC). and just wont understeer unless you hold it absolutely flat through a bend (although is starting to now as tyres need replacing)... Sometimes i miss my old Scoob, but then take the cup out for a good thrashing and i miss it no more... Well maybe the sound..

You can pick them up reasonably cheap as well now..

Have a look on here.. http://forum.cliosport.net/

Hope this helps....

James

Just remembered something, the turning circle is pretty ridiculous for such a small car. Nearly every time we go shopping, there's a bit of faffing about to get in ;)