Clio Cup 172

[shao_khan]

First review so bear with me, have had this written down for ages, thought I should post it!!

Car was delivered in Metalic Blue (only colour option) with no additional extras (options now include a/c which it didnt at the time). The basic car is Same essential car as the Clio 172 but has a/c removed, modified suspension, brakes, thinner window glass, bench seat in rear, no carpet mats, thinner carpets, reduced levels of sound insulation, in all shaves about 90Kg off the weight of a CLio 172.

Looks: I think many French cars are love em or hate em, and I like the look, the blue is a fantastic colour, really stands out. Badging is subtle with a small cup 172 badge on the b pillars. Wheels are a nice looking (if a little small) multispoke which add to teh cars quite wide appearance.

Interior: To be honest not very nice, cheap badly fitting plastics, rattles started from just 13 miles on the road, but everything is functional. Steering wheel controls for stereo very well positioned, other controls in logical and easy places. seats are supportive, but do lack in adjustment. Worst thing though was the driving position for me, when sat in a comfortable position to drive, the steering wheel felt slightly offset but to change gear I needed to lean forward in my seat for 1,3,5 gears as they were sooo far away.

Driving, mostly done in milton keynes, so plenty accel and braking and fast chicanes sorry no I mean roundabouts. From the start it feels a fast little car, with as little as 1500 miles on the clock it feels quite rapid, for me fast accel was hampered by having to move to change gears, car felt like it pulled right through the rev range. Slowing and stopping also felt confident, after maybe 35mins of fast travel around MK did I begin to get some fade and lack of feeling in the brakes. Suspension set up was brilliant at no point did the car feel unsettled, little or no roll in the corners and felt confident carrying speed into corners. In all a very fun car to drive.

Living with the car: NO AIRCON is a bad bad idea, and I remember now why I said I wouldnt haev a car without it unless it was very special car, the big windows mean you get a lot of noise and blowing when you need to keep cool, noise otherwise is acceptable, engine noise is quite nice and exhaust note isnt bad either. Car comes with cd player and adequate speakers and the colour is one people do look at. To be honest tho, no aircon made it very hard work to live with, it is now available as an option, but then you lose benefit of that weight saving. In summary I would recommend a drive of one of these, and a good hatch for track days and stuff (I understand Renault Sport are considering track preparations at extra costs, although not confirmed yet) but it isnt a car I would want long term as build was not high, had a couple of problems initially which apparently are likely to recur and had several rattles and no aircon.