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Goodbye Clio, it's been a good 10 month (pic heavy)



  3000GT & RB 182
After only 10 month it's time for me to say goodby to my 182, and to the Renault-sport scene (at least for now), so here's a little photo story of my adventures in the 182 as it has served me well and deserves a good send off.

My story started in April 2014. My weekend toy, a 500 bph Mitsubishi 3000GT was off the road again (engine rebuild, problems with the Map2 ECU, damaged turbos etc) and i ended up constantly driving my wife's 1.0 Corsa, which bored me to death.

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I said i wanted to replace it with something a bit more fun, but she wasn't keen on changing her first ever car, despite the fact she never ever drives it. She commutes to London for work and actually hates driving. In the last 3 years she's driven a total of 2 times, and both journeys were a necessity as she had to take our cat to the local Vets when i was stuck at work.

She finally agreed it letting me change her car, but it had to be something similar size wise, as she doesn't like big cars.
I'd never driven a 172/182 or even sat in one, but had heard good things about them. I showed her some pictures, "look, the same size as your corsa, just with a better engine" and she was happy for me to get one. I was lucky a few days later one popped up at a dealer here in Leigh-on-sea, Essex, and after a short testdrive i was sold and handed over £ 3500, of my finest pounds.

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It turned out my car had been owned by a girl on here, and then by her boyfriend (DebV6 and Col 182), so it was wel looked after, and she added some lovely Recaro chairs to it.

Only a few months earlier we'd bought our first house, with a garage, and i was excited to finally be able to put my car in my garage as the 3000GT was too big for it.

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I specifially wanted a house with a garage as i've had my eye on the TVR Chimaera for some years now, and needed a garage to keep it on overnight.
The plan was to keep the 182 as a daily, fix and sell the 3000GT and buy a chimaera as a weekend toy that can live in the garage.

I started playing with the 182, getting loads of helpfull info from here, and added a new radio with pop-up sat nav screen, new badge on the back and got some nice floormats.

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I thoroughly enjoyed the 182, especially around some of the twisty roads here, and found myself taking the 182 out for a spin more often then the GT (which is great in a straight line, but with nearly 2 ton not so much on in the corners).

I even started driving the work every time despite it being an 8 minute walk (shortcurts) on foot, and nearly 15 by car (traffic).
Parked next to my work horse (Landrover, or a Skoda that's not in the picture)

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For my birthday i fancied a weekend away, so we booked a hotel in Bournmouth, 165 miles away, and spend a few days there being tourist enjoying the sights and local roads.

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Great fun, and the Clio performed effortlessly.

So when summer arrived and i fancied coming home (The Netherlands) for a bit we actually ended up taking the Clio, instead of the GT.
So, on the boat it went, and through France and Belgium we drove up to the South tip of Holland (on the border with Germany and Belgium) and i enjoyed some of my local quiet countryroads back home :

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As we're both fan of the Belgium beer La Chouffe we decided to drive to their Brewery in Belgium for a factory tour (and to stock up on beers, which are much cheaper there, and with the Clio having a much bigger boot then the GT we filled it up to the brim!)

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I've got some friends in Amsterdam and in The Hague, and with that only being a 2 hour drive from my town we decided to not take the train but drive to Clio up there, doing Amsterdam in a day, and then staying at our favorite seaside hotel in Scheveningen (near The Hague)

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In amsterdam, trying to overtake the tram

And at the Kurhaus hotel in Scheveningen :

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Same hotel, the year before, in the GT :

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So i think in 10 months the Clio hasn't done bad travelwise, seeing large parts of Essex, a bit of Bournmouth/Devon, Holland (Limburg, Amsterdam, The Hague), Belgium (including the Ardennes) and a bit of France. And all without any problems/issue's.

I've also taken the Clio to some car meets with friends where i would normally take the GT to.

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Awesome breakfast meet with some great motors turning up, hence i've 'hidden' it in the corner :

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So it's been kept in good company, and despite some of these cars costing 30 times the price of the Clio i've never had any people take their nose up and make nasty comments. A lot of people seem to be interested and either wanted to sit in it, and even asked for a spin as it is a great daily to have when you don't want to take your supercar out. 1 meet i went to i actually found out 3 others there (including a ferrari and a tvr owner) had one and they all love the 182.

I also found it did well keeping up in the conveys, as long as there were a lot of twisties and bends. One of my favourite hoons was to the Imperial War Museum in Duxford for some car and plane show. We left locally with a small group, met up with the rest of the convoy, went for breakfast together and then, via a long awesome route, to the actual event :

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  3000GT & RB 182
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Unfortunately last month disaster strook :confused:

A big vauxhal 4x4 number and myself wanted to be in the same lane on this roundabout and that didn't go well....

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He had barely any damage (in the background) but Clio looked poorly

Was able to drive it home, and put some pictures on here, but everyone told me it would definately be a write off :sweat:

So i instantly started looking for another 182 again. I briefly looked at Throphy's, but do really prefer this colour.
But then the mrs asked if we couldn't go for something else, stating she doesn't really like the Clio...

Part of that will be probably the way i drove it (the car just asked for it!) but on things like comfort on long journeys, road noise (exhaust), the 'boy racer' image, and the fact it's a pain to get people in the back (especially with the recaro's, and everytime i moved the chair the airbag light came back on and i had to fiddle with the resistor under the chair) i had to agree with her.

She then asked if we couldn't just get a "sensible 4 door car" so it's easier to take people in the back and then i could have a fun weekend toy that would fit in the garage. But with one of my friends in his TVR just coming back from France on the back of a lowloader i was getting more and more doubts about getting one as well.

And then as my mrs pointed to a Jaguar S-type that drove past, saying she likes them a little lightbulb, in the shape of a supercharged V8, popped up in my head, and i started looking, went on a testdrive and bought this black 2006 Jaguar S-type R, with a 4.2 supercharged V8.

And with 406 BHP and 554 NM torque, it's like driving a luxury sofa on steroids!

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And it's absolute monster. Completely different to the Clio offcourse, but i love it. I've had a custom full exhaust system installed and the V8 sounds brutal now. Am really looking forward to taken this to Holland in a few months now.
My current MPG is crap, but will be down to the way i drive it, and i don't care as it's so much fun...

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So the insurance company then confirmed the Clio was going to be a write off, with damages valued at £ 3360,

With some advice from here, and the help of a local member my recaro's were removed and the car was taken away :

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The insurance offered me £ 2500, in the end, and with the £ 700, i got for the recaro's i've got £ 3200, back which isn't bad as i only paid £ 3500, for it, and had a great 10 months.

So i've now got my V8 i always wanted and the mrs is happy as it had 4 doors, a big boot and very comfy (heatd) seats.
I just need something fun for the weekends now that i can store in the garage. I do want the same fun factor the 182 gave me, so currently thinking towards either a Caterham (though the mrs isn't keen of a car with no doors/roof/anything) or a VX220 turbo, driven them before and they are brilliant around the twisties.

I might get another 182 in the furture, i don't know. But not just yet. I've had great fun in mine, as the pictures probably show, but i tink it's time to close this chapter now, and say goodbye the Cliosport community.

So, goodbye guys, thanks for the tips/advice/comments for the last 10 months, and who knows, i might be back in the future. :cool:

Medic-one
 
  Mini GP2
Great summary, enjoyed reading it.

Sad to see what happened to your 182, love RB. Hope you'll be back in a RS Clio one day, they do get under your skin :)
 

TheEvilGiraffe

South East - Essex
ClioSport Area Rep
Ahh that explains who the mystery 182 was in some photos @frayz put up a while back !!

Sorry to hear about the Clio but .. well .. 10 out of 10 on the replacement. I've seen a couple about and love them.

Please tell me you drive everywhere in a pin stripe suit, hat, smoking a cigar and carry a (pretend ;) ) Tommy Gun with you ?
 
You've sure been busy getting around in it :cool: it's a shame that it got written off (she got it new) The replacement though! Love it!! Proper awesome!
 
  Turbo 182 Alfa 159
RB looks awesome, shame it was written off.

Replacement looks epic though, bet that just wafts along all the time.
 
Such a shame that a great car ended up in that state, but looks like you had a lot of fun.
The meet photos remind me of taking my RB 182 on Supercar Driver and Pistonheads meets back in the day!
 

CrippsCorner

ClioSport Club Member
  Astra VXR
That's a shame as it was a gorgeous example and obviously well cared for! Should think you'll going to be having fun with over 400bhp though :)
 

danward

ClioSport Club Member
  M135i
Good read that. I love the Jag, have looked at these myself but the MPG is shocking (but what do you expect from a supercharged V8)!
 
  R26r R26
Good write up mate. Shame about the Clio though. I'll expect to see you in the Jag at one of the PH meets. Nice pics of the R btw :wink:
 
  3000GT & RB 182
Cheers for all the replies folks, the RB will definitely be missed.

Ahh that explains who the mystery 182 was in some photos @frayz put up a while back !!

Yea i've been to a few meets/hoons with Frayz, everyone loves the Bomber!

I did also put some pics up of that meet, some which i used again in my initial post here.

http://www.cliosport.net/threads/convoy-to-duxford-car-plane-show-pic-heavy.752594/#post-10394845

Should think you'll going to be having fun with over 400bhp though :smile:

406 bph in the Jag and 525 in the GT, together are good for about 930 bph :D

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Great read.

With that MPG and BHP, what's the power like in these? Early 5s to 60?

5.5 seconds standard i believe. But with upgraded supercharger pulley, airfiler/intake and full catback exhaust system i'd guess probably around 5 seconds.

A few more pics of the Jag as everyone seems to like it :

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  3000GT & RB 182
Just wondering, if my membership of this website expires in a few weeks, will i still be able to access this part of the forum ?
 


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