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They stopped production of the Clio 16V in late 1995: there was a gap of 5 years until the Phase1 172 came along. It was the Megane Coupe that took over as the performance Renault until the 172 arrived, and I expect the new Megane Turbo will do the same until the next hot Clio breaks out.
That was only due to the hot hatch insurance premiums sky rocketing and sales dropping because of this and the fact that hot hatch owners were made to feel like social lepers coz we had big bad engines!!!! All the main stream manufacturers stopped production of them.
Hot hatches are back now and in a big way, but it has become a bigger hot hatch race this time round with Focuss and CTRs, Megan’s etc...
Hold on to your little hot Clios they will become very sought after....
I agree, would Renault want their well equipped, similar performing 172 to take sales away from the new Megane RS? The way the market is moving at the moment, most mainstream manufacturers have a hi-performance mid-sized hot hatch, Renault hasnt and only has a the Clio and is falling behind the competition as its smaller and is losing the bhp power game. You may argue that the Cup is just as fast as the new 200+bhp hatches, but it doesnt have the equipment, the space or the comforts and is in any case is aimed at a different market all together as a "stripped out" old school hatch biased towards track days.
The Renault Sport factory in Dieppe doesnt look particularly big, so I would imagine for them to produce the Megane RS something is going to have to give, i.e. the Clio 172?
Just my theory.
Chris.
I put in an order for a new 172 a few weeks ago for delivery mid November, then thought I might be better off waiting a few more weeks incase there were any decent mods for 2004 (or the Cup with ABS...).
Rang Renault UK and got told that production of the 172 was stopping. Their customer services dept. put me through to their sports dealer because they didnt know about any replacement. He told me that there was a new version which was being built in the factory in France at the moment. He said it was being referred to as the 180.
Rang my local dealer to find out what they knew. They rang Renault Uk and spoke to the Clio Brand Manager. He could neither confirm nor deny that the 180 would be out early next year...
hi,
megane RS, how heavy is it?? and does that mean (which given their is already a 255 v6) their wont be a 225 clio? i think so, its just seems pointless in such a small car for the manufacturer to do this especially with the 225 megane about aswell.
Phill*
Ill be getting a megane RS only if it undercuts the competion like the 172 for cost. ((ps. i paid £12107 for my brand new 172 with cat1 alarm, europlates and all the other goodies!)
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