Ive been reading Cliosports forums for a couple of months now (Jas, memberships in the post!) and all i seem to hear is Cup this and Cup that. Everyone just ranting and raving about the new lightweight 172. But its not only here, its been in every magazine and rated highly everywhere.
So as any other car enthusiast would do, i booked myself a testdrive. And on Saturday i took myself down to my local renault dealer who gave me the keys to hell. And to make my day even better the sales guy was too busy to come with me, oh what a shame.
Now i test drove the 172 last year and thought to myself, how can the Cup be so different when all theyve dont is removed some gadgets. Including the ABS which worried me a little, But then again, ABS is for pussies! As i pulled out the garage i couldnt resist and put my foot on the floor.
WAHOOO, the wheels lit up and OMG torque steer. Comparing to the 172 the first thing i noticed was the steering, much more responsive! Feels like it wants to go everywhere on the road, you can feel every bump and camber. Whereas the 172 is a much more relaxed feel. IMPO i prefer the Cups racing feel. I came to the first empty roundabout and wanted to really put the cup to the test. And it didnt let me down one bit. Truthfully there was a lot of understeer but with a bit of practice this is cancelled out(BTW it was wet). Lift-off oversteer is perfectly controlable, and drifts v.v.v.nicely. Speed wise i couldnt really feel a difference between the two. But i can see it is quicker on paper.
I have driven a Type R and would stand, with my hand on my heart and say the Cup is better, much better. The handling, speed, and all out aggression of the beast. 12k compared to 16.5k you cant go wrong. So in result im going through credit checks as i speak and will be placing an order. Absolutly Fan-fuking-tastic.
The End.
