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Clio 172 Buying Advice/Reliability





I am thinking of buying a Clio Sport 172, probably an earlier one as my budget is not huge and was wanting a bit of advice really. I have had 2 bad experiences with performance cars an Impreza Turbo (heap of sh1t off a Subaru dealership) and a Nissan 200SX that wasnt great either.

I have now decided that this time I want a N/A performance car, for running costs and reliabilty reasons. I was thinking of an Integra type R or a Clio 172. My mate has an integra and it is a great car but they are very expensive considering there age, I would get a newer Clio for similar outlay. The main thing that bothers me with the Clio is reliability as I have heard a lot of bad things, mainly about build quality. This seems a little strange to me as I used to out with a lunatic woman who had a "W" reg 1.6 RS or something and I thought it felt very solid and safe, however the car was only a year old at the time.

Obviously people are going to abuse this type of car, I was wondering can they take it, is a car with 50K mileage a good bet assuming it has been looked after? Obviously they are bound to be some crashed examples and some cars that morons have probably abused from cold etc. What are the engines like on these cars? Are they reliable and are the gearboxes ok?

Sorry for all the questions, never had a french car as I was always put off by relaibilty etc, so have always went for Jap cars. But in my price range I think the Clio is a good buy and probably will not drink petrol as stupidly as a scooby does! Please advise....
 


If i were you. I would save a few more pennys and buy something jap.

A one year old Clio is proably less reliable than a 10year old jap car !
 
  Renault Laguna Coupe


If you can find a good one you can have performance motoring for a bargain price and reasonable running costs. Most Clios are no less reliable than other cars, but as with any forum people tend to post more when they have a problem than when they dont. Mines done 29,000 miles now - lots of trackdays; Ive had no real problems, just a couple of very minor things that were fixed under warranty.
 


Something I wanted to know actually, what kind of economy do you get from a 172?

I know it depends on a number of factors but a rough figure?
 
  Renault Laguna Coupe


Quote: Originally posted by Ben P on 24 May 2004


Something I wanted to know actually, what kind of economy do you get from a 172?

I know it depends on a number of factors but a rough figure?
I get about 32 mpg average. I dont live in a built-up area but I do make lots of short trips (4 miles to work). Occasional short motorway trip. On a run its more like 37 or 38 mpg.
 


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