Clio 182 pricing help (I haven’t got a car for sale lol)

[Ben NBR Cup]

Hi all,

I have been a member for a while now but not really posted much since selling my 182 track a few years ago. I am in the early stages of looking at the moment for another 182 FF but realistically and I have seen some big price tags on MK2s recently how much would I be looking to spend for a well looked after 60-70-80k car that’s had a cam belt done properly by a well know place that’s been well serviced no rust and body work that’s very well looked after, had a few fast road mods and if mapped been done by efi or rs tuning , everything working as it should not a show car but a very good one (you can see where I am going with this). I appreciate the RB, liquid yellow and trophies have the high price tags but think more silver (not black though). Interested to see people’s thoughts and view and get a good chat going
Here’s a picture of my old Clio and my dads cup racer just because lol

Cheers all
Ben

 

[RustyMojo]

I think personally if you want a well sorted, clean and loved 182 nowadays it’s probably going to be around £4K seems straight cars even in silver needing belts are now £3k. So anything between £3-4500 is probably the money.
Yeah you can get them cheaper, but by the time you spend the money you’ll be back around the £4K mark anyway.

 

[Bluebeard]

I’d budget £4K at least.

even if you bought a rough one for £2k it will need belts, a suspension refresh and possibly some paint. Won’t see much if any change from £2k for that.

 

[Ben NBR Cup]

I’d budget £4K at least.

even if you bought a rough one for £2k it will need belts, a suspension refresh and possibly some paint. Won’t see much if any change from £2k for that.

Cheers mate thank you I had that sort of price in mind £4.5-£5k mark but when I have been looking what I think that sort of money would get me there are closer to 6k upwards. I remember buying my 182 standard for £2.5k with 65,000 miles lol how times have changed

 

[Ben NBR Cup]

I think personally if you want a well sorted, clean and loved 182 nowadays it’s probably going to be around £4K seems straight cars even in silver needing belts are now £3k. So anything between £3-4500 is probably the money.
Yeah you can get them cheaper, but by the time you spend the money you’ll be back around the £4K mark anyway.

I agree that’s where I thought they would be at but I am seeing 6k upward for them personally looking for the lower mileage ones around the 70k if I can that’s been well looked after
They are hard to find these days just need that lucky break to find one

 

[dave120]

I totally agree with Rusty. I dont think there is such a thing as a “cheap“ Clio anymore. Well, certainly not one that is worth buying.

Gone are the days of getting some minted, lower miles and owner car for under 3k. I know there will be lots of people disagreeing with me but any time I see someone on here buy what looks like a good car for not much money, they are more often than not in the Trade, in some way, shape or form.

Also, quite simply, prices have risen a lot even in the past year because of things like Facebook groups, Collecting Cars etc. Every other post on FB is about people asking what their car is worth etc so, there are more “informed” people out there, all of whom think their Clio, which they have run into the ground for the past few years is all of a sudden worth Trophy money.


Anyone that does buy a cheap Clio had better be prepared to spend a lot of money paying someone else to bring it up to a good standard or, be handy on the tools themselves.

Cars that are in good condition and more importantly, have been well maintained are certainly worth a pretty penny in my opinion.

 

[dave120]

I agree that’s where I thought they would be at but I am seeing 6k upward for them personally looking for the lower mileage ones around the 70k if I can that’s been well looked after
They are hard to find these days just need that lucky break to find one

Yeah, good ones are hard to find but be Patient and I’m sure you will see one.

 

[Ben NBR Cup]

@dave120 I totally agree I am looking for a well maintained car and happy to pay the money but not get ripped off at the same time because everyone’s jumping on the band wagon because a low mileage low owner car sold for good money (and rightly so). I want an honest car that runs well and has been well looked after that an enthusiast has had.

I agree I am on a few FB groups and I am always seeing the how much it’s worth post and some of the figures are crazy for not always the nicest car. I have been stung in the past (a few years ago) with a used car from a trader so I am super cautious now what I buy and that’s why I was interested to see what a good one would be because I don’t want to under pay thinking it’s the right money if you know what I mean. I have £4.5-5k in my head for my budget but if I need to save more to get the better car I will.
I really miss my old Clio it was such good fun hence why I have come full circle but this time I want a more road friendly build rather than the stripped out racer
Thank you for your comments I really like this forum you can have a good chat with like minded people

 

[Walnut3]

As I wrote elsewhere, I bought a low mileage / owners example with plenty of recent history including cambelt etc., from an enthusiast, and still within the first 4 months I spent £1.5k on it as it needed an alternator, gearbox and PAS were leaking, wheel arch covers needed replacing and many other small bits and bobs.

As it is now, the car still needs a front bumper respray and some small dents around the car fixed if I wanted it to look super mint.

If I sold it now for 6k I reckon I would've lost money on it, so whilst there are plenty of chancers out there asking that sort of money for cars that aren't up to scratch, it has become expensive to find and maintain these cars - some parts are now hard to come by second hand or go for a lot more than they used to.

 

[Márquez6]

You know what to look for so that's a great help,A guy on YouTube just bought a 182 for a track car,he drove it 2 meters and the suspension collapsed,he found out later if he had drove the car any further the belts would have snapping ,he's on YouTube and called Cars with Smithy.

 

[Bankrupt_drunk]

Prices have also risen due to articles like this:

Best hot hatch of the century - the results!

You nominated them and you voted for them; time to get into the official PH list of greatest hot hatches from the 21st century

www.pistonheads.com

And the declining amount still on the road, howmanyleft says at peak there were 5.7K 182's on the road, now down to 2k.
I bought a cheap, rough 172 a couple of years ago and have spent almost double the purchase price on belts, refurbished gearbox, new suspension, replacement injectors, wishbones, and a complete set of bushes for the front end. Even having done a lot of the work myself, at the end I'm probably about £3.7k in. For this I've got a mechanically well sorted, reliable Clio. However, the body work is rough, and I think even with these prices I'd struggle to recoup my outlay. But that's not what it's about. I really enjoy driving it, I love a track day and I even enjoy crawling around underneath it. Sometimes.
So I plan to keep it until my eldest needs something to learn to drive and I'll have to free up some space for that. Or I crash it next month at cadwell.

 

[Márquez6]

Prices have also risen due to articles like this:

Best hot hatch of the century - the results!

You nominated them and you voted for them; time to get into the official PH list of greatest hot hatches from the 21st century

www.pistonheads.com

And the declining amount still on the road, howmanyleft says at peak there were 5.7K 182's on the road, now down to 2k.
I bought a cheap, rough 172 a couple of years ago and have spent almost double the purchase price on belts, refurbished gearbox, new suspension, replacement injectors, wishbones, and a complete set of bushes for the front end. Even having done a lot of the work myself, at the end I'm probably about £3.7k in. For this I've got a mechanically well sorted, reliable Clio. However, the body work is rough, and I think even with these prices I'd struggle to recoup my outlay. But that's not what it's about. I really enjoy driving it, I love a track day and I even enjoy crawling around underneath it. Sometimes.
So I plan to keep it until my eldest needs something to learn to drive and I'll have to free up some space for that. Or I crash it next month at cadwell.

I hope Smithy has deep pockets.

 

[plenty]

I don't think it's realistic to expect to find a car that's 16-20 years old requiring no extra spend.

I always budget for remedial work on every car I buy, and I only buy good ones. I bought my 182 at the very top of the market a year ago and I've put an extra £2k into it, not just fixing minor niggles but getting it exactly the way I like it. I bought an Impreza in November that was already pretty decent and I'm already more than £3k in on top of the purchase price.

The way I see it, my cars aren't depreciating (quite the opposite, values are going up) and I enjoy improving them, so it's easy man maths. £2k in a year is pretty reasonable when you see what people are paying to lease new cars (and they don't get to keep their car at the end of it).

 

[Walnut3]

£2k in a year is pretty reasonable when you see what people are paying to lease new cars (and they don't get to keep their car at the end of it).

Completely agree, but to the average Joe public you can see why it's hard to stomach that if the car itself is worth a significant amount of that yearly outlay.

To put into perspective, you can run a Porsche of similar vintage for less than 2k per year.

To the enthusiast however, it is what it is and you do what's necessary to keep the car in top form.

In a way this is the car version of gentrification, prices go up, cars end up either being scrapped for parts or better kept by their owners, and those without the money to upkeep them will miss out and look for the next bargain hatch on the list.

 

[plenty]

Completely agree, but to the average Joe public you can see why it's hard to stomach that if the car itself is worth a significant amount of that yearly outlay.

Yes very fair. I'm not typical of Joe Public in that I don't see my Clio as simply a cheap car, but rather a pride+joy that I'm happy to spend money on to keep tip top. The car my Clio replaced was worth more than 5x the value of my Clio, but the Clio gives me equal pleasure. The fact that it's really quite cheap to buy and maintain in comparison is just a bonus.

£2k is just the big chunk of initial spend that I always end up putting in on every car I buy - I estimate annual spend henceforth will be comfortably below £1k.

 

[Ben NBR Cup]

I totally agree with everything you guys are saying I appreciate these cars now will need some money spending to keep them going it’s more getting a good base to work with and build from there cleaning improving and building it into something that suits your needs my old silver Clio in the picture I spend £2.5k buying it and a further £10k modifying it and that thing never missed a beat but it was my baby and was loved and whatever it needed it got so I appreciate they will need investment I just don’t want to get stung with a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
fortunately building my last one I learnt a lot on the mechanical side of them and work has a spray booth so the odd small job can be addressed. I like to buy a car with my eyes open and if it needs something I can budget and factor that into my decision I know things crop up but it would be nice to get a few months driving before it breaks lol.

 

[Bluebeard]

@Ben NBR Cup

 

[Ben NBR Cup]

@Ben NBR Cup

View attachment 1530336

Cheers mate thank you. I am more looking for a 182 rather than 172. Does look a nice car and priced well to be fair