Clio Cup Sport 172 first impressions...

[stokedRich]

Holy S**t these cars are fast!!!!
Drove back from the sellers in Tunbridge Wells to Chester in just 4 hours(!) this car brings out the lunatic in me and yes I did ocassionally drive faster than national speed limit...The motorway was as expected but I had a little fun @ The Dartford Tunnel & M6 Toll Booths, under hard acceleration & with cold/slippery conditions the steering wheel seemed intent on jumping out of my hands as I tried to control the fierce acceleration WOW, WOW & WOW are the only words I can use to describe the handling which was tested to good effect on the A-Roads back to Cheshire.
As a sports bike rider I never thought I would get a thrill out of driving a car but this Clio, or I should now call it My Clio is nothing short of amazing and yes most definately yes it is as dangerous as a sports bike in the hands of an inexperienced driver, when I got home I had the kind of adrenaline rush that I usually get from bikes but this is probably due to me trying to 'see what it will do' and the conditions being...well less than favourable/dangerous. I had several moments and can honestly say that under current weather conditions the car is far more capable than I am.

Anyway everyones a winner because I can't wait to go to work tommorrow (which is a first) because of the 10 miles of A-Road/Dual Carriageway to the business park + the Mrs is happy because she thinks I might pack in bikes now that I have found such a mental motor, and you know what she may be right...although all that may change come spring, would be great to have both...having been to the Nurburgring on a bike I bet the Clio would be absolute madness around there...Anyway all I can say is much respect to all 172 Cup & Renaultsport Clio owners! My only regret is that I wish I'd have known about/bought one sooner.
Will get her cleaned @ the weekend & photo's to follow - WHAT A CAR!

 

[eves]

haha respect mate glad you like the motor! nippy arent they for a little clio

 

[edde]

Be careful no ABS isn't nice. There a good reason why so many crash and some insurance companies won't touch them.

 

[fubu172]

Good man!
Is a great surprise, handles like a dream too!

 

[Jay]

hello/welcome.

glad you enjoy it! As edde say's be careful.

Pics please..

 

[R20 CWH]

guid stuff

what plates it on, mileage and what did you get her for?

 

[Steviant]

U gotta love the Dartford toll bridge, it's worth the £1 just to launch the car outa the booth!

enjoy it mate!

 

[stokedRich]

2003 but 52 Reg 20k miles 7k (cash) 3k overdrawn(!) but have an A3 to sell so should be back on good terms with the bank before the month end...
Thanks for all the comments & will take it easy - pics to follow soon & will try & get passport to get out to the meet @ Cheshire Oaks on Sunday...

 

[R20 CWH]

U gotta love the Dartford toll bridge, it's worth the £1 just to launch the car outa the booth!

enjoy it mate!

same at forth road bridge, about 8 cars at one time race to get to the first two lanes of the bridge, awesome fun sort of demolition derby esk

 

[stokedRich]

same at forth road bridge, about 8 cars at one time race to get to the first two lanes of the bridge, awesome fun sort of demolition derby esk

Double LOL

 

[ant]

and the mersey tunnel!! [usually in a works van tho!]

 

[R20 CWH]

Double LOL

http://images.search.yahoo.com/sear...orth+road+toll&type=jpeg&no=13&tt=21&ei=UTF-8
look at the tollbooths pic to get an idea of it, its quality

 

[Griff]

Another happy Cup owner

 

[B16DOE]

enjoy ya cup and watch out with no abs they can sometimes be a bit of a handfull but still love mine good price you got yours for as well

 

[Norris_309]

Nice mate.. glad your enjoying the motor, i'm still loving mine 4 months down the line

 

[Rich]

Sounds like your enjoying it, nice one. Like others have said take it steady at this time of year.

 

[nelson182]

Comments like these make me think its worth the extra money in insurance for the pleasure of driving these pocket rockets!

 

[sh33n]

Nice one, glad you like it, I'm over a year in and mine still makes me smile

Take it easy though, in this weather it might bite back!

 

[Paul C]

they are such cool cars! you will have lots more fun!

 

[Neil G]

Comments like these make me think its worth the extra money in insurance for the pleasure of driving these pocket rockets!

Cheap insurance on these Clios

 

[Tyson-182]

Awesome mate, glad you're enjoying your Cup! As pretty much everyone has said, take it easy in this weather! The Cup has a tendancy to bite back if pushed to hard in these conditions..!

Tyson.

 

[CrazyK]

Got my 172 about 3 months ago now, and that wasa my exact feeling when I drove mine home!! lol I still smile lots when booting it around. They are a very under rated car, they amount of people always try to race you and quite often you catch a glimpse of them cursing in your rear view mirror! lol

Had a 325CI off the lights yesterday he didn't look too impressed! lol

 

[caymanr26]

why does everyone go on about the brakes on the cup - I have a full fat 172 and drive relatively hard and dont think the abs has cut in once in the 2 years I have owned it. I owned 9 cars before the clio none of which had ABS and I never crashed any of those - ABS is a relatively recent thing on these type of cars and people always managed in the past - plus if you want to drive the car really hard ABS is not always an advantage.
Surely if you can drive properly then ABS should only ever be needed if somone pulls out in front of you etc

 

[russ_0016]

why does everyone go on about the brakes on the cup - I have a full fat 172 and drive relatively hard and dont think the abs has cut in once in the 2 years I have owned it. I owned 9 cars before the clio none of which had ABS and I never crashed any of those - ABS is a relatively recent thing on these type of cars and people always managed in the past - plus if you want to drive the car really hard ABS is not always an advantage.
Surely if you can drive properly then ABS should only ever be needed if somone pulls out in front of you etc

Ive only locked the brakes once and i was trying too, the balance on them is awesome compared to my old vtr, that locked up so easy they were crap brakes. Id say that was more dangerous than the cup. I agree with you mate people are talking like its the first car to not have abs?

 

[caymanr26]

the ESP is a different story though - back end has stepped out twice and before I knew what was happening the car had sorted itself out - well worth having in my opinion!

 

[ukaskew]

Regardless of ABS (or lack of) when I was test-driving last year I thought the Cup felt far more skittish in the wet and had a definate raw feel compared to a standard 172. I'm not sure what (if anything) causes this skittishness but from my experience its a slightly hairier ride than a standard 172.

On a general note though the brakes on the Cup are fantastic, at the airfield I was braking from 90ish to 0 into a coned box and apart from one over-zealous effort where I braked waaaay to late and locked up for a second (and the best bit was you could sense they were going to lock immediately), the brakes were absolutely spot on and you could feel exactly what was going on at all times...and I doubt I was even driving at 60% of the potential of the car because a) I'm not naturally talented around a track and b) it was my first go.

Good luck with the Cup anyway, I'm still going out on 60 mile trips for no reason whatsoever after 7 months of ownership, its just way too much fun to stop, only problem is its always about 7am on a Sunday, anywhen else and its just too busy on the roads!

 

[TomS]

Nice to hear of another pleased performance clio owner

I still love driving mine on a sunday morning.. no cars about.. ace

 

[CrazyK]

Mine is a full fat 172, and I love it, It has the esp and the abs, I only used the abs the other day in the snow and that was deliberate, but even so abs will not help you slow down it just gives you the ability to steer under heavy braking, I treat abs the same as non abs, Once you start skidding/or the abs cuts in release the brake and reapply, the esp is enscential in the wet, it has saved my ass before!!

I bought the full fat because I wanted teh creature comforts etc, I didn't really drive a cup for long enough to feel a real difference in performance between the 2. Also the 172 is my second car the other other has no abs, no esp or anything else for that matter, Live rear axle!!!

 

[CrazyK]

Oh

 

[CrazyK]

Oh and Christmas Day was awesome for a

 

[CrazyK]

Oh and Christmas Day was awesome for a drive - no one

 

[CrazyK]

Oh and Christmas Day was awesome for a drive - no one on the roads!

 

[CrazyK]

Wtf^^^

 

[caymanr26]

i agree - wtf????

 

[stokedRich]

Thanks all, have taken on board your safety suggestions @ this time of year, I reckon it would be fairly easy to end up with my new pride & joy in the ditch...Even when the roads round by us are dry they are covered ion cos s**t so driving hard on the B-Roads is way too risky...

I think the brakes are fantastic and from what I have read on here they will only lock up under 'Hulk foot' abuse in the dry so I'm happy with that - I've had ABS & EBD in the past and only used it in the wet or snow to 'test' if it works. I'm gonna start another thread becasue I have a couple of questions - thanks to everyone who has welcomed me to this excellent site and the Renaultsport experience.

 

[R20 CWH]

glad your being sensible SCPM, a guid approach as once the better weather is upon us then you get explore the handling and such like to its full potential.
20k miles is very guid for a 52 reg imo.

Need pics

 

[nelson182]

Wtf^^^

Think he tabbed onto enter then carried on typing which submitted the reply!!! Haha!

 

[CrazyK]

Damn it!!

I think I accidentally hit the post reply twice which then gibbed it out causing the flood control to activate, I came out of the forum and back in again and there were 4 posts lol.

Oh well never mind!

On the question of ESP I have only driven mine with it activated, as the weather has been sh1te and the orange light gets on my nerves!! But has anyone notices better performance with it on or off?? Just thought I would ask as I used to have a beema 328 and the Traction ctrl system on that used to rob it of 12 ponies!!!

 

[MarkCup]

Holy S**t these cars are fast!!!!
Drove back from the sellers in Tunbridge Wells to Chester in just 4 hours(!) this car brings out the lunatic in me and yes I did ocassionally drive faster than national speed limit...The motorway was as expected but I had a little fun @ The Dartford Tunnel & M6 Toll Booths, under hard acceleration & with cold/slippery conditions the steering wheel seemed intent on jumping out of my hands as I tried to control the fierce acceleration WOW, WOW & WOW are the only words I can use to describe the handling which was tested to good effect on the A-Roads back to Cheshire.
As a sports bike rider I never thought I would get a thrill out of driving a car but this Clio, or I should now call it My Clio is nothing short of amazing and yes most definately yes it is as dangerous as a sports bike in the hands of an inexperienced driver, when I got home I had the kind of adrenaline rush that I usually get from bikes but this is probably due to me trying to 'see what it will do' and the conditions being...well less than favourable/dangerous. I had several moments and can honestly say that under current weather conditions the car is far more capable than I am.

Anyway everyones a winner because I can't wait to go to work tommorrow (which is a first) because of the 10 miles of A-Road/Dual Carriageway to the business park + the Mrs is happy because she thinks I might pack in bikes now that I have found such a mental motor, and you know what she may be right...although all that may change come spring, would be great to have both...having been to the Nurburgring on a bike I bet the Clio would be absolute madness around there...Anyway all I can say is much respect to all 172 Cup & Renaultsport Clio owners! My only regret is that I wish I'd have known about/bought one sooner.
Will get her cleaned @ the weekend & photo's to follow - WHAT A CAR!

That's excatly what I thought (almost word for word) 2 years, 52k miles, and a dozen trackdays ago.

Get it on track, find out what they're really capable of, and the fun NEVER ends

As said before though, disrespect them and they can turn round and smack you before you know it (as I almost found out in December).

 

[stokedRich]

glad your being sensible SCPM, a guid approach as once the better weather is upon us then you get explore the handling and such like to its full potential.
20k miles is very guid for a 52 reg imo.

Need pics

Agree with you, it was a bargain and it's hard to find an unmolested one with an enthusiastic (but not in the I rally/race) owner. Does need Tax and will need first MOT @ end of Jan + a service in less than 4k miles but it was still a bargain - got photos but don'y know had to add them, don't have any on web only on 'my computer' help!