Clio 1970000000
A friend of mine is going to tour Europe for a few months and wanted to buy a car to have fun with (driving over the alps etc) that he would sell in about 6 months. He had around £9k to spend and top of his list was a Clio 197. I let him take mine out for a spin and he loved it. He thought the suspension was very hard even without the cup pack and although the car was fun he found it a bit more skittish on uneven roads that he was expecting. BTW this has nothing to do with his driving skills as he is extremely talented on both road and track. He was going to see a 197 but ended up buying a Focus ST.
He brought it round today so I could have a drive of that. My first impressions were, quiet, compliant and bloody fast in a straight line. It didn’t feel that fast but the speedo was telling a different story!!! The seats were lovely, the car felt very well built and it was very relaxing to drive quickly or slowly. On the negative side, the steering had a fair amount of play in it and didn’t inspire the same amount of confidence in corners. This is fair enough as I only drove about 10 miles in it but the car was simply not as exciting to drive as my 197.
This really surprised me as I was thinking about a Focus ST before I bought my 197 and it has really brought home to me what a driver’s car the Clio Sports are. Now this might be my age talking (42 today
) and I’ve had turbo cars before, but I have had thoughts that for most of my driving, I would probably have preferred a LCR which I have always liked and is a great drive. I was really close to buying a LCR too. Thing is, it’s not until you drive 2 different cars (even in the same class) back to back that you really appreciate the differences between them and having read so many posts about CS owners going away from their CS only to return, I finally understand and realise why I like my 197 so much. Yes my 197 is harder work to drive and yes it rattles and kangeroos when cold but even on short journeys it is exciting to drive even slowly. I never had any real intention of selling my 197 and having driven the Focus ST today, great car that it is, I still have no intention of selling up .
He brought it round today so I could have a drive of that. My first impressions were, quiet, compliant and bloody fast in a straight line. It didn’t feel that fast but the speedo was telling a different story!!! The seats were lovely, the car felt very well built and it was very relaxing to drive quickly or slowly. On the negative side, the steering had a fair amount of play in it and didn’t inspire the same amount of confidence in corners. This is fair enough as I only drove about 10 miles in it but the car was simply not as exciting to drive as my 197.
This really surprised me as I was thinking about a Focus ST before I bought my 197 and it has really brought home to me what a driver’s car the Clio Sports are. Now this might be my age talking (42 today
) and I’ve had turbo cars before, but I have had thoughts that for most of my driving, I would probably have preferred a LCR which I have always liked and is a great drive. I was really close to buying a LCR too. Thing is, it’s not until you drive 2 different cars (even in the same class) back to back that you really appreciate the differences between them and having read so many posts about CS owners going away from their CS only to return, I finally understand and realise why I like my 197 so much. Yes my 197 is harder work to drive and yes it rattles and kangeroos when cold but even on short journeys it is exciting to drive even slowly. I never had any real intention of selling my 197 and having driven the Focus ST today, great car that it is, I still have no intention of selling up .
