cup does not stir my soul

[jiminy]

am i expecting to much?

I bought it because it was relatively cheap, fairly new and in good condition, but mostly because i couldn't think of a german of japanese rival that could compete on price and spec.

apart from being french, its got a very good spec, normally aspirated, light and good power to weight ratio.

Im finding it very strange that ive bought a significantly quicker car but ive not fallen for it. is it just me?

 

[Peperami]

Take it through a good section of twisty b-road mate, i fell out with mine at one point and wanted to sell it, and doing this is what made me keep it

 

[edde]

Speed and HP arn't everything. The cup whilst good has its weekness which all Clios suffer from and thats feedback IMO.

 

[tameracingdriver]

What did you have before?

I've driven lots of "performance" cars, and frankly the 182 is one of the most fun.... it doesnt get much more fun without perhaps going to dedicated sports cars like the Elise, or possibly, and arguably, some of the old school hot hatches.

 

[Phill1978]

oddly the cup didnt really do it for me but my 172MKII did ? technically the cup was a lot quicker but i prefered the former

 

[Subway]

Yes its you.

 

[Big Iain]

oddly the cup didnt really do it for me but my 172MKII did ? technically the cup was a lot quicker but i prefered the former

alot quicker lol

 

[Floodie]

the cup was a lot quicker..

yeh look, thats what he said... just hacked in and checked it!!!!!!!!!!111oneoneone

 

[Big Iain]

I know he said it thats why I laughed

 

[tameracingdriver]

Thing is the Clio demands to be taken on to a twisty country road and flogged relentlessly, then it shows you why its special.

Its an old school hot hatch. Light weight, naturally aspirated engine and a complete hooligan, but drive it around like a normal car, and it will simply seem like a nicely handling, nippy supermini, rather than anything truly special.

 

[DrR]

Thing is the Clio demands to be taken on to a twisty country road and flogged relentlessly, then it shows you why its special.

Its an old school hot hatch. Light weight, naturally aspirated engine and a complete hooligan, but drive it around like a normal car, and it will simply seem like a nicely handling, nippy supermini, rather than anything truly special.

Don't know why, but really like the way you described that, sums it up in one.

 

[Graham Gooch]

Light front wheel drives are where its at, tried rear wheel and four wheel drives. I always end back in Renault hatches.

Thinking of getting a williams or something to satisfy my self

 

[jongsr4]

Its the other way round for me, Ive owned Evos, Scoobys etc but they just have no soul to them, they are boring to drive really, the clio is just such fun, I took my cup down to north Devon last year and honestly even if Id won the lottery i couldnt of thought of a better car around those roads. Im finding the ph-quick just as much fun as well

Only car I think that has been as much fun, is an old 205 1.6 GTI I had briefly, not much outright performance but just pure fun!

 

[Ian_182]

I think its a modern hatch in and old skool style.A great balance of power and handling combined
Sure there are much quicker cars out there but they dont deliver that grin factor for what you paid
ian

 

[crazycup]

it must be you mate, I've had my cup for 2 1/2 years ... so far the longest i've owned a car and i've had a few.....its not even entered my head to change it yet!!! Everytime i think i'm getting bored I just take it down a 'b' road for a bit of a thrash and I think...this is awesome!

 

[speedynz]

I disagree with the above.

Yes it's old school (funky term for old fashioned) yes it handles well, yes it's visceral, yes they go well, but they don't suit everyone and I don't blame people for not liking them. They are not very comfy, they're small, noisy, agitated and poorly built.

My prescription would be a Civic Type R.

Roomy, well built, capable, fun and rewarding.

There's no shame in disliking your Clio.

One thing though, are you running it on 98 octane? If not then you're missing all the fun. A Clio sport on 95 is fun but ho hum, the same car on 98 is "BLOODY HELL".

Good luck.

 

[LegoHead]

Just take any decent handling car round the twisties and dont drop less than 60.lol.

 

[keben6]

^Agree with your last paragraph but a type R cost like 50% more so vfm goes to the cup anyday! In fact 0-60 cup wins over type R, (lets be honest 0-60 is what decides whats fun or not!)

 

[team_penetrator]

I test drove a CTR before going for the Cup. Wasnt really a cost thing, just didnt like the looks or the steering. Felt very ligth and uninvolving.

 

[Neil G]

Its the other way round for me, Ive owned Evos, Scoobys etc but they just have no soul to them, they are boring to drive really, the clio is just such fun, I took my cup down to north Devon last year and honestly even if Id won the lottery i couldnt of thought of a better car around those roads. Im finding the ph-quick just as much fun as well

Only car I think that has been as much fun, is an old 205 1.6 GTI I had briefly, not much outright performance but just pure fun!

I'm the same....come from a quicker car to the Clio but find the little French rocket far more fun/involving to drive

 

[JayR]

I never went for a cup cause like you i know i never would've taken to it. My car is my day to dayer, yes i like abit of poke and a car that handles well but i also like the half leather and alcantra seats aswell as the ac and the xenons etc and despite what the mothers and dreamers on here will say there is nout in the speed between yours and a ff!!!

imo, the mondial blue is a nice, a colour which isnt equally matched to any of the ff 172 colours on offer and it also has the nicer wheels of course but i still coulnt live with the inside unless it was my second choice car!!!

Spose for you it might depend on what you had before aswell, if you've taken a biggish step down then that might answer your question.

 

[ozzie]

^Agree with your last paragraph but a type R cost like 50% more so vfm goes to the cup anyday! In fact 0-60 cup wins over type R, (lets be honest 0-60 is what decides whats fun or not!)

0-60 a cup doesn't win over a ctr. the facelift ctr does it in 6.4 but lets be honest, in real life they're exactly the same up to about 90. anyone who's had a fair and proper race with with a ctr with a decent driver will tell you the same. nothing in it.

and speaking of decent drivers, you have to be one to appreciate a car like the clio cup. too many people expect a lot of cars like this but don't have the balls or the skill to find out what they're all about. i'm not saying i am a pro racing driver but over time, having gotten used to my ctr i have really been pushing the car and finding out it's capabilities. and it is amazing. the good thing about buying a new ctr was that i got a free full day advance driving course where you're shown how it's really supposed to be driven.

my good mate, who happens to be on this forum, seriously knows how to drive his cup and the little thing is amazing. there's no way you could say it doesn't stir your soul when he's driving it. don't get me wrong, i'm not saying it's clever to go powersliding round roundabouts at rush hour but if you know what you're doing and the road is empty you can have so much fun with a car like this. better still get it on a track and very few hot hatches will handles as well and be as fun. it' all about the driver coz the car is certainly capable.

thank you for reading

 

[Munson]

171bhp/ton 0-100 16.5
154bhp/ton 0-100 18.5

The figures say there is a difference. I love how the MkII 172 owners are in denial. The difference may not come to much '"in the real world" but it's there whether you like it or not. How can an 80kg diet and a revised setup not make it quicker? Just come to terms with it - the MkII 172 is the slowest RenaultSport Clio ever made

 

[JayR]

Lol where'd you get them firgures from Roy?

lets talk bhp or summin :roll:..........Its like saying the 182 with all of that extra 10 bhp will be able to "av" a 172 anyday, its bolloy tbh!!!

If im honest anyway, id rather be cool in summer with that nice climate and able to piss cup owners off when its dark by following them with my xenons blaring!!!

 

[Shaunbrass]

Lol where'd you get them firgures from Roy?

lets talk bhp or summin :roll:..........Its like saying the 182 with all of that extra 10 bhp will be able to "av" a 172 anyday, its bolloy tbh!!!

If im honest anyway, id rather be cool in summer with that nice climate and able to piss cup owners off when its dark by following them with my xenons blaring!!!

Na you wouldnt piss me off cus id be half way up the road from you and your lights wouldnt bother me

 

[Munson]

^^To be fair, yes, that's where I got the figures, but from the stats section. Either way it makes no difference. Take the same car, rip 80kg out of it and sort the suspension setup, and you're got a quicker machine. It's a basic principle of fact, no matter how the 172 boys think they can cheat science

I wouldn't have a 172Cup though, as I value my sperm count in the summer

 

[Munson]

RE: Xenons, you can get the Xenon white light look all round with 40 squids worth of bulbs. Not really a selling point IMO, although they are nice to have 'out of the box' I guess...after you added some 'xenon' bulbs to sort out the main beam

 

[Shaunbrass]

I had a 172 cup simply because buying a 182/cup for another 3k at least couldnt be justified. I love my cup it looks the nads, is the fastest (std, statistically speaking) and handles like nothing else ive driven.

 

[Munson]

Techincally it's all about the 172Cup and the 182Cup for pure stats

 

[ozzie]

in my experience of going against clio's, the 172 cup was a LOT harder to stay with than a ff 172. i didn't think there'd be much in it but i thought the difference was like night and day. in a straight line too to a certain extent. i didn't find much difference between the 182's though. but like i said, this is just my experience of them and it's quite rare that you can have a fair, proper race with another car for a good length of time on the public road

 

[Shaunbrass]

Yeah i dont really do street racing unless i get drawn in by a chav in a saxo!!

CTR's dont usually bother as they know it would be too risky to try and beat me anyway

Renos also dont usually bother due to this site really and no one wants to upset anyone

 

[JayR]

Na you wouldnt piss me off cus id be half way up the road from you and your lights wouldnt bother me

Never happening mate, lets not forget i have 10bhp more than you!!! :rolls:

 

[Shaunbrass]

Never happening mate, lets not forget i have 10bhp more than you!!! :rolls:

lol dont forget the 1 ton you also have more than me :rasp:

 

[JayR]

^^^Ah well the extra hp will level it out abit then wont it!!! Lol

 

[Englebert]

As a Mk2 172 owner i'd happily admit the Cup is noticeably faster, at the end of the day if i have a passenger is in the car it totally loses it's edge, so 100kg is going to be even worse.

I find the Clios very 'alive' feeling cars, especially when you compare them to other modern cars. My only issue is that it does the boring stuff badly, but then it cost under £7k, so you gets what you pay for!

 

[Munson]

One cannot argue with the facts. The MkII 172 has the lowest power/weight ratio of any Renaultsport Clio, and probably the sloppiest handling

 

[Shaunbrass]

^^^Ah well the extra hp will level it out abit then wont it!!! Lol

Touche!!

 

[Munson]

^^It's all in good spirits IMO. Nothing worng with a bit of joshing

What do I know? I've got Dynamique cloth chairs :clown:

 

[JayR]

^^^Lol, but if one cars point of second of a second of a second of a second faster than another then it needs to be talked about doesnt it!?

Again and again and again and again...................

 

[Munson]

^^^Lol, but if one cars point of second of a second of a second of a second faster than another then it needs to be talked about doesnt it!?

Again and again and again and again...................

Yes indeed it does, especially when we are talking more than a second slower to the ton. 0-60 is so 1980, it's all about the Zero To Hero these days