I find very few people know what a "182" is. There is a few people at work who know what it is, but even then only maybe a couple of those know what its capable of. The ones who are into cars know what they are capable of.
However it makes me laugh what some people think. For example, one lad thinks it would be "annihilated" by a Type R. I dont think he believed me when I said it would be very close up to 100. Another lad thinks his A3 TDI would murder it. He will get a nasty shock one day! To be fair, one lad does acknowledge that he would have to try his hardest to get past in his Ibiza 1.8T (chipped), and readily admits mine would murder the Ibiza on the corners.
I also remember pulling up at this site i have to visit at work, in a rough area of newcastle. These two labourer blokes standing around when i got out said "girls car that mate, is that your girlfriends?". I just said "aye", couldnt be bothered to argue. He then went on to say "you want a big car like a vectra or audi". I struggled to contain my laughter. I'm not so insecure that i'd feel the need to have a big car to "prove my manliness". Indeed, I prefer small cars, they are much more fun to drive IMHO.
However, I kind of like that people dont know what it is, and exhausts excepted, looks quite subtle (well mine does, silver with silver alloys), because you can surprise the hell out of people. It may not be the fastest hot hatch money can be, but its capable of leaving the vast majority of cars on the road for dust, and can even surprise more exotic machinery! I've had looks of sheer disbelief, as my little "girly shopping trolley" either keeps up with, or worse, actually out accelerates supposedly "faster" cars. Especially as I think people assume that most clios are 1.2s or 1.4s at best.
Perhaps even funnier than that though, is peoples reaction when they are passengers while you are driving, particularly if they've got the wrong idea about it. Simple fact is, most just dont assume it will be that fast. I've had people actually turn white with fear, as the needle reaches 100 mph in the time it takes many peoples car to get to 70
In fact i am pretty sure i've still got someone nail marks in the dash. A few who arent into cars have stated "this is pretty bloody nippy this like", and most usually have a big grin on their face.
In the end i think the Clio RS is a cool car. Personally i think its fairly stylish. Not chavvy at all, perhaps arguably except the exhausts (but i kinda like those), but Renault should be congratulated for making what i think is actually a fairly understated car. Most hot hatches look like they've had a full plethora of Max Power bolt-ons attached to them to make them look sporty, but the Clio can easily be mistook, in the right configuration at least, as a lesser car, and for me, that is definitely part of the appeal. Lets face it, nobody expects to be murdered in their BMW 318 by what they assume is a bog standard supermini
