There isn’t enough of non-sport MK3 threads so I thought I’d add to the small amount there are J
So.. I bought the car back in February of this year after I had rolled my previous 54 plate 1.2 MK2 spectacularly. After the crash I was told 'you'll never get as good a car as you had before you crashed!' (bit of a pain in the arse as I LOVED my MK2 but what could I expect)
Long story short, I had been looking at standard MK2s but then decided to go and have a look at some MK3s.. this is where I found and fell in love with the MK3 SX...
I sent my dad packing, cash in hand, train down to Runcorn and back he came with my 07 plate IMMACULATE Sx.
This is how it looked the day I got her;
Luckily for the car, the guy who had owned her from new had slight autistic tendencies and was VERY OCD so the car was valet monthly and looked after very well.
Unfortunately there was a leak in the alloy wall, which resulted in me going through 2 sets of tires in the first month and a half of ownership. Was a bit of a pain in the arse having to fill the tyres up every 3 days or so but well well worth it!.
I had been looking at way to improve her but I wanted to keep the outer aesthetics alone, as she looks very modestly sporty, all-be-it a 1.4.
The first thing I really did was fit blue interior lights, unfortunately I don't have a picture of this but looks pretty decent and keeping in with the colour scheme of the car.
Next were some blue sidelights and a new set of headlights.
I got some pressed plates from Fancy Plates based in Dublin IIRC and the registration was fitted
After scouring the net for little mods to do, I eventually found out about the 197 grille and how it was claimed to be the 'BEST MOD FOR UNDER £70'.
The next day I had ordered my grille and awaited its arrival eagerly.
Becoming a member on CS.net made it simple to fit as there is a guide on the member-only forum to fit it.
Fitting took no more than 10-15 mins and I was impressed with the outcome!
Before;
After;
I couldn't agree more with the statement that it is the best mod for under £70. Totally changes the look of the front of the car, with the SX front splitter on it really sets it off and the compliment each other well.
Shortly after, I had hit a curb on a way home in the village where I live and it snapped my front splitter which was a total ball ache.
Luckily enough I realised that I had lost some of my splitter as I saw it out the corner of my eye in the wing mirror.
Damage wasn't too bad but definitely dinted the cars pride...
Never the less I booked the car in to get plastic welded and for the time being held the splitter on in place with some electricians tape.
Within a week it was all fixed and looked like new, a new coat of paint and the welding came to a grand total of
£70 which in my eyes, isn't too bad at all.
As you can see the repair was good and looked like new
(Passenger side)
The next thing that came was the 197 steering wheel insert and for £20 it was a good enough price so was bought and fitted a few days later.
I know people sometimes have a grudge about putting sport badges.
Being bored of the old slightly ugly head unit, which is standard fit in the Clios I decided to go and get myself a new head unit.
The one I went for was the Pioneer MVH-350BT.
(Everyone loves Monster)
I've jumped around the place when it came to mods and now I was after something to give the Clio more grunt but didn't sound ridiculous and chavvy.
My mate had a K&N air filter laying around and after some fiddling on I eventually got it fitted.
The MK3 engine bay is tight as f**k so was a job and a half to find somewhere to fit it.
The air filter is decent enough for what I need and does give a good bit of rumble up into the high 2k low 3k rpm.
Having a flick through at other treads I’ve noticed that the Team Heko wind deflectors give the windows a sportier look… I know that this opinion is split but I like it so I guess that’s all that really matters when you’re modding your car..
Apart from looks they do make the wind that is sucked into the car through the window at any speed massively reduced and its nice on a hot sunny day to be able to have your window down and not be blown into the back seats when doing 70mph+
The next thing that was ordered were the Renault Sport mats..
Just the little things which make the difference to other in the interior.
Next on the list were new pads and discs all round. As you can see the near side disc was pretty chewed up, so BOSCH pads and calipers were fitted. It now stopped much better then over the previous few days.
I had been looking through different alloy and tyre packages from the first day of ownership. I wanted something which wasn’t main stream and every other clio had on, and didn’t want black alloys as silver stands out much more and the car doesn’t have enough black detail on it to pull them off.
Cades Vienna were my choice and after a week or two of saving and bartering I had placed my order for a set of 17” Cades Vienna with Falken tyres all round.
I went down to FoxHunters in Newcastle and had them fitted on Saturday morning.
When they were finally fitted I couldn’t wait to get her home and get a photo!
That’s as far as I’ve got so far and in the 3 nearly 4 months I’ve owned the car I think she’s coming along nicely and am very happy with where she’s at.
All that’s left to do is lower her 45mm on H&R springs and a little bit more plastic welding and then I think I may be done, then again I wouldn’t mind a 197/200 CUP spoiler..
Would like to know what you all think of her so far !
Apologise in advance for any spelling mistakes etc as am writing this at work this morning very hungover..
Thanks for reading and I’ll update this thread when I progress.
So.. I bought the car back in February of this year after I had rolled my previous 54 plate 1.2 MK2 spectacularly. After the crash I was told 'you'll never get as good a car as you had before you crashed!' (bit of a pain in the arse as I LOVED my MK2 but what could I expect)
Long story short, I had been looking at standard MK2s but then decided to go and have a look at some MK3s.. this is where I found and fell in love with the MK3 SX...
I sent my dad packing, cash in hand, train down to Runcorn and back he came with my 07 plate IMMACULATE Sx.
This is how it looked the day I got her;
Luckily for the car, the guy who had owned her from new had slight autistic tendencies and was VERY OCD so the car was valet monthly and looked after very well.
Unfortunately there was a leak in the alloy wall, which resulted in me going through 2 sets of tires in the first month and a half of ownership. Was a bit of a pain in the arse having to fill the tyres up every 3 days or so but well well worth it!.
I had been looking at way to improve her but I wanted to keep the outer aesthetics alone, as she looks very modestly sporty, all-be-it a 1.4.
The first thing I really did was fit blue interior lights, unfortunately I don't have a picture of this but looks pretty decent and keeping in with the colour scheme of the car.
Next were some blue sidelights and a new set of headlights.
I got some pressed plates from Fancy Plates based in Dublin IIRC and the registration was fitted
After scouring the net for little mods to do, I eventually found out about the 197 grille and how it was claimed to be the 'BEST MOD FOR UNDER £70'.
The next day I had ordered my grille and awaited its arrival eagerly.
Becoming a member on CS.net made it simple to fit as there is a guide on the member-only forum to fit it.
Fitting took no more than 10-15 mins and I was impressed with the outcome!
Before;
After;
I couldn't agree more with the statement that it is the best mod for under £70. Totally changes the look of the front of the car, with the SX front splitter on it really sets it off and the compliment each other well.
Shortly after, I had hit a curb on a way home in the village where I live and it snapped my front splitter which was a total ball ache.
Luckily enough I realised that I had lost some of my splitter as I saw it out the corner of my eye in the wing mirror.
Damage wasn't too bad but definitely dinted the cars pride...
Never the less I booked the car in to get plastic welded and for the time being held the splitter on in place with some electricians tape.
Within a week it was all fixed and looked like new, a new coat of paint and the welding came to a grand total of
£70 which in my eyes, isn't too bad at all.
As you can see the repair was good and looked like new
(Passenger side)
The next thing that came was the 197 steering wheel insert and for £20 it was a good enough price so was bought and fitted a few days later.
I know people sometimes have a grudge about putting sport badges.
Being bored of the old slightly ugly head unit, which is standard fit in the Clios I decided to go and get myself a new head unit.
The one I went for was the Pioneer MVH-350BT.
(Everyone loves Monster)
I've jumped around the place when it came to mods and now I was after something to give the Clio more grunt but didn't sound ridiculous and chavvy.
My mate had a K&N air filter laying around and after some fiddling on I eventually got it fitted.
The MK3 engine bay is tight as f**k so was a job and a half to find somewhere to fit it.
The air filter is decent enough for what I need and does give a good bit of rumble up into the high 2k low 3k rpm.
Having a flick through at other treads I’ve noticed that the Team Heko wind deflectors give the windows a sportier look… I know that this opinion is split but I like it so I guess that’s all that really matters when you’re modding your car..
Apart from looks they do make the wind that is sucked into the car through the window at any speed massively reduced and its nice on a hot sunny day to be able to have your window down and not be blown into the back seats when doing 70mph+
The next thing that was ordered were the Renault Sport mats..
Just the little things which make the difference to other in the interior.
Next on the list were new pads and discs all round. As you can see the near side disc was pretty chewed up, so BOSCH pads and calipers were fitted. It now stopped much better then over the previous few days.
I had been looking through different alloy and tyre packages from the first day of ownership. I wanted something which wasn’t main stream and every other clio had on, and didn’t want black alloys as silver stands out much more and the car doesn’t have enough black detail on it to pull them off.
Cades Vienna were my choice and after a week or two of saving and bartering I had placed my order for a set of 17” Cades Vienna with Falken tyres all round.
I went down to FoxHunters in Newcastle and had them fitted on Saturday morning.
When they were finally fitted I couldn’t wait to get her home and get a photo!
That’s as far as I’ve got so far and in the 3 nearly 4 months I’ve owned the car I think she’s coming along nicely and am very happy with where she’s at.
All that’s left to do is lower her 45mm on H&R springs and a little bit more plastic welding and then I think I may be done, then again I wouldn’t mind a 197/200 CUP spoiler..
Would like to know what you all think of her so far !
Apologise in advance for any spelling mistakes etc as am writing this at work this morning very hungover..
Thanks for reading and I’ll update this thread when I progress.
