Clio 172 mk2
Well, after 3+ years reliable motoring the 172 has decided to go all French on me so it's time to move on.
I think my love for the 172 faded after the tax & petrol hikes so I started driving it like a granny i.e. not using it properly then other things started to rear their ugly heads. Needed new pads & discs which was okay as I knew about that but broke down before Christmas. This cost me £370 for a new starter motor but then worse was to come when I found the coolant reservoir emptying itself....topped it up and drove home yesterday to find a nice trickle of coolant from the bottom of the rad onto my driveway. Can't really afford to keep pumping money into it so it's going to be fixed and sold, I'll be sad to see it go but at the end of the day it's just a car.
Anyway, I've got kind of fed up with the responsibilty of looking after something nice and need something more practical for bikes & fishing kit so I'll be buying an average runabout which is cheap to tax and insure.
Basically to sum up the 172
Pros:
Fast
Fun to drive (cornering, brakes & grip)
Nice looking and understated
Reasonably economical when not thrashed (40+ mpg on motorway)
Good image (to those people that actually know anything about cars!)
Cons:
Shite main dealers
Expensive parts
Hard to service etc. due to lack of room in engine bay...have to take everything off the car to get to anything!
Slightly crap (boyracer) image to people who know f-all about cars i.e joe public
Unreliable...well, in the end anyway
Flimsy but I suppose that's just good old French cars for you
Despite my change to a s**tbox car I'll not be leaving CS as it's one of the best, and definately the most entertaining forums I've come across....where else could you find such a good thread as 'Jesus Christ, check out that lamb'
I think my love for the 172 faded after the tax & petrol hikes so I started driving it like a granny i.e. not using it properly then other things started to rear their ugly heads. Needed new pads & discs which was okay as I knew about that but broke down before Christmas. This cost me £370 for a new starter motor but then worse was to come when I found the coolant reservoir emptying itself....topped it up and drove home yesterday to find a nice trickle of coolant from the bottom of the rad onto my driveway. Can't really afford to keep pumping money into it so it's going to be fixed and sold, I'll be sad to see it go but at the end of the day it's just a car.
Anyway, I've got kind of fed up with the responsibilty of looking after something nice and need something more practical for bikes & fishing kit so I'll be buying an average runabout which is cheap to tax and insure.
Basically to sum up the 172
Pros:
Fast
Fun to drive (cornering, brakes & grip)
Nice looking and understated
Reasonably economical when not thrashed (40+ mpg on motorway)
Good image (to those people that actually know anything about cars!)
Cons:
Shite main dealers
Expensive parts
Hard to service etc. due to lack of room in engine bay...have to take everything off the car to get to anything!
Slightly crap (boyracer) image to people who know f-all about cars i.e joe public
Unreliable...well, in the end anyway
Flimsy but I suppose that's just good old French cars for you
Despite my change to a s**tbox car I'll not be leaving CS as it's one of the best, and definately the most entertaining forums I've come across....where else could you find such a good thread as 'Jesus Christ, check out that lamb'
