On the 9th or 10th of February I started looking at Clio 172 and 182 cars with a view to bringing one back to Leicester. After a false start involving a deal done on a 182, that was sold to somebody else (why is there no integrity anymore?), I woke up on Monday 11th February, started looking for a car to buy and within a couple of hours I was on the way to Taunton to do a deal on RY53 AYE. By teatime it was parked outside the house.
Not since the ex-Mrs John had a 1.2 Expression, had I driven a Clio.
My daily commute can be a round trip of 80 miles depending on where I’m working, making a diesel almost essential and, daily, I drive a 2007 Seat Altea FR with a few mods (wheels, coil overs, RARB, ALK, big brakes) that I pulled off my mk2 Octavia when I broke it. With the Altea marooned 50 miles away until the weekend, I’ve commuted in my new to me phase 2 172. On a good day, I get 45-47 mpg out of the Altea. On a bad day, it’s 38 - so imagine my surprise and delight to discover that my return trip from work up the M1 in the 172 delivered me home dead on 40 mpg.
So the car - it’s a 99,000 mile Flame Red phase 2 172, first registered on the 11th November 2003, and appears to be completely stock save for an optional 6 disc CD changer and a set of 182 wheels. It came with 363 days’ MOT and a stack of paperwork as thick as a phone book, including a couple of bits of paper work that have brought a small amount of concern, notably a report that shows after No. 2 injector was changed, compression on 1, 2 and 4 was 190psi and 150psi on No. 3 cylinder. I guess this is something that needs to be investigated. Other that, it’s had quite a lot money thrown at it over the years including a new throttle body and crank position sensor.
There are things that need to be addressed fairly soon, and this thread will act as a reminder for me to keep track of the things I’ve done and what’s outstanding.
First off, I need to:
Fix the headlight washers and rear washer;
Replace the baggy driver’s seatbelt;
Fix the passenger seat (it didn’t lock in place and when I tried to push the adjuster bar down, I pulled it off but at least the seat doesn’t move);
Fix the buzzing interior temperature sensor in the interior light unit;
Replace a CV boot;
Sort a new pair of front tyres and have the alignment done;
Replace the boot struts (they take a bit of effort to lift the tailgate);
Do the belts and dephaser as these were last done at 45k;
Find out what’s going on with the compression issue;
Decide whether the clutch needs doing - I don’t know whether I’m just not used to it, but the clutch seems quite heavy and with quite a high bite point;
Check the brakes with the car in the air as they feel like they’re binding a bit.
The things I’d like to do include:
A cheap head unit with DAB and Bluetooth connectivity for phone calls and streaming music;
Dash cam;
Sort out the paint;
A set of springs (Eibachs or whatever the recommended ones ought to do it);
Inspect the dampers and exhaust and replace them if necessary.
And then, if funds allow or I find the stuff cheap:
A pair of buckets and harnesses;
Decent track happy pads, discs and fluid;
Couple of light cosmetic touches and a spare set of track wheels and rubber.
In the meantime, here’s a couple of photos
Not since the ex-Mrs John had a 1.2 Expression, had I driven a Clio.
My daily commute can be a round trip of 80 miles depending on where I’m working, making a diesel almost essential and, daily, I drive a 2007 Seat Altea FR with a few mods (wheels, coil overs, RARB, ALK, big brakes) that I pulled off my mk2 Octavia when I broke it. With the Altea marooned 50 miles away until the weekend, I’ve commuted in my new to me phase 2 172. On a good day, I get 45-47 mpg out of the Altea. On a bad day, it’s 38 - so imagine my surprise and delight to discover that my return trip from work up the M1 in the 172 delivered me home dead on 40 mpg.
So the car - it’s a 99,000 mile Flame Red phase 2 172, first registered on the 11th November 2003, and appears to be completely stock save for an optional 6 disc CD changer and a set of 182 wheels. It came with 363 days’ MOT and a stack of paperwork as thick as a phone book, including a couple of bits of paper work that have brought a small amount of concern, notably a report that shows after No. 2 injector was changed, compression on 1, 2 and 4 was 190psi and 150psi on No. 3 cylinder. I guess this is something that needs to be investigated. Other that, it’s had quite a lot money thrown at it over the years including a new throttle body and crank position sensor.
There are things that need to be addressed fairly soon, and this thread will act as a reminder for me to keep track of the things I’ve done and what’s outstanding.
First off, I need to:
Fix the headlight washers and rear washer;
Replace the baggy driver’s seatbelt;
Fix the passenger seat (it didn’t lock in place and when I tried to push the adjuster bar down, I pulled it off but at least the seat doesn’t move);
Fix the buzzing interior temperature sensor in the interior light unit;
Replace a CV boot;
Sort a new pair of front tyres and have the alignment done;
Replace the boot struts (they take a bit of effort to lift the tailgate);
Do the belts and dephaser as these were last done at 45k;
Find out what’s going on with the compression issue;
Decide whether the clutch needs doing - I don’t know whether I’m just not used to it, but the clutch seems quite heavy and with quite a high bite point;
Check the brakes with the car in the air as they feel like they’re binding a bit.
The things I’d like to do include:
A cheap head unit with DAB and Bluetooth connectivity for phone calls and streaming music;
Dash cam;
Sort out the paint;
A set of springs (Eibachs or whatever the recommended ones ought to do it);
Inspect the dampers and exhaust and replace them if necessary.
And then, if funds allow or I find the stuff cheap:
A pair of buckets and harnesses;
Decent track happy pads, discs and fluid;
Couple of light cosmetic touches and a spare set of track wheels and rubber.
In the meantime, here’s a couple of photos
