Just bought a Clio 182 sport first time Renault owner any advice?

[has22fas]

Hey, I'm new to the forum and thought i'd look around the net on the specification of my Clio as I have no idea or knowledge about them, So I thought I'd sign myself up on a forum and take it from there

My first question is I'm not sure if I have bought a CUP or normal Clio 182. If it isn't a cup is their a major difference performance wise? I hear the handling is terrible without the CUP package is this true?

Second question is coming from a Mitsubishi FTO GPX Manual 200BHP...how would the Clio fair in terms of performance....main reason for the change is the Fuel efficiency I hear about the Clio. The Gas guzzling V6 of the FTO was a nightmare..hence why I sold it. The Clio is being delivered today but I'm just excited to know beforehand.

And my final question is the reliability issues and common problems with the Clio I hear....mostly a rough Engine or something of the sort. What kind of mileage are these cars good up until?


Cheers all

Mark

 

[Goodj]

Morning Mark, welcome to CS.

If you can stick a couple of pictures of the new car up, the forum will soon tell you which version you've got.
If you can't do that:-
Has it got leather on the seats?
Has it got dark wheels?
Has it got a splitter on the front bumper?

That'll clear up the "which one might it be" question

People on here tend to think the FTO would lose to the Clio in every situation. I'm not entirely convinced, if you had a manual, you'll find you've not lost much pace, if it was an auto, you might actually be going quicker. In any event, you'll certainly be burning less fuel and have a much better steer.

Reliaibility? I just off-loaded my 172 which only needed rear bearings (part of the discs anyway) an exhaust, driveshaft and ball joints in the 5 years I had it. Most important thing is to make sure the cambelt and auxbelt changes are done on time (5 years or 70ish-k miles?). If the cambelt gives up you may as well junk the engine, be sure to have an invoice for the work being done.

The 2.0 engine does sound....agricultural, shall we say. From cold it's a lumpy ol bugger but it's tractable enough for the daily grind and pulls well when you want it to. It'll never sound nice though, especially compared to your old MIVEC, a lot of people bolt on chavvy exhausts and intake systems thinking it makes the car sound better, they're wrong, it just makes it louder.

Good luck with the motor though, they're a little bargain

 

[Addicted]

The engines are rough at startup yeah, usually fine after - an RSTuner remap/proper remap will sort that out though.

I have a non-cup/cupped pack and I found the handling to be perfectly fine - I've now uprated the springs to Eibach Sportlines - and while stiffer, I think the handling was pretty much the same so to answer your question I don't think the cup pack really makes that much difference.

 

[has22fas]

I did the love V6 note of the FTO....especially when it got into the MIVEC rev range 5500+...didn't expect much of a noise from a Clio Inline 4 to be honest but the 182 somebody told me the stock exhausts are apparently expensive and make a good sound? another reason I opted for the 182 over 172 because of how the rear looks. I've asked the guy who is going to deliver the car mid evening he says the spec is Half leather seats but no front splitter and a KTR Induction Kit. This one has 55K mileage so i'll expect to change the cambelt pretty soon I guess.

Thanks

 

[Addicted]

Cambelt should already be done, it's 72k OR 5 years, so it should have been done 2010 ish - if not budget ~£500 from a specialist (don't take it to someone who hasn't done one before).

Half leather will mean it's definitely not a cup (cloth seats), but it could be cup-packed!

Cup Pack 1 = Splitter & Cup Spoiler
Cup Pack 2 = Anthracite Wheels (instead of silver) & Suspension changes (not much tbh)

I think that's right!

 

[plymcl172]

Sure you will get to know your car pretty soon by looking around on here, reading forums all help to get to know your RS

 

[mark smith87]

The engines are pretty strong as long as you look after them properly. My 172 has 126,000 miles on it now and it's still as sweet as ever. I had it remapped recently and it's giving 167.1bhp at the flywheel. Pretty good for a high mileage car. I've fitted a Scorpion stainless cat back exhaust after the centre section snapped after three years. The Renault centre sections are expensive and are mild Steel so don't last that well. It sounds nice without being too loud and improves the torque noticeably. It gets driven hard most of the time and has been really reliable and so much fun to drive.

 

[aucky]

RE fuel efficiency,

34mpg is average on a standard-ish Clio. Mid 40s is achievable on a run though.

 

[Russ_16v]

Hey, I'm new to the forum and thought i'd look around the net on the specification of my Clio as I have no idea or knowledge about them, So I thought I'd sign myself up on a forum and take it from there

My first question is I'm not sure if I have bought a CUP or normal Clio 182. If it isn't a cup is their a major difference performance wise? I hear the handling is terrible without the CUP package is this true?

Second question is coming from a Mitsubishi FTO GPX Manual 200BHP...how would the Clio fair in terms of performance....main reason for the change is the Fuel efficiency I hear about the Clio. The Gas guzzling V6 of the FTO was a nightmare..hence why I sold it. The Clio is being delivered today but I'm just excited to know beforehand.

And my final question is the reliability issues and common problems with the Clio I hear....mostly a rough Engine or something of the sort. What kind of mileage are these cars good up until?


Cheers all

Mark

Hi and welcome Mark

there are a lot of mis-information floating around about Renaultsport Clios, and you have highlighted a few.

The handling of a non cup 182 is far from terrible - true, the Cup does have a better setup, but the standard model is still brilliant so if yours is not a cup then don't loose any sleep over it

I would say perfroamnce wise, the Clio should be at least as quick as the FTO - a good one will be quicker, but only if the cam timing is correct - you will hear a lot of banging on about cam timing on here, with the Renaultsport range, it is very important to have the cambelt changed by a specialist/someone who really know what they are doing - you need the correct locking tools to make sure it is correct - if the old tipex method is used it will be wrong and in most cases you will find you will be circa 25bhp down.


With regards to the mpg, the Clio has a good advantage here, with a big engine in a light car you should be able to get very good mpg (as long as the cam timing is correct, as well as loosing power you will loose 5-10mpg) i sold a Racing Blue 182 a month or so ago, which when I collected it and took it to my guy to have the cambelt done it averaged 31mpg on a 70mph cruise on the motorway, once the belt was done (timing was out) i averaged 43mpg on the way home.

People do get worried about reliability, and true, you do get the odd 'friday afternoon car' but in general they are pretty reliable. The important thing is if it's looked after - you want to see plenty of invoices/receipts, quality tyres all the same make - general things to give you an idea someone has cared for - and as long as it has then it should be pretty good - I had a ph1 172 which I did a lot of mileage in and by the lime I sold it it had 142,000 miles, but still made 193bhp on throttle bodies and pulled clean to 7500rpm, and in my 5 year ownership it barely had anything more than basic consumables.


Once it arrives, stick some pictures up, we will be able to tell if it is a cup model - bear in mind you can have the normal 182 with 'cup packs' - which is the better suspension, darker coloured alloy wheels, bigger boot spoiler, front splitter - all the good bits of the cup models but with the added extras of the normal models.

I would also suggest to pay the membership fee - the amount of extra information in the form of guides, discounts and availability of specialists will pay for the membership cost over and over, and will get you some good deals on the all important cambelt change! (just to claify, the whole cambelt kit should be changed, as well as the aux belt and aux belt tensioner - if the car happens to sound a little like a diesel on idle (which can vary from a little noise to sounding like it's about to throw a rod) then it will likely to need a dephaser, which is the oil fed camshaft pulley, which adjusts the timing (not performance related) it should only make a noise on idle, as the dephaser adjusts the timing at circa 1650rpm - under that it slackens off, and if it's worn that is where the noise comes from. It is usually lack of oil changes that damage them, so you can have a worn one at 50k, or if fresh oil changes are kept up they can go on and on - my 142k 172 was on it's original dephaser)

Im sure you will enjoy it, they are fantastic little cars

 

[Martin_172]

i know a guy that bought a 182 "with cup packs", i took it a blast and was really impressed with how it handled, it felt a good bit better (from memory) than my old 172 when it was standard (although it had been a few years since i driven one) and i was raving about how good the cup pack was.

we decided to do fresh dampers on it and it turned out when we got the new cup dampers they were the wrong bolt spacing and it actually was a non packed car with the wheels refurbed anthracite!!

 

[MikeoftheQuays]

I hear the handling is terrible without the CUP package is this true?

Heh. It's funny the stuff you hear. From talking to people who have driven both I heard that the difference varies somewhere between "absolutely none" and "a small, but noticeable improvement".

All I know is that I went from non-cup to cup springs and noticed no difference at all in the handling.

 

[columbo]

Heh. It's funny the stuff you hear. From talking to people who have driven both I heard that the difference varies somewhere between "absolutely none" and "a small, but noticeable improvement".

All I know is that I went from non-cup to cup springs and noticed no difference at all in the handling.

I have to agree with that as well. I have a non cup packed 182 and a mate of mine has a both cup packed 182. After driving both on numerous occasions I can honestly say my mates car feels no better than mine through the twisties - both cars having a recent standard suspension refresh.