My GF's 172 is slow as f**k :(

[Keydogg]

Hey guys,

managed to do a quick experiment yesterday down a long and straight piece of *cough* private *cough* road. My GF's 172 vs my 125bhp VTS rolling start from 20 upto 100 then stop cos of silly speeds, and the 172 did not pull away. I was thoroughly disappointed because i expected my VTS to be left behind.

The reason why I did this is because I wasn't sure it has ever run standard power since she bought it, and it's a quick and easy answer rather than paying £40 for a rolling road.

So basically, wtf is going on?? My VTS has no mods other than a cold air feed and that is it, and fair enough its only 935kg so it obtains around 130bhp/tonne, but compared with the 165bhp/tonne the clio is meant to have thats nothing really.

It hasn't been serviced for 12000, so its definitely due one, but I wouldn't have thought that would affect it THAT much. I have completely checked the engine and logbook and its definitely a 172, not some sort of badged up one or anything, so I am wondering.

It got serviced just before we bought it by the last owner, he was a renault mechanic, so do you think he might have used s**t oil cos he was selling it? I use fully synthetic in my VTS, would this make any difference in the 172's performance?

Other than that I dunno wtf to do really, how can I get it tested to see whats up?

Any help is appreciated guys, thanks.

Alan

 

[Neil G]

Re: My GF's 172 is slow as f**k

Rolling road then out with the wallet to sort out the probs or to get some mods done.

 

[Russ_16v]

how well can ur missus drive mate? coz in all honesty u really have to rev them to get ther best out of them,i find changing early in the rev range makes mine as flat as a pancake lol

 

[Neil G]

Re: My GF's 172 is slow as f**k

Very true....I do think you have to use the whole rev range to get the most out of the RS.....it hasn't got much bottom end

 

[Se7en172]

Her car sounds fooked or she cannot drive. My mate has a C2 VTS and he has tried to race me on more than a Few occasions. My car at the moment is standard apart from my uprated brakes package. My mates VTS has a viper induction kit Pro speed cat back stainless steel exhaust which has been decatted, he has a slip diff, and a 4 branch manifold. I kick his ass everytime once the VVT kicks in he is left for dead, and i mean i can beat him by 40metres over a 500 metre straight run

Oh and i have mk2 172

 

[FlameR]

Sounds like she isn't using the full rev range. clio sports are best between 5k and 7k revs

 

[Neil G]

Re: My GF's 172 is slow as f**k

I'm not sure about this VVT business..I've have my car over 5k plenty of times and never noticed it.

 

[deedee]

Re: My GF's 172 is slow as f**k

I had a 106 GTI before my 172 which is exactly same engine as a VTS, theres no way my GTI would have kept up with my 172...either your mrs wasn't using the car to it's full advantage or it's got some probs.

 

[Se7en172]

Re: My GF's 172 is slow as f**k

I'm not sure about this VVT business..I've have my car over 5k plenty of times and never noticed it.

I get a noticable kick at about 5.5-6k revs

 

[S22 JGS]

or she could be like the back end of a bus and be slowing herself down

 

[Tyson-182]

Am i right in saying Saxo VTS? I'm guessing your misses didn't use all of the 172's rev range. Don't get me wrong, the VTS' are rapid little cars and do very well against higher powered car due to their power / weight ratio but in all honesty, the 172 should have pulled away.

Get it RR'd to see what power it's making. The RS engines differ some-what in power terms, her 172 maybe producing some s**t bhp...

Tys.

 

[Dansta]

Personally i dont think there'd be much in it between a vts and a 172 anyway. with a good driver in the VTS could easily come out with that result...
Guys he's not saying he beat it... just that it didnt pull away... 172's have to be driven a certain way to get the most out of them... as said above... that coupled with the fact that this guy knows how to drive his VTS, well i'm suprised he didn't pull awayfrom her.

 

[Se7en172]

No the VTS is no competition if both people know how to drive the cars. The 172 will always come out on top

 

[Neil G]

Re: My GF's 172 is slow as f**k

I'm not sure about this VVT business..I've have my car over 5k plenty of times and never noticed it.

I get a noticable kick at about 5.5-6k revs

Sounds like mine's fooked as well

Oh well...nevermind

 

[Keydogg]

Yes its a Saxo VTS btw not a C2.

Well it's certainly not here driving, because she was at work at the time I was in her 172 and my mate was in my VTS, then we swapped round and did the same again same outcome.

In my VTS i change at about 7k cos it revs a bit higher than the 172, and in the 172 i was changing perfectly at about 6.7k, i even tried changing earlier on another run and later on another.

There's something very wrong with the car I've always had something niggling in the back of my mind about that car's performance since we bought it and now this confirms it.

What the hell can the problem be and how easy would it be to fix it? I don't want to mod it i just want standard power! My guess is its running at about 150bhp atm.

 

[gaz44]

Re: My GF's 172 is slow as f**k

I'm not sure about this VVT business..I've have my car over 5k plenty of times and never noticed it.

I get a noticable kick at about 5.5-6k revs

5K - vroom!

 

[FlameR]

Maybe it hasn't been "broken in" yet. Did you buy it from a 84 year old granny who only used it to go and pick her pension up from the post office? And when u had this race, was it fully warmed up?

 

[Se7en172]

Re: My GF's 172 is slow as f**k

Yes its a Saxo VTS btw not a C2.

Well it's certainly not here driving, because she was at work at the time I was in her 172 and my mate was in my VTS, then we swapped round and did the same again same outcome.

In my VTS i change at about 7k cos it revs a bit higher than the 172, and in the 172 i was changing perfectly at about 6.7k, i even tried changing earlier on another run and later on another.

There's something very wrong with the car I've always had something niggling in the back of my mind about that car's performance since we bought it and now this confirms it.

What the hell can the problem be and how easy would it be to fix it? I don't want to mod it i just want standard power! My guess is its running at about 150bhp atm.

Are you getting a change in performance after 5k revs

 

[-Leigh-]

Rolling road both cars. That's the only way you will tell what's going on. How do you know that your VTS isn't freakishly fast? Or both cars are slow?? Some people say that the 172 should be much quicker than the VTS, but I've had em all, and I don't think there's much in it.

But you can't tell by just running two cars up the road side by side.

 

[FincH]

VVT kicks in at summat crazy low like 1.4k Rpm. It's not VTEC ffs.

Also the kick at 4.5-5k is something to do with the power curve of the engine, between max torque and max bhp the car pulls its best.

 

[Dash]

Perhaps this 172 is one of the weird foreign imports which only had about 150 bhp?

Most 172's really only put out around 160 bhp which is usually plenty to leave a wee VTS in tears.

 

[MillerLight]

Re: My GF's 172 is slow as f**k

Her car sounds fooked or she cannot drive. My mate has a C2 VTS and he has tried to race me on more than a Few occasions. My car at the moment is standard apart from my uprated brakes package. My mates VTS has a viper induction kit Pro speed cat back stainless steel exhaust which has been decatted, he has a slip diff, and a 4 branch manifold. I kick his ass everytime once the VVT kicks in he is left for dead, and i mean i can beat him by 40metres over a 500 metre straight run

Oh and i have mk2 172

same as. with my mates Vts. easy 40m gap

 

[Steve]

Rolling start from 20mph in first, the 172 should 'eat' the citroen for breakfast.

Needs looking at, or she needs a few lessons on getting the best from the car.

 

[mark_s]

Re: My GF's 172 is slow as f**k

Is this thread really for finding out how to fix the clio? or just for being told that the VTS is nearly/ just as quick anyway? :S

 

[John D]

Re: My GF's 172 is slow as f**k

I get a noticable kick at about 5.5-6k revs

Sounds like mine's fooked as well

Oh well...nevermind

I don't get a major kick either mate (I suppose this is very subjective though).

I reckon some engines are just more linear than others

 

[bmh.01]

Re: My GF's 172 is slow as f**k

VVT kicks in at summat crazy low like 1.4k Rpm. It's not VTEC ffs.

Also the kick at 4.5-5k is something to do with the power curve of the engine, between max torque and max bhp the car pulls its best.

^ Correct, as its been said before. The 5k kick is more due to the cam profile NOT the VVT.

 

[Phill1978]

some 172`s push out no more than 150hp, get inlet manifold and a remap.

also could be a cylinder problem,

 

[GazCB]

porous cylinders? expensive to fix, ce n'est pas?!

 

[Phill1978]

no i had a misfire on my first 172, they fixed it instantly effected performance quiet a lot

 

[williams-ant]

Re: My GF's 172 is slow as f**k

Ive had 2 phase 2 172s now, 1st was 2 years old with 24k on it and one I have no is nearly 6 yrs old with 45k on on it. The one I have now would have left my other for dead. The 1st one had no noticeable power increase at 5k revs at all, the one I have now completely changes engine note and takes off! Miles quicker.

Maybe she has got a friday afternoon car!

 

[Keydogg]

Well it is an import, so maybe that's something to do with it. Ffs.

g40steve - it was me driving and i can drive

mark_s - read the post properly and u might find the answer...


Her's has 44k on it so its definitely warn in, and it was a young 22 year old who had it before so I doubt it was just used as a run around.

I know my VTS isn't freakishly fast because my mate had a VTS and it was identical, and now he has a Fiesta ST and it's identical to that which is right.

God this is really playing on my mind now, did import 172s have any differenct parts like cat or something?

 

[Dan 172]

Re: My GF's 172 is slow as f**k

You should be changing at around 7100rpm in the 172 not 6700rpm.

I had my 172 on the rolling road a while back and it produced 170bhp and my peak power was around 6950rpm.

Which I was quite pleased with considering i've only put a itg panel filter on it.
My mate's Cupra R produced 222bhp and so did another so I know it was quite fair.

A standard engine should produce 169bhp really.

Also I would get it serviced asap, dirty oil and air filter isn't any good when driving a car hard.

 

[makavelli]

where are you based fella?

i would get rentech or yozzasport to have a look at it

im sure i remember a 172 owner on here posting that their car felt underpowered and when they had it looked at they found out half of the valves were knackered and it was only running on 8 of them or something like that!

 

[Keydogg]

Re: My GF's 172 is slow as f**k

You should be changing at around 7100rpm in the 172 not 6700rpm.

I had my 172 on the rolling road a while back and it produced 170bhp and my peak power was around 6950rpm.

Which I was quite pleased with considering i've only put a itg panel filter on it.
My mate's Cupra R produced 222bhp and so did another so I know it was quite fair.

A standard engine should produce 169bhp really.

Also I would get it serviced asap, dirty oil and air filter isn't any good when driving a car hard.

cheers for the advice mate. Well on another run I was changing just over 7 but there was still no difference.

These ITG filters, how much are they and is there any sound difference? She wouldn't like anything loud on it thats all, but if it helps ill get in in there. I'll make sure I get some decent oil and filters and see if that helps.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[-Leigh-]

I know mine is ok, as it's been exactly the same speed as a few other 172's. Do you not know anyone with a 172 near you? Or pop along to a meet?

 

[Keydogg]

yeah im gonna ask my mate with the ph-quick to have a go!

 

[-Leigh-]

Re: My GF's 172 is slow as f**k

yeah im gonna ask my mate with the ph-quick to have a go!

Don't be surprised if you can't keep up though!!

 

[W17GLE]

Re: My GF's 172 is slow as f**k

sounds like she drives like a girl lol

 

[Dan 172]

Re: My GF's 172 is slow as f**k

You should be changing at around 7100rpm in the 172 not 6700rpm.

I had my 172 on the rolling road a while back and it produced 170bhp and my peak power was around 6950rpm.

Which I was quite pleased with considering i've only put a itg panel filter on it.
My mate's Cupra R produced 222bhp and so did another so I know it was quite fair.

A standard engine should produce 169bhp really.

Also I would get it serviced asap, dirty oil and air filter isn't any good when driving a car hard.

cheers for the advice mate. Well on another run I was changing just over 7 but there was still no difference.

These ITG filters, how much are they and is there any sound difference? She wouldn't like anything loud on it thats all, but if it helps ill get in in there. I'll make sure I get some decent oil and filters and see if that helps.

Thanks for the advice!

Try K-TEC, is probably your best bet around £45.

It's only a panel filter so there isn't any change in noise, it doen't make alot of difference really.

I got mine for £38ish from Merlin Motorsport who are based at Castle Coombe race track.

Maybe get a rolling road to see the power curve, but there isn't much difference on the road between a 172 and VTS TBH.

 

[Neil G]

Re: My GF's 172 is slow as f**k

Sounds like mine's fooked as well

Oh well...nevermind

I don't get a major kick either mate (I suppose this is very subjective though).

I reckon some engines are just more linear than others

I've just never noticed it myself...I know the car felt bloody quick in the passenger seat when I was taken for a drive in it though