Nick's UR 200

[boultonn]

So having been a user on here for a couple of years and owning a Mk2 Clio, I thought it was about time for an upgrade, and having just started a new job now seemed a good time.

Now I spent about 6 weeks looking for the 'right car', which for me was either racing blue, ultra red, or maybe white, cup pack and recaros, and either anthracite or black wheels.
Eventually, after missing out on a couple of nice looking ones, I found a very tidy looking one in Norfolk.
Having made a trek up to have a look and test it out, I decided it was the one, put the deposit down and 3 weeks later, driven away very happy.
3 weeks seems like a long wait...
Well, it turned out that garage I was buying it from were a UK Akrapovic supplier, so having wrangled a tidy deal for the car, exhaust and part-ex on my current car, I was left with a wait while it was shipped from Slovenia and fitted.
Anyway, picked it up Friday and haven't really stopped driving it since.
It's got about 40k miles on the clock, one owner, no wear on the wheel or seats.
Other than a terrible head unit which will be replaced soon, it's perfect.

Having a friend who's owned a 225 for about six months it's a really interesting comparison, although the Akrapovic runs rings around the Scorpian system on the meg.

Found an M4 in Southwold and hijacked his picture

Awaiting custom plates :nomouth:

 

[Typhoon]

That's really nice mate! Great little upgrade and definitely worth hanging around for the right car as this thread proves. Enjoy it!

 

[Paddy80]

Looks nice , black wheels work well with Ultra red. Looking to get an Akrapovic exhaust myself in the not so distant future. How noisey are they when taking it easy? Happy with more noise when giving it some but don't want anything too loud when I'm being reserved!

 

[boultonn]

I agree black speedlines are amazing, we shall see...
As for the exhaust, it's quite prominent when accelerating (very, in fact), but you can cruise at anything up to about 75 (in the right gear) without too much noise. Cruising at over 4K rpm you will be aware of it.
Had a 160 mile trip home last night and if you're sitting at 70 with cruise control it's hardly noticeable. Hope this helps.

 

[boultonn]

So managed to work from home today as I knew my new number plates were being delivered. Took the opportunity to do some other bits too as it's unusual having some daylight.
Easy enough to change the plates, old ones were only screwed on, and on some forum advice, I attached the new ones with velcro.
Before:

After:

As well as this, I wanted to replace the terrible head-unit that came in the car with the Pioneer one I kept from my old car, think I need an adapter for the aerial (although I rarely use the radio), other than that, working fine and the sound is night and day vs the old one. It is hands-down the best head unit I've owned, the bluetooth audio is so convenient and the backside USB (which I have routed round to the right hand side of the windscreen for the phone cradle) is a must.

Still need an adapter for fingertip controls (the one in the pic is from my mk2 clio but sadly doesn't work), that's next on the list.

Next up, remove the Clio badge...

 

[Paddy80]

I agree black speedlines are amazing, we shall see...
As for the exhaust, it's quite prominent when accelerating (very, in fact), but you can cruise at anything up to about 75 (in the right gear) without too much noise. Cruising at over 4K rpm you will be aware of it.
Had a 160 mile trip home last night and if you're sitting at 70 with cruise control it's hardly noticeable. Hope this helps.

Sounds perfect, excuse the pun! Didn't want anything that droned too much on longer runs but definitely want the prominence when accelerating. Just need to be sensible and finish paying for my holiday first!
Debating whether to remove my Clio badge but it is nice to remind the ignorant that it's "just a Clio"!

 

[boultonn]

Ah yes sensible stuff first...
Its a very good sound, nice burble on the over-run, can really turn heads!
As for the badge, just gonna be personal preference, think it looks better without, really cleans up the back

 

[boultonn]

Eventually got round to ordering the steering wheel adapter and fitted it, although it took what seemed like forever to get working and involved plugging different bits in the right order. Working now so it's pure bliss

 

[mossyv6]

Great car and spec mate.

Just needs Speedlines, spacers and some lowness

 

[boultonn]

Thought I'd throw in a quick update from the South Central Surrey Rolling Road day yesterday, managed a respectable 192.8hp so that's all good.
Was the only 200 to run during the day, but was putting out at least 10hp more than all the stock(ish) 197s.
193hp seems a good starting point going forward, looking to get it mapped and either panel filter or induction system and see if we can't get it up to 200.

 

[boultonn]

Also a couple of pics from the last week or two when we've actually had some decent weather.

 

[Matt W]

So nice!

 

[boultonn]

So nice!

Cheers, fingers crossed from some proper updates soon

 

[boultonn]

So small-ish update before hopefully a bigger one next week.
New wheels.
Been sitting in my room for about 2 weeks tripping me up every day waiting to get them refurbed, should be going in this week and then fitted in time for the Easter weekend, hopefully.

And as it was a sunny sunday I thought I'd take her for a spanking through the twisteez

 

[PP200t]

Do I see speedlines? That will be a wicked addition to a beautiful car if so.

 

[boultonn]

Indeed you do, was happy enough with the stock wheels but then these came up and couldn't say no.

 

[cpaterson76]

20mm spacers front and 25mm rear and these shall look amazing :up:

 

[Stay Puft]

Spoke to you at SRR, lovely car!

 

[boultonn]

20mm spacers front and 25mm rear and these shall look amazing :up:

That's the plan, they're next on the shopping list. They're the cup racer alloys so they're slightly wider so will see how they look when they're on.

Spoke to you at SRR, lovely car!

I remember mate, cheers, it's coming on nicely, hopefully have everything fitted soon for this nice weather.

 

[boultonn]

Right,
First of all, the speedlines had to be returned because it turned out they were basically square and had been badly repaired in the past.

But things get better,
Some goodies turned up from Kam Racing this morning

Spent the afternoon fitting them, the sun was out which made things that much better.

Back two went on fine but couldn't get the front locking wheel nut off so had to pop to Guildford Tyre City who had some proper tools. Props to them for doing it straight away, although they have a massive unit and there wasn't one car on the lifts.

Very happy with how it looks, definitely considering some lowness but I have some horrible speed humps on my commute.
As for how it drives, feels fairly similar but through the fast corners it handles a bit nicer.

Have got some speedlines on order but they are on back-order from Renault so god knows how long that will take.

 

[PP200t]

That looks awesome with the spacers. Really suit it. Why oh why don't Renault make the wheels sit better?? All Renault sports have stupid offsets which require spacers to sit properly.

 

[boultonn]

That looks awesome with the spacers. Really suit it. Why oh why don't Renault make the wheels sit better?? All Renault sports have stupid offsets which require spacers to sit properly.

It's such a (relatively) cheap thing to fix, but once you've noticed it you can't un-see it

 

[boultonn]

Better than average Wednesday today, having ordered some new speedlines a while back I got a message yesterday that they were in stock and had been dispatched. Notification this morning saying they were out for delivery and at about midday the DX van trundled up the road and unloaded some brand new wheels.

Rang my usual garage and they managed to squeeze me in this afternoon to switch my tyres onto the new alloys, my local garage wanted £75 to swap the tyres and balance them so was happy paying £20 to my usual one.

About an hour later and it was done.

Keeping two of the old alloys as track wheels and probably post the other 2 up on here/eBay at some point.
Very happy with how it looks now, just needs a good wash now.

 

[Christopher]

Looks great! So similar to mine it's weird looking at it!

 

[boultonn]

Looks great! So similar to mine it's weird looking at it!

Took some inspiration from yours, while still keeping it as a daily. Got an Auto Solo this weekend so imagine I'll leave that with a list of things I want to change :spanner:

 

[Christopher]

Took some inspiration from yours, while still keeping it as a daily. Got an Auto Solo this weekend so imagine I'll leave that with a list of things I want to change :spanner:

Ah, nice one. Mine looks a bit different now anyway so you're safe. Lol.

 

[boultonn]

Ah, nice one. Mine looks a bit different now anyway so you're safe. Lol.

Looking forward to seeing yours with the Corbeaus, got much longer to wait?

 

[Christopher]

Looking forward to seeing yours with the Corbeaus, got much longer to wait?

Just posted an update to my project thread now mate. They should be here next week!
Along with my X85 airbox and dry-cell battery.

 

[Plummer]

What size spacers have you gone for?

Looks clean af.

 

[boultonn]

What size spacers have you gone for?

Looks clean af.

Can't believe I forgot to include that... rookie.

They're 25mm H&R hub-centric DRA spacers all round.

 

[boultonn]

Not so much a project update but never mind.
Tried my hand at an auto solo over the weekend (racing round a coned route basically), actually excellent fun and cheap to enter.
Car needs some new front tyres soon so was a good excuse to scrub the remaining tread off them.
Really reinforced what I've heard about 200s, they corner like they're on rails, you could turn in and stay on the power and as long as you didn't give it a boot full mid corner you'd stay on line. Plus with cup suspension and recaros you really appreciate what this car could do (in capable hands)...
Apologies for potato-spec pictures, not mine.

 

[boultonn]

Managed to procure myself a couple of punctures last weekend, fatal one on the front from a stupid kerb...

AA came and replaced it but that left the front tyres a bit odd as the other was on the limit.
The second one was a slow one, courtesy of a nail

Managed to survive until today when I replaced the other 3.

Continental Sport Contact 5's all round, moved up to 225 size as they were cheaper, available quicker and don't seem to rub.
Now just need to urmmm... bed them in

 

[boultonn]

With the car now getting on for 6 years old it was time for the fun fun fun big service
PM'd Mike at Rentech and he managed to fit me in today, and in about 4 hours it had new cam & aux belt, water pump, service and spark plugs.
Glad that's out of the way for another 5/6 years, although not sure my wallet agrees...
Can't certainly recommend Rentech to anyone in Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex etc, great service, helpful and friendly.

Car's now pretty much ready for trip to Wales/Evo triangle in August, much excite.

 

[boultonn]

Been a long winter and the car has really taking a beating from the roads on Guildford.
Took it into the garage to have a squeaky ball joint looked at and they spotted that both front springs had broken in the bottom mounts :grimacing:
They also mentioned that the osf upper and lower ball joints could do with replacing but these parts are c. £250 each from renault so that will have to wait.
Anyway, straight on to Kam racing and ordered a set of H&R springs, thanks to @Kev@KAM they were despatched within about 2 hours.
Will do a before and after of the car, although its already kinda low at the front due to the broken springs.
Could also do with a clean before goodwood breakfast club in 2 weeks

 

[Kev@KAM]

Glad to be of service

 

[boultonn]

So the springs arrived just over a week ago

Finally got them fitted yesterday and very happy with the result.
Not much lower at the front as an entire coil had broken off both front springs which had effectively lowered it, but it's now even all round.
Before:

After:

Not noticed any rubbing except from doing a full lock U turn


That's the mod list complete for now. Want to keep it OEM+ for now.

 

[boultonn]

Sadly, all good things must come to an end.
Didn't know how I'd feel selling it, but having seen @AndyBMX drive it away this evening, I miss it already.
Hope he enjoys it as much as I did and hopefully see his project thread sometime soon.