After hearing loads of good stuff about the 106 GTi, I was looking at them after Id sold my mint Valver. I was not impressed - yes, they gripped well, but were much less solid hanlers than the Valver was and although they were a match off the mark, through the gears they felt off Valver pace.
The main thing that put me off was the cabin, seats and build quality. My old Valver was costing me loads, but it was far better put together, roomier and more comfortable than the Pug 106 GTis I tried. I really wanted to like the GTi, but ended up disappointed and started hunting for a mint Willy instead.
With all due respect to the hot Mk2 cars, the Clio 16V had a lot less in common with the standard car than the Mk2 Renaultsport Clios do. The shell is the same, but pretty much everything else is different (even the dash plastics are softer and squishier than on the RT etc). In addition to what has been said above, the 16V also gets four torsion bars rather than two and a really uprated rear axle/suspension set-up.
Again, with all due respect to the Mk2s, the 16V was made at a time when hot hatches were much less of a money-spinner for car manufacturers and were relatively more expensive than the 172/182 are. It was certainly no liimited edition car or fore-runner to the V6, but the extra engineering that went into them was probably not recovered in the selling price. You certainly didnt see 16Vs being bought by the batch and sold at car supermarkets and the like.
devilish
