JEFF4507 said:
After checking, the difference in insurance premiums for me, is nothing between the 65 and the 80, and £100 more for the 100.
Would you recommend waiting for a decent 100 to become available ?
Depedns try them all the 65 and 80 have nicer gearboxes against the 100 which uses a Megan derivative gearbos. If your intending to modify then you have to remember that the 80 and 100 is already at the limit Renault specify for the maximum allowed torque. There no spare capacity if you push it from now on you have to remember Renault could have given it this much extra but the gearbox reliablity wouldn't.
The 100 will give a fari increase in torque as its capped but as i said the engine was capped to protect the box long term.
I'd say try the 80 and 100 the 100 is nice and a bit quicker but then there the poor box to deal with. The 80 is a good balence the saved insurance stick towards a ttunning box and you'll have more power.
JEFF4507 said:
I think I would get bored with the 65 and would have to do those modifications just to bring it up to the performance of the other 2 models.
The 65's not bad at all its quick enough. More important than the hp is the braking and handling coilovers will make more of a difference than twice the amount spent tunning the engine plus it arguably looks better and doesn't impack the warently as suspension bits are cheaper and less likly to be refused warently work.
JEFF4507 said:
You mention a remap, this is essentially what superchips do, however they tailor it to suit the car whilst on the rolling road(ideally after you've finished with everything else, intakes and exhausts namely). The power increase on their website states roughly 20 brake for each of the dci models, however I know they can produce more power, at the expense of black smoke. My cousin had his 330d at 320hp and 730nm !! Chugged a bit of smoke at the end of the gears though.
Smoke from a turbo diesel means wasted fuel it means the mappers have gone to far in the extend of all out power it damages the turbo etc. However many people thing it makes a car better. it does give some extra Hp though just at the cost of engine life.
Superchip as far as I know don't do proper custom remaps they may fiddle the fueling a bit more but a proper custom remap involves ages of work.
you cna get about 85hp froma 65 , 105 from a 80 and about 125 from a 100 before you start needing other bits chnaging.
A proper remap along with an intercooler on a 65 will see 100hp though.
JEFF4507 said:
I want something with some poke really, I will be traveling daily on carriageways and motorways soon enough and would like to do it comfortably.
I use my car on the motorway a fair bit its no trouble the higher hp versions have lower gearing but there not that much lower. There not quick by any means any of the serioes get a VW130PD engiend car if you want to go quick.
JEFF4507 said:
AC can affect performance minimally, and in the event you want to use all available power (not on public roads of course:sleepy: ) you switch it off. Or are you suggesting there is a general problem with Clio AC units ??
There no problem its just the loads is still on the engine even if its only slightly there even 1hp is a 1% of power on the 100. The problem is (although noone else seems to suffer this but me then again myabe the ay I drive/whee I live) thats the stone chips damage the radiator. I'm on my 3rd in just over 3 years. the A/C would normally be in the way so this would be damaged instead and a A/C radiator is even more expensive.
JEFF4507 said:
I read your post getting hints that you're not a great fan of the dCI Clios, not knowing much about them myself, would you say they're a good buy, or to perhaps look at competitors ?
I love the dci there superb cars I've done 59k in mine without any trouble any 1.2 would have had more problems than I've had I get 29.8mpg on hard track use 37mpg on absolutly made hard road useand 55mpg hard driving to and from work . You can easily get 80mpg road funds £85. More importantly the torque low down is great its one of the things I don't like about the 172/182's that if you pull out of a bend you'll be ding about 3.5k in the 172 and 2k in the diesel the diesel will pull harder than a 2.0 until the 2.0 can get its revs up. Have a look at competitiors though the Clios great fun though I looked at the Ibiza and I was very unimpressed the Skoda I'm guessing is the same (they havn't phoned me back yet for a test drive).
It depends what you want for a car reliablilty, warently, running costs, track day use, fun driving, and the amount fo cash you have to spend as to whats best. I don't have anything against them I just like people to know to have an open mind about things so they don't think the Clios the only oen the only reason I'm going to get rid of mine is the next service is 72k and costs about £500 which is a fair % of the value of the car and that I want something quicker.
JEFF4507 said:
You also mention an issue with heat lag in the 80. Surely a bit of heat shield would sort this out.
Its the 65hpwhich suffers heat lag as there no intercooler best way to decribe it is when ou book it from standstill by the time your at 60mph you can tell (I'e owned the car a while so I can tell) the engine pulls back power slightly as the intakes temps have got to high its not a huge loss though of power just annoying.
