Upgrading from a 1.2 to a 1.6

[edbarton]

Hi, was a member on here before, still got the cliosport sticker on my car but can't remember for the life of me my old username or email or whatever but anyway.

I'm 20 coming on 21 now and I've had to pass down my 1.2 to my sister so I'm looking at getting myself a new car. Obviously I'd like some more power, 1.2 feels pretty restricting but the 172/182 are about £2200/yr to insure still so maybe not for a while. A 1.6 comes out at about £700 so a nice compromise plus I can probably find a decent 2004 example for about £3000.

My main issue is whether or not simply upping the engine is going to make that much difference. My initial thoughts were to get a new car to mix things up, had a look at the megane (which seems like it is guaranteed to break), the focus (ok but a bit lacking in power and a bit mumsy) and today a hyundai coupe (didn't feel particularly great to drive and was pretty big) and feel like I'm running out of options so maybe I should just get another clio?

Anyway, my questions are. Do you think upping the engine to a 1.6 will make a big difference? How refined/what rpm does it sit at on the motorway? My 1.2 sitting at 4000 or so and generally being quite loud gets the better of me on the 200 mile journey between here and uni. Any other ideas??

cheeerrss

 

[JCC]

£2200 is very steep at 21! Have you had a good shop around?

 

[Beef-Mc]

There is a noticeable difference, quite enjoyed upgrading to the 1.6. At 70 on the Motorway it sits at about 3500RPM.

 

[Ellzy]

Alright mate , whats your budget for a new car?
its just im 19 and at first i thought insurence for a 172 was around 2200. after a little bit of shopping around i found it at 1395 with admiral, i know its more then £700 but id rather pay that extra bit and have a 1*2

 

[Marcus---]

go to admiral online, put your mum as a named driver and that shes retired...will be much less than 2200, unless you live in a really s**t postcode

 

[edbarton]

£2200 is very steep at 21! Have you had a good shop around?

Not done any extensive looking around but I won't get it anywhere near the £700 or so I can get on the 1.6 pretty much putting it out of my budget. Part of the problem is that ideally I'd get the car now but I'm not 21 until july, plus only 2NCB not 3 or 4 because I've only been a named driver for the past couple of years.

 

[Ellzy]

I have 2 YNCB, all i did was add my dad as a named driver etc. think about it like this, how much have you found a few 1.6's for? im sure you can pick up a ph1 172 for around 2500.00.

 

[JCC]

Not done any extensive looking around but I won't get it anywhere near the £700 or so I can get on the 1.6 pretty much putting it out of my budget. Part of the problem is that ideally I'd get the car now but I'm not 21 until july, plus only 2NCB not 3 or 4 because I've only been a named driver for the past couple of years.

It might surprise you if you have a good look, I'm 19 years old 1 ncb 3 points and Elephant only want 1300 quid to insure my 172.

 

[Ellzy]

It might surprise you if you have a good look, I'm 19 years old 1 ncb 3 points and Elephant only want 1300 quid to insure my 172.

looks like i got ripped off then !! Haa

 

[edbarton]

£1900 with admiral on a 172. Never really lived in a brilliant postcode for insurance, my 1.2 was this much when I started driving.

I'm sure I will be able to get it down a bit more but it's still going to be double and even if I can justify it against a cheaper car this year, I'm not sure I can do it year on year.

I think a 172/182 or even a 197 are a car for me once I'm working and out of uni.

 

[roberto.]

ive got a 1.6 mate and id say easily that its a better engine than the 1.2. Albeit a havnt drove th 1.2 on a consistent basis, just a few drives, but from what ive heard from mates the 1.6 is just so much less effort with the bit more power, and its pretty nice if you give it a decent thrash, mk2 is a bit faster than mk3 gt 0-60 time aswell, i heard its about 22 seconds for the latter

 

[Hutchie]

my 1600 is decent, plenty of power, but with the gearbox i have in the ratio's are close (1.4 16v gearbox) it sits a little bit high on motorway 4000 rpm at 80.

i used to have a 1.2 in same shell and its a fair step up, nice stepping stone to 2.0

 

[ramsey374]

Power is very noticable. Over a yr on with my 1.6 after owning a 1.2. The power is just enough for a nice little blast

 

[xr2racer]

Much better than a 1.2

I did the same upgrade you are thinking of from 1.2 to 1.6. The 0-60 times for 1.2 is something like 13s and 9.7s for 1.6 so it is very noticable on the road. Barely any worse on mpg either

 

[Brett]

my 1600 is decent, plenty of power, but with the gearbox i have in the ratio's are close (1.4 16v gearbox) it sits a little bit high on motorway 4000 rpm at 80.

i used to have a 1.2 in same shell and its a fair step up, nice stepping stone to 2.0

Lol to be fair though Hutchie yours is an ITB'd and cammed engine producing 40bhp over a standard one.

Suposed to be decent even as standard the 1.6's. Stong motor the K4M by all acounts. I considered one at 18 but decided to wait for the 172.

The 1.6's usually have a good spece because people who went for the 1.6 generally wanted all the toys and a decent size engine without having to have a bigger car.

A few nice mods like coilovers, turini's, 172 rear bumper will make it a really nice warm hatch.

 

[wezzel98765]

Just got a quote on a 172 value being £2k

19 with 1 years NCB, mum added driver

£2200 on a 10 month plan with excess @ £1000 so how you guys have got your quotes down to sub £2000 with any of the admiral group will be very interesting!
(my post code is in the low danger band)

 

[JCC]

Add older female family members to the policy as named drivers after you, brings it down a lot. My mum and aunt are on mine lol and it's all totally legal

 

[mattyw]

bud i live in essex, 20y.o, 15k fault accident, 0ncb, 1700 with bell for my 182

 

[Revels]

I wouldn't bother with a 1.6 Clio. They're still slow. No real difference to the 1.2 bar the engine and even then, that's not much of a jump.

Get another 1.2 if you want to stick with a Clio until you can afford a 1*2.

 

[nth]

better off buying another car, you'll get used to the power after a week or two perhaps, and the ''excitement'' of having the extra speed will wear off and you'd want something else, in essence you still have the same car.

 

[roberto.]

my mpg isnt that of 1.2 like :S im getting 33mpg at the minute and not thrashing it

 

[edbarton]

Not sure how I'll feel about the speed really, I'm not necessarily looking for something 1*2 equivalent, when I started looking it was for 1.6 Focuses. Really what I need is a fairly reliable car that is fun to drive but at the same time won't be a complete pain when I need to drive the 200 mile journey between here and uni, but at the same time cope when I am in Leeds. Seems like for £3.5k for something relatively new, it might be asking a bit too much

Don't think I'd buy another 1.2 though, it'd be an alright stopgap, just didn't see myself owning the same small engined car for so long, which would probably end up being 6-8 years by the time I can move up again.

 

[Beef-Mc]

my mpg isnt that of 1.2 like :S im getting 33mpg at the minute and not thrashing it

Your getting 33MPG in a 1.6, I've been kicking the crap out of mine for the last week and can only get it down to 38, 44 on the Mway taking it easy.

 

[roberto.]

i think my trip computer is buggered to be honest, either that or my car is... but i doubt the car just had it serviced recently

 

[Hutchie]

i get 32 mpg out of my itb'd 1600 on lpg so price wise effectively 64

happy.

 

[Martin_172]

K4M 1600 16v engine is good, its not a fast car but a nice car to drive i like driving my mrs one, nice and torquey low down for effortless pootling about!

HOWEVER, i get better mpg from my 172 than she gets and she drives like a granny

the dci 100 gets more than twice the MPG, has a chunk more torque, standard vs standard they are about the same performance, the 1.6 is quicker first 2nd and half way thru 3rd and then the 100 is a bit quicker after that

dci 100 is cheaper to tax too costing only £35 a year

 

[Ellzy]

Alright mate, im 19, my first car was a 1.2 clio, after i got bored of that i really wanted a 1*2 but i couldnt afford it so i got a 2001 Ztec S. pretty good car tbh, handled pretty well and was pretty nippy, insurence was cheap too and didnt really go wrong! i would go with a different 1.6 over the clio, then after a while go with the 1*2

 

[edbarton]

Ok, decided making the move to a 1.6 probably isn't the best idea. I doubt I'd find one in as good nick as my 1.2 either or with as high levels of spec so it might even ended up feeling like a downgrade.

Instead making the controversial move over to a C2 VTS, not really where I started off at all but they're good fun, fairly quick and will fill the gap for a couple of years before I can move up to a 1*2 or similar. They also don't seem to break which is a welcome change.

 

[Poopensharten]

I had a C2 GT

It had 14 warranty issues, but apart from that, aye great

 

[alex-avfc]

I moved from a 1.2 16v to a 1.6 zetec S, definetely been worth my while.