Where is the 200's sweet spot??

[MonkeyKnifeFight]

I cant get my head round the 200. In my 182 its sweet spot ie optimum overtaking scenario was either at 40mph dropping into second or driving at 65-70 and dropping it to 3rd, both of which resulted in the car exploding into savage acceleration. So far the 200 feels a world apart from the 182!! dropping 2 gears usually results in the car lurching violently like its having some kind of respiratory attack!!

Am i missing something or is the 200 not the jekyll n hyde the 182 used to be??

 

[GiT]

How many miles are on the 200?

 

[Fletcher]

Did you not take the 200 out on a long test drive, before purchasing?

 

[ColinG]

our 200 which we have owned since new has been getting massively better as the miles pile on,

now on 17k and its a flying machine, theres a definate kick in at 5k same as the 182 we had before it

 

[Mr Burns]

The 200's sweet spot is the brakes.

 

[MonkeyKnifeFight]

Im currently on approaching 2000 miles. I'll admit ive never driven a 182 from new and my 182 felt its best when i sold it henk'd at 70k. Dont get me wrong it is night and day a more accomplished drive than the 182 but as of yet i just cant make feel as if it has the same urgency as the 182.

 

[GiT]

2000 isn't anywhere near run in.... 4000 in mine is still far from it, feels tight too. Give it at least 5000 more miles - i'm sure the sweety spot will make itself present

 

[Ollie82.]

You have to consider the fact that the 182 is tinny, noisier, less refined and lighter. All those things add up to give the illusion that you are going a great deal quicker than you actually are.
The 200 is no slouch but it doesn't have the same amount of drama doing what its doing. Sir_Dave always said his Golf GTi ED30 always felt so uneventful when you were accelerating or doing big speeds....same applies here i think.

 

[roystinho]

Mines on 16k and take it from me it just gets better. The noise improves too

 

[MonkeyKnifeFight]

Agree'd 2000 miles is nothing but given they are essentially the same lump i cant believe how differently they respond. Dont get me started on the brakes!! ive never driven a car in which you have to look behind you before you brake!! currently braking is more exciting than accelerating. Also in the wet i would drive the 182 like it was made of glass where as the 200 feels so much more capable, guess thats down to the 17's. I guess im just guna have to accept the 200 will never accelerate like i want it too as 15's wont fit over the calipers!!

When i drove the 182 in anger i felt like i was holding onto someone having an epileptic fit!! i just hope the 200 does the same in 20k+

 

[GiT]

It will, the Fiesta of the missus left me totally numb until 10k on the clock - now it's a nut job for what it is!

Oh and the other day, my brakes actually felt glazed and crap! Was a shock - a few stabs of the pedal later - they were back lol.

 

[LiamR172]

5th to 3rd is one of the best feelings

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Do you drive it hard, or has the last 2000 miles been tickled around town ?

Engines need to bed in properly. If you pussyfoot about, they'll just polish the cylinder walls with the piston rings and you'll never get anywhere with it. Once warm (oil, not water!! there's a difference), be nice but treat it mean !!

For info, your amazing acceleration in the 182 was probably around ~4k where the engine is at max torque. Torque wins races I've no idea where max torque is supposed to be in the mk3's but find out, and go rev hunting :evil:

 

[MonkeyKnifeFight]

Im mechanically sympathetic as in i'll let the engine warm before punishing it but other than that i'll be annoyed if i dont induce engine or gearbox failure within warranty!! After last christmas's 182 gearbox rebuild i see renault owing me atleast 2 gearbox's or 1 huge engine rebuild

 

[aucky]

The lack or 'lurching' I would put down to the extra weight/momentum of of the 200 squashing any sudden resistances.

 

[MonkeyKnifeFight]

If that were the case then my 182 3/4up would have driven like my 200.. the reality is, it didnt.. clearly didnt so im forced (and happy too) thrash the sh@t out of the 200 until it loosens up enough to even get close to what im used to experiencing from previous Renaultsports.

 

[aucky]

Can't say I've ever found it to be a problem anyway. If you match the revs it should change smoothley

 

[mark smith87]

2000 miles is nothing for a new engine. It will still be tight. Once the car has got a few more thousand miles on it the engine will loosen up and feel much more lively. I've had a new Renault Trafic since September and the engine felt fairly tight on that for the first few thousand miles. Its now got over 10,000 miles on it and it feels much better. I know it's no comparison to a Clio RS200 but the same principles apply.
The sweet spot on my 172 is around 4500, once it gets past that with a boot full of throttle it turns into a snarling beast as it takes off. It has over 120,000 miles on it and the engine is still as sweet as when it was new. i've had the cambelt and dephaser done recently and that's given it a new lease of life. The throttle response is instant even from cold now,not that i give it any grief until its warmed up. And the brakes are really sharp now with DS2500 pads all round and braided brake lines with DOT5 fluid.

 

[MarkCup]

2000 miles? It's barely off the bench!

Mine's on 19k now and still feels ultra tight. The way my 172 Cup changed character from new over its 130k miles was marked.

20k on these lumps is nicely bedded in.

40k is properly run-in.

60k plus and they start to loosen and do some proper work.

As for lurching when changing down...as said above...learn to rev match.

 

[JCC]

Needs a lot more time to bed in. Mine is now on just over 15k and is noticeably quicker than it was on 2K, but still has a long way to go, it will only get quicker as the mileage creeps up.

You'll just need to find some curvier roads for it to impress you for now, they're leagues ahead of the MK2s in that respect.

 

[rory182]

My 182 was much nicer after 36k miles than from new, my 172 on 72k miles flew!

 

[MikeLYR27]

Agree'd 2000 miles is nothing but given they are essentially the same lump i cant believe how differently they respond. Dont get me started on the brakes!! ive never driven a car in which you have to look behind you before you brake!! currently braking is more exciting than accelerating. Also in the wet i would drive the 182 like it was made of glass where as the 200 feels so much more capable, guess thats down to the 17's. I guess im just guna have to accept the 200 will never accelerate like i want it too as 15's wont fit over the calipers!!

When i drove the 182 in anger i felt like i was holding onto someone having an epileptic fit!! i just hope the 200 does the same in 20k+

It does feel like it mate, but u have to go further with because it's a more capable car. My 197 on coilovers is scary howuch grip there is!! My 182 is very good but it's Definatly on the limit much earlier that the mk3's. Was ur 182 modded? Mine doesnt explode into acceleration lol

 

[Iain C]

Had my 172 from new and that just got faster with age.

 

[N0ddie]

Get it on the track, that'll help losen her up a bit. Our 200 is now on 21500 miles and does keep getting faster. We had it dyno'd @ 2000 miles and it produced 192.8bhp and 145.7lbft then has it done 8000 miles later and it produced 197.9bhp and 152.6lbft. So there is a definitive difference as it piles on the miles.

 

[MarkCup]

Getting my 19k miler on the rollers in January to set a benchmark...will do it annually thereafter for the next 100k miles again. Hoping for gains year on year like my Cup has done.

 

[Mr Burns]

Getting my 19k miler on the rollers in January to set a benchmark...will do it annually thereafter for the next 100k miles again. Hoping for gains year on year like my Cup has done.

Do you miss your Ignis at all Mark? I miss mine so badly I regularly look at them on Autotrader. :dapprove:

 

[MarkCup]

Do you miss your Ignis at all Mark? I miss mine so badly I regularly look at them on Autotrader. :dapprove:

Not one single bit, I'm very happy with the 200.