2002 Renault Clio 172 Cup from UK and Ireland - Comments

Passenger seat runners were very loose and had to be replaced.

Oil leak from power steering.

The rear brake pads stick to the brake disk when the car is left standing and it rains!

The alarm sometimes doesn't arm when the key-fob is pressed.

The engine sometimes doesn't start after a long journey. The starter motor turns over, but it doesn't seem to have a spark.

The most annoying fault is a knocking from the front right suspension (which gets worse by the day).

Good points first. If you are after a seriously 'fun' car then this is it. Find a decent B road, put your foot down (keeping within the speed limit off course!) and you will have the biggest grin on your face. This is a true track-day car and cheap as well. Performance and handling are exceptional.

This car is only 6 months old and it has had numerous faults so build quality and reliability are poor (see faults!).

Another bad point are the dealers. Avoid if you can, but no doubt you will be visiting them sooner rather than later. I took my car to my local dealer to fix the suspension and brake problem. They couldn't fix the suspension problem because they didn't know how. The dealer phoned up Renault, but they didn't know how to fix it either! Apparently the sticking brake fault is a 'feature' of 172 cup's, although I don't believe that.

The brakes are exactly the same on my Scenic... and my driveway is on a steep incline so I have to apply the hand brake quite firmly. The noise is loud when they do finally "release".

And the noise from your suspension,

my car again is exactly the same, I just put it down to the P+++ poor roads in my county.

Is this a know issue regarding the suspension?

I have yet to take it back to the dealers regarding this noise, but to be quite honest if I was never to see a Renault dealership ever again it would be to soon...

If I had a pound for every visit paid to my NOT so helpful main dealer... I'd be a millionaire by now!!

I guess mines not the only cup with problems, There are two issues with the suspension the first is related to the top mount which Renault now have an official fix for, the second part of the noise is the spring moving within its platform when you cange direction because the sport and cup do not have a rubber locator like other Clios at the top of the spring, this is simply down to slopy engineering from Renault and is not fixable at the moment.

I've also had the following problems.

Take the car out of the garage stop the engine to close the garage door, it then refuses to start!

Hazzard lights flashing, but no alarm noise.

Steering rotary switch (don't know what this does)

Two alarm units.

Main high and low pass control unit.

Two ECU updates.

Even with all these faults the drive is as close as you will get these days to a 205GTI!!!

I have not got a Clio CUP, but was thinking of buying one soon. I have read many other articles about it lately and they all seem to praise the reliability of the Clio Cup!

I used to have a Golf GTI, but 4 years ago I bought a Clio 1.6 16v 3 door. It only had 1 problem from new which was the rear wiper that came on with the front wipers, but this was covered under the warranty. Otherwise I LOVE it and it has given me 40K of trouble free miles. I can't believe that the CUP is so different.

I have beaten many Citroen saxos, Peugeot 205 1.6s and XR2s etc. I would agree that the Renault dealers can seem unable or unwilling to find any problems. There seems to be a barrier between the car owner and the engineers, so getting across any slight intermittent problems is near impossible.

I shall hold back on buying a Cup in case I come across any other bad reports, but so far the majority of owners seem delighted.

P

P.S Even being heavy footed most of the time I get 43MPG which I think is brilliant.

Hi, I posted the original message and I'd like to give you a little update.

I HATE Renault dealers!! Sorry - I had to get that off my chest. My car is nearly 1 year old now and it's been to my Renault dealer 5 times. Not bad for a brand new car! They still cannot fix the knocking suspension - they did a modification to the suspension, but it made the noise worse. Oh how I laughed. A 'decoder' was changed to fix the non-starting/alarm problem, but the car still intermittently fails to start. Well they did fix the oil leak (power steering). Well done Renault (sarcasm).

BUT! It is still a great car to drive and this is why I still have it on my driveway. Just remember to turn the radio up loud to mask the squeaks and rattles :-)

All in all it's a love/hate relationship with this car. I just wish I had spent a little more and got a Civic Type-R or a Seat Leon Cupra...

I have had my Clio Cup since Sept 02, It is a great car and I've embarassed many more expensive cars with it- Audi TT S3, BMW 330i, Honda CTR, TVR Chimera + Griffith (around country lanes). I have had a lot of problems with it though. It has a knocking from the suspension when going round bumpy corners. The brakes stick on when it is stood in the cold. It has had a new gearbox because the 5th gear synch was u/s from new. A new clutch has also been fitted. It has been in to the dealership on numerous occasions to try and stop it from lumpy running in cold weather and because the steering wheel wasn't on straight it had to go back- twice. For some reason mine didn't come with the Cup stickers on the door pillars either P. s has anybody got any news about the upgrades for the engines suspension etc?

Got my Clio Cup in May2003. It was the dealers ex demo car. I alos have no stickers on pillars, but never mind. took back to garage once for knocking suspension. They reckon it's something to do with the angle of the suspension mounts and the way the whole thing goes through the bodywork. apparently this is a known problem. Anyway, they said they would make the clearance holes oval rather than round (body shop for two days). Worked though. No more noise from front suspension. Apart from that, insurance is steep, but well worth it. Put your foot down and £1750 fully comp don, t seem quite so bad! What a car. Really upsets people cause they don, t expect to be whipped by a little blue Clio.

I've had my 172 since 2000 and although it's been a brilliant little car to whizz around in I've also had fairly major problems. A crankshaft oil leak, a steamed up spotlight and the now standard suspension knocking noise. The latest addition to the list is a knocking from the transmission. It's only done 22,000 miles so why the gearbox should be suffering I've no idea. I love the car, but won't be buying another Renault, German or Japanese for me next time.

I have owned my Clio 172 Cup for about 18 months and during that time covered 27000 miles. I am very surprised to read that people have had so many problems with their cars as I have not. The one and only problem I had was a faulty computer which set off the hazard warning lights! This was repaired under warranty however.

Reading through peoples comments I can't help wondering how well they treat their cars. One person said they replaced their clutch after 12 months which would suggest a few too many 0-60 sprints off the traffic lights!

Another complains how he drives the car out of his garage and turns off the engine, only to find it won't start properly again. Turning the engine on and off like that is not good for it! Starting the engine uses a lot of fuel and battery power, not to mention wear on the engine. I start my car and let it idle for about 5 minutes before I even move.

I will agree however with the comments made regarding the low standard of service found at many Renault dealerships as this has also been my experience.

My car was also missing the badges on the doors, but I ordered some from my local dealer for less than a fiver. Just make sure you stick them on straight!

I have owned a Clio Cup for 13months now and had 12 months of problem free driving. First thing to fail was the alarm due to an ingress of water. Picture this, I am sitting in work wondering who's alarm is doing its best to deafen everyone, when a friend alerts me that it was my car. I rushed out to disable it, but could not get it to stop, leaving me with the only option of removing the hazard warning light fuse. I drive it to my local dealer explaining that the car was not roadworthy, to which they responded,"can you bring it back next week". After blowing a fuse myself they eventually gave me a courtesy car until they fixed it. Next problem was the drivers side engine mount which failed at 20000miles! I told them what the problem was and they then attempted to claim wy warranty was void due to a modified air filter causing excess stress on the mount. When I picked myself up of the floor from laughing I said, "OK you have two options here, one you fix the car under warranty which provides work for your guys, or I will take it home and fix it myself". After a delay they responded that under the circumstances Renault would fix it under warranty. To cut a long story short, after 3 trips to the dealer to get the mount readjusted, due their incompetent dealer mechanics, I ended up having to refit it myself.

Moral of the story the dealers are the bigs obstacle in enjoying a fun car.

Don't think I will be buying another Renault!

Please be advised, dealers will try rip you off by claiming they have to take parts off to examine it and then charge you twice for removing the same part.

I work at a renault dealership in the service dept and the clio 172/182's are in general very good cars (i drive one myself!) the knocking suspension on the front CAN be cured quite easily in about 2/3 hours work. rather than spend time ranting about the dealership try another one!! there are good and bad people everywhere and this is the same with dealerships. they are great cars and I would like to think that your dealerships try to help you with any problems... some times problems are difficult to solve and do take time, but they are there to help you!!

Can anyone help I've just bought a clio 172 0n a 02 plate I have one remote key fob and one standard key with no remote is this right or should I have two remote keys? I don't wish for it to go walk about while I'm having 40 winks!