2000 Renault Clio Sport 172 from UK and Ireland - Comments

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I love the 172 cup so much I murdered one for its engine, I dropped it into my R19 16v chamade and just had the stage 2 turbo conversion fitted. My R19 puts out a little over 305bhp and sprints 0-60 a touch under 4 seconds. Its great to see skylines in my rear mirror again, and to sit side by side with the RS6. Only problem is bits keep dropping of and its not long before theres nothing left. Watch out for those missing parts laying all over the UKs finest. Check out www. K-tecracing.com for all your clio tuning needs. Your find 200bhp easy.

I can belive the that you can get 305 BHP from a 2.0 16v clio engine by adding a turbo to it, but 0-60 in 3.9 seconds? have you had a 4WD coversion too? If you haven't you would never get the grip mate.

Sorry, but with FWD and 300bhp your never going to hit 0-60 in 4 seconds, u need 4WD for that just because of lack of traction. i have personnal experience in this as I have a 325bhp honda integra type r. its very fast, but you really need to be rolling before you can put the power down, and before you ask yes I have very good tires on the car as well.

Glad your happy with your car, but please don't over estimate times.

Going back a few pages on this thread and I think a few people are getting carried away a little bit to say the least. All this talk about the 172 doing 0-60 in 6.2 is ridiculous and offensive to anyone that doesn't own one. According to www.Whatcar.co.uk the 172 (not cup version) does it in 7.3 (which by the way is 0.1 of a second slower than a saxo vts) the 182 does it in 7.1 and the 182 cup 6.9. I have the new astra vxr which is 6.2 and I have beat many clio sports. There is no way that in standard form any of them would do 0-60 inn 6.2 except the v6 which is a legend in its own right.

Oh god how I love my sport 172, I have had airfilter new exhaust system and had it remapped and its around 185 and I love it, little pocket rockets,

would love turbo conversion but been told the compression of the engine isn't really right to handle a turbo wiv any decent boost and once ya floor it drive shafts will start bendin, iv had chew wiv engine mounts but I thrash mine everytime im init and I love it, wohoo.

To the person posting from the 10th April:

The Saxo vts is not quicker to 60 than the 172 Clio. The Saxo is about 20/30bhp per ton less than the Clio. I do agree with the posted times though, all about the 7 seconds. You are probably reading too much into 0-60 times though TBH, as there probably wouldn't be an awful lot in it between a 182 (or 172cup) especially around a track, despite your VXR's obvious advantage on paper.

There is a Clio owner that uses this website that is completely obsessed with power to weight ratio. You've left comments banging on about the Clios power to weight on about 5 different threads. Get real and stop talking about power to weight as if its God's word, it isn't. They are an indication of performance, that's all.

You say Clio 182 is as good round a track as a VXR; well what about the VXR being the fastest ever FWD round the Nurburgring; quicker than the Clio V6. How about that?

The VXR is a fast car, but its got handling problems. It's put too much power through the front wheels. They should have made that car a rear wheel drive in stead of front wheel drive. What do you think?

I think people look at the specs of things on paper and think to themselves, "WOW the astra has 240bhp in a fwd! it can beat any other hot hatch made!" (that seems to be the opinion of many, not all)

TBH, on paper it will be quick up against say the clio sports, but around a track it would be a different story, the clio's far superior handling would easily outclass the lardy astra, sure it has a lot of power, but definately not the chassis to match, and really when you work out bhp per tonne, its approx. 7bhp more than the clio?!

The extra weight just doesn't help, The astra's main advantage is it's torque figure, this gives it good acceleration and mid range punch, but around a track the weight works against it and lighter cars, such as the clio with a good driver would wave goodbye to any heavy hatchback, despite there power and torque advantage.

Just look at caterhams, similar power and torque to the clio in the r300 models but so so fast thanks to light weight, this is where power to weight ratio matters a lot!

Ferrari performance to 100mph.

Look at any car it's simple physics, the lighter something is the faster it will go with less power, power to weight ratio counts for a hell of a lot in racing. (real racing on a track, not some immature drag race from the lights).

Don't assume I hate the Astra because I don't it's a nice looking car and I respect it's performance, but it's not as invincible as people would have you believe.

Just my two pennies.

JEB

"The extra weight just doesn't help, The astra's main advantage is it's torque figure, this gives it good acceleration and mid range punch, but around a track the weight works against it and lighter cars, such as the clio with a good driver would wave goodbye to any heavy hatchback, despite there power and torque advantage"

Well? why is the Vxr fastest ever fwd car around Nurburgring? It wouldn't do that if it didn't handle properly. It's a fact; the lap is on youtube.

And with this power to weight thing, more power with weight will always be better than less power with no weight. caparo t1 and veyron is a good place to start. the t1 has twice as much bhp per tonne. its the same up to about 130 then the veyron is faster. and remember the t1 has TWICE as much, not the same. another example is lotus elise compared to a Vxr; simlar power to weight, but lotus is faster to 60 because of better traction, but the Vxr beats it to 100, making it much faster from 60~100.

Hmm, im not sure your comments really hold much water, a) the clio 172/182 has never been taken round the nurb, and b) the t1 is only slower past 130 due to aerodynamics as these count for a lot as well, same with your elise comments, get an exige and it would be a different story.

I still maintain as well as many others that the vxr can't handle its power, were as a clio has the perfect chassis for it's engine.

Sounds to me like an owner can't handle the truth, I never said the vxr was slow, (far from it) but it would definatly be matched and surpassed by other hot hatches round a track, clio172/182, type-r's included.

Fair enough they may not accelerate quite as fast to 100, but believe me, take your vxr to a track day and race something like the clio and you will be enlightened as to how power to weight makes a lot of difference on the track.

Like the veyron would easily get left behind on a track by a mclaren f1, ferrari f50, enzo and definatly the t1, the veyron has higher specs on paper than just about all these cars, but you forget that it weighs so much that it would flounder against a real supercar like a mclaren f1 which btw weighs almost half the veyron's weight.

Sorry mate, but although the veyron may be the quickest in a drag race, it is definatly not the quickest round a track, as im sure any high priced supercar would gladly prove.

And same goes for the league of hot hatches, sure the astra is one of the quickest in a drag race, but round a track it is comfortably outclassed.

And don't forget the mazda 3 mps has similar performance for less, and the new focus rs due in october I believe has close to 300bhp and will not only beat the astra round a track, but will also win in a drag race hands down.

So rather than bashing cheaper hot hatches, just remember that a clio cup 172 or 182 will easily keep up with you and pass you round a track and you can by 3 for the price of 1 of your astra's. lol.

Jeb.

Hahaha I can't believe somer of the people leaving comments just reading stats from magazines and other sources! if a 172 will only do 0-60 in 7.1 seconds then why am I taking subaru impreza wrx's, civic type r's and bmw m3's from the lights???

Umm, maybe because they ain't racing you lol.

You are right, talking about the cars performance, race storys, statistics ect IS interesting to most.

How can you keep saying a 182 would be better round a track than a VXR. How many times do I need to say it's much faster round the Nurb than Civic Type R, Focus RS, Focus ST, Clio V6 and many more. That is a fact, it's real, it's what's happened one day while you were dreaming of the almighty 182.