2000 Renault Clio Sport 172 from UK and Ireland - Comments

Mate I was one of the first in the country to get mine, believe me I do have a clio cup. I'm not on your case, but in one of your comments you said I had no idea, a bit rude mate, we are all entitled to make our comments.

I am also having problems with the seats, and when you release the handbrake the car makes a noise.

It also rattles on low speed, the other day I floored the car the wheels started to spin on first gear, there was such a vibration noise under the gear box I thought something exploded. Have any of you had any problems in low speeds going round a corner the suspension makes a clicking noise or some kind of rattle.

Yip. Its all been low speed squeaks will my car.

Car is going in to the garage in the next couple of days. Will let you all know the response.

Hi all, forgive me for a quick question (rather than a comment), but:

What's a typical waiting time between placing your order for a Cup and actually getting the car?

Looking to get one in June, just wondering whether I should place the order now.

Ta.

Good afternoon all.

Just thought I would add my comment. Call me greedy, but I own not one, but two 172 Clio's. One is bog standard and me other half drives it, the other has the prototype Janspeed exhaust on it and is mine. The exhaust was free from Janspeed. They had my car for a week, built the best they could, from both performance styling and sound points of view. Then I get to keep the exhaust and they keep the jigs and fixtures to mass produce it and sell it on to you guys. I would recommend it 100%. The car was rolling road tested to give an extra 5BHP after the exhaust and I then had the CAT taken off. This should be good for another 5BHP again I reckon. She gives out 94 DB so its loud, but not obtrusive on long journeys.

My next stage is a piper cross induction kit. Does anyone have any facts and figures as to whether these work. I don't mean does it sound or feel better either, I would like real figures. No point putting it on if it don't give more power through the range.

Oh and by the way, my other car is a TVR. She growls like nothing on earth.

Happy driving.

Gary.

I ordered my cup on wednesday the 9th of jan and it will be here on february the 8th! but I'm going to make them hold on to it till the 1st march for the "03" plate, I would hurry if I were you because there are only a limited amount of them left. The dealer said they may build another batch depending on demand!

Gary,

Was that 5bhp at the wheels or the fly?

Sounds pretty mean! Noticeable difference?

Mac.

Mac.

The guys at Janspeed did a graph and the power difference was at the flywheel, they did the calculations to what that meant at the wheels. I Can't remember the details, but they have a graph which shows the gain throughout the range. She still pulls strong right up the rev range when the standard car is starting to peak and drop power.

To answer the do I notice the difference, yes I do. I have raced my other car and with me in front and my friend trying to hang on behind I can pull away from him. This is with him in my slipstream, so YES she is quicker. It also makes a gorgeous noise which turns heads, something the standard car never does. The 'is that the one down from the 172' comment is now restricted to the second car alone, it never gets said about mine. The twin round pipes at the back finish the job off to perfection.

Any news on Induction kits guys? Do they provide more grunt or do they mean power lose? My mechanic friend reckons they are OK until the weather gets hot and then they become restrictive and you loose power???

Gary.

Yeah the Pipercross kit looses power even at this time of year! had it on the rollers last weekend and it lost 5bhp after 5 runs! the viper is supposed to be really good though, but at £250 it's a bit of a rise from the £80 paid for the pipercross.. the sound is twice as nice though!

Viper kits come with cold air induction pipe!

I ordered my cup 1st weekend in January

They had a demo one in the garage, but

I told them i'd wait till The 1st march, new reg '03

i can't wait and I can't sleep

sad enough, but I can't wait till my mate sees it and I lean on the wheel arch. just to see his face as it bends in under my weight. I will fob him off that it's made of a special material to keep it light whereas it's a standard feature on all new Renaults designed to disintegrate during a head on collision.

What are peoples feelings on residual values of 172 cup against normal 172's? Will cup hold more money because of better performance and exclusivity?

Thanks JC.

Hi, just to add to your last comment, I've seen for sale a clio 172 cup, 3 months old with 3500 miles on the clock, selling for £10,500! Not sure if this is reasonable, but I own a 172 cup and I'm sorry, but I wouldn't let it go for that money. The depretiation value was a big factor in me choosing a new car, because I can get 15% off an MG with staff discount, so I could have got the top of the range MGZR 160 for about 12 grand (rrp 14,995) - but due to the cup being limited to 500 units I opted for that thinking that it should hold its value better than the MG... BUT due to demand Renault have decided to produce another 2500 units and will keep producing them until they have completed the orders. Which means that the more they make the less you are gonna get for it! (bit pissed off about it actually) thanx.

Question for you all.

What fuel do you run you 172 on? Up until a couple of weeks ago I have ran both of mine on standard unleaded. Having read an article on a web site and the note inside the fuel cap I have changed over to Shell Optimax (or whatever its called. I'm not sure I can feel any difference other than my MPG has dropped of by approx 2.

Any comments???

I run my Cup mainly on regular unleaded with the odd tank of Super for good measure. I have not heard too many good reports about the optimax. My mate put a tank into his Scooby Turbo (slightly modified), and it 'pinked' like mad. Don't think its all its cracked up to be.

I thought I'd mention that I have a 172 which I have had for over a year now. I have driven other sports cars, and I would agree that it doesn't have the performance that some people here seem to think, however it really does have a blinding performance for the money. I've not driven the 172 Cup and I'm not sure that I would swap now that I have done just over 9000 miles in mine. The performance has been slightly improved by simply using Shell Optimax petrol, OK so it costs a bit more, but after you've used about 3 or 4 tank loads you'll notice the difference. Pulling away at speed is smoother, and the engine just feels more responsive. As for the niggles with the rear brakes, I also get this, but then I got it with my old 206 GTI, but then I can live with it. One thing to note, one set of Contisport Contact 195/45 16R, only lasted me 9000 miles.

A few days ago when it snowed I was doing 5mph followed the road round the bend and the brakes locked on my clio cup.

The car ended going straight with the brakes locked, I ended up hitting the pavement at no more that 5mph. I ended up bending the front left wishbone and damaged the sub frame. Renault quoted me £1400,the car is now completely fixed, new wishbone and sub frame repaired only for £300 using original cliocup parts from france for the wishbone.

What I am trying to say is be careful the car is basically made out of plastic or very badly made, my mate done the same thing on the same day in his escort, no damage what so ever, his impact was worse than mine.

I also bought a new frony Alloy for the cup that cost £101 ex. vat.

Trust me take car of your cars because parts are bloody expensive, I also have got a Tesco dent on the door, dent master can't do it, renault quoted me £400.

The last few weeks of owning my clio cup have been hell, but things are looking good now as everything has been repaired.

Lovely cars, but once damaged trust me it costs stupid amounts of money.

Just got my Cup back out of the garage after getting some repaire work done. The work was mainly niggles, but none the less, you pay your cash, right?!

1. Passenger seat sticky to open - new seat back ordered. Comon problem

2. Suspension squeaks - Weren't noticed on test drive. Road was wet and it mailnly happens only on dry days.

3. Exhaust 'buzz' at 4000rpm letting off - Heat shield above cat moved upwards.

4. Back brakes binding on - common prob with Clios. Due to type of performance pads used, this is the pads' downside.

5. Wind noise at 60mph+ off-side door - again not really something that concerned the test driver.

6. Wait for this one. Dent. YES DENT! On the bonnet fixed before I picked the car up today. Well, the place was almost trashed!!! A mechanic (so-called), shut the bonnet buy 'pushing it into its catch' instead of droping it down from a couple of inches.

Mac.