2000 Renault Clio Sport 172 from UK and Ireland - Comments

I put Super Unleaded in my 172 cup - and have done since about a week after getting it. It started plinking like hell when driven cold, but the super seemed to get rid of that. I've had it since Oct last year and it still plinks now and again. I've tried optimax and personally think its rubbish. it lost the sharpness that it had before and took me over a week to get it back to normal (with a full tank of super)! I use a full tank every week and according to the 'trip' computer I should get 350 miles to a tank, but the true figure is about 220-240miles?? I know more fuel is burned when driving hard, but its never screwed so I'm not sure whats happening there! any advice?? oh yea 1 more thing, does the dash rattle when driving and does your front windows rattle when they've been put down all the way??? getting on my nerves!! cheers.

I know where your coming from about the 172 standard conti tyres. I managed 5,800 miles out of my first set of fronts. No way were they going back on the car again. I have changed to the new Uniroyals on the market. The car has now done 11,000 miles and these seem to be fairing much better as well as being nearly half price. I don't think I have noticed a difference in the handling or stopping power, so on the car they stay.

Have any of you lovely people make the same silly mistake that I have? To closs the bonnet I layed it down flat and pushed on it, managing to slightly dent it near the front. HOW SOFT AND EASY WAS IT TO DO??? I must admit had I read the manual (but how many of us do that) I would have known not to do it, but I have done it on every other car I have owned without causing a problem. Even my Fibreglass TVR is a lot stronger than that.

Any comments?

Guys I'm in the same boat, the car rattles especially the dash board on my cup the windows also rattle.

On a full tank of unleaded the trip computer shows 320 miles, using super unleaded it shows 300.

Whenever any of you floor your cars does it pull to one side, the power is mad. The cars body work feels like it is made out of plastic, if you go to the front wheel arch and push the body in it can actually go in by 3/4inches.

Don't ever park your cars at tesco, your screwed if you do the car dents so easy it's a joke.

I have had no probs with my Cup. I shut the bonnet by laying it down and then pressing on the outside front corners, no problems so far.

The guy that damaged his, sounds nasty... But, for the 'brakes to lock' at 5 mph you must have hit them quite hard. In the snow I thought it was normal to avoid brakes use little speed and gears to slow? I actually like the lack of ABS and its lightness, that's why I bought it!

Hi.

I've got a problem with my mark 1 172 that has just done 36000 miles. I love the power, but at about 45 - 50mph it gets really loud with a sort of throbbing resonance coming from the rear.

The noise seems to be something to do with the rear wheels as opposed to the engine/exhaust as it doesn't change with different revs.

Has anybody else seen this problem? I've never heard anyone complaining particularly about the 172 being noisy so wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions.

It's due a major service so I'll check with the dealer, but thought I'd ask anyway.

Colin.

Mine has giving up the ghost this morning. All the light are on on the dashboard, some lovely cliking noises coming, started once and then died again. 10 Months old and I'm not a happy chappy, supposed to be 100 miles away at work by now. Nice man from the AA is on his way.

Hiya fello cup owners.

Got my cup on the 2nd Jan and love the thing to bits. I got a viper already on it (which sounds amazing) Lexus style rear light, and in a week its going to L.A.D Motorsport to have there 205bhp conversion. costing 1200 hard earned pounds, but well worth it I think.

There was a comment on about post 30ish by some lad saying he felt hard done by paying 2000grand for insurance. I wish. I'm paying 3600. I am 18 though and that's through tesco M.I. My main question to all cup owners is has anyone put 17's on there cup. I'm thinking of using the same speedline turini's, but in 17's. Do they rub? Can you lower the car as well? I think in reality the car will be quicker in 1st gear due to having more rubber on the floor. As a result the Focus Rs should beware. I would have spent nearly 15k on my car by next week and think that it will have performance which the 20k focus and 23k r32 will struggle to match. Makes it look like they have bought the wrong car!

Thanks Jamie.

Ahh 1 last point. A lot of people keep going on about the Cup M3 thing printed in Evo magazine. My opinion of this is that it says about country lanes. Yes on the M40 the M3 would be long gone. However they say country lane. The cup is designed for group N rallying (which for people not getting the point means you can chuck the thing round crap rounds with great ease) meaning you can keep up with the M3.

even with 25k price difference. But I dont care. I own a clio cup and that is what all owners should think of there respective cars. Excluding Nova, and R5 drivers.

Jamie.

I'm the guy who is greedy and owns two 172's. I was interested to hear your comments on the 205BHP conversion. Sounds interesting, but reading comments on the owners club web sites they say bolt on parts are fine, but start playing with the internals of the engine and your looking for trouble. I assume your warranty will be invalid as well, the same as it is on one of mine which has some Janspeed work on it. Unless of course a seat or something breaks which the garage cannot blame on your engine changes.

With regard to 17's I have seen cars with them on. Do a search under 172 clio and there is a site with pics of loads of them with 17's on.

I think lowering the suspension would be a big mistake, the ride on the car would be altered dramatically and would no longer be remotely comfy. I had the same thought as I thought it would improve handling. A friend of mine who is a rally driver then took me out in my own car and showed me how it should be driven fast. The end result was that we both consider the car to be perfect as it is and I want to go on rally driver training. I was probably using 65% of what the car can do, he got 90% and there is another 10% hidden in there somewhere.

Oh and 90mph sideways round a sharpish long bend is only a good thing when a clean pair of trousers are readily available for the passenger.

Keep the comments coming guys they make great reading.

Oh and number two 172's fault has been diagnosed, a melted alternator and a burnt out wiring loom. This after 15,000 miles and ten months. Anyone else had similar?

Hi Everyone.

I am the person that damaged my front left wishbone on my clio cup, I need some advice, the car has been balanced and tracked not by renault, on low speed the steering wheel feels loose and sometimes pulls to the left hand side, but once I put my foot down it becomes more accurate and dosen't feel as nervous. The car has gone back to renault today as the seats are being looked at, as the seats are always jamming when ever someone wants to jump in the back, they might put two new seats in. Also the car is having the tracking done again and balancing and the suspension is being looked at.

I have now done 3500miles, the car feels lovely, the engine sounds even better. However the odd rattle from the dash board near the air vent on the right hand side is beginning to piss me off a little. Do any of you have noises from the suspension (front) on bumpy roads sometimes or is that me being paranoid.

What do you lot reackon with the tyres that the cup comes with, do you rate them, are there better brands out there like good year etc, any advice would help.

My mate owns a GOLF V6 4 MOTION had a 0-100mph, upto 60mph I had 2 car lenghts on him, even up to 100pmh 3/4 car lenghts, he was gutted. he's even considering selling the golf to buy a clio cup. it felt good.

My friend has just bought a Scooby Prezza 2 litre Turbo, should I be worried??? - Do you think my clio cup will keep up with him or should I just admit defeat before I start?!

Thanx.

Just to let you know my cousin has also just bought the new wrx, upto 60mph he had half a cars length by the time we got to 100mph I was a cars length ahead of him.

WRX - 0-60mph 5.9SEC

CLIO CUP - 6.5 SEC.

Wrx - 0-100mph 17.9sec

Clio cup - 16.8sec.

Believe me it is true, he has also driven my cup and notices that the cup is quicker to 100mph.

The cup also handles better round tight bends etc you won't be dissapointed.

My clio cup has been in the garage now for two weeks since I damaged the suspension, they still have not sorted it out, the service is crap, it took them 10days just to realise that the car was in there service car park.

I saw quite a few damaged clio cups due to the snow we all had a few weeks ago, you should have seen some of them, I thought my damage was bad. All the accidents were caused by locking up the brakes whilst trying to turn corners, I love the clio cup, but would prefer it to have ABS. The clio cup is a drivers car you never know what the limits are, it's a wonderful car to drive, I miss driving it, and sick of walking to and from work.

Becareful of them alloys it is so easy to damage them when parking, I noticed that the clio cups that were there all had alloy damage.

There will also be some warranty work done aswell, both driver and passenger seats jam, a few rattles aswell, and the driver door squeekes when opening and closing the door, but apart from all that lovely motor cheap and very powerful for the price, all us lucky people that own these pocket rocket cars are lucky.

This is my third attempt at inputing a note now, they seem to be being lost in the sands of time.

I would agree with the guy talking about the Imprezza Turbo. I have played with two new shape ones now in the last couple of weeks and my 172, not a cup, can gain on it in the 60 - 100 mph area. Mine is the car with the prototype Janspeed de-cat exhaust on it, so it does pump some more power, but even so I was suprised. I don't think I would ever get anywhere near the old shape Scooby. What have they done to make the new shape so slow? Well maybe not that slow, but you know what I mean, the Scooby used to be the benchmark. Not any more.

Gary.

I agree that the service is totally crap. Once you have paid your cash, they don't want to know you. Very poor.

I sent a nasty letter into AC Renault two weeks ago and have still heard nothing back. The car was there more often that what it was sat on my drive.

I had to have a new seat back ordered. Simple procedure you would have thought? 2 wrong seat backs latter, a broken seat clip and an overnight stay in the garage car park, the car was fixed. I am dreading it needing anything else!

Morning all.

I'm the guy who owns two 172's.

After reading others comments on reliability and dealer problems here is my tail of woe.

Both cars 11 months old. Mine is an Irish import and is 100% perfect.

Partners car is UK car and the following has happened.

After 2 days car returned to Renault, awful sound coming from passenger footwell. Exhaust replaced and car returned. Didn't make a blind bit of difference so car back to Renault. After three weeks and the car nearly stripped back to nut and bolt, a single grommet was found as missing and replaced. First month we had the car for 4 days when we could drive it. Oh and one of the fog lights wasnt working.

Next up all the lights came on the dash board. Then the car wouldn't start. Nice man from AA takes it to the dealer. They keep the car a week and find a burnt out alternator and wiring loom. This has also fryed the cd player. A week later the car is back with us (The cd out of the player isn't though)

Car back for one week and I check the oil and water at the local garage, bonnet won't close, keeps springing back up again. Try for ten minutes and eventually push lightly on the front to close it. It closes and I manage to dent the bonnet. (crumple zone my bum, cheap manufacture more like)

Ring renault and told it was my fault and I should have rung the AA. Like I was going to do that to close my bonnet.

So that's it so far, my other half has just about had enough, and I think is going to buy a hairdressers MGF or MR2 to replace it. She needs an everyday reliable car, and her's hasn't been that car.

Mine has been great and I wouldn't change it for the world.

Any else had similar?