2000 Renault Clio Sport 172 from UK and Ireland - Comments

Thanx for the brakes info... what about chipping?? Is it really worth the money and do I need to tell my insurance? thanx again.

No problem mate.

I looked onto getting mine chipped/remapped. The best help and advise I got was from a company called k-tech who speciallise in all Renaults. The response was that after a filter (Viper), cat-back stainless, and a ECU upgrade (chipped), then they have not experienced any more than 188bhp from a 172. Cost? About a grand. They have however told me that they are working on a ported head and throtle bodies which would in addition to the above mods, see over 200bhp. That's what I am waiting on. Imagine the power to weight ratio!!

Apparently you can't get a cat replacement for the 172 yet as there is a sensor in the cat that if removed, causes all sorts of problems. I personally didn't know this.

Mac.

It's Feb 28th 9.00pm and I'm sitting here fed up. What's the problem you might ask. Well there's a brand new 03 Cup sitting in my drive and it's not legal to drive for another 3 hours.

This a very good and informative site please keep the posts going.

I have one question though. The hand book is in German and this is a Uk car bought from a main dealer, as I can't read german can anyone tell me if the car requires a 500 mile service?

Happy days are here again!!!

Jamie H.

I've had my cup for a while now and I've just done 4000 miles, I was never told anything about a 500 mile service. Its 12,000 miles for the first service... even though you should be checking everything quite regular, don't rely on the digital dipstick, and if the power steering fluid is going down slowly, that's normal too, just make sure it doesn't go below the min and never top it up to the max either. These are just a few things a mate of mine has advised and hes a qualified mechanic. One more bit of advice, if you're not an expirienced driver be careful with the brakes, play about with them to get used to them, especially in the wet (but we only ever get rain in wales anyway)!!! hope this helps.

Having read through all the previous posts, it makes me feel even prouder of owning a clio cup!

Haven't really had a chance to race any proper cars yet, just the occasional nova dreamer!

I got my cup as an ex demo car with 1500 miles on the clock, and I'm sure it was driven hard for that time, but at least I can now push it as its past the running in mileage.

Only problem I've had, (now done 2200 miles) - when moving the passenger seat it caused the service light on the dash to light up. This is due to a wire under the passenger seat being loose. A friend of mine told me of this fault, so I'm not sure if it's a very common thing. Get it checked though as it turns off the air bags!!

What a car is all I can say! the performance is breath taking, such a shame that they decided to hide away the exhaust.

Are there any owners clubs for the cup?

Great site and great discussion chaps, keep it going.

Craig.

Gary here.

I'm the guy with 2off 172's. Gone a bit quiet on here so I thought I would add a comment.

Just had one of them serviced and the garage used Mobil 1 oil rather than the recomended elf oil. I wonder what would happen if something went wrong with the engine. Would the dealer have to hold their hands up as they had used something which wasnt recomemded by the manufacturer? Just a thought.

As it is I usually run my cars on Mobil 1 so it's a bit irrelevant, but if I had used the incorrect oil and the car went wrong would Renault plead that it wasnt their fault as I hadnt followed their recommendations?

Other than that £149 for a 12,000 mile service was pretty fair I thought.

One last thing, had a head to head with my own TVR the other day, my mate was driving Tivvy for me. In a straight line Tivvy disappeared into the distance, but on the twistys 172 haulled it back in again. great fun.

The sound of the two of them, TVR with competition exhaust and 172 with De-cat Janspeed system certainly turned heads.

Keep the comments coming people.

Gary.

Gary.

Am I right in saying your the one with the prototype janspeed exhaust system?

I want to get an new exhaust system on my cup, its such a shame that its hidden behind the bumper.

Can I get just the exhaust or would it involve changing other components?

I'm not really looking to enhance performance, my insurance is high enough as it is, but I would love to get a more throaty head turning note coming from the back.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Craig.

Craig.

Yes I have the Janspeed prototype exhaust on my 172. They played about with loads of tailpipes etc till they came up with the one which suited the car best. It's a twin round pipe, not sure of the diameter, but it looks good.

She puts out around 94 db at 4000 revs, and that s pretty loud. Janspeed did the same for a friend of mines 206 GTI and they said they had real problems getting any noise from the car. Mine was the opposite, they had problems quieting it done. As it was they thought it was too loud, but I loved it so much they let me have it how it was.

Mine starts from the downpipe back, so I have had the CAT removed releasing a couple of extra gee gee's. I'll worry about the MOT in a couple of years haha.

No engine management lights have come on, which is something Janspeed said might happen. All in all the exhaust looks and sounds brilliant and performance has been enhanced. The mid range torque has changed quite a lot. My other car feels tight in comparison.

Couple of words of warning though. Renaults line on changing parts such as the exhaust is. If a fault on the engine or any other part of the car can in any way be traced back to the exhaust, they invalidate your warrenttee. The way I looked at this was, anything engine or suspension wise forget it, they won't cough up. If something goes wrong with a seat or something, your OK.

The other problem is insurance, you must tell your insurer, and if they are like mine they will cancel your policy and make you go somewhere else. This ended up costing me £100 extra per year. The exhaust apparently makes the car a more stealable product.

Well that's about it, the exhaust is great and makes my spine tingle everytime she howls up the road turning heads.

I hope this helps.

Gary.

Hi.

I've got a questions on the subject of exhausts - I was sure I'd read that the 172 came out the factory with a stainless exhaust, however my back box has just fallen off after the pipe going into it rusted through.

Have I been had or did I just misread? Either way I need to replace it - it has done 37000 mls or so. I'm looking for something low key, but wouldn't object to a couple of extra horse being free'd up. Anybody had any good experiences?

Col.

Ps in case anybody is interested I posted a while back about a loud throbbing/resonance from the rear - it turned out one of the wheel bearings needed replaced. Along with a service, a shock and a complete set of disks - £800 ouch!

I, ve had my clio cup 172 for sixth months now and believe I have raced most things in it. Results are:

Kept up with a bmw 740 up to 130mph.

Stayed on a brand new evos ass until 125mph then it sped away.

Wiped the floor with a porche boxter off the lights. (not the boxter s)

Got beaten by a celica gt4 turbo who had an extra passenger.

Beat a merc clk coupe up to 80mph.

I think its definatly up there with the big boys on acceleration just not top end. Anything like vts's and 106 gti's it kills especially from 0-100mph. cheers Rich T.

Hi, I got a Cup and I've changed the head unit and all the speakers etc, and I've bought a remote adapter from halfords so I can use the existing remote for things like vol control and track shifting, I was told that only sony head units work with this cable so that's what I bought!... One thing though, I think the instructions are a little hard to follow, According to halfords the cable plugs into the back of the digital clock & temp gauge under the dash, they said If I take off a few torx screws then its easy, but I'm a bit reluctant to play with the dash cos it rattles in the cold weather, and I'm worried that If I take off the dash and I complain to renault about the rattle then they'll say it was my fault? Has anyone taken the dash off their 172 (was it easy)?? And how far does the warranty actually go??? Cos my mate just had his cougar mess up and it cost him 900quid and its 1 year old! so much for the 3 year warranty!!!

Question about faults on the clio cup.

I have recently noticed that when in 2nd gear and at the top end of the revs there is a high pitch noise coming from the engine.

Anyone else had this problem? Is it a fault or characteristic?

The car has done 2800 miles (I've had it since 1500) and its the first time I have noticed it.

Any help appreciated.

Craig.

Morning all.

Gary here with the two silver 172's.

Its black arm band day today guys because after 1 year and 1 month and 13,000 hard driven smiles per miles I have sold my beauty. My Janspeed car and maybe my TVR have to go to make way for an Imprezza turbo STI8 with 300BHP performance pack. I didn't mean for it to happen, but test drive at a dealership did the trick. Much as the Clio is a great car with great Janspeed sound and performance the STI is just a couple of leaps in front of it. The whack in the back when I nail it is something which just has to be felt. 0-100 in 12 seconds dead and 0-60 in 4.6 seconds. OH MY GOD!!

Anyway enough about that. Can you believe the dealer doesn't want the Janspeed kit!!! If I can retreive it off of the car before she goes early next week then I will and i'll get shot of it to one of you guys on here.

But I can still make comments on here because I still have my other halves 172 to zip around in. So I get the best of both worlds.

See ya.

Gary.

Gary,

I am very interested in getting hold of the Janspeed if you are up for discussion. I have also been looking at a viper kit from Pipercross to sweeten up my 172 Cup. I think the 2 should work hand in hand nicely!

Let me know ASAP and we can swap details etc.

Cheers the now mate,

Stevie Mac.

To the guy that is having problems with the second gear change, if you are worried about it take it back, if it was an ex demo car I am afraid that the car would have been thrashed. I know that all clio cups and 172's (demo) have been driven hard, not even run in properly. Take it back to them, I also have a clio cup, but don't notice a high pitch on the high end revs in secong gear. You better deal with it now before its too late.

Honestly all the demo cars are thrashed quite hard, I know quite a few sales men that have told me first hand that most of them get to have loads of fun in these particular cars.