petersen

Has anyone had any experience of the standard 172 Clio?? Reason being that I have just ordered the new 172 Cup, the lightweight homologation version out in a few weeks over the Mini Cooper S. I hope that this is the right choice as I was impressed with the Mini but it felt really heavy, whereas I drove a 3,500 miler demo 172 and it was a bit pants with sluggish engine and heavy steering with no feedback. I'm not even comparing it with my Impreza or Elise but my Ka was a better ride!

I'm taking the plunge and hoping that the mods to the 172 Cup will address what I did not like about the 172 test car and will make it a cracking front wheel drive car to complement the AWD and rear wheel drive ones I have.

I'd like to hear about anyones experiences or opinions with the 172.

Cheers,

Stuart

druddle

Theres a couple of us with new 172s, me included.

Mines a year old now. I would say it handles very well, its quick (mine has a PiperX Viper in it aswell) and the brakes are fugging good, even if they fade under repeated heavy braking.

The gearbox is ok, not excellent and the clutch is sh1te. I am on my second at 13.5k miles and it is not good now.

Expect it to eat front tyres, my fronts were down to 1mm after 8000 miles.

The main problem with them is the shocking dealers. Not good !

All IMHO of course

Dave

storm555

I had one and changed it last December for a new WRX....it was a great little car to drive....pretty quick and it hung on to the road really well....I had real problems with leaks and in the end lost patience with the dealer who wasn't interested...at the first service they also screwed up the geometry and took about 3 hrs to fix it...got a good PX for it on a Subaru....Subaru is quicker and so much better put together...

pele

Go to this site:

www.cliosport.net

Theres lots of 172 owners on here, they may be able to tell you more.

Pele

bluenose172

iTrader: (2)

I can only think that the 172 you drove was a very poor example, that just doesn't sound like a 172 to me!

I'm thinking about changing my 172 for the Cup, but to be honest I can't see it being radically different. As pele said try www.cliosport.net for some info!

Rokerlad

The 172 Cup sounds like a great idea to me , even if the lack of ABS on a lightweight 172 bhp hot hatch seems a bit frightening. I have owned Peugeot 106 and 306 Rallyes ( a similar concept to the 172 Cup ) And they were superb cars, great fun to drive . If you can pick up new imported Clio 172's for 11500 the Cup's are bound to be cheaper ( and faster I dare say ).

Veracocha

Apparently the Cup 172 will weigh 935kg which is a fair bit lighter than the normall 172. Also with modified chassis it should be a blast!

bluenose172

iTrader: (2)

It won't have a modded chassis, only suspension tweeks, i.e 3mm lower(yes thats 3) and a slightly wider wheel base! BTW it's said to be 955KG, around 183BHP/tonne!

Veracocha

Correct me if I'm wrong but lowered suspension and wider wheel base would equate to a modded chassis would it not?

Anyway, I want one as I have to gun it to beat current 172's in my S3!

Frazer

No thats called uprated suspension. They have not touched the chassis.

S111ONF

We are thinking about trading the 172 for an S3 - do you really have trouble keeping pace ?

Modrapheniac

Cancel the order for the 172, and get a Honda Civic Type R (CTR), I drove loads of new cars earlier this year, spent ages deciding on which one to get. Drove the 172 and the CTR on the same day over the same route, the CTR just blew out the 172 in all aspects. MUCH better than a french fancy ! That I-Vtec is just addictive !
Get a CTR, you won't regret it !

BTW , the CTR replaced my Scoob and to be honest I think the whole package is much better.

At the end of the day, these are just my opinions, get the car that feels right for you, but I must admit, I wouldn't dream of ordering a new car until I'd driven it !

Cheers,

Darrell

SiPie

Renault dealers (Edinburgh anyway..) worst ever IMHO (and experience).

And I feel qualified to comment on this one. Had a Laguna prior to MY99..! and upon collecting the heap after a repair (one of many in only 8 months of ownership)... yes they had fixed the bit in question at the 3rd attempt but one of the mechanics tried to do some demolition by denting front wing and smashing light cluster.

Then they tried to deny it....said it was there when I brought it in!!!!!!!!!!!!!! had to actually walk into the workshop demanding to speak to the ****** that had dented my car and forcing him to admit it to the service manager.

Sure the clio cup will prove to be a fine car if nearly good as original 172 which I've enjoyed driving on 2 occasions but beware of dealers that just do not care.

Good luck

Tractor

Have to agree - Renaults are great cars, but the dealers are absolutely awful!!! And really expensive too!!!