New to Renault. Can someone with experience talk 172 clio's

[rufusgti]

Hi.
I'm thinking very seriously about a change. I've had my Golf mk1 gti for many years but its getting old and has had its day. Vw dont really have anything else that fits my needs and a friend of mine recently swapped his RX8 for a clio 172 cup which i'm very very impressed with as a good all round package.

I've seen a few advertised localy which look good but i'm struggling to decide whether to go for the cup or not.
On the one hand, I'm very used to absolute bare minimum from the golf, and i like cars that are focused on what they're good at. Then on the other hand the interior in the non-cup are much nicer and lets face it, it is nice having the air con and stuff.

What i really need to know is how much does the performance suffer when loading up the clio with goodies. Will i notice? will i be dissapointed in the non-cup andhanker after the cup. or is the non cup a nice compromise.

Also reliability. If all the extras on the non-cup break all the time or stop working, i'd rather go without. I spotted some with magic wipers and lights. do these work well or is simpler always better with the french cars.

thanks for any advice.

[exgtt]

Until someone comes along with the info your after have a look on www.cliosport.net lots and lots of experience on the forums there.

I'm looking for a 172 ff at the moment!

[Ian_sUK]

You wont notice the extra weight of a FF but you will notice the "rawer" feeling with no abs of the 172 cup. There are a 139 172 cups with aircon if thats your main concern. The standard cup seats really are horrible though and abs is a nice safety blanket.

[Sir_Dave]

I've had them all & the cup is definately the better drive, the PH2 172 is also very well known as being the black sheep on the family.

The extras will also break, so having a cup is a better idea from that perspective. Also bear in mind that by having aircon, the cambelt service is £450-500, without, its £275-£300.

Big difference.

[exgtt]

How come the ph2 172 is the black sheep, fbw throttle, no cup pack etc or something more sinister?

[AliV6]

Disagree about the black sheep. Here's my view of the RS range

Ph1 172 - Great car, Cable throttle, Woefully bad interior
Ph1 Exclusive - Interesting colour, woefully bad interior as above in an even worse colour
ph2 172 - I've had 2, both cracking, best colours, nicer trim that 182
ph2 172 Cup - Best colour (Mondial) Crap interior, A/c on a few, not common, Speedlines and the cosmetic bits make a difference, but you can buy them easily enough
Ph2 182 - Terrible wheels, sivler seatbelts look naff, Seats arn't as nice (Pattern) Silly exhausts
ph2 trohpy, Probably the best of the range, decent seats, ok colour, v6 spoiler and splitter. no xenon's unfortunately!! Decent suspension if a bit high!!

...............

[anonymous-user]

I've not driven the FF 172 but I have owned a 172 Cup for 7 months now so I'll do my best.

On the weight side of things, a saving of 89kg is like having a fairly heavy extra person in the car permanently. I do actually notice when I have someone else in the car but it doesn't make the car any less fun to drive.

The main differences are in the chassis and aero of the two cars but I don't know how different they are to drive.

The original Cup brochure lists these chassis changes:

20mm wider front track
10mm wider rear track
3mm lower ride height
Front splitter
Front caster angle increased by 3 degrees
Enlarged rear spoler
"Revised suspension"
Higher front spring rates

The interior is not as nice on the cup, but the seat fabric is actually supposed to grip to your clothes. Other than that it is identical to the FF apart from different colour wheel/dash trim.

Motorway driving in this car in the summer is not nice, I will admit. I get very hot driving it and arrive feeling a bit grubby. Any other road and having the window down a bit is okay.

[phurry]

I had a 172 cup for 5 years and it didnt miss a beat. Amazing car tbh. Mots can be a problem becuse of the braking system 90% front 10% rear.
I think the 172 cup is the better drive tho a 182 with cup packs will give you the best of both worlds.