But as for the 200, I have seen one going cross country at a huge rate of knots, followed a few seconds later by a Focus RS that appeared to be struggling to keep up with the Clio. Great little car from what I saw.

Yes it's true, Focus RS's just can't keep up with RS 200's and RS250 Meganes either. Renaults are a bit more refined now. Reliability and dealers are a mixed bag though.

Yes it's true, Focus RS's just can't keep up with RS 200's and RS250 Meganes either. Renaults are a bit more refined now. Reliability and dealers are a mixed bag though.

really? cos in the vids linked to by Lady E the Clio was having to be worked hard to just about keep up with the RS and got driven away from on anything approaching a straight. the Megane is most likely a different matter though

I had one of the original Clio 16vs and loved it to bits:). It never missed a beat and nothing ever fell off. Changed the way I thought about Renaults. But as for the 200, I have seen one going cross country at a huge rate of knots, followed a few seconds later by a Focus RS that appeared to be struggling to keep up with the Clio. Great little car from what I saw.

I don't think they look as nice as my old 16v though (think of the Clio Williams shape)

I used to have an old old shape Clio 16V as well, in white! The engine never let me down but it had a load of other electrical problems.

I also used to have an old shape Clio 1.5 dCi (100BHP), again the engine was fine but it was never out of the dealers with other problems and Renault customer service was horrendous. I'd love a new shape Clio Sport but my previous ownership experience has put me right off.

I agree with other people's comments about having to thrash the Renault petrol engines to get any go out of them - so I hope the OP has deep pockets to pay for all that fuel!

I used to have an old old shape Clio 16V as well, in white! The engine never let me down but it had a load of other electrical problems.

I also used to have an old shape Clio 1.5 dCi (100BHP), again the engine was fine but it was never out of the dealers with other problems and Renault customer service was horrendous. I'd love a new shape Clio Sport but my previous ownership experience has put me right off.

I agree with other people's comments about having to thrash the Renault petrol engines to get any go out of them - so I hope the OP has deep pockets to pay for all that fuel!

This is why I'm asking. It's things like this I needed to know. The fuel economy does worry me a bit but then again it's a hot hatch. As for reliability my mate knows someone who has a 58 plate bog standard Clio whose passenger side suspension "just collapsed". Don't know exactly what happened but that's not good. Other cars since I originally posted are the Civic Type-R which while good needs to be thrashed all the time which I think would get tiresome after a while and the Mazda 3 MPS that was very quick being nearly 270bhp and had loads of lit standard but the ride was very jiggly although could have been the road I was on.

Plus thanks guys for your responses. Another forum I posted this on whose users all own cars from a certain range of cars I mentioned in the 1st post, had a go at me saying things like "why are you asking things about clio's here, this is a *** forum. Go ask on a Clio forum!" Several pages of posts later and a Twingo 133 owner got banned for having an opinion and the thread was deleted. They've had quite a few bannings recently over similar threads.

Nice to see that this place is far more grown up.

It's certainly a temptation for when I replace by car next year however the low torque delivered high up the rev range might be a deal breaker. Took the Fabia VRS out last week and loved the low down pull it had while still being willing to rev to 7000 rpm. Coming from a Mark one Fabia VRS I think the lack of "grunt" would be frustrating. Would probably be able to get a better deal on the VRS too but not ruling one of these out. My local dealers in Maidstone are crap though so may wander down to the one in Sevenoaks. That's another problem: Renault dealers and customer care

I'm not sure I could live with the lack of low down grunt on the Clio if used to a TDI engine, while it was entertaining revving the Clio hard on the track when I got back home I was glad to have the more effortless pull of the VRS which seems to be able to pick up speed quickly without having to be worked hard.

Kai - one of my workmates had a Clio Cup 172 (or something like that?), three or four years old and always had something wrong with it...whenever we went in it there was always something making a noise needing repaired although to be fair all the car manufacturers no matter how good seem to produce some individual stinkers.

John

Went out for a run today me in the Vrs estate, mate in his new Clio 200 cup.

They're quite a close match to each other, both completely stock. I could pull away but only to get caught up at the next corner. We weren't going all guns blazing or anything it was just a wee drive (turned to crap weather too). Good fun road though (over to loch lomond, turn left at Luss -- EDIT: it's before luss, it's just at the golf course -- onto the garelochead road), just a shame about the weather.

I reckon you couldn't go far wrong with a wee Clio 200, and if it was just for having fun in, i.e. no need to do boring stuff like commuting or carrying stuff in the boot, the clio wins hands down -- it's a good bit more focussed than the Vrs (in cup form). Love the recaro seats option in the clio. It's lightweight too so it goes, stops and handles as well as you'd expect. The vrs and clio are not like for like comparable, but they're close.

Only down sides i could see are fuel economy, and it's pretty focussed it's not a versatile car i.e. it'd drive me nuts as a commuter car, but for having fun, it's definitely a really good car. It's almost certainly the best car at that price for fun, the only question is how high above its price does it punch. I'd say pretty high!

Edited 7 August, 201015 yr by Mute

I've ordered mine and it's due in 3 weeks i looked and test drove a lot of different cars (including the new vrs) and the Clio cup was the only one that put a massive smile on my face!!

I've ordered mine and it's due in 3 weeks i looked and test drove a lot of different cars (including the new vrs) and the Clio cup was the only one that put a massive smile on my face!!

Hope you enjoy it. They look really nice

Thing about these too ( although not driven one) is that they are very peaky and that might be a frustration after the Diesel Furby. Nothing much happens under 5000 rpm apparently. They are also (again so I have read) very low geared so drone a lot on a long drive.

Having said that the handling is peerless and you are getting a bespoke Sport dept engineered car for a very reasonable price!

I'd recommend anyone the Clio's bigger brother. Picks up from 3k ish rpm and goes quickly :love:

Yep the Megane with the turbo is a totally different kettle of fish: they are launching a 265bhp Cup version too