In work on friday i had to nip out to go into town for some parts and went down to take one of our pool cars. I arrived downstairs to be told that both the focus and astra were out. However, the company Porsche Boxster S had just been delivered and a renault clio 182 had just been handed back from one of the managers of our shops (his company car) so i could take either out. :eek: i snatched the porka keys and jumped in, put the roof down, programmed the sat nav and pumped up the bose. I gave the obvious (and highly neccessary) wap wap on leaving and tore the thing up (in the speed limits of course until i went to my private track ) The thing was an awesome beast! terryfying at times but so so nice!

Anyway after basking in the glory of that event i move onto later in the day where i took the 182 out (as the porka had gone), started it up, wapped it, and did the same as i had to the porka. When i came back however, instead of having the porkaesk smile slapped across my face i was left feeling empty and unsattisfied. I was severely let down by the cabin quality, sound system, noise and the feeling when the accererator was depressed was also not what i expected. in all honesty it did not (in all honesty and truth) feel half as fun or fast as my furby vrs. I was shocked :eek: i had seen this clio as a lovley car and one i would love to own one day! But now, i really would take my vrs anyday! I have not yet been in an octy vrs but that seems like the logical progression for me. I love it!

But as for the 182.........lets just say ill nopt be trading mine in any day soon.

Join the Clio overrated club. I had one from new for 2 years and I just could not understand all the good reviews, which was the reason I wasted 15k on one! 206 GTI was much more fun to drive and I should have kept that for longer, roll on 1st of March and a new fabia

Grrrrr!!!!!!

That two messages I've typed on this forum today and I've lost both of them

Anyway, what I was going to say is that, after driving the Porsche, its not surprising that you felt the Clio lacking...

Also, its my opinion that while the Clio is quicker in absolute terms than the Fabia, and a bit more fun when your really going for it, the Fabia is a much nicer / more fun car to drive the other 95% of the time... because as always with multivalve normally aspirated cars, you have to rev the tits off them to get the best from them, whereas the torquey, gutsy motor in the Fabia always feels fast due to its power always being accesible.

To be honest, I sometimes miss the rev happy actions of such cars, but I think I'd miss the easy driving torque of the DERV even more now... and I think generally, although slightly slower its more appropriate for road driving generally as you feel like you can fully use the cars potential without fear of a ban (which you would probably get after 3rd gear in something like a 182 ) - although you still have to be careful

It must be something about the 182 then because the 172 comes on cam at 5k rpm and just flies, it really does feel faster than my vRS even when its remapped (although it's not). They altered the torque band/gearing on the 182 to make it more progressive & give it more low down grunt, whereas the 172 just seems to have nothing till 5k rpm then it comes alive and you seem to be held in your seat.

On Cliosport there are quite a few members going from a 182 to a 172 cup because of that exact thing.

The racket that a high revving engine makes is always going to make it seem more dramatic than a TDI which does it in a rather "unfussed" way shall we say...

I always think that it depends which way you define "feeling" fast too... for me, the TDI feels fast in the way you put your foot down and almost immediately get a surge of power, and keeping it in the torque means that it feels faster than it probably is... when you come to actually revving it out though (to about 4000) - you still dont really feel like your thrashing it so hence it lacks the drama of revving a petrol car out... not sure if I'm really explaining this very well, but there it is

To sum up, most hot hatches are likely to be noisy, fairly peaky cars that need a good caining to go fast, the Fabia is fairly quiet but more muscular feeling in normal driving, but obviously lacking the revs to give it the real drama at the limit... one is best driven aggressively and one is best driven in a more relaxed fashion... the Fabia is not a typical hot hatch... more of a grand tourer in a small body. I still say for most everyday driving, the muscular TDI is a more suitable and enjoyable partner than a peaky 16v.