Well...

They've finally brought them here, they've been climatized and all for GCC countries, and it's the first time I've seen one for real.

Went to the showroom today and checked it out...looks nice on the outside. Nice alloys, kind of subtle aggressive look, and nice twin pipes in the rear.

Inside, it's kinda....flimsy. The seats are ok, but everything else just seems so plastic. I mean really plastic...in fact plastic enough you don't want wanna touch anything for the fear of breaking it.

My question...

Is it a good car? Has anyone on here had one or driven one? The salesman told me that it doesn't have a supercharger OR turbocharger, which is what makes it special. Just the 200Nm of torque (which, all you diesel drivers, for a car of this size with a two-litre engine, is quite good ) helps it get that 182bhp figure...but at a pretty high 5k+ rpm...

Is it a car you would consider as your next car? I know Renault make good cars, but just how good?

Just wondering...and if you guys have more technical info on it, please feel free to share.

http://www.cliosport.net/ is where you need to go.

They seem to go and handle well , sound nice , and are well priced.

Renault doesn't have a briliant reliabilty record here though , and the interiors can be a bit cheap

I test drove one, but chose the Furby.

They are rapid, handling is AWESOME - I'd say better than the MINI Cooper I tested. Sound great, and lovely seats.

They are very small cars though, and allegedly quite frail. I wasn't at all keen on the dash. And the alcantara steering wheel would look good for about 2 miles!

If thats the sort of car you are after, then its unrivalled imho, especially for the price!

There was one at Knockhill owned by Barry who had a VRS amongst many cars in the past he had it up as a toy as he wasn't sure how his GT3 would handle.

Like for like both it and a VRS were identical in performance although it was 950kg and the fab 1350kg.

Both were running approx 215bhp. and his mate (215fab) said they couldn't be seperated all the way to xxx speed on the longer straights !

Cheap and cheerful Renault build quality.

EVO, What Car and numerous other mags rave about the things - "Best Hot Hatch Money can buy" etc, etc......

Never driven one myself, seen a few about, but one thing put me off........

Its a Renault, so how many bits would have fallen off after a years driving ???

So is it worth a look at the end of it all or would you skip it?

So is it worth a look at the end of it all or would you skip it?

Always worth a look and a drive Would be interested to know how you feel it compares to other cars you've driven, especially the Mini CSW

Chris

They don't have a demo car :(

And that MCSW was the bomb!

They're discontinued now here now (uk) but were very popular, and I think we were one of the biggest markets for them. They're good value etc. but we run some Renaults at work and they are very lightweight in construction and bits unfortunately do fall off them, plus they need quite a few repairs compared to the GM and Fords that we also use.

I think if you can buy a new or newish one at a good price with a good warranty then it would be worth the experience. But I personally would want shot of it long before the warranty expired! I haven't driven one of the later ones but had a go in a 172, didn't like the power delivery myself as I like lazy torque and lowish revs myself. But it rode very well for the performance capability, I'm too used to VAG chassis that are a bit underdamped and was quite impressed with the French effort. Handling seemed perfectly okay to me, but again I stress it was only a quick accompanied drive so I didn't get any chance to push it.

If you like revs and want to get friendly with your local technicians then go for it....I would imagine it's huge fun on the right roads with the right sort of driver.

Think that pretty much sums it up - great fun as a 'fun' car, probably not quite so good if you need a reliable car in the longer term.

Your 2 liter Furby is built better but the handling won't be anywhere near as good (as standard) as that Clio.

Another thing as it's a Renault - they tend to have a fundamental problem with the way the cooling system is linked into the heating system within the car. If anything goes wrong with the heating system, it tends to take out the whole cooling system. It killed my R21. It is definitely worth finding out what they Renault guys do to make the car capable of running safely where you live, as the temps I'd imagine are generally about twice what they are here (looking outside where it is yet again raining :P )

It may be that the specialists there have done a great job replacing the weak parts to cope with the heat, so it may be more reliable Definitely worth a test drive

My brother owns a 172 cup and nothing handles better. It is pushing approx 185 bhp (19 bhp more than a standard cup) and weighs 950 kg (70kg lighter than a standard cup) and he does 0-60's in 5.4 and mid to high 13's in 1/4 miles.

Also the EVO mag rated it the best ever hot hatch (it's actually a supermini) and sed it could outhandle a BMW M6 on corners (182 trophy with sach dampers).

EDIT

Just to add I think we need to clear up confusion regarding build quality. It's not the mechanics which go wrong. It tends to be trim rattles etc, but I would still expect it to be ok 5 years down the line but just rattle a lot. If sound deadening was placed around plastic where it touched round the dash area i'm sure this would stop any problems.

ive got one you cant beat it for the price! would out handle pretty much anything.

Christ! Some of you people want to start realising Renault have come a long way since the R5, 21 days! lol Talk about stuck in the past!!

182's are very nice cars and yes some of them do have probs but nothin like what you guys have made out!! And the dash is very plasticy? And what is the VRS's like?! lol

End of the day a 182 is a 12k car with a top spec, very quick and out handle many cars in leagues above it.

For the money you arent going to get any more bang for your buck

Actually Renault has gone BACK since the R21 days - a lot of their electrics are absolutely terrible. We had several hire cars fail on us.

As for value for money, I completely agree there, it's a proper hot hatch for little money

Hmm yes ok.....

Maybe one or two isolated cars.

If anyone wants to know what theyre really like a suggest you head over to www.cliosport.net as earlier suggested

Well well then...

I think I know what my next car will be...

right clio 172/182's are ok but not that good

handle very well yes, looks aint so great, engines are ok but not brill for extra power (expencive to get), depreciation is aprox 50% in first year. they rattle alot they are flimsy , seating position is crap

i could go on

We have a 182 on our fleet, but it's very low mileage, as it spends most of it's time at the dealers, who really, really don't give a stuff. And as to Renault customer service............:(

Phil

I think it's an excellent car.

Both the Clio's my brother has owned have been fault free and the customer services have been excellent.

strange as he must use dixon motors on clifton moor

oh and i think i spotted your car the other day mr hellfire

and a red one too who could that be ??

So is it worth a look at the end of it all or would you skip it?

Wouldn't say no to a blast in one if offered

handle very well yes' date=' looks aint so great, engines are ok but not brill for extra power (expencive to get), depreciation is aprox 50% in first year. they rattle alot they are flimsy , seating position is crap

i could go on[/quote']

I like the look of them to be honest... the most "tasteless" thing about it is the twin pipes, they look wrong to me.

Depreciation is pretty bad, but its pretty bad on the vast majority of cars.

Not everyone wants to tune it - they are plenty fast enough out of the box IMO for a small FWD hatchback. If you want a faster car, buy a faster car in the first place.

Cant argue on the seating position (typical of all french cars). The build quality is not that bad IMO, there are better cars out there, but really, thats not the point of it.

I like them, and if I bought a modern hot hatch, it would be at the top of my list, but that being said, its no Golf GTI

pbirkit i accept your points but i did own one for about 36k

Interesting thread from an opinions point of view here. I have tried to chase 172 / 182 clios on a number of occasions in a number of cars and they go really well. I have read on many occasions that for the money, nothing gets close for a good buzz.

Quality wise, the French cars will always be poor unless PSA group change the outlook on build and QA. I did 12 years in the automotive sector, most of that in Quality Assurance. I would not buy a French car unless I had a good warranty, and I would certainly get shot of it before the warranty expired. Having said that, the same applies to Fords in my experience. A good way to ascertain the quality of the product is to look at the prices of the very cheapest cars in the range. Consider the whole range will be built using mostly the same processes and parts as the base model. You will see that the French superminis sell very cheaply. You get what you pay for.

As for percieved quality, yes the Clio cabin is a bit on the flimsy side, but remember, this is percieved quality. The only real way to see how it will stand up is to go and check out a high miler. My Fabia test drive was in a 30,000+ mile car and that still felt and looked good inside.

Chris