Ibiza Sold, New Car....

Beaker™

Slightly Unhinged........
Nov 21, 2005
1,900
0
C:\UK\Glos
Well the Ibiza went a while ago now and i've since got something new. The Ibiza was very hard to replace as the new car had to meet a few requirements:

  • Had to be new ish
  • Had to have good performance as standard
  • Had to be cheaper to run for the time being (which meant no turbo)
  • Had to be mint
  • Had to be easy to sell on

So after ALOT of reading up on various cars i came up with this.....

2002 Renault Sport Clio 172 Cup

For those that dont know the 'Cup' is a limited edition version of the standard 172 which has a few performance (weight loss) oriented changes that include:

Performance:
Revised lower stuffer suspension with adjustments to toe and camber
Wider track
Speedline Turini light weight alloys with larger offset
Strengthened hubs
200cell CAT
ABS Removed
Front splitter added
Larger rear spoiler added

Weight Loss:
Aircon & Climate control removed
ABS removed and rear brakes fitted with a brake pressure valve
Xenons removed
Spare wheel replaced with tyre foam
Leather seats replaced with cloth
Rear 60/40 split bench replaced with non split version
Rear headrests removed
Thinner non tinted windows all round
Engine cover removed
Side airbags removed
Some sound proofing removed

All that pretty much adds to to a cheaper poverty spec version! But also being lower, wider, stiffer and 90kg lighter means faster with better handeling :D

Anyway, enough trying to justify buying a renault heres some pics...

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Only mods so far are stripping out the rear, to see what life is like without rear seats in view of a cage. And de restricting the air intake by removing the acoustic valve. If the car pleases me it may get coilovers, exhaust, brake ducts etc.

img0023800x600fq1.jpg


Had it a while now and am very impresses so far, with a weight of a smidge over a ton and with 172bhp it has an impressive power to weight ratio. It also handels very very well (tripoding on sharp covers), so is a very fun car to drive. Also loving the sound of the N/A 2.0 16v revving to 7250rpm, when 5k comes the cam timing comes in to its own and the revs increase alot quicker plus the noise is fantastic (known as the 5k kick)

Performance is very good, can out do remapped 1.8Ts, CTRs, Cooper S's, Focus RS's etc off the line. Top end is good too ;) The only performance downside is lack of mid range torque but you can have everything.

Overal great fun, quick and cheap to run.... winner!
 
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m0rk

sarcasm comes free
Staff member
May 19, 2001
27,787
33
Clanfield, UK
how have you found insurance? I know a fair few companies denied to insure it because of the lack of ABS & airbags etc?

Cheap I guess too?
 

Beaker™

Slightly Unhinged........
Nov 21, 2005
1,900
0
C:\UK\Glos
Had to switch insurance companys due to no ABS m0rk so that was a pain, £400 fully comp so not too bad really. Its a step back in some ways but forward in others, the missus is moving out for 6 months to save up and go travelling so taking on the mortgage and bills alone means i NEED a cheaper car, as our place costs circa £360 per week to run!

The 182's are pants tbh, slow and lardy in comparison, even the 182 Cups dont cut it as they dont have most of the benifits of the 172 Cup. Done ALOT of reading up before getting it and its comman knowledge among enthusiasts that the 172 Cup is the pick of the bunch as far as performance goes (except for maybe the new 197 cup, but even then i'm told theres nothing between that and the 172 Cup performance wise), in fact i had a quick play with one this morning off the lights and got ahead by around 2 car lentgths. Trophy would have been nice but they are very expensive (8k ish for a half decent one) where i picked up my mint Cup for 5k, Trophys also have uber expensive Sachs suspension setup, although good its pricey if anything goes wrong.
 
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Beaker™

Slightly Unhinged........
Nov 21, 2005
1,900
0
C:\UK\Glos
Very nice, one of my mates has got a 172 Cup :thumbup: Just watch out for the exhaust and the wheels, as they tend to not last for a long time!

Cheers, wheels are really mint so hoping they'll be ok for a while. Exhuast seems ok so far so fingers crossed.
 
Oct 2, 2006
484
0
Hi, like your new car, looks a good unmolested example, not too sure if its my cup of tea though, each to their own i suppose.I thought the wheels on the cup were made by Speedline and not OZ.
 

Cupra Kid

Has a TDI!!
Oct 13, 2005
3,380
1
Chesterfield, Derbyshire
My mates got a 1.5dci clio and that sent me running away screaming!

Heard good things about the 172 so i'm sure the cup will be an improvement, just hope you have a decent warranty......
 

Beaker™

Slightly Unhinged........
Nov 21, 2005
1,900
0
C:\UK\Glos
Hi, like your new car, looks a good unmolested example, not too sure if its my cup of tea though, each to their own i suppose.I thought the wheels on the cup were made by Speedline and not OZ.

Yeah my bad, they are Speedline Turini's, had alloys on the brain today. Want a set of Speedline 2118's really.
 

hon_n_gem

Candy White K1
Mar 22, 2006
1,132
0
Kent
www.auto-tuner.co.uk
nice one, gotta love the Mk2 RS's.

My bro drives the 182 Trophy, ive driven it quite a few times and it does put a smile on my face! Its been modded with ITG CF induction kit and Orbisoud Exhaust!

Check out Cliosport.net and theres loads of info there!
 

Molehill_Mike

Rollin' on 20s
Jan 3, 2005
2,566
0
Bedfordshire
nice one, gotta love the Mk2 RS's.

My bro drives the 182 Trophy, ive driven it quite a few times and it does put a smile on my face! Its been modded with ITG CF induction kit and Orbisoud Exhaust!

Check out Cliosport.net and theres loads of info there!

Agreed, recently fitted an Orbisoud exhaust to my mates 182... sounds good, its just like a little go-kart...however getting the standard exhaust of is a biatch... unless you cut it. We didn't, bumper off, wheels off, up on axel stands to drop beam, and removed the exhaust mounting points and heatshield.

Good fun tho ;)

Mike
 

Beaker™

Slightly Unhinged........
Nov 21, 2005
1,900
0
C:\UK\Glos
Cheers guys, you'll see where i'm coming from then with the grin factor. Already over on Cliosport.net, did ALOT of research before taking the plunge :)
 

Molehill_Mike

Rollin' on 20s
Jan 3, 2005
2,566
0
Bedfordshire
Kev is going for a roll cage and has a new steering wheel to go in too, gonna be a right little fun runner!

Apparently they suggest the cambelts are done around 35K, so watch that, Kev is using that as an excuse for cams upgrade lol

He's aiming for 1000kg and 200bhp - A good target IMO

Mike
 

Beaker™

Slightly Unhinged........
Nov 21, 2005
1,900
0
C:\UK\Glos
Cam belt already done at 38k :) If i keep it i'll be ging for the Cup racer look with wheel, buckets, cage ect. And 200bhp per ton would be very nice, i'll probably settle for cams and ECU tbh as far as the engine goes.
 
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