James Munday.net Blog

Seeing as I have had the car for nearly 3 years and have yet to write a review I have decided to get around to it! The car is currently on about 28k miles and has had a very hard life. The engine still feels great and it still pulls like a train. I have taken the car to Santa Pod and done the 1/4 mile over 20 times, it has also done many hard laps of Donington Park (video coming in an upcoming blog entry).

So what made me decide on a Clio 182? Well, I had always wanted a 172 but they had stopped being made so decided to opt for the new model. I sorted a test drive (what a headache that was!) and fell in love with the car straight away. I then decided to put a deposit down the same day!
I bought the car new from Renault Kidlington back in May 2005. I remember the day well, I drove my old Citroen Saxo 1.1i over there (as I was part exchanging it against the Clio) and as I drove into the car park I could see my new stripey Clio sat outside the dealership. It looked amazing with the 16in anthracite alloy wheels and twin exit exhausts. I had a quick look around it before I went in and still buzzing with excitement met the sales guy again. All I had to do was pay for it and fill out a few forms and then I was allowed on my way.

It had been a nice day until about 5mins before I left then the heavens opened. I was showed around the car and all the things inside it and then drove it home. On the way home I decided to overtake a couple of cars on the dual carriageway and my instant reaction was ‘Oh my god’! The car felt very fast, especially coming from a 60bhp 1.1 and now I was driving a 182bhp animal!

It’s difficult to sum up how the car drives but if you imagine a Go-Kart with 4 seats and a very revvy engine you can come close to what it feels like. The car flies through the revs in each gear eventually topping out at 140mph (apparently). It will rev to 7200rpm when the engine is up to temperature and because of this you can achieve 60mph easily in 2nd gear. The book 0-60 is around 6.5secs which is fully believable and I am sure I have done that many a time! Infact, it’s difficult to drive the car slow! The car comes into its own on the bends, there is so much grip from the Michelin Exalato tyres (they were actually designed for the car)  and I have full faith in the handling.

What about the other bits and pieces like interior etc? Well, its nothing special really. The CD player was quite rubbish but it had a nice display on the top of the dash and the hand controls by the steering wheel seemed pretty cool. I have since added an aftermarket head unit in the car so I can connect my iPod. This has meant I can no longer use the display on the top of the dash and without a very expensive lead the hand controls won’t work (not that it matters as I have a remote control for the head unit).
The car comes with cruise control (very handy on motorway journeys) and with a flick of a switch can be operated fully with the controls on the steering wheel. There is also a speed limiter (just like th F1 cars have) meaning you can set a speed which you can’t exceed. I have used this many times especially when driving through those average speed cameras on the motorway.
Because its the Cup model it only has air conditioning, although its not that great it does keep you cool in the summer and is pretty effective at de-misting the screen in the winter. The car also has ABS, this is a godsend and has saved me a couple of times when idiot drivers have pulled out infront of me.
One thing worth baring in mind is there is no spare wheel, instead you get a small can of tyre foam which isn’t all that great (I have since got another larger can). Because of the no spare wheel issue (there isn’t actually anywhere to put one because of the twin exhausts) I went and bought an extra wheel which I keep in the garage. The car doesn’t have an engine cover either (the Cup lost anything which would give it extra weight).

What about servicing etc? My first service was done at Renault and was quite expensive, since I have been taking it to a Renault Specialist in Portsmouth called RenTech. They are superb! On the way down last year I had a slight mishap which involved me hitting a curb and wrecking the tyre. It also took a chunk out of the alloy and put my tracking out. They sorted all this out for me and I bought a replacement wheel the next day (Renault delivered it for me).
If you have a RenaultSport Clio I would highly recommend taking it to RenTech, its a trek for me but certainly worth it. There are people on ClioSport who drive a lot further than I do to go see them.

So what now? The warranty is up soon and although it shakes and rattles a lot (typical French car) there is nothing wrong with the car (touches wood). I was thinking of getting a new car in May but I might just stick with the 182 as for the money I don’t think I can find anything as good.

And here is a picture of my Clio on display at the French Car Show 2006: