Clio 172 Renaultsport - 3k?

joewm18

joewm18

joewm18

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14 Dec 2004
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241
Hi all,

Currently I have a 1.7 Ford Puma and whilst I've enjoyed it's looks and handling, it's time for a change - the car needs to be small and within a budget, I've been having a browse and the Clio 172 has caught my attention...

Normally I wouldn't have dreamt of buying a French car, especially not a Clio, but seeing as I already own the girliest car ever made it wouldn't be a step down in image at least.

I have a few questions, with a maximum budget of £3000, will this be enough to find a decent example? Most importantly what are the 172's like for reliability? Also, what is the difference between phase 1 and phase 2?

Any opinions most welcome or suggestions for alternative cars please.

Thanks :)
 
£3k will get you a pretty decent phase 2 - I'd normally say you could probably find a mint Phase 1 for this money, but there seems to be a lot of people out there overvaluing their 172s.

You will also find a few 172 Cups for this money, and whilst its generally a bad idea to be buying from the bottom of the market, its entirely possible you'll find something half decent for this money - just recently I found two Cups, both around £3k mark, both on around 60K miles and had the belts done and both adverts ticked all the boxes - I'm not quite in the position to purchase yet though, so haven't viewed them.

The main thing I'd say from researching is that you make sure the cambelt has been done, as its an expensive job in terms of labour.
 
If you are going to spend money on one of these I suggest you do look around for a good example. I've seen some real shockers recently, all that aftermarket tat on, and running on cheap tyres. Make sure the gears feel nice too as i've put a few box's in the early 172's
Personally if I had 3k to spend on a little hot hatch I wouldn't have one of these. They are fine when they are newer, but I find these don't age well mechanically.
 
MikeHiow said:
The main thing I'd say from researching is that you make sure the cambelt has been done, as its an expensive job in terms of labour.
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I've seen this mentioned so many times, but no one seems to know why this job is apparently so expensive? It looks pretty straightforward to me.
 
Dogbreath said:
I've seen this mentioned so many times, but no one seems to know why this job is apparently so expensive? It looks pretty straightforward to me.
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Just needs the Renault locking tools due to the dephaser pulley I think. Not a hard job with the right tools!
 
Dogbreath said:
I've seen this mentioned so many times, but no one seems to know why this job is apparently so expensive? It looks pretty straightforward to me.
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As said, needs the right tools, which themselves aren't expensive, but it's the time that's the killer on them.

The engine bay just isn't great to work in for a belt change, Renault book it as an 8 hour job!

Parts aren't that cheap for the change as well, the full belt kits, aux and cam, run at around £100/£120. each
 
Ev0 said:
As said, needs the right tools, which themselves aren't expensive, but it's the time that's the killer on them.

The engine bay just isn't great to work in for a belt change, Renault book it as an 8 hour job!

Parts aren't that cheap for the change as well, the full belt kits, aux and cam, run at around £100/£120. each
Click to expand...

8 hours! Must be a bitch to work on... :(
 
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