Caporegime
- Joined
- 11 Mar 2005
- Posts
- 32,224
- Location
- Leafy Cheshire
Yea values are mad, shocked if they go anything but up.
Show Us Your Motors!
- Thread starter Lopéz
- Start date
Lets face it what makes a car awesome fun to drive?
NA !
Low weight !
Manual !
No nannies !
Why are Caterhams just about the most grinning inducing experience you can have? They have all the above and 140-180HP is all you ever need in a Caterham, anything more just spoils them and of course they weigh around 550kg.
Clio is 180HP, 990kg, manual, NA and is like a go-kart and the engine has such incredible performance, feels like a torque monster because car is light and revs all way to 7500rpm, its fun and I generally find myself never passing 7000rpm as you just enjoying rowing the gears so much as the clutch and gear box are perfectly matched and so lightweight, so its never a pain to use unlike many manuals can be and rev matching and heel & toe is easy, plus the brakes, oh my the brakes it might be because car is light but they feel every bit as strong as M3 if not stronger, you can literally bury the brake pedal to the floor at any speed and just stop on a dime and with no skidding, even though it lacks ABS on the Toyo sticky tyres its on the car never skids under braking any more, on poorer tyres it was easy to lock up but the Toyo's are quite frankly epic on the brakes.
Yep, it is why I held out and searched for a Cup, the regular 172 and 182's simply won't be worth money.
I am already in profit if I sold mine, no intentions of doing so, because its so different and so much fun to drive.
I did consider putting an LSD on it, because yes it would make it so much quicker, but in a way that spoils the car, half the fun is modulating the throttle through a corner to prevent the inside wheel spinning up, the car is simply all about the driver, you have to control everything. The only weakness if anything is the front-end, the more modern ones like Clio 200 RS have better front-ends, but at the same time they are feel quite a bit heavier and the acceleration feels numb in comparison, a lot less raw and I wanted the raw feeling. It means huge fun, without going too fast, though the car I got caught speeding in was the Clio.
It would but I am gonna keep it standard, I suspect such a mod would put any buyer off. Car is practically a factory standard car. Only mods are lowering springs (brand new set of originals included), engine mount (15 mins to remove) and the titanium exhaust system which is not really so much a noise adder, more a weight savings and because the original exhaust is basically known to cause issues.
Yes its mapped but again by EFI and can be returned to stock for no cost. Problem with a diff is its a big job, so not particular easy to put back to stock. If in five years I get a buyer who is more a collector they would probably want the car pretty much factory standard.
Yep not much peak power gains, but a transformation in drive and real world performance is transformed.
Plus he spends time on part throttle, which is where you spend a lot of time, something other 'well known respected' tuners don't bother with.
I lost a 1/4 mile to a 172 cup at Pod when I had my T-Sport with the rear interior stripped out, I did a 14.86 and he did a 14.71. But I beat a 197 (normal one) which did a 15 dead if I recall correctly.
Mine was 1120kg at 196hp, presumably his was around 1000kg with whatever they make stock. If I had my full interior like he did I would have been left in the weeds.
I was quite surprised because I thought the Mk2 was about 1200kg. Makes sense now I know they're much lighter than that!
Quite tempted to buy a cheap standard 172 and strip it out now.
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I lost a 1/4 mile to a 172 cup at Pod when I had my T-Sport with the rear interior stripped out, I did a 14.86 and he did a 14.71. But I beat a 197 (normal one) which did a 15 dead if I recall correctly.
Mine was 1120kg at 196hp, presumably his was around 1000kg with whatever they make stock. If I had my full interior like he did I would have been left in the weeds.
I was quite surprised because I thought the Mk2 was about 1200kg. Makes sense now I know they're much lighter than that!
Quite tempted to buy a cheap standard 172 and strip it out now.
Try to find a cheap 172 cup that needs some TLC like I did, because though it will cost money to put right, in the end that effort will pay dividends if you sell it in a few years.
Or find a proper 182 cup, but a proper one which are easy to spot as they have no headlight washers.
In terms of value in future I predict:
1. 172 Cup
2. 182 in Liquid yellow
3. 182 Trophy
4. 182 Cup
5. 172 PH1
6. RS 200 Cup!
On the basis you keep it original!
Should be where you look to get, a regular 172 or 182 unfortunately will probably not increase in value because not special edition, unless you can find one in the limited run colours that are desirable, liquid yellow cars are super rare and fetch big money.
Alternatively get a Clio RS 200 Cup, and see if you can get the weight out of it, but not sure where you can really pull weight out to be honest as they are still pretty spartan so unless your willing to remove stuff like air bags that remove from its originality its probably not worth it.
A low 14s is possible in a lightly breathed on Cup:
No reason why a stripped cup with a lightweight driver and no sympathy to gear box can't run a high 13s pass.
Seems you can't get them for sub 1K anymore so I'll leave it
Though a PH1 would make a great sleeper. Take the "Sport" badge off the back, strip it out, put rear tints in so you can't see its stripped out, and to 99% of people it will look like an old 1.2 Clio
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Clio-spo...h=item2ce4dc0603:g:pRIAAOSwbX1b4Ffa:rk:3:pf:1
Though a PH1 would make a great sleeper. Take the "Sport" badge off the back, strip it out, put rear tints in so you can't see its stripped out, and to 99% of people it will look like an old 1.2 Clio
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Clio-spo...h=item2ce4dc0603:g:pRIAAOSwbX1b4Ffa:rk:3:pf:1
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The same 99% of people would think that even if you left it standard.
Judging by the values now it looks possible, only time will tell, it shall certainly be between the Trophy and Cup for sure, guess it all comes down to people want the lowest possible weight with the least nannies or do they want the fancy dampers.
I'd say the Cup certainly has more upside (profit) potential if purchased well and your willing to sit on it for a few years.
I wish I'd kept my first phase 1 172. Think I sold it in 2011 or 2012 for £700!
I stripped almost all of the interior, all it had left was the dashboard and two Cobra bucket seats. It was brilliant fun.
I had two more afterwards between other cars but the first one was the best.
I stripped almost all of the interior, all it had left was the dashboard and two Cobra bucket seats. It was brilliant fun.
I had two more afterwards between other cars but the first one was the best.
I think I disagree on the normal 182s never being worth anything. They are a low volume car in the UK with only around 5000 sold (6000ish if you include the Cup and Trophy models). While the normal 182 may never be worth the same as the Cup or Trophy relatively low numbers may help the prices in due course.
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On the subject of Renaultsport products I suspect a decent spec'd Megane 250/275 will be one to watch. With both the Clio and Megane now going 5 door and softer/more main stream/down sizing engines this may well have ended up being the high water mark of the range, time will tell.
Soldato
- Joined
- 29 Jul 2013
- Posts
- 8,607
Not thinking of selling any time this year are you?First proper drive of the year.
