Who here owns a Renaultsport?

Stormster said:
So I am missing having a hot hatch, can't quite stretch to a cash purchase for a new Fiesta ST without a loan/finance for about 4 to 5k due to imminent house purchase and keep looking at pics of Clio Renaultsport 200's around 09 reg... perhaps with a 7k budget if I was to sell my BMW and pocket a grand from said sale, I could get something nice?

However I know nothing about them. Talk to me, what is good and what is bad, I can try and collate a list of things to check should I go see a few to get a feel for them :)

Also spec wise... full fat, cup, what's the difference really? I don't want the stiffest version for my usage so if the cup is that, I can live without cheaper plastics I think I read about, it being stiffer, Recaro's etc.
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For 7k, you'd be looking at early 200's around the 59/60 plate. After early 60 models, Renault changed some things on the car including changing the rear badge from Renault Sport to RS, including a RS badge on the front, and the suspension components also changed a little bit.

Good points?
They handle like go carts. Stick some good rubber on it, and you can keep up with most things in the corners. Launching out of a corner is quite an enjoyable experience.

Brakes. As long as they are maintained it's like throwing an anchor out of the window.


Bad points?
Speed. If you like straight line speed, it won't knock your socks off. It is fast, but not throw you in your seat fast.

Gearbox. I say gearbox as they are known to crunch in 2/3/4th, but I haven't noticed anything. Saying that, as long as you are kind to the gear changes and do gearbox oil changes as the service book states, you'll be fine.

Flat spot. Some stock cars have them at 2.5k rpm, some cars don't. If you change pretty much anything to do with the exhaust, you will get a flat spot meaning it will need to get remapped. If you are cruising at 2.5k and put your foot down, it will feel like its going to stall. Its horrible.

MPG. For the size and litre engine, it's pants. High 20's low 30's.

Full fat is basically the normal car with the cup pack added on. It means red brake calipers, cup chassis, air con, cruise control, steering reach and rake etc.

Cup is the hardcore version of the normal car. You can differentiate the cup to a FF by looking at the side strips. A cup has black bump stops, while the FF has colour coded bump stops. The cup has stiffer suspension, and some (not all) don't have air con or cruise control. You could have easily spec'd the car when new to be a cup and have all the bells and whistles of the FF car. The difference is also the plastics as you say. A cup has a solid plastic dash, while the FF has a soft touch dash which in my opinion is nicer to feel.

You can get Recaro's in a FF cup, or black or red leather, or the normal cloth seats. Just be on the look out for the bolster wear on the Recaro's.

If I think of anything else, I will post again :)
 
for 7k you could get a tidy 182 Trophy, and they seem to be holding there value, so when you come to sell it you will loose £0
 
Thanks Greg, good bit of info - appreciate that! I found some good links to read properly today at work so emailed them all to home to read one evening too, so I can knock together a list of common issues to check for. I guess I'd have to drive a cup vs. normal to see how I get on suspension wise as I'd have no intention to mess on that score, but perhaps would change the exhaust, induction and have it mapped really. I will try and go to see a couple next weekend when I'm not so busy :)
 
Haze said:
for 7k you could get a tidy 182 Trophy, and they seem to be holding there value, so when you come to sell it you will loose £0
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There are a couple up for sale at £7k, doesn't mean they're worth £7k.

Plus these are generally low mileage and in perfect condition.

There are a few average mileage, good condition and well maintained trophy's for around £4-5k. These are more likely to hold there value if you were planning to use it daily.
 
Ordered a Sprintbooster for my 200, one thing I hate about this car compared to my ST is the terrible throttle response, most notably when trying to match revs on downshifts. Anyone here fitted one?
 
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Looks decent on the face of it -
1) Cambelt must be due imminently though so check it out
2) Brand new gearbox is always nice too!
3) No pictures of the recaro bolsters on the base (often wear through here)


Second one -
1) Check where the cambelt was done (easy to get the timing wrong without genuine tools).
2) There is a ding above the drivers door handle - might PDR.
3) Nice interior but not Recaros - depends if thats important to you.
 
I recently paid £7.5k for a 60 plate FF Cup 200 with Recaros and 52k on it.

It had the belts done and the flex joints done by DTM Cars and apparently (though no evidence) the synchro done by the owner that DTM bought it off.

As above, it's not the quickest thing in a straight line, but certainly fast enough to make B roads an absolute hoot when you combine its decent speed with late braking from the Brembos and the chassis. I can keep a Stage 1 ST2 honest around Northumberland, only really losing serious distance on long straight roads.

I suspect that it'd be even closer on track when you can drive harder into corners and really hit the apexes rather than the 7/10ths you do on the road.

I'd ideally like to drop the Recaros a few inches, it does feel more like a people carrier from the seating position than I'd really want from such a car.

The gear box isn't a patch on my MX5, but not bad by any means.

Am I regretting my purchase in any way? Not at all, I love it and it really has relegated my MX5 to a weekend / track toy which I hadn't expected, I had the intention of passing the Clio to the missus once my MX5 had the supercharger fixed, but no chance of that now.
 
I spotted that dent too :) I know a guy who can sort that with ease. I'm just iffy with black, if anyone knows the scenario with my Focus ST you'll understand why :D

The white one same as I felt too, belt info and bolster/wheel wear, awaiting a response/pics, but I agree on the face of it, they're on the money.
 
Just been to test drive a 172. Absolutely loved it for the first 5 mins until it broke down :o Was dead as a door nail, dealer guy came to boost the battery and the alternator started smoking it's **** off. Had a good laugh about it anyway.
 
We had a good laugh about it and he said I don't suppose you want to buy a car that breaks down on a test drive and I said no thanks but I know a guy on a forum who probably would
 
Skillmister said:
We had a good laugh about it and he said I don't suppose you want to buy a car that breaks down on a test drive and I said no thanks but I know a guy on a forum who probably would
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