Ownership Verified: The French Baguette Van: My RenaultSport Clio

Hbriz

Hbriz

Ballroom Blitz
Joined
Jun 25, 2009
Messages
5,649
Location
Wollongong, Australia
Car(s)
'07 Megane dCi
Picked it up yesterday, and I couldn't be happier. The previous owner was an older guy who had owned it since new and had taken great care of it, and he was offering an extremely low price which I couldn't resist. Cosmetically it has a few scrapes and scratches, nothing too major, and it is due for a major service. But apart from that, it is perfect.
Massive picture dump:
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Cool... didn't know Renault reached Australia. Hope the service doesn't become too expensive and ruins the deal.
Oh and your wheel seems to be on the wrong side. Heh heh heh
 
mpicco said:
Cool... didn't know Renault reached Australia. Hope the service doesn't become too expensive and ruins the deal.
Oh and your wheel seems to be on the wrong side. Heh heh heh
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We've pretty much always had Renaults here, but they tend not to be so popular as they are quite expensive new. I've had quotes for the service in the region of $1500, which is expensive but even so, at the price the car was I'm still thousands ahead.
 
Hbriz said:
We've pretty much always had Renaults here, but they tend not to be so popular as they are quite expensive new. I've had quotes for the service in the region of $1500, which is expensive but even so, at the price the car was I'm still thousands ahead.
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That's what you get for living ten million miles from civilization. :p
 
Nice choice! That's the one I would have bought from the list you gave.
How much powerrr does it have?
 
172hp, and it weighs pretty much spot on 1000kg. So it is an aboslute joy to drive :D
And despite the sports suspension, it rides surprisingly well. It just irons out bumps like nothing I've ever driven short of my dad's Commodore, but it has ultra-soft suspension and tall tyres. This is a hot hatch with low-profile tyres and yet it is still very comfortable.

On the downsides, the interior feels a bit cheap, but again, the car was cheap so I can't complain. And like Clarkson said in the Clio 182 review, the boot carpet is awful. Think of the cheapest marine waterproof carpet fitted to the cheapest boats, then make it about 50% worse, and you're nearly there :lol: But I don't really care how well looked after my luggage is, and I don't think it cares either.
 
That's light.
Must be one of the lightest hot hatches.
 
Wow that's a nice car! I think the door design bugs me though when you look at it and then at the windows where the cargo is. I think it's just that I am just used to cars that have a smaller width between the windows or something.

I'll bet that thing goes pretty well though with 172 hp and the light weight. That weighs even less than my car. =o Mine is closer to 1100kg.

I'll bet it's quite a step up from your last vehicle. *cough*

(Also it seems to be that some storage areas are just made quite cheaply. The only reason why my Aunt's friend bought an Acura TSX was because he wanted a Honda, but the normal Honda trunks feel flimsy and cheap yet the Acura ones are much more solid. Weird in my opinion. My trunk carpet is quite flimsy, but yet it has only somewhat ripped away from the trunk sides.)
 
I don't think the gap is that much bigger than most cars, I think it appears that way as the door opens from the end of the gap rather than the middle. I'm not sure what you're saying about cargo though, you can't see the cargo area from the windows. I've probably misunderstood what you're saying though :lol:
 
Well you said the carpet in your cargo area was nothing to write home about.

I'm just saying most cars it's generally the story (at least, cheap ones). Even though mine is terribly cheap, it hasn't ripped off from the sides of the trunk area. That's all.


I dunno, maybe it's the size of the windows. I think it's just because I'm a weird American and it seems different to me.
 
Very Nice! Congrats! Meh about the trunk carpet, get a rubber accessory cargo mat, slap that down and call it a day! :D
 
mooglebunny said:
I think the door design bugs me though when you look at it and then at the windows where the cargo is.
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That's the bit I was confused about :p

rickhamilton620 said:
Very Nice! Congrats! Meh about the trunk carpet, get a rubber accessory cargo mat, slap that down and call it a day! :D
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I don't think I'll even bother with that. It really doesn't bother me, its not like I have to travel in the boot. :lol:
 
That looks like fun.

Wheeeeeee? :D
 
Lovely, another 172 owner. Good buy I must say, because they are really fun and rather cheap whilst being rather modern at the same time.

The timebelt change is expensive. It is supposedly a six hour job, so it is mainly a labour cost. It cost me roughly ?900 for a 3000 km service and a timebelt and alternator belt change. But if the conversion rates in my head isn't too out of date I think $AUD 1500 doesn't sound too bad.

Hope that you and your Clio will have a good time. Also, take it to a track. These cars can handle the track very well in standard spec. One of the reasons that I bought mine.
 
Der Stig said:
Awesome baguette transporter!
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ninjacoco said:
That looks like fun.

Wheeeeeee? :D
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Thanks :) And yes, there will be much wheee with this car in the future :D

Kangaroo said:
Lovely, another 172 owner. Good buy I must say, because they are really fun and rather cheap whilst being rather modern at the same time.

The timebelt change is expensive. It is supposedly a six hour job, so it is mainly a labour cost. It cost me roughly ?900 for a 3000 km service and a timebelt and alternator belt change. But if the conversion rates in my head isn't too out of date I think $AUD 1500 doesn't sound too bad.

Hope that you and your Clio will have a good time. Also, take it to a track. These cars can handle the track very well in standard spec. One of the reasons that I bought mine.
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I hope to take it to a track before long, time and money permitting. I've got another set of wheels with pretty ropey tyres on them that I hope to give a good send off at some point. I'm planning taking it for a drive on the weekend up the Sea Cliff Bridge and other very nice roads around here, so that will be another opportunity for ample wheee. And its easy to see how servicing is relatively expensive. The engine is really wedged in there, there's hardly any room to move.
 
these are excellent cars, nice to see you got one with the twinkly HID headlamps (judging by projector lenses and washer jets). Love these cars, would have one my self if I didnt have a lot of motorway driving to do.

Yeah the interiors on renaults of that age are not the best, but to be honest they aint that bad either, just gotta look after it because they are not so hard wearing.
 
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WirelessMonkey said:
I always find it weird how for mexico they put 15" wheels on it. Didn't realise it was the same for Australia too! Sign up on www.cliosport.net :) Few Aussies on there.
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I'd imagine the 15" wheels are better for coping with the shit roads we have. It does have a superb ride quality. Money permitting, I'd like to find a set of Euro-spec 16" wheels, or a set of 182 wheels. It came with a set of aftermarket 16" wheels which look alright, but not as good as the originals IMO so they're not going on at least for a while. And I'll check out that site, thanks :)
 
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