New Clio 200 owner in the North West

Hello All! Copied across from ClioSport as I registered there first...

For as long as I've been driving, Renaultsport have been making drivers' cars and I've always deeply admired them for it. As a Honda man I felt like they had taken over the mantle for making exciting and engaging affordable cars. With the low income of a student I read Evo magazine cover to cover and built up the iconic cars such as the Clio Trophy and then R26.R as real working class heroes; the sort of cars I would aspire to own once working full time.

Jump forward a decade and despite being a massive driving enthusiast and having owned quite a number of different cars, I've never dipped my toe into the Renaultsport pool until now.

A little about my motoring past, I started off with classic Minis as my father spent his working life building engines for them. I had (and rolled) a 998cc as my first car before progressing, having learnt to drive a bit, to a well modified Clubman.
From there I went Japanese with a series of mk2 Honda CRXs, modified to varying degrees, then an S2000 and more recently I got into trackdays and started a love affair with MX5s.

My partner and I are now fortunate enough to have a lovely BMW 435d as our nice car, I have a fairly ridiculous, borderline time attack, Honda-powered MX5 track car and a share in another MX5 as a cheap winter track slag. Our second car, used mainly for running to the train station and about town has been an Audi A2, but I desperately missed having a small, fun, manual road car.

That brings us up to date and we have replaced the Audi with a Clio 200 Cup.
I was looking at R26s (couldn't afford the .R) and other similar hot hatch alternatives, but decided I preferred the more modern feel and mechanical simplicity of the Clio.

Despite the car having utter crap tyres (why do people do this on drivers cars?), I've been thoroughly impressed with the little terrier! It's just so much fun and I can't believe Renault make something so focused as a normal, full production road car! For the first time in a while I keep going out in the evenings and just driving! :smiley:

As you can tell, I can ramble on a bit so I'll leave it there and pop some pictures of the Clio here, I'm chuffed with it!

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Welcome along, lovely introduction! :good:

Car looks ace and my god those Recaros look pristine! Bet you're scared of getting in and out of them :tearsofjoy:

You got any mods planned? :smile:
 
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Thanks for the very warm welcome! :blush:

I'm in Crewe, Cheshire and spend a bit of time over in Lincs as I have family there.

I'm an absolute terror for modifying cars so there are definitely plans afoot! In fact I've already been quite bad! The following meme captures my battle really well...

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I never listen to that man in he mirror so I'll start a project thread with what's happened so far and future plans.
 
Welcome along. Good car history & a great introduction. Enjoy the car. Looking forward to your project thread.
 
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Welcome to the site and to the world of Renaultsport. Never failes to amaze me how people gloss over and look over these cars then drive one and instantly fall in love with them.
 
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Indeed, in full disclosure I had my eye taken by a well modified FN2 Civic with B14s, Quaife and other good stuff.

Arranged to test drive it and a friend suggested I try the Clio too. We always talk about how we love the Renaultsport cars and on track the drivers always seem to be our sort of people so I arranged a second viewing of a 200 on the same day. The rest as they say is history!..
 
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Welcome to the forum Matt, and what a great introduction that was! The 200 is looking good, and very glad to hear you're enjoying it so much! Nothing like a 'f*** it I'm off for a drive' moment!
 
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