"The clio looks faster than it is.."

[PB.200]

The car is fast you just need to drive it like your hair is on fire.

Have you thought that it feels slow in a straight line because its so planted and therefore you don't get the sensation the same? They are as quick as all the rivals and as quick as 172/182s and noone ever said they were slow.

 

[Graeme GTR]

this thread is getting further away from the original post as it goes.

He knows hes not gonna get 250hp out the F4R, he knows there isnt a supercharger kit for £1k.

The point was his mates thought it would be faster than it was.

I think the reason for this is that the Clio is a very good car and it often compared to cars in high 'classes' and price ranges. Nobody drives a Polo GTi or a Fiesta ST then says the clio was slow. They compare them to the R32, Civic TR and Focus ST/RS then are disappointed that the clio wasnt as fast, which it was never designed to compete in that class of car. Which is a compliment for the Clio really as its expected to compete at a higher level.

And IF you could buy a kit for £1k that would give you 50bhp I can guarantee there would be a line of people you could see from space outside the retailers door. You spend that on exhausts and coilovers so the engine upgrade would be up there above them. But it will never happen so its a hypothetical statement.

 

[Reecey]

The car is fast you just need to drive it like your hair is on fire.

Have you thought that it feels slow in a straight line because its so planted and therefore you don't get the sensation the same? They are as quick as all the rivals and as quick as 172/182s and noone ever said they were slow.

Id say my 197 was quicker. Every 1*2 ive come up against ive gained on them! Even a stripped out trophy ive kept up with! Find some decent country lanes and learn the road, then go there at about 3am and rag the nuts off the clio, and you'll find out how good the car handles and how the car performs at the higher end of the rev range. You'll be buzzing if your a good enough driver to do this! Ive kept up with porsches and not the bottom of the range porsche boxters, im talking about a powerful porsche the one with the big spoiler on the back. He even said when he turned off how amazed he was by my clio!

I think you've been disheartened by your friends saying to you that the clio is slow. Your friends probably drive turbo'd cars and think their untouchable drivers. We all have friends like this if you mix with other petolheads.

I have a mate who has an astra vxr! Biggest ****** going he is. Its a standard astra vxr and he thinks the cars the best thing ever. He drives at 100mph everywhere, thinks his a real top boy in this motor and even worse thinks his a real driver. He slates my clio, and im quite passionate about my car therefore i dont agree with what he has to say about it, and one day he was pissing me off as he was up my ass, i went to 5.5k in 2nd and i just let off going round these roundabouts, he couldnt even pass me, he eventually passed me on the 5th roundabout when the revs dropped and i had to build my way back up to 5k where he had his turbo to accelerate him on. BUT, i was the one laughing at the end of the day, my 2l n/a clio give that astra vxr the hardest time it'll ever have when he tried to pass me. I said on track it would of been a whole different ball game!

You just have to remember, that the 197 and 200 are nice cars, for some of us drivers out their they are too nice to max out the handling round a bend because people do not want to take the risk of understeering or spinning out into a curb or lampost, fence etc etc..(espechially this time of year!) But if you was to max out the handling capablities of the clio, believe me you'll wipe the smiles off your snobby petrolhead pals and their opinion of the car would drastically change!

As i said, on track its a whole different ball game. Ive been on track days and i found myself staying with cars well out of the clios league!

Cheer up mate thats all i can say! Sell up if you want to take an 'opinion' to heart. Most of us on here including me are mad petrolheads and we all have experiance when it comes to cars, just take a look at the replies on this post and reconsider you own opinion of your clio.

 

[Reecey]

I think the reason for this is that the Clio is a very good car and it often compared to cars in high 'classes' and price ranges. Nobody drives a Polo GTi or a Fiesta ST then says the clio was slow. They compare them to the R32, Civic TR and Focus ST/RS then are disappointed that the clio wasnt as fast, which it was never designed to compete in that class of car. Which is a compliment for the Clio really as its expected to compete at a higher level.QUOTE]

You've hit the nail on the head here! Im proud my car is compared to these cars. Most people dont do track days, so they can only judge performance from public roads. Not many people can test the true handling abilities of the clio on a public road anyway! Espechially when your driving someone elses car, its disrespectful to max it out! I wouldnt let anyone to it to mine!!!

 

[Fernandez]

Not many people can test the true handling abilities of the clio on a public road anyway! Espechially when your driving someone elses car, its disrespectful to max it out! I wouldnt let anyone to it to mine!!!

Apart from the missus who is driving miss daisy the only other person I have ever let behind the wheel did take the clio to the absolute max with my complete blessing. The fact that he races a Bowler Nemesis might have swayed me a little... :clap:

 

[Reecey]

Apart from the missus who is driving miss daisy the only other person I have ever let behind the wheel did take the clio to the absolute max with my complete blessing. The fact that he races a Bowler Nemesis might have swayed me a little... :clap:

Haha! Thats just different lol! :rofl:

 

[Fernandez]

Haha! Thats just different lol! :rofl:

Forgot to add that he loves the clio...took me out in the Bowler once and I nearly sh@t my pants

 

[Reecey]

Forgot to add that he loves the clio...took me out in the Bowler once and I nearly sh@t my pants

A true driver will always love the clio! My mate took me out in his Mitsubishi GT3000 3L V6 twin turbo 500bhp 4wd 4wheel steer! I couldnt even breathe under boost lol!

 

[fmp]

litchy, what do your 'petrol head mates that can drive' drive??

As it would be interesting to see what they are comparing it against.

And are they suggesting its not quick in a straight line, or on a decent a/b road?

As 'petrolheads' any of them say timed a lap around the 'ring. (i know some people dont like timing, but its actually a fairly decent yard stick for an ability to 'drive'.

 

[lukeeddy]

tell your friends to get on you tube theres plenty of videos of "slow" clios showing "faster" cars how its done

 

[Willis]

I meant to add to my original post in here, that don't let what your mates say or think put you off a car that you've built and modded to a very high standard. It looks the parts, we all know how good they are and every magazine and car critic in the known world has only good things to say about them.

As a few people have said, the Clios natural rivals are the 207 GTi, Corsa VXR, Fiesta ST, Abarth 500 and even Citroen C2, yet it's always compared with the bigger boys which the Meg' should really be being commpared with... This fact alone, that the Clio is continuously pitted against ''bigger'' cars and continuously beats them in tests and on track says all that you need to hear really.

As someone has said already but I think is a very good point, the Clio is a very very very stable car at speed. Doing 100MPH in a Clio feels like 60MPH in something like a Saxo VTS. I have a friend with a Focus ST and he doesn't have anywhere near the confidence in that as he did in his 306 Rallye when pushing on, he's spent a fortune getting it to handle. Something the Clio does pretty damn well straight out of the box.

I've modded mine a little because I wanted a firmer setup for trackdays and a little more audio pleasure. Although I see your point that ''if it's quick as we all like to think, why mod' it?'', fact is, if I had a 458 Italia, I'd want it louder and quicker. Moding is a disease and I'm glad to suffer from it.

 

[930Tech]

I'd stick with what you have and get some new mates :foxspeed:

 

[litchy]

this thread is getting further away from the original post as it goes.

He knows hes not gonna get 250hp out the F4R, he knows there isnt a supercharger kit for £1k.

The point was his mates thought it would be faster than it was.

And IF you could buy a kit for £1k that would give you 50bhp I can guarantee there would be a line of people you could see from space outside the retailers door. You spend that on exhausts and coilovers so the engine upgrade would be up there above them. But it will never happen so its a hypothetical statement.

I meant to add to my original post in here, that don't let what your mates say or think put you off a car that you've built and modded to a very high standard.

Thanks, someone actually read the original post, and yes it was a hypothetical statement and just an observation. TBH, I'm quite surprised by the response on here. To be fair, Friends didn't say it wasn't quick, just thought the 197 was quicker. They drive Mk1 RS escorts, coswoths, cosworth power baby tranny, M's, Lotus Exige, theres also a Porsche Turbo too and lots of stuff in between. Many feature cars also. They have also a regular stand at Ford Fair. After the Trip to 'the Ring' in March, they may think differently about the clio. Lets hope I don't return it back to being a CAT C, where it started!!!
The observation of an extra 50 bhp was purely that. Some of us will always be power hungry and understand what we've bought, just want the challange of trying to get a bit more. On that note, the chase for more power continues and got enlarged machined by 5mm TB to fit so back into the garage I go before it gets too cold.

 

[Willis]

I think we should go on the blag at K-Tec and see how much they'll knock off the Cam Package if we book in together!!!

Let us know how you get on with the TB thing. Ultimately, the ports on the head will only let a finite amount of air in, regardless of TB size, once you reach the limit of what they can let through then you'll stop seeing an improvement in that area. Unless you go down the head-work route of course...

 

[litchy]

I think we should go on the blag at K-Tec and see how much they'll knock off the Cam Package if we book in together!!!

What you talking about Willis. Sorry couldn't help myself lol. Thats a great plan mate.

 

[Willis]

What you talking about Willis.

I'll be looking to have mine done in May with the MOT, just need to save up.

Also, looking at what your mates drive, most of their cars are boosted, no wonder the Clio feels a bit weak to them!!!

 

[litchy]

Id say my 197 was quicker. Every 1*2 ive come up against ive gained on them! Even a stripped out trophy ive kept up with! Find some decent country lanes and learn the road, then go there at about 3am and rag the nuts off the clio, and you'll find out how good the car handles and how the car performs at the higher end of the rev range. You'll be buzzing if your a good enough driver to do this! Ive kept up with porsches and not the bottom of the range porsche boxters, im talking about a powerful porsche the one with the big spoiler on the back. He even said when he turned off how amazed he was by my clio!

I think you've been disheartened by your friends saying to you that the clio is slow. Your friends probably drive turbo'd cars and think their untouchable drivers. We all have friends like this if you mix with other petolheads.

I have a mate who has an astra vxr! Biggest ****** going he is. Its a standard astra vxr and he thinks the cars the best thing ever. He drives at 100mph everywhere, thinks his a real top boy in this motor and even worse thinks his a real driver. He slates my clio, and im quite passionate about my car therefore i dont agree with what he has to say about it, and one day he was pissing me off as he was up my ass, i went to 5.5k in 2nd and i just let off going round these roundabouts, he couldnt even pass me, he eventually passed me on the 5th roundabout when the revs dropped and i had to build my way back up to 5k where he had his turbo to accelerate him on. BUT, i was the one laughing at the end of the day, my 2l n/a clio give that astra vxr the hardest time it'll ever have when he tried to pass me. I said on track it would of been a whole different ball game!

You just have to remember, that the 197 and 200 are nice cars, for some of us drivers out their they are too nice to max out the handling round a bend because people do not want to take the risk of understeering or spinning out into a curb or lampost, fence etc etc..(espechially this time of year!) But if you was to max out the handling capablities of the clio, believe me you'll wipe the smiles off your snobby petrolhead pals and their opinion of the car would drastically change!

As i said, on track its a whole different ball game. Ive been on track days and i found myself staying with cars well out of the clios league!

Cheer up mate thats all i can say! Sell up if you want to take an 'opinion' to heart. Most of us on here including me are mad petrolheads and we all have experiance when it comes to cars, just take a look at the replies on this post and reconsider you own opinion of your clio.

If this is the voice of reason....The Clio goes up for sale tmw......Did he really call the Porsche as "the one with the big spoiler". True Petrolhead

 

[inwardnoise]

Simple with me

I love my 200 to f**kin bits

 

[Azza]

I have never found the Clio slow but maybe I've been quite fortunate with mine as mine pulls like a train throughout the rev range with no problems though the 200 I test drove didn't feel as powerful as mine!

I've drove my tattooists 400bhp Evo 5 and that was ****ing rapid but the didn't make the Clio feel slow like you would assume - at the end of the day I brought the Clio for its handling and its plenty powerful enough for a weekend toy.

Infact I find my Clio handles better and drives faster with the ESR/ASR switched off - the only way for it

As for the standard noise of the Clio: mine sounds like a rally car with the standard exhaust so I'm in no rush for a performance exhaust unless it just makes the car sound orgasmic as mine sounds mint as is

 

[Matt197]

know what you mean, there are times that I think this feels so slow but I think that's more to do with all the safety in the car, gives that feeling you are not going that fast.

But if you drive the Clio like you stole it, then you can scare the crap out your self lol

Like when I was in 3rd gear at4k revs put my foot down my friends that were in the car at the time were flung backwards into the seat and you could hear them gasping, quite funny.

All my mates think my car is an animal and when I let one of them drive it, he was very impressed.