I've had it for about 5 weeks now. Its a 2007 197 F1 Team. Sitting on 88k.
So, not long before I bought it, the previous owner had pumped around £1500 in parts into the car. Mostly suspension and brakes sort of stuff. So thought it was good to go. I did take it for a test drive and stuff, and everything seemed to be fine. No warning lights, everything seemed to work.
When I bought it, I thought it was at least mechanically ok. But not quite the case. Had it in at a RS specialist, and it needs another ~£1200 worth of work to get it mechanically sorted, almost.
To be fair though, the first £500 was known, as was the timing belt and dephaser. But then had an ABS warning come on, on the way to the specialist. The bracket or whatever they sit on (stub axle?) was corroded, so needed replaced. The sensor can then went on do damage the wheel bearing or something, which is a part of the rear disc. So another ~£300.
I also had a leaky camshaft seal (or something about there), so that was an oil leak needing fixing. Luckily all the belts and stuff were already off, so was only really the cost of the seal to fix. Although my sump is apparently "sweating" too. Not enough to warrant doing anything about right now, but something that may need dealt with in the future.
Blooming syncros. 2nd to 3rd change. Mine was fine on the test drive, where I didn't want to hoof it too much. But once it was mine, and let rip, I could hear a very slight crunch with that change. Syncro's, so another several hundred to fix. Mines will have to wait until the wallet recovers a bit from buying the car, then fixing these issues.
Aerial is pants. FM reception is almost non existent. I fitted an aftermarket radio with DAB to mine, so I get BT and USB too, but that was an extra expense I accounted for, and usually do to all my cars. I might have a go at replacing the base later but that can wait.
Cruise control and interior lights stopped working on the way down there too. They were only fuses though, so not bad. Rear wiper aint working, but not sure yet what that is.
In all fairness. I knew about all these potential issues with these before buying the car. Thought I had done enough prior to buying mine to hopefully not have to deal with them all. But I was wrong. I had budgeted for some repairs also, but not quite so much, immediately.
I could have, perhaps, bought a lower mileage one after taking into account the purchase price, then repair cost. But then again, these issues may have all appeared shortly after purchase on one of them too. I suspect it's almost as much age related as mileage.
So overall, not a great start to Clio ownership. By the time I've bought it, and fixed it, I could have got my old Edition 30 back, which I did REALLY like, and had a much better spec. And was faster. Maybe not in the corners so much mind you. Oh well.
Next year on the track better be spectacular, ha ha.
