Oh here we go again, another one of these threads! Just listen to Warren, he's owned the lot. Every single time it's 'Oh I wouldn't buy a Trophy just because of the colour, it's no quicker than any other 1*2, the dampers cost a million quid to fix if they break'.
All complete rubbish really. The fact of the matter is, the Trophy is the culmination of 5/6 years worth of Renaultsport development. Everything that they learned from previous Clio's was put into this one brilliant car to make it the best of the lot, and the greatest hot hatch ever made. All of the magazines agree, the Performance car mag feature against the 197 Cup the other month sums it up perfectly.
If you can afford to get a Trophy, now is a great time to buy. £7-8k will get you a low mileage, immaculate condition one. A Trophy will out handle a standard 172/182/197 Cup on every road/track. I was in a similar position to you, I drove a 182 Cup and thought it was brilliant, then tried the Trophy straight after on the same stretch of road and was amazed at the difference in the two. I then bought the Trophy straight away and have drove various 197's since but none of them have compared to it. Best decision I ever made in buying mine, four years nearly since it came out and still nothing has bettered it. R26R maybe, but nothing else.
