Considering Clio 172 - reliability/MPG/things to check??

[steve_barrow]

Morning chaps,
Firstly, ive just registered here and had a look around; it seems a good forum with lots of info to read.

I currently own a 560hp Evo VII, and up until recently I did have a little Escort TDI which I used for my daily 100 mile commute to work and back. Last week though, the Escort’s cambelt snapped, and due to it needing a few other bits, I scrapped it. At the moment, I am looking for my first house with my missus, so need a big deposit, therefore the Evo is for sale. So, I am going to go all sensible and grown up, and just have one car! I need a new little car which I can use for work every day (so needs to be very reliable and good on fuel as the commute is over some twisty A/B roads) and also use for any weekend/night-time journeys I make. I think a Phase 1 or 2 Clio 172 will be perfect for a while, as they look quite good, apparently handle well and have a good bit of power for when required.

I just have a few questions though, which I want to make sure of before I go and buy one this weekend!

What are they generally like on fuel? I used to fill my Escort up, which costs approx £60 and got roughly 360 miles going to work and back. Will I get anywhere near this with a Clio? Bearing in mind I believe the fuel tank is only 40 litres, so will only cost approx £40 to fill up, going by a pro rata calc, if I get roughly 240 miles to a tank, it will be about the same cost, this possible? I have said £40 to fill above; but im not sure on that, can anyone clarify? The car will most probably be standard, apart from maybe an induction kit for a nice noise!

Also, generally how reliable are they? As I said, it will be doing 100 miles every day, approx 70 of which on a quite twisty A road, and 30 of which on a narrow, single track, bumpy fell road! So, it needs to be fairly strong and reliable. My Escort managed it fine for 2 years (40000 miles!); but went through 3 sets of front suspension arms (these are a weak point anyway) and a few other bits.

Are there any common issues I can check for when going to view one? Are there any known weak points which need to be replaced regularly?

I have searched, and couldn't really find what i was looking for.

Apologies for the huge post btw!!

Cheers

 

[The Boosh!]

Welcome mate...

Fuel wise they average 35mpg around town and on motorway runs can go up to about 45mpg. I have even had 50mpg out of mine at one point. In short - they are really good on fuel considering what they are.

Reliability wise I haven't had one single problem with any of my renaults. My 182 has never missed a beat and my old 1.2 was the same. There are plenty of specialists around if things do go wrong but if you buy a well looked after example with all belts etc and full service history done I can't see anything major going wrong.

Lastly what to look for - If you pay up to be a member there is a really useful buyers guide in the guide section which gives you the low down on everything to look at.

Hope this helps,
Luke.

 

[SteveS Cup]

Hi mate,

I've had my Clio for a week having just sold a 300bhp Polo. So I'm not going to be the mosdt knowledgable person but I think my experiences will be of interest to you.

Firstly, having owned a few high powered cars which would of left the Clio in a straight line I'm more than happy with the Clio's performance and for a FWD hatch the handling is simply sublime... The steering feels a bit light with the std steering wheel but my Momo Team wheel is being fitted tomorrow.

Petrol in it is fantastic. I got over 40mpg on my way home on the motorway when I picked it up and that was dropping it down a gear or two and giving it some stick upto a ton. I've used it this week to and from work in constant stop start traffic and i'm still getting 30mpg. I done 150 miles and it only used half a tank and the computer was still saying i had another 170 miles in the tank!!!!!

I've got K Tec coilovers on mine and they are so comfy in comparison to any other Coilover kit i've had... And I live in the middle of no where with shite roads so I know the importance of a "comfy" car due to pot holes, speed bumps and generally terrible tarmac!

I've also got the K Tec Stealth exhaust... If you want a nice noise I'd suggest one of these! It's got a cold air feed to the std air box with a panel filter in it (so not much induction noise which is perfect for me) but the exhaust makes a fantastic note on full chat whilst being nice and quiet when cruising down the motorway / dual carriage way.

 

[mr bognor]

I have a Mk1 172 and is a great little car very good on fuel i get about 38 mpg MK1 are more Raw that the MK2 and 182 etc but all great cars . Just hope you dont miss the turbo pull ( i came from a EVO 4 with a 6 engine in it ) . I did so i got a Fiat Coupe 20v turbo to go with the Clio

 

[The Chubby Pirate]

Welcome mate, first of all, pics of the Evo...

172's are fantastic for fuel if driven with conviction, definatley the best of nay hot hatch ive had anyway.

I went from Glasgow to Newcastle and back getting 43mpg in my Phase 1 172 and got 379 miles to the tank (that was driving pretty carefully) and also a tussle with a RR Sport to 1-- mph when the missus fell asleep lol

Reliability is great if its been a cherished example, as said, the cambelt must be done on all 172's now.

Whats the budget?

 

[steve_barrow]

Thanks for all the replies so far chaps

I am going to look at a couple tomorrow, so could just do with a little run down of potential issues to look out for when viewing one. If I do buy one, i'll be defo joining the forum, as I think these car forums are invaluable when owning a performence car.

So far, they sound spot on for what im after, the MPG seems amazing for the performance. Will be a little differernt to running the Evo, I get 10mpg on average regardless of what im doing (round town/A road blast or motorway!), and on a recent trackday at Oulton Park, got an average of 6MPG for the full day!!!!

The budget is a little low really for a mint one, I have approx £2700, so am looking at ones advertised for approx £3k.

I am considering going to view these tomorrow:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1439489.htm

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1289006.htm

Any opinions?

Oh and heres a few pics of the Evo for anyone interested:

 

[Revo Kev]

Hi Steve,

I've come from a background of 'higher' performance cars, and play with lots of cars through work. Bought my PH1 late last year as a daily driver to get me out of the company car. Was working to the same budget as well. Hadn't really considered a PH1, the PH2 looking a little newer and slightly more refined seemed to fit in better with my requirements. I looked at nearly 10 PH2's included some that were up for over £3500, only found one in worthwhile condition i.e. buy it and drive it. Which I could have had for £3200, low mileage, belts done, very good condition. Having arranged to pick that car up later that day I went home via a PH1 I'd seen, test drove that and bought it on the spot for over 1k less. It was nearing 90k miles but had all the consumables done within the last couple of years/20k miles and drove so much better than and of the PH2's I found... that's not saying it's better than a PH2, just it was in much better condition than anything else in the budget and is a great little car. From what I've seen speaking to other owners (both PH1 and 2) mpg is more like low 30's average, all the bits are cheap though. Hope that gives you something to go on!

 

[The Chubby Pirate]

Steve that Evo is sublime, a cedit to you!

£2700 will secure you a mint Phase 1.

Id budget for atleast £3200 for a mint Phase 2

I know what id prefer anyway...

 

[steve_barrow]

Thanks for the replies on this chaps

Well, I went out on Saturday and looked at 3 Phase 2 Clio's, the 2 above and another one I found for sale locally. Both the local one, and the top one of the 2 links above were quite tatty to be honest, and definetly not in 'good' condition as were both described in the advert. But the one in the bottom link was a little minter, in very nice condition, completely standard and the lad who owned it seemed very genuine. So, she came home with me! Only paid £2700 for it, which (providing there isn't some large underlying issue with it which hasn't surfaced yet!) I think is a bit of a bargain!

Im very impressed so far, I averaged at 40mpg on the way home, and 34mpg on the way to work this morning, and got 270 miles for the first tank of driving. It obviously hasn't got anywhere near the power of the Evo; but seems very good to drive; handles lovely, has a nice bit of power and the grunty Vtec type power band at 5k.

I'll get it cleaned at the weekend, and get some pictures up.

 

[Snails]

Glad you found a good one so quickly and easily! They are fun little car good for chucking around.

 

[Martin!]

You bought the one I had as my second choice to go view, luckily I found a mint one a bit closer to home, for the same price you paid.

I too came from Jap metal, 350bhp Scooby, and impressions of the 172 so far, after 5 days, is I love it! Handles amazingly for what they are, even though I need to get the cheap tyres off it this weekend, and on some of the roads around here, the 172 covers them quicker than the Scooby did, a proper little B road blaster.

Forgot how much fun a French hot hatch was (previously owned a GTi-6). It's nice to be back

 

[rclio2006]

Morning chaps,
Firstly, ive just registered here and had a look around; it seems a good forum with lots of info to read.

I currently own a 560hp Evo VII, and up until recently I did have a little Escort TDI which I used for my daily 100 mile commute to work and back. Last week though, the Escort’s cambelt snapped, and due to it needing a few other bits, I scrapped it. At the moment, I am looking for my first house with my missus, so need a big deposit, therefore the Evo is for sale. So, I am going to go all sensible and grown up, and just have one car! I need a new little car which I can use for work every day (so needs to be very reliable and good on fuel as the commute is over some twisty A/B roads) and also use for any weekend/night-time journeys I make. I think a Phase 1 or 2 Clio 172 will be perfect for a while, as they look quite good, apparently handle well and have a good bit of power for when required.

I just have a few questions though, which I want to make sure of before I go and buy one this weekend!

What are they generally like on fuel? I used to fill my Escort up, which costs approx £60 and got roughly 360 miles going to work and back. Will I get anywhere near this with a Clio? Bearing in mind I believe the fuel tank is only 40 litres, so will only cost approx £40 to fill up, going by a pro rata calc, if I get roughly 240 miles to a tank, it will be about the same cost, this possible? I have said £40 to fill above; but im not sure on that, can anyone clarify? The car will most probably be standard, apart from maybe an induction kit for a nice noise!

Also, generally how reliable are they? As I said, it will be doing 100 miles every day, approx 70 of which on a quite twisty A road, and 30 of which on a narrow, single track, bumpy fell road! So, it needs to be fairly strong and reliable. My Escort managed it fine for 2 years (40000 miles!); but went through 3 sets of front suspension arms (these are a weak point anyway) and a few other bits.

Are there any common issues I can check for when going to view one? Are there any known weak points which need to be replaced regularly?

I have searched, and couldn't really find what i was looking for.

Apologies for the huge post btw!!

Cheers

The reliability of 172'S depends on how the car has been looked after.
You get 'friday afternoon' cars and 'good ones', you just have to be very careful in the car that you choose, e.g. check the service history/how the current owner drives it/whether the cambelt has been changed is also a good indicator as how the current owner treats it, etc.

 

[mphgoose]

Did you ever go to Turnbulls Mitsubishi in York for servicing on that mate? Couldve sworn i saw it there a while back. Blimey lads, your 172s seem to get better MPG than my 1.6! lol

 

[Jamie]

My old 172 would do about 38mpg on a combined effort. Was getting about 300-350 miles from a tank. Really was excellent on fuel. The xenons and auto-lights are also nice touches for a cheap hatch.