Rs Clio 197 Owner

[Melrider]

This is a belated thread but thought better later than never.  Was meant to post this at the end of 2014 but got sidetracked for close to 2 years hah which goes to show how happy I've been during my ownership.

 

After much deliberation and test driving various cars (NB/NC1 MX-5 & F1R27/197) over the past few months a few days ago I finally pulled the trigger on a blue 197.

 

Thanks to the many private messages exchanged back & forth with walkie86, apple3337 & buddy as they were paramount in aiding me in the decision making process.

 

I have rented many Renaults whilst on holidays in Turkey (Clio, Megane & Fluence) and have always liked them which made the decision that much easier as I was familiar with the product and know how reliable they are.

 

I was initially after a rwd car and had focused my efforts on an NB MX-5 but after getting in a few of them and taking them for a drive realised they were a tad on the small side for my stature.

Then I shifted my focus to the latter MX-5 model known as the NC1 which were sold between 05-09.  I found a couple nice specimens and found one for a good price in the country and had first dibs on it.  The dealer asked me to pay a deposit then the cup day came in between in and thought I'd pay it on the following working day but by then another salesman had sold the car to another person.

Similar thing had happened earlier with another NC1 aswell.  In the end it appeared like it wasn't meant to be and the more I thought about the pros & cons of using such a car as a daily driver the more it persuaded me to look at other options.

 

All along whilst searching the MX-5 I was keeping an eye out on this forum and car sales for potential choices.

My main criteria was that it had to have 2 doors & be manual and had a budget of between 10-20K.

I came across a few 225 clios with 2 doors but wanted an NA car as my previous project car was a turbo and this time around I wanted to steer away from them.   The wife wanted me to get a convertible Megane but I preferred the shape of the 197 Clio which is what I ended up with.

 

I also test drove an F1R27 which is basically the same as a 197 but with recaro seats better suspension and a different colour scheme.  It was nice & on low kms but the sports seats would have been too cumbersome to use on a daily basis which is what I en

 

After close to 2 years of ownership greatly enjoy using the car as my daily drive.

The car came with a fair few amount of modifications of which the only one that bothered me were the spax coilovers.  Due to living in an area infested with speedhumps it made the car hard to live with on a daily basis due to being low and stiff.

To alleviate this problem I took the car to Centreline Suspension in Thomastown whom played around with the settings of the coilovers and raised them by a few inches.  Since then I no longer have to crawl over as much over the humps and the grumbling noise the spax coilovers are known to make has somehow gone aswell which was a bonus.

The previous owner gave me 3 boxes full of stock parts such as healights, suspension, music player/speakers etc as they have all been changed previously.

It's pretty much like an F1R27 minus the recaros.

 

I get all mechanical work for my car done by Sims Motors in Brunswick whom mostly deal with French cars and can recommend them to others.  I came across their details on this site as well as from other French car forums.

 

I'm seeing more & more Renaults on the roads which goes to show the brand is getting more appeal which is good.

[apple3337]

Welcome back! Glad you are enjoying the car.