Well, after tryingto get James K to sell me my old cosworth back to me, which I failed to do (But it's good to see he's committed too it), I treated myself to this..............

 

Nice. Little pocket rocket lol.

 

Goodbye!

 

LOL

 

Very nice Jim

Pity you couldn't get Saff back Not that its like it used to be

 

Congrats on buying one of the most unreliable cars ever!

However, when they work they are great fun.

 

"Unreliable Cars Ever" - No...... I've already had one of those, the TVR, but I did 8,000 trouble free miles in her, and when I took it into Europe I was flocked by petrolheads.

Pray - Tell me why do you say the Clio is Unreliable ???? Coil Packs ????...... Once you've fitted bosch items, you'll have no further problems, and I can hold it at full throttle at 150mph and it won't melt a piston................... Unlike some cars I could think of.

Cosworth : Yep - I Did try to get James K to sell it back to me, but James is committed too it and I believe it will come back even better than when I had her.

This is just a toy, but such fun. I know that a good RS Turbo would probably beat it cross country, but that's not the point.......... These are really potential classics and hold their money like nothing else in the car enthusiast world at the moment.

And lets face it...... Clarkson did say he'd have one in his perfect ten car garage. Having driven it, I know why. It's just so much fun, and a real petrolheads car.

 

Good thing its a ph2 otherwise you'd have put it in a hedge already! lol

Love these cars, there's an all black ph2 local to me and it just looks gorgeous.

One of my all time favs mate, love it

 

cool car

 

jim whats going on, you seem to be going the wrong way up the car scale? is this just a short term stop gap?

i.e m5,m3, tvr, then a v6? should this order be the other way round?

next you'll be telling me your going to get a hot hatch

hope your well

 

Nice, a GIRL at work has one, pretty funky litte car! I chased one down the lanes a few years ago in my Rs2000 Mk5, and it was good fun in the wet watching the back end stepping out on EVERY corner, fair play the guy could drive it well , had a big grin and thumbs up when we went our seperate ways

Jim, tell me more about your TVR experience, as I drove my mates Tuscan S, and loved it, but he got rid after 5 months due to constant probs.... Is it a backwards step from a Cossie?

 

Jim are you telling us there is nothing in the Cossie price bracket that's worth holding onto for more than a year? How did you find the M3?

 

Very nice Jim

TBH i have never really liked these...probably because of all the stories i have heard about them....BUT, i have never drove one so cant really comment.

Look forward to hearing a VERY good review of these from you though Jim....hopefully it will change my outlook on them.....

 

absolutely love these, more power can be had as well either by sticking with n/a or going for a s/c conversion check out youtube

 

cool car
theres been one knocking about round here for years same colour,proper cool looking little motor

 

See you on Cliosport Jim

oh and the ONLY person you should get to look after this.

Mark Fish motorsport in Harlow. MAN IS A GENIUS.

 

So what happened to the trevor ?

Steve

 

Lovely car ! is that a set of clio trophy recaros in there ?

 

that looks ace mate, enjoy it

 

I bet you dont own that for long Jim

I know 2 people that have owned one and they both sold within months

I hope you dont find it the same

 

my m8 had one in the same colour, nowt but problems with it (usually coil packs) and he paid 22k for it (mostly on finance ouch!) and sold it 2 years later for 13k!
in that time my cossie lost nothing in value....
he is on the clio sites still and you may come across him bayliss is his user id

steve

 

Well I really like it Jim look so lairy on the road!

 

hi jim
That looks like a lot of fun mate ,i would say it goes well .i could imagine the noise it makes with that v6 behind your ears on full throttle lo l.
Your after making me feel guilty now ,but rest assured jim you have first refusal on g88 should i decide to sell her .

 

These are so cool looking in Ph.2 form I think. Always wanted to go in one, bet they're a bit lairy!

 

love these, phase 2 is better then phase one,.

i think the turning circle is actually less than my crappy 306 gti6, which is pretty bad

would like one of these myself

 

looked into one of these, but got put off with lots of horror stories,
in hindsight i wish i'd had the balls to get one now, looks awesome, and yes will hold its money well, but maybe not an investment if your looking to actually use it as it could cost a fair bit in looking after it- but there again who the f~uck wants a car stuck in a garage 24/7.

 

whats the cause of the reliabilty problems then?

looks a lovely car though, i'd love one!

 

lush car i was lookin at one before the focus lol

 

Ooo

I've seen a couple of these and always wondered what the spec was, what is it??

I did notice no rear seats, therefore must me mid engined is it?

 

Long and Short of it is the Clio V6 (Phase 1) were all hand built by TWR on behalf of Renault Sport for a race series, and they had to build the required amount to homologate them for international motosport. Renault sent TWR a Clio Shell, a 3.0ltr V6 quad cam engine & gearbox, and told them to build a mid engined car capable of racing in a one make series. TWR did this, and produced a great little one make series race car. But the remaining cars which needed to be sold to the public in order to Homologate them, once sold to the public where not exactly suitable for your average Joe to handle, and proved dangerous due to a few issues, plus the added Pendilum Affect of the engine being in the back of the car and the race inspired suspension settings. The race series though really took off, and any remaining Clio Trophy Cars (The ones made purely for racing) are both very collectable and attract attention wherever they go. The remaining (Phase 1's) that Renault needed to sell to homolgate the race cars went on sale to the public, and wern't too well put together much like anything from TWR ! ! ! They had reliability issues (Weak gearbox when used to it's full potential, electrical gremlins as the loom was basically a cobbled together item which TWR put together and the supension settings (Alignments) which had been designed for the circuit with hard suspension, and slick tyres in mind. When the same suspension settings (Camber, Caster, Toe In/Out & wheelbase) was used on the cars sold to the public, and now on road tyres, the car became a real handful especially in the wet.

So....... the Phase 1 was a great little racer, but the ones that went on public sale and were snapped up by people who thought it looked cool (Which they do), but weren't exactly petrolheads or track day hero's.......but thought they were, The Result - Lots of accidents and bad mouthing that the car was a death trap, when in reality it was the same a taking any proper circuit car, putting road tyres on it, and selling it to your everyday chav........It wouldn't last long.

The road cars however sold out quickly in both France & the Uk, and Renault picked up on this and decided that this time they would build the Phase 2 (Of which mine is one of them), and produce the car as a road car, not a circuit car. Again all the cars were handbuilt, but this time at the Renault Sport factory in Dieppe (I'm sure I've spelled that wrong). The wheel base was lengthened, the suspension angles were changed, the track was increased and it became a much more road friendly car.

The body panels were all reproduced to production standards, as oppossed to race car standards (made using the same process as the dodge viper), basically a high tech plastic composite, and attached to the shell with a new bonding process which also adds rigidity to the shell which is already extremely stiff. Non of this was present on the Phase 1, which had poorly fitting panels and not really built to production car standards. The Quad Cam 3.0ltr V6 was given to Porsche to extract both more power, torque and a flat power curve, which they did a very good job with, the bhp doesn't sound too much (255bhp) but the torque curve is fantastic, they just pull from very low rpm, and after 5k rpm they howl. At the end of the day, they produced a proper road car with the same build quality as the rest of their production cars. The gearbox was strengthened, and 6 close ratio gears were fitted. The engine came back from Porsche with modified cylinder heads, cams, inlet manifolds & plenium and is a VERY reliable engine............ Let down by the Coil Packs, which gave up the ghost at about every 5k miles ! ! ! Most owners have now swapped these for the later Bosch items and the engine reliablity problems no longer exist. The engine is easily capable of 100k miles as is any modern engine providing it's serviced properly. So...... There is NO reliability problems at all.

Speed : About the same as a mildly modfied Cosworth, 0 - 60 in 5.8 seconds, Over 150mph. Not stunning by todays modern standards......... but that's not what this car is about. Think back to the Metro 6R4........ What an amazing car, what a motoring Icon. But in standard production form, it won't reach 150mph, and it won't do 0 - 60 in under 5.8 seconds......... But it's not what cars like this are about.

Production Numbers : There were officially 347 Clio V6 Mid Engined Cars Shipped over to England, a few arrived later, but very few. A car like this will probably NEVER be built again by a major motoring manufacturer........ They were the last of the breed, as was the Cosworth.

Collectability : Defnately........ In ten years time, the good ones will be selling for more than they were new...... I guarentee it.

Rareity : Very rare

Road Presence : It's a petrol heads dream - The previous owner decided to take it to Goodwood to go to the SuperCar Breakfast Club Meeting..... Obviously arriving at goodwood he was in a convoy of Lamborghini's, Ferrari's, and Supercar Exotica, of which he didn't consider himself to be one of, and fully expecting to go and park in the public car park and then go and view the exotica. As he arrived at the entrance and started to take the left hand turn into the public car park, he was met by gesticulating marshalls pointing him in the direction of the tunnel, and he was instructed to park with "The Other Supercars"......... Meanwhile Porsche 911's, Lotus's and cars worth many times what the Clio is worth were sent into the public car park. What more can I say.

Drivability : You have to know what your doing, these cars can be driven fast, but if you don't respect them and appreciate how mid engined cars handle on the limit, then you'll end up pointing the wrong way and sitting in a ditch. These cars are ideally for petrolheads who've done some track time (Not blowing my own trumpet), and are willing to take the time to understand how they have to be driven to get the most out of them safely. Put someone in the drivers seat who's come from a high powered hot hatch and races his mates in Tesco Car Park, and he'll have an accident in it in no time. Put it in the hands of someone who understands circuit cars and has some experience under his belt, and it's fantastic fun and fast enough to embarrass most cars.



As for the other questions - Why not another cosworth : Because I'd never find another one like G88 NMW, which is now in Ireland with James Kiely, and will return better than ever. Plus I'm very happy that it's in the hands of someone who appreciates how good she is, and has total commitment to bring her back better than ever, which I know he will. We keep in touch, and when she returns I'll be there.

Yep, quite a few owners have supercharged them, and they become a totally different ball game......... Check out this one. I know people say they aren't as quick as they should have been, but bear in mind...... They out accelerate a Porsche 911 C4 S, so I guess it's all relative.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNvWtlESSC0 - Supercharged Phase 1

Or there's always Clarksons view of the V6 (Which he stated he would have one in his perfect 10 garage).

The editor of EVO Magazine has one............. They must have something. Love the clarkson video......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp5iCKQ_2KU - Clarkson

Then you get idiots like this, which I will never condone - "Do it on the track, not the street is my moto" they give us responsible petrolheads a bad name, drive without any thought for other road users, and at the end of the day could be responsible for killing someone....... So if you disregard all of the above (But don't do it on the road, do it on the track), then this idiot is proving that they don't handle too bad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC8ni...eature=related



TVR Tuscan - They need a committed owner who always has a couple of grand spare. BUT - The most fantastic car I've ever driven and will overtake a Ferrari 355 up to 120mph. Everyone should have a drive to appreciate how fast they are. Well up there in the Supercar performance league. GET ONE, BUT GET A GOOD ONE, NOT A CHEAPY.

No I'm not at sea anymore, 16 years was enough. I now commute from Portsmouth to London four times a week (In a Peugeot 406 HDI Diesel) and work in the Network Rail Control Centre (Think air traffic controller, but for trains......LOL).

BMW E46 M3........ The perfect car, but not quite petrol head enough for me.

 

these V6's make a nice sound, and theres nothing at all wrong with filling a small car with engine, However i really just cannot stand the look of a clio for many reasons. having said that i can imagine its good fun

 

Jim,

A nice RS500 i could see you in mate...

 

LOL...... I spotted one I liked, but it's up at Ł30,000 ! ! !

 

great write up as usual jim ,i can imagine the sweet sound of the v6.

 

I didnt think the phase 1 handled that bad and it held a slide well, Power wise 230odd hp in a heavy car feels as flat as a fart but for me every car feels flat under 600hp,
I can see the attraction in them but not in my top ten of fun cars but they do look awsome.

Mark

 

lol @ mark the joys of having that sort of power eh fella

i have seen a couple of vids of these with a s/c conversion and that really livens em up iv never been a fan of any v6 cars tbh but i do like the clio v6

 

Mark - Anything will seem slow to you, but that's your fault...........LOL. Respect. The phase 1 was indeed 230bhp, but the Phase 2 is 255bhp with a much better torque curve thanks to development by Porsche. But even that would seem slow to you....LOL.

Yep, quite a few owners have supercharged them, and they become a totally different ball game......... Check out this one. I know people say they aren't as quick as they should have been, but bear in mind...... They out accelerate a Porsche 911 C4 S, so I guess it's all relative.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNvWtlESSC0 - Supercharged Phase 1

Or there's always Clarksons view of the V6 (Which he stated he would have one in his perfect 10 garage).

The editor of EVO Magazine has one............. They must have something. Love the clarkson video......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp5iCKQ_2KU - Clarkson

Then you get idiots like this, which I will never condone - "Do it on the track, not the street is my moto" they give us responsible petrolheads a bad name, drive without any thought for other road users, and at the end of the day could be responsible for killing someone....... So if you disregard all of the above (But don't do it on the road, do it on the track), then this idiot is proving that they don't handle too bad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC8ni...eature=related


.



.

 

Needs a YB in that...

 

that s/c vid is the 1 i was on about that thing really goes

 

nice