I was round at one my mates last night and the subject got onto track cars.

We've been talking about a few of us clubbing together and sorting one out for years now but nothing ever comes of it!!

I was looking on eBay last night and the Clio 172 and 182's don't seem to be that expensive to buy.

To me I think it'd make an ideal track toy!

Small, light, reasonably cheap and nippy!

Obviously there would have to be a few things done to it to make it ready for the track but I think it would be a good little car!

We only want it for a bit of fun and a play not to try and set any records or anything after all!

My mate doesn't seem too sure about a Clio as he wants to stay with a Ford but I can't see any Ford giving the same amount of fun for the same price!

He wants to find a mk1 Focus RS and get a couple of others in on it to spread the costs a bit but I can see that causing all sorts of grief with too many people.

What you all reckon?

 

Mate has got one, interior literally falls apart around him, electrics are pretty poor and it does feel generally cheap and flimsy. It handles very well but is pretty slow in a straight line.

However if it's just a track car then pull all the interior out of it and that's the first problem solved.

If it were me I'd go for an earlier 1.8 16v, they seem to take the abuse a bit better.

 

Ive heard of a few popping engines and gearboxes.

 

It makes me laugh when people critisise the interiors and build quality, they were designed to be light, nimble cars, obviously the build quality is going to be poor

Saying that, my mate has had a 172 and 182 and neither had rattles or electrical problems.
They suffer with dephaser pullys, seems to be the common problem.
Drove his 182 and it went well with such little weight to drag along.

 

Ignore all the above, engines are very strong compared to most out there. Mine has done 114k, I've done about 6 track days this year in it and mine has no squeaks or rattles. They make excellent track cars as standard. The only time they are weak is if they are modified on a budget as are most cars. Gearboxes admittedly can't take mega power but for the price of one, you will struggle to get better for your money. Chip and Porkie have modified ones and they both go well. The dephaser pulley is a costly part but is simply replaced with the cambelt, all it does is sound noisy when its getting on a bit.

 

Other manufacturers manage to build light, nimble cars with half decent interiors

Yup, madgit has apparantely got a good one so everyone else's experiences are irrelevant lol

 

I'd say the majority of owners would disagree with you. Hardly any posts on CS are about faults.

 

I've had a 182 ,172 and 172 cup and would go for the cup version all day long
No abs or climate to go wrong more basic interior but enjoyed it more than the others

 

Does make sense if it's predominantly track use.

 

The less people involved the better as it causes arguments, we had 4 in on ours and ended up selling as none of us would agree.

 

They're a fucking great little track car out the box. Make sure you have decent tyres, quality brake pads and fresh fluid and you're pretty much fit to start playing. Not hugely fast in a straight line but seen them run rings round Impreza's before now through the bendy stuff

 

This fabulous cars as std. Awesome fun.

oh and DO NOT spend mega money on them..... spunked over Ł30k on mine. Whoopsy daisys

I went in Madgits one and it was 90% as good for less than 10% of the value!

AND he still had a comfy 5 seater road car with cruise, aircon, leather seats and 40mpg when he wants!

Amazing little cars. So much fun

 

I had a play with a 172 years ago when i was on my way to work in the cossie before it was mapped and it had shit suspension.I couldnt catch it through the corners.But i nacked him on the straights lol.

A lad from work has just bought a 172 cup.He must of looked at about 6 cars easy.They were all donkeys.

 

Cheers for all the replies people!

I think I'll try to convince my mate to go down the Clio route!

Just don't want to spend thousands and thousands on something that's just meant as a bit of fun! Lol!

 

My thoughts exactly mate!

I can't be bothered with all the possible arguments there might be if there are too many involved.

Seeing as I'm the only mechanic that would be in the group, it'd fall down to me to do everything the thing needs and if someone else breaks it, I don't see that as being fair and then there's actually getting the others to shell out for the running costs................. More grief than it's worth IMO.

If it's just me and my mate that would be alright I reckon.

 

porkie how on earth have you spent 30k on a clio lol

 

Kichen Devil : heaven forbid, you also need to consider what happens if one of you bends it. Could cause a big fall out. Would be better if you could do it alone. If it is purely a track car, you should be able to get a reasonable Ph1 for a grand and then track prep it depending on what's needed for about Ł500ish. Be it discs, pads and fluid for about Ł200 and new tie rods, bushes, bearings, shocks with the rest if required.

 

my brother has had a 182 and a 172 cup. they are sound, fast and nimble. he tried to tell me to get one when i was looking at track cars but i love the focus so went for a st170 instead. comes down to preference. you ask on a forum about any car and you will always get mixed reviews no matter what car it is.

opinions are like bumholes, everyone has one, and we all think everyone elses stinks, lol

 

Yeah exactly, just because I don't like Saxos doesn't make them shit.
I just think that if a lad's driving one, then he's borrowed it off his sister.

 

Do a search!!!!

Discussed SOOOO many times I'm bored of saying the same things - I've owned 3 172's and a 182.

The crux of it is.

Pros - Awesome, Cheap, Fun, Economical, readily available

Cons, French monkey plastic and metal, odd electrical gremlins, aux belt tensioner.

 

Loved my 182,it's the only car that I would happily own again.Did over 30000 hard miles in it and the only problem I had was the exhaust was rotten,replaced it with a Magnex stainless system though.

Brilliant brilliant little cars,I still get a shot of my little brothers 172 but it's not quite the same.

 

Not the same? Explain..
Bar the inlet/exhaust manifold (can never remember which), they're identical..

 

I know what you're saying mate!

I'd like to do it on my own really but my mate wants to do it with a couple of others involved as well but I can see what's going to happen! We'll get a car and get it all ready and then everyone who wanted to be involved, when it comes to the crunch won't want to do or spend anything for it, they'll just want to use it and it'll cause grief! And like you say about if someone writes it off!

I don't mind if it's just me and my mate doing it as the car isn't going to be an expensive one so if it all goes tits up and gets blown up or crashed, it's no big deal.

If however there was 4 or 5 like my mate wants and we shell out Ł5-6K on a tatty Focus RS - whole different ball game!

 

How do you find the ST170 on track?

I did consider one of those (I've got one as a daily but I ain't using that!! ) but I just thought the Clio would be cheaper and easier to fix than an ST170.

 

Me and my mate bought this for track





It's not to bad with just the 2 of us but I wouldn't like anymore in on it, if you do sessioned days you will hardly get any track time

I've had a 172 cup track car (which was awesome) and also had a ph1 172 track car (not so good)

 

excellant handling on track in standard form.

this is a vid of me at llandow a little while back trying to keep up with my bro in civic type r.

this is my daily one iv had since new in 2005 but iv recently got a 53 to use for track next yr



if you dont fancy watching it all it gets closer from 7 mins on

 

Love the 172 cups there such a good fun car, that ibiza looks smart and there certainly cheap enough now, how do they compare to the clio's?

 

Out the box I'd have a 172 cup anyday over the Ibiza, I've owned that one twice now lol it's 350hp so fairly decent spec.

 

I love my clio, it's proper fucked now though after 2years of being my daily and being driven quite hard

Dephaser is fucked on mine and I have changed all the wheel bearings oh and it's not had a speedo for 18 months oh and I have no 5th gear as I stripped the teeth but that was Dow to leaking d/shaft seal (another common issue)

Sounds like a proper knocky 1950 London bus but its still running lol

And trust me it has been driven hard and will be again tomorrow and the next day

 

I have a 172 turbo. Goes well.

 

Explain what? His car is a completely different animal to mine which was standard apart from the exhaust.His is faster due to a few modifications,it's louder,lower and noisier.What more do you want to know?

I wouldn't say the 2 cars are identical in standard form either though.Not many differences but i'd rather a 182 over the 172,they look better in my opinion.

 

At no point did you say anything about either being modified apart from your exhaust being replaced with a Magnex, thus me asking why they're so different.

 

The 182 seats have handles at the top to get people in the back and the 172 is at the bottom onpf the seat

Means fuck all unless like me you have a 9 year old child who can't seem to pull the seat forward as its beside the B pillar and the floor

That's the only difference I noticed with a 182 and my 172,,,,, I need to buy a 182 passenger seat !!!!!! Same fecking pattern ect too lol

 

Ph2 172s are at the top. Quite a few differences between a Ph1 and a Ph2 lol.

 

Are they ? Cool, they a passenger seat from one of them then lol

I have a phase 1,,,,, it looks sporty where a phase 2 looks like a campus to someone who don't know clios

I'm tempted to stick my front end on a 182 as my car must be close to 130k and still think it looks spot on

 

Phase 2s are a much nicer place to sit in. For the more discerning gentleman!

 

I didn't say anything about any differences between them,driving his car is not the same as driving a car that belongs to me,I wouldn't treat his car in the way I would drive my own.

That's the main reason it's not the same.I didn't compare the cars in my original post,you picked it up wrong methinks.

 

Brilliant little cars Ive had a Clio 182 cup as a road car and now have a 172 cup as a track car.
If I do end up having to sell my track car, i will 100% be buying another 182 to use on road and track.

 

An Ibiza Cupra did cross my mind but I wasn't that impressed with them when I worked for a Seat dealer tbh.

I'd rather something naturally aspirated tbh as there's less to break especially as I've got a nasty habit of breaking stuff! The simpler the better!!

 

I do like the handling of my ST170, on the road anyway as I haven't driven mine on track!

I'd just like something with a little more poke for the track tbh.