Escy

i'm thinking of getting one of the original ones. what are they like? my other options are a Mk3 VR6 Golf or a Mk6 Escort 4x4 RS2000. the one i've been offered a swap for is standard apart from a pair of cams and a magnex exhaust system. the owner says its good for about 170bhp.

are they any good? its not made of tin foil like R5's? are they reliable?

i think i like them but something in the back of my mind says they are a bit gay because its a clio.

Stavros

shit hot cars

Rsmat

iTrader: (2)

i allways fancied 1 but was put of with stories of them allways


breaking down so wud like to know myself

Ryan

my best mate had one.

quite nippy little cars, handle well.

Bascially a R5 turbo with a new face.

so generally have the same problems.

Flimsy, panels dent very very easily.

Engine are generally ok, parts are very very expensive.

Budget at least Ł700 for an exhaust as there completely custom, i.e its either renault or a custom job, or one from Ktec.

jacko

handling is great way better than on a frst

Ryan

way better than on a frst

most things are

"flame suit on"

Escy

i wouldn't be supprised that they handle really well as my mate has a 1.2 and thats not too shabby on the bends.

its a case of typical shite french build quality mixed in with excessivly expensive parts? sounds like a recipe for disaster.

its done 118k, can i expect it to fall to bits or do they handle higher mileages okay?

Ryan

pmsl

yep you basically got it.

118k hmmmmmmmmmm

would avoid like the plague IMO.

Reno's have never like High mileage.

Red16

the 170bhp is very possible with the proposed mods, the williams (F7R0 engine tends to run a bit more than the standard 150bhp when the cliosport lads have attended various rolling road shootouts etc.

one of the lads has a williams, k&n panel filter, cams, stainless exhaust doing 14.0s 1/4 miles, so quite nippy

handling is great too, far better than an RS turbo, build quality aint bad either to be honest, not if youre comparing it to the likes of RS turbos etc, i'd say my clio valver is very much on par with my mates S2, but better than my RS1600i

Red16

not true! magnex, scorpion, mongoose all make exhausts for these cars, among others like BB tuning and K-TEC. i bought my scorpion stainless off ebay for 80 quid

the 1.8 16v exhaust is the same fitment as the williams too, its the downpipe and cats that are different, the mating flanges on the cat/downpipe are 90 degrees apart on the 16v to williams. the williams also has a tubular manifold on and the 16v has a cast item, but the 16v manifold is rumoured to be better flowing was advised by Nick Hill of Hill Power in derby to keep my cast manifold when fitting my williams engine.

digita1dragon

my mates got a valver and things are forever breaking. horrible engine bays to work in too!
I still like them but I would only buy a low miler myself.

Red16

as any other car mate, if its been looked after it "should" be ok engine wise, never really heard many problems of high mileage valvers/williams. but like you say parts are quite expensive for what they are meaning regular servicing and repairs may have been neglected!!

Red16

one you've worked on it a bit and know where things are and how best to get at them the engine bays not too bad to work in, it is a little cramped tho, a bit extra room wouldnt go a miss in the odd place

Ryan

you shouldnt have to work on cars

cars are only "worked on" when they go wrong

so when you say "one you've worked on it a bit" insinuates its going to happen on a regular occurance

Red16

well ive done a bit work on my car, engine swap n clutch n gearbox n stuff but it used to have a hard life also rebuilds n engine swaps on other valvers at one point nearly all the lads had them til they saw the light

Ryan

sounds like a reliable car to buy

just joking

Red16

fair enough buy a cossie they dont break

Ryan

lol

people who buy cossies know they break, they walk into the trap with there eyes wide open

cossy's were made for looking at, not being driving.

Red16

i'd buy one if i could afford one of the ones i wanted! wonder if my RS1600i going to be the same? always breaking down

Ryan

my RST used to be

but thats what happens when you build high spec cars, they break.

Red16

doh!!

RWD_cossie_wil

iTrader: (9)

personally I would just get a 1.8 16v, about 2k cheaper and only 10 BHP less

Red16

totally different car tho if you drive the two, its not the the 13bhp less its the lack of torque the 1.8 16v has!! you have to thrash it everywhere to get it to move, where as the williams is much better, has 80% of peak torque availabe from 2500rpm, where as the valver does absolutely nothing below 4500rpm. i know it doesnt sound a lot but if you drive the 2 cars you will see what i mean.

RWD_cossie_wil

iTrader: (9)

I have and personally I prefer the 1.8 16v, revs much cleaner willams are very nice though, depends what you like

Red16

fair play... very suprised at that, youre the first person ive encountered who prefers the 1.8 over the 2ltr

RWD_cossie_wil

iTrader: (9)

my mate's got a clio williams, k&N, stainless etc, and to be honest between that and my old sheddy ren 19 16v there was nothing between them, and his car was perfect , also they only rev to 6500 where as the 16v revs to 7000

Red16

mine doesnt revs to nearer 7k thanks to a raised limiter. not that it makes a great deal of diference like i'd like to drive a properly set up williams - lightened and balanced bottom end, high comp pistons steel rods, headwork and lairy cams, t/b's etc see how that compared to say a similarly powerful zetec turbo. never been in a fast N/A car before

RWD_cossie_wil

iTrader: (9)

trouble is with N/A tuning is its costs a facking fortune and you get small returns Don't get me wrong , I lke willams, but just cant really justify the extra cash over a 16v

Red16

too right, n/a tuning is well pricey for the gains you get when you compare it to forced induction tuning

i dont like the williams to be honest, i like the wheels but the gold colour is a bit turd and the blue they come in is just soo dull n boring, much prefer the valvers too, just not the engine

Escy

i wouldn't want a valver. i wanted a car a bit bigger than a clio really but i quite like the idea of a williams as i see them as something a bit different and a bit special. i feel there's more street cred in owning a Williams than a valver.

Dragon

Good cars IMO - no more unreliable than any hot hatch, certainly one of any age. Bits are available from German Swedish & French so you don't need to spend huge money on parts or get the help of a specialist. They aren't complicated, just a little time consuming as the french like to make things unneccessarily complicated and you'll need a set of torque bits as in most french cars if you're going to do any work yourself.

I don't agree with the Clio vs 19 whatsoever - the power to weight ratio plus its handling capability gives the Clio a huge lead and it will outrun any 19 with ease - I'll gladly prove it.

Red16

no shit!!! you wanna see the bolts the sumps held on with!!! the head on them is like a torx bit, so you need a new set of sockets to remove them bloody french!!!

BlueSmoke

Well I have had my Clio 1.8 16v for just short of a month and I love the car. The williams is basically the same car with more power, which means it too has an engine that mechanics claim is a real pain to work on and is very costly to put right when it goes wrong.

I've just had my clutch done but got lucky on the price. As I say, despite the downsides, I love my car and it's only pushing out 147bhp (just short of a standard williams power) compared to the 170bhp of the car you're considering.

rs shawn

If you are going to get a williams, make sure it's a 1 or a 3. When they made the W , they made it all soft and ruined it apparently. Then with the W3, they returned it back more like the original and made it a better car.

The 16v's aren't slow tho. My birds valver kept up with my S2.



Good luck with the buy. Make sure the front wings are not cracked as you cannot buy them from Renault anymore.

Rich_w

Love em

Quite a few on eBay. All under Ł3,5

Link

Stealth Bomber

Talking about street cred, with a Datsun in your sig

rs shawn

Only cos stoopid owners fit gold Willy wheels onto most of them !!

RWD_cossie_wil

iTrader: (9)

they standard in gold shaun

Paul J

RenaultSport 172s can be picked up cheap now. Not really any faster but newer and few improvements.

Escy

it earns its street cred by leaving so called fast cars behind. its near enough the same power to weight as a stage 3 (330bhp) saph, not bad for a cheap car.

the reason i think there is more street cred in owning a williams over a 16 valver is its top of the tree in that shape clio. its also rarer and more likely to be considered a modern day classic.

i can't afford a 172, they do seem like good cars though.