Anyone had a Clio 197?

I had a 200, great fun as a toy. Not sure about it being a daily, it works as one as I ran mine as one for 3 years but it could be a chore sometimes. You can never switch off in one, they're terrible on fuel and motorways are an endurance battle.


Great fun though.

 

I'll second this.

And to put the fuel into perspective, my 265 is WAY better on fuel than the Clio was.

 

I had a 197 cup, fuel was about same or a bit less then my rs 250 day to day, but christ it was a fun motor.

 

They just loved to be rev,d, you cant help your self lol. Think mine done roughly 25mpg.

 

I loved my 197, by the time I was finished it had high comp forged pistons, silly race cams and ITBs running 230bhp through a Quaife diff and not a turbo in sight. Brilliant fun and on track it was so capable.

As a daily though, personally I'd love one for a daily if it was the right spec. No cup chassis and climate control would be perfect. Comfy cars, spacious interior, mine on the whole was a reliable and well built car as standard. Fuel wise I was getting about 38mpg taking it easy no problem, certainly better than the 225 I run now!

The low gearing can be teadious on the motorway but they were revised early 2008 to make the gearing longer so avoid any pre 08 models!

 

I had a cup, as said MPG was poor, Meg betters it and has better performance. However they handle superbly and are awesome fun on a twisty road. Build quality is better than Meg too. They are superb cars, I would have another definitely. RB is a great colour.

 

When I had a 182 trophy my best mate had a 197. As previously stated the fuel was shocking he was always running early 20's MPG and I was early 30's. However I must say I actually found the 197 to handle better! Yes I said it! I had the 182 for three years but I just found the pedals were set up better and sat a million times better!!!

 

I'm getting the same mpg as my girlfriends 200 and that's with me being heavy right footed she hardly ever puts her foot down aswel.

Strange choice selling the Meg for a clio though in terms of trying to save money ect

 

I've had two from new one of the first an 06 plate then I had a 197 Cup in 2008.

I still miss my wee Cup, I loved the basicness of it over the FF. It had a normal key, I didn't spec air-con only Recaro's and Black Speedlines and it was such a laugh. All in between the two cars I think I'd done about 40k miles.

I'd get another in a minute but it'd have to be a cup with Recaro's and colour wise for a 197 I'd get Racing Blue again or if was a 200 I'd get White.

As for running costs I can't say it bothered me at all. It's on par with the Megane to be honest and like the Megane it needs to be maintained properly and have good tyres and brakes to really enjoy it to the full.

It was a car where I'd just go for a drive at night for the sake of it.

 

I had an '08 197 Cup, and loved it. As mentioned by everyone else it was such good fun.

MPG slightly worse than my 250, hovering around 28MPG on the daily drive to work. Reliable and had no issues apart from rear brakes sticking. Covered over 50K miles and was very sad to sell.

 

I agree, the car was so much fun that I also just used to go for a drive just for the sake of it!

 

I had a few when I was at Renault.. Have to agree with grumpy... Driving one makes you always seem to be dialled in to properly drive it... Its not the kind of engine that you can relax with.. Like the turbo... The engine and gearbox seem to love high revs.. And the car really comes alive at the top end of the rev range... In the meg, cruising along in 4th or 5th gear you can just put your toe in and off it goes in a controlled sort of manner. The 197 you drop down 2 years and boot it lol.. Like you just let a screaming badger out of a box. Awesome fun! But beware it's needs commitment to tolerate it everyday... Unless you're doing short journeys with fun roads... In that case get one lol... Fuel will be crap though... And they are sensitive to the fuel you use... Only 97 ron +

 

I had a 197 white FF (it's actually for sale with ktec at the minute) and I loved it, great fun and never let me down once. Was a 58 so one of the later ones and had a new gearbox put in by the previous owner 25k (I bought at 26k sold it at 30k) so thankfully the common gearbox issues were not an issue for me. But watch out for them!

She ran at 27.4 pretty much all the time and that was driving to work down country road - about 10 mile each way.

 

I've had a 172, 182, 197 and now a 225...

Yes the MPG is worse in the 197, if you can get anywhere near 30mpg you're driving like a fairy! Worst thing for me was the gearbox which was just plain awful, and they're a common problem with mk3 Clio's too.

On the plus side they are great fun and do handle better than any of my other Renaults I've owned, and those Brembos work a treat too!

 

How were you all getting such poor MPG? There's no need to drive it like a race car everywhere.

One other thing worth noting about 197/200s is that they are disappointingly underpowered. IMO a 172/182 would leave it on the straights.

 

As we all know each car is individual however my friends 197 would just slightly pull on my 182 trophy yet I would waste my brothers 200?!!! They are all unique. Still....whichever clio you buy (can't comment on 200T) they are all superb! Absolutely perfect in every way as a drivers car!

 

Well I will say without a doubt the Clio is the better handling car, but the Megane has more grip. Probably a combination of weight, wheelbase, the LSD and wider tyres attributes to that.

People complained about the high seating position too but I loved it, you can see right down onto the apex your hitting

 

All you need is the Clio with a Megane engine. Best of both worlds and one of the best cars I've ever had.

 

It went like a stabbed rat too.

 

I had a 197 Cup. My 172 Cup was better handling, better economy and far quicker. Possibly the worst steering this side of a Fiat Punto I've ever driven! Total detachment from the road. All the power was at the top of the rev range too, so mid 20's mpg. Seating position far too high. Good chassis though, and looked the business! I believe they ironed out a lot of the problems with the 200.

 

Engine is a straight fit, you can use the cambelt cover from the Clio which allows you to use the main Clio engine mounts. You can use either a meg or clio gearbox, if you go for the meg box you use the megane gearbox mount, megane drive shafts (no modification needed) and megane gear linkage cables (reverse is in a different postion). If using the clio gearbox then no messing about, quicker acceration and it'll keep pulling hard to 145mph but 1st gear is all over very quickly.

You need to move the coolant expansion tank as the boost pipes route round that way. The biggest hurdle is the loom and ECU, you need to run an R26 ecu which can be programmed with all the Clio imobillsor codes. The Clio and Megane looms differ slightly but someone like RS Tuning can supply you one.

If you go with the 250 engine you''ll need to use either a Clio or R26 gearbox as the 250 box wont fit. Again youll need an R26 ECU which cant run VVT but thats no issue. If you wat anything over 320bhp you'll need a new fuel pump too as the Clio one can cope over that.

Any questions simply PM me

 

Lol... I think you were a little surprised Steve

 

In an ideal world I'd have both, Meg and Clio. I'm in the process of purchasing a 200 Raider. However I don't want to part with the Megane. I've had my R26 for three years and can honestly say what a great car it's been. I've never had to make such a difficult decision when changing cars in all my life. I know how good the Clio is as I used to have a 197 cup. Had this not been the case I wouldn't have considered a 200. I'm not a great fan of the new Shape Megane even though it's a good car.