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Post by Andy C on Jun 1, 2017 20:06:41 GMT
 how upload imageHad the chance to have a quick blast in a Renaultsport Clio 220 Trophy over the Prescott weekend, which Dan G managed to blag from a local Renault dealer. The Clio 182 Trophy needs no introduction; some say it’s the greatest hot hatch ever. Even if it’s not top of your list, it’s gone down as a legendary car, and residuals are still strong. It was an enticing recipe; take a Clio 182 Cup, lower it by 10mm, fit lighter Speedline wheels, fit race spec Sachs dampers and finish in a special paint called Capsicum Red. Awesome. The new car, also badged a Trophy, has changes from the standard Renaultsport 200 too. Lower suspension, 20bhp more and new wheels. An Akrapovic exhaust is a £900 option, and was fitted to this car. I wasn’t hugely impressed with this car. The minuses heavily outweighed the plusses. I’ll start with the plusses: The chassis felt nimble and fluid, with good turn in and no body roll, and there’s no doubt you can carry some serious speed down a B-road. It rode OK in normal mode too. It looks fantastic, especially in a bright colour like Liquid yellow, and got a lot of attention parked up. It had excellent brakes; powerful and great pedal feel, with no fade, and the dual-clutch gearbox was responsive, quick and smooth. Minuses start with that gearbox. Yes it’s good for what it is, but in a Clio Trophy? It should be a manual and nothing else. It’s a disgrace a manual isn’t even offered as an option. The interior I think is a shambles. It’s full of nasty, cheap, brittle plastics, and the centre console looks a mess. The infotainment system works pretty smoothly, but it’s full of shit you just don’t need (see here . Get rid of it all, and just have a normal mode (If you really have to), and a Trophy mode. Done. The seat has good support, but it’s nothing like as good as the 182 Trophy’s Recaro. The engine pulls reasonably well, and is smooth when the turbo kicks in. It’s obviously fast with 220bhp, trouble is, it never felt fast at any point to me. This had the Akropovic exhaust, and sounded dreary and generic 4 cylinder. You got the farty pops in RS mode on up-changes, like a Golf R/S3, the difference is these both have solid, muscular punch to back it up, which makes it kind of bearable. I dread to think what the standard exhaust sounds like. The space in the back was also poor. The most disappointing thing for me though was the steering feel (or lack of it). Completely numb, lifeless and zero feel, yet very quick. Not the best combination. More feel and less quick would be much better. I think there’s potential here to be a cracking hot hatch - Manual box, another 30bhp and revise the steering and interior. I said it was quick across a B-road, but how much quicker could it be with more confidence inspiring steering that matches the potential of the chassis? Trouble is, this is the Trophy. These improvements should’ve already been done from the Standard 200 Cliosport, like they did with the old Clio. They made a good hot-hatch great. From my experience of this, they’ve made a mediocre hot-hatch OK at best, and that’s not good enough, especially when wearing the Trophy badge.  |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2017 7:16:02 GMT
Not a looker either, is it?
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Post by franki68 on Jun 3, 2017 12:42:50 GMT
It's always dissapointing when the experience doesn't live up to its reputation .
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Post by bryan on Jun 3, 2017 18:28:07 GMT
I was surprised how comfortably the Merc kept up with it cross country too....
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Post by Alex on Jun 4, 2017 12:09:42 GMT
I was surprised how comfortably the Merc kept up with it cross country too.... For an eco hybrid green machine to keep up with it, it really must need more power! |
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Post by Martin on Jun 4, 2017 12:28:59 GMT
It's all about the driver!
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Post by bryan on Jun 4, 2017 15:45:46 GMT
To be fair it was that slow a Volvo estate seemed to be stuck behind it too!
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Post by johnc on Jun 5, 2017 7:08:08 GMT
And I was looking forward to trying the Clio Cup version at PalmerSport in August. I hope it won't be a disappointment because the Caterhams have been retired from track use to let this in to the line-up.
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Post by humphreythepug on Jun 8, 2017 10:26:37 GMT
The Trophy also has 50% quicker gear shifts.
I haven't driven a Trophy, however I have driven the 200; in anger too.
The most dissapointing thing with the 200 was the slow gear shifts, you could almost count to 2, between a pull of the paddle and the gear changing, it was crap.
The Clio Sport has lost some of its rawness when compared to previous incarnations, however if you listen to Renault, this has been done on purpose to appeal to a broader range of purchasers and no matter what some people say, it has achieved greater sales when compared to earlier models, however it then alienates hard core Renaultsport customers; you can't please everyone.
I think Renault have realised their mistake with only offering the Clio as an auto as the new Megane Sport is to be a manual with an auto as an option but I wouldn't be surprised of the take up of autos will be greater than manual.
I'm in two minds about the whole auto vs manual debate on a "hot hatch", all supercars are of an auto nature now and have been for some time, as are performance saloons and many hot hatches (RS3, Golf R, for example) and no one complains, why does the hot hatch get such a raw deal, this is the future.
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Post by Tim on Jun 8, 2017 11:28:39 GMT
That's fair enough but it comes across that Renault have been very slow to react to the criticisms - the 200's slow gearbox was mentioned from day 1.
They could've surely also offered a Cup version with the option of a manual gearbox?
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Post by humphreythepug on Jun 8, 2017 12:14:34 GMT
That's fair enough but it comes across that Renault have been very slow to react to the criticisms - the 200's slow gearbox was mentioned from day 1. They could've surely also offered a Cup version with the option of a manual gearbox? I remember the training on the car and everyone brought up the slow gear change, the trainers explained that the actual gearchange was very quick, it was the software that told the gears to change from the pull of the paddle, which was the issue and slowing things down and a fix was already in hand, however it never materialised until the trophy was launched 2 odd years later. I guess as the Clio 200 was engineered as an auto from the outset due to Renault's belief that an auto was the way forward, then a manual never figured; why would it as Renault belived auto was the future, they must have got this belief from extensive research, potentially they made a mistake and I would imagine the fact that Megane is going to be offered with an auto and a manual, reinforces that it was an oversite. Obviously to then offer a manual on the 200/220 at a later date would cost too much to develop. |
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Post by Tim on Jun 8, 2017 12:28:48 GMT
Yes, except BMW managed it on the E60 for the US market on a much lower sales volume.
They could be right about the auto preference though - look how many, for example, year old BMW 320s are auto.
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Post by Blarno on Jun 28, 2017 11:01:27 GMT
The lack of a manual would put me off buying a new Clio RS.
That and it being 5 door only.
And the synthesised exhaust sound.
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