27 Aug 02
I finished my thrash in the Clio Renaultsport 172 Cup (to give it its proper name) with a large grin. A quickly despatched text message to a colleague urging him to try one was met with swift reply: 'Is it as good as the daddy?'
Tough question. Wasn't expecting that. You see, he wasn't referring to any of the current batch of hot hatchbacks, of which I was ready to tell him that the Clio Cup convincingly whips the collective backsides. His question was a deeper one.
Is the Clio Cup, he wanted to know, as good as the Grand Master of Hot Hatchery, the Holsten Pils of front-drive, the Ronaldo of chuckability, the...well...the Peugeot 205 GTi 1.6. Tough call. It's been a while since I've driven a 205, and my Cup experience was brief too. So I shamefully duck out of the question, later blaming poor phone reception. Couldn't get a reply through. Sorry mate.
And meantime, back to the detail of the Clio Cup. Renault has shaved 89kg (eight percent) from the weight of the stock 172, leaving the Cup at 1021kg. Air-conditioning has been lost in the process, the spare wheel has been thrown out and, most gratifying of all, at £2,100 cheaper than the 172, your wallet's lighter by only £12,995. And you still get a CD player and electric windows (complete with thinner, lighter, glass).
Air-con aside, interior comfort is pretty much unaffected by the weight loss. The Cup has a nice steering wheel, sculpted and not-too-big, it adjusts for rake. If you set the seat near the floor and drop the wheel right-down you should get half-comfortable, and forget about the offset pedals and the fact that the wheel isn't close enough for easy twirling.
