28 Jan 04
Power delivery is strong throughout the rev range, and the full 147lb ft of torque is available at 5250rpm (150rpm earlier than the 172). The 0-60 sprint is now 7.1 seconds, shaving 0.2 of a second off the 172's time. The front-wheel drive 182 does suffer from an element of torque steer, but it's nowhere near as vicious as the Focus RS. The gearchange is very direct, but not as short as you'd like, and a sixth gear wouldn't go amiss when cruising along the motorway - you're sitting at just under 4,000rpm at 80mph. A shift-up light is fitted to tell you when's best to change up, but it's lost at the side of the instrument panel that you don't really see it - and if you can't tell that the engine wants a higher gear by the exhaust note, you may need your ears syringed.
Even with the stiffer suspension and lowered height (with the Cup chassis) ride quality is not the crashing and jarring experience you'd expect - bumps, potholes and broken tarmac are soaked up effectively. What the suspension does give you is a car with exceptional body control when riding over crests or under hard cornering.
For £16,013 (the same as the outgoing 172) you get an extremely well-equipped car with automatic Xenon headlamps, part-leather interior, insurance-friendly alarm, air-con, cruise control, ESP and ABS. Purists may not be happy that there isn't a track-happy Cup version, which undeniably would be even more fun, but Renault feels there isn't the demand for it. Indeed, when it started offering the Cup with air conditioning at the end of last year, most buyers took it up - and then asked for ABS and traction control too. But a 182 with the optional Cup chassis (which Renault estimates 75 percent of UK buyers will choose) gives a great compromise between raw-edged performance and creature comforts, making the 182 one of the best small hot hatches around.
