So, after all your (but mainly Mick's) advice in a thread about 6 months ago (which I can't find now, but probably should have asked Wobbly to find for me, which he probably still will) I looked at a few smaller cars and ended up with the Clio RS Cup. I've only had it since Friday but I'm pretty stoked with it!
Sorry about the pics, I took my SLR but it was dead so these are from the phone and I'm not Mole
I was driving a Mazda 3 SP25 and holy moses, the difference!! The main change I think is the gearbox. The 'manual' mode in the Mazda was just a gimmick, it wouldn't change down gears forever and when it did there was no subtlety, it nearly tore your retinas off! This one blips the throttle, it blips the throttle!! It also cuts the throttle on upshifts so you get that cool little pop on changes. When you're still it will roll a little and you can feel it engage the clutch, it feels like a manual that you're not controlling,
It has normal, sport and race modes with each getting a little bit quicker on the shift, race being the only one that will truly hold gears. If you step on it in sport it will still change down.
The turbo lag is noticeable, but that's what launch control is for It's so good, pull both paddles back, left foot on the brake and right on the accelerator, the revs come up to 2500 and let the brake off. A big twirp from the tyres and it's off heheh
Good fun little thing. Pretty firm suspension so will see how I feel about that when the fun wears off.
It's got a tuned exhaust so it crackles and pops and that makes me smile. It also has red seat belts, It's like my own baby Ferrari
Sacrebleu - ees another bloody car!
- Vilante
- Master artist
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- Location: Sydney - Australia
Sacrebleu - ees another bloody car!
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- Exar Kun
- Sensible Mick
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- Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 4:46 pm
- Location: Canberra
Re: Sacrebleu - ees another bloody car!
w00t - Awesome buy dude! (no bias at all )
Head on over to ozrenaultsport.com and sign up. You'll find there's heaps of Sydney siders who get out for drives and meet ups fairly regularly and if you happen to find yourself down here sometime I'll show you some good roads abouts too.
Nice to see you went for the Cup. The black 18s look awesome with the white. You miss out on some toys by not going the Trophy but you've got the purist's choice (as much as an auto can be a purists car ).
I test drove one of these a couple of weeks ago and it was pretty mad fun. The salesman who took me out is an advanced driving instructor too so contrary to the thought that he'd hold me back, he actually encouraged me to stick it in race mode and have some fun. He was left foot braking and using launch control which was cool. Even got the tail out! I didn't find it had much lag, just that the throttle response is woeful in normal mode. Better in sport and about right for a small turbo in race - but then race is manual only and no ESP. I think manual in sport is how I'd drive one around. The ride is amazing for the stiffness and the chassis feels really well balanced. I did step out of a Lotus Exige into one of these though so the ride was bound to feel good. Still, it's better than my old Clio 172 on fresh suspension but also way stiffer and better composed.
Only 1500 launches allowed with the launch control and there's currently no reset so probably best not to do them every day. (I wonder how many ex-demos will have left on them?).
Awesome score - I'm pretty jealous. Would be better for me with a manual but as a car that excels as both a great city drive and something for the twisties and the track it's excellent.
Head on over to ozrenaultsport.com and sign up. You'll find there's heaps of Sydney siders who get out for drives and meet ups fairly regularly and if you happen to find yourself down here sometime I'll show you some good roads abouts too.
Nice to see you went for the Cup. The black 18s look awesome with the white. You miss out on some toys by not going the Trophy but you've got the purist's choice (as much as an auto can be a purists car ).
I test drove one of these a couple of weeks ago and it was pretty mad fun. The salesman who took me out is an advanced driving instructor too so contrary to the thought that he'd hold me back, he actually encouraged me to stick it in race mode and have some fun. He was left foot braking and using launch control which was cool. Even got the tail out! I didn't find it had much lag, just that the throttle response is woeful in normal mode. Better in sport and about right for a small turbo in race - but then race is manual only and no ESP. I think manual in sport is how I'd drive one around. The ride is amazing for the stiffness and the chassis feels really well balanced. I did step out of a Lotus Exige into one of these though so the ride was bound to feel good. Still, it's better than my old Clio 172 on fresh suspension but also way stiffer and better composed.
Only 1500 launches allowed with the launch control and there's currently no reset so probably best not to do them every day. (I wonder how many ex-demos will have left on them?).
Awesome score - I'm pretty jealous. Would be better for me with a manual but as a car that excels as both a great city drive and something for the twisties and the track it's excellent.
"If we can hit that bull's-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate!"
- Vilante
- Master artist
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- Joined: Thu Jan 05, 2006 9:32 am
- Location: Sydney - Australia
Re: Sacrebleu - ees another bloody car!
Thanks Exar, I'm stoked with it. I looked at a Polo GTi and it just didn't have the personality, and the looks are meh in my opinion.
I will head over there, cheers. If I'm ever down there we'll head out for sure.
I can't wait to get back in it, I even wanted to go to bootcamp this morning because it meant I got to drive there
Did you know there's a pipe leading from the induction pipe in the engine bay to up under the dash? That's why it sounds all throaty in the cabin! It feels fake but it sounds sweet so I'm OK with it
I will head over there, cheers. If I'm ever down there we'll head out for sure.
Well I only have it for 4 years max, so that's one per day haha! It does feel harsh on the poor girl, and a bit illegal lol!Exar Kun wrote:Only 1500 launches allowed with the launch control and there's currently no reset so probably best not to do them every day. (I wonder how many ex-demos will have left on them?).
I can't wait to get back in it, I even wanted to go to bootcamp this morning because it meant I got to drive there
Did you know there's a pipe leading from the induction pipe in the engine bay to up under the dash? That's why it sounds all throaty in the cabin! It feels fake but it sounds sweet so I'm OK with it
- Exar Kun
- Sensible Mick
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- Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 4:46 pm
- Location: Canberra
Re: Sacrebleu - ees another bloody car!
Yep, common thing to do now. Fiesta ST does it as well in this segment. The Trophy model even goes a step further to have a setting on the RS Monitor that lets you change the engine sound to a simulated GTR, Clio V6 etc - pipes it through the stereo. Pretty gimmicky! RS Monitor also has all the performance and data logging stuff. We recorded a 6.1 0-100km/h on the test drive. Not bad for a $30k hot hatch! (slightly down hill though haha).Vilante wrote: Did you know there's a pipe leading from the induction pipe in the engine bay to up under the dash? That's why it sounds all throaty in the cabin! It feels fake but it sounds sweet so I'm OK with it
"If we can hit that bull's-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate!"