Finally! My First Car! 96' Clio RT 1.4 **UPDATE** Night Shot

[topgeartom]

Well finally folks ive got off my arse and got some pictures, een though the car hasnt been cleaned for about a week. But first heres a bit of a write up and mini review.

This is the main reason i havent been around JW for such a long time. Aside from schoolwork coming to a head most of my time has been taken up with driving lessons and finding a car. I passed my test on the 8th feb, and searched for a car for ages, i knew what i was after but finding it was another matter. After about a month of searching i found her about 40 miles away from me.

Ive bought a 1996 ('P'-plate) Renault Clio RT 1.4 with 74,000 miles on the clock

Its had 4 owners, with the last one being a lad of similar age to me. Basically, hes made a right twat of it. As the pictures below show hes added a set of 15" TSW Catalunya's which i have to say have grown on me. He has also, however, added a Rage back box exhaust, which is shockingly loud, and gets on my tits something rotten. Unfortuenately i dont have the money to sort that out anytime soon so ill put up with it - if im being honest its not all that bad when your giving it the beans and does sound rather throaty. the trouble is at 30 or 40 doing steady rpm's it just drones like hell.
The main thing hes done wrong though, is that when the sunroofseal started to take in water - as is very common on mk1 clios, he didnt nip down to the local renault dealer and buy a new seal. no. He went upstairs and got some bathroom sealent. The result is not very nice at all, but to cmpund the matter he then decided to run it through a few car washes, which spreaded all the sealent back over the roof. It took me and my dad the best part of 4 hours last saturday t-cutting the whole car, and most if not all is now off. I'm planning on getting the roof done pretty soon to get rid of the horrible white mess which curently adorns my sunroof.
The only other thing wrong with the car aside from the usually scrtaches and dings for its age is the state of the front bumper. Its cracked in a few places and theres some scrtaching just above the number plate. A new front bumper - unpainted, on ebay is £100 so that wont be getting sorted anytime soon.

Now that the bad points are out fo the way ill stat listing some of its good features.
Considering its a small car, it is pretty well specced, including, power steering, remote central locking, electric windows, electric mirrors, electric sunroof, cd player and height adjustable seats.

Perhaps the best bit of the car, as no surprise with small european hatchbacks is that its a real joy to drive. Honestly, i drove my sisters brand new 06 VW polo for about a month which might i add is a nice car. Having driven mine for a good 2 weeks though, id have to say id choose the clio over the new polo anyday. Everything feels nice and tight, theres farrrr more feedback through the steering even though both are power assisted and the gearbox is much more precise and tight than the polo. The main difference is the power however. The polo is a 1.2 3cyl which relies completely on torque to punt it around. It was pretty nippy from low revs but if you were trying to beat it around a back road it was shit. Beyond 2500rpm there was fuck all. Nothing. Everything just got louder with no increase in acceleration whatsoever.
The clio is consderably better endowed however, and whilst its no rocketship with a 1.4 its considerably faster than the polo, and any of the cars my mates are driving like puntos and 205's. The torque is exactly the same as the polo, but after 2500-3000rpm something actually happens.
I took the car out a few nights ago on a big-assed 60odd mile cross country bash, and belting round the yorkshire dales back roads it was a proper hoot. I had the arse out on a few corners with a bit of well timed lift off over-steer, and not once did the front push wide on any of the really tight corners. Needless to say i am very impressed.

Cash dictates i dont have very much money to do anything to the car with, but when i get some coins togeather im planning on getting a de-cat pipe which should liberate 5bhp taking the total to a heady 80bhp.

I have already bought an ITG replacement panel filter for the car, as the lad before me who had it fitted an air induction kit, however this was placed poorly and as a result simply sucks in hot air when the engine warms up.

Im also planning on getting a seat ibiza front splitter for the car, as after looking round the cliosport forums which i am now a member of, the car looks great with a bit less height on the front bumper.

Well if your still with me after listening to me drone on, here are some pictures for your patience.

To start with the obligatory custom shot.
http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/9572/clio001ps5qi.th.jpg (http://img106.imageshack.us/my.php?image=clio001ps5qi.jpg)
http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/4493/clio008plate0ke.th.jpg (http://img123.imageshack.us/my.php?image=clio008plate0ke.jpg)
http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/6918/clio009plate3xx.th.jpg (http://img123.imageshack.us/my.php?image=clio009plate3xx.jpg)
http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/8664/clio0126ln.th.jpg (http://img106.imageshack.us/my.php?image=clio0126ln.jpg)
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/5439/clio0145gv.th.jpg (http://img222.imageshack.us/my.php?image=clio0145gv.jpg)
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/7130/clio015plate7aw.th.jpg (http://img222.imageshack.us/my.php?image=clio015plate7aw.jpg)
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/322/clio0165bt.th.jpg (http://img222.imageshack.us/my.php?image=clio0165bt.jpg)
http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/1511/clio018plate2zl.th.jpg (http://img106.imageshack.us/my.php?image=clio018plate2zl.jpg)
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/2493/clio0192xm.th.jpg (http://img222.imageshack.us/my.php?image=clio0192xm.jpg)
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/6434/clio020plate1vi.th.jpg (http://img222.imageshack.us/my.php?image=clio020plate1vi.jpg)
http://img481.imageshack.us/img481/2117/clio021plate7zu.th.jpg (http://img481.imageshack.us/my.php?image=clio021plate7zu.jpg)
http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/5449/clio022plate0xq.th.jpg (http://img512.imageshack.us/my.php?image=clio022plate0xq.jpg)

[Daggernite]

Congrats on your car tom, my mate had the same car as you, I gotta say its a good first car. Not hyper fast, but fast enough to have fun with. I also like the colour of yours, its stands out but its easy on the eyes. Go on then be honnest, how fast have you got it to go? :mrgreen:

[taygunho]

Congrats TopGearTom. Enjoy your ride!

[Minacious]

TOM, YOU'RE ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!

Little buddy, how are you?

Congrats on the car.

[ARMAN]

Hehe congratulations Tom!!! :P Clio is a good choice :)

wow those wheels are 195/45/15 :shock: nice! :P

Drive save :wink:

[1zippo1]

Those wheels are very nice and a clio is one of the few small cars of that time that still look nice.

congrats on your first ride!

[blinkmeat]

As I said before -- Congrats ... Are you thinking Gumball 2007?

[topgeartom]

As I said before -- Congrats ... Are you thinking Gumball 2007?

Ohh you better believe it, that de-cat will have me passing CGT's and with one of those resistors from ebay i will surely be the fastest thing on the planet.

But first! i need to deck the bitch.

[gucom]

NIIIIICE :D id like to buy a clio too once ive got the money...nice colour also 8) congratz on ur new ride m8!

[ZfrkS62]

congrats tom! I had a feeling your absence had something to do with getting your license :wink:

[antonioledesma]

not a very new car, but a good one for your first. :D

btw, nice license plates :mrgreen:

[topgeartom]

not a very new car, but a good one for your first. :D

btw, nice license plates :mrgreen:

Hehe, sadly thats my photoshop skills at work, not the real thing.

[saadie]

congrats tom .... you finally got your first lady :lol: :P ...
the rims look cool .... wash em up ..... :mrgreen:

[stradale]

Congrats on your first car, Tom! Enjoy!! I'm sure you will.

[antonioledesma]

not a very new car, but a good one for your first. :D

btw, nice license plates :mrgreen:

Hehe, sadly thats my photoshop skills at work, not the real thing.

lol... of course I knew it, but it was a nice detail.

now take care of the car until you can get a 2000 model

[topgeartom]

Oh and drop her, she's affraid of heights :D

I intend to deck the bitch.

[TNT]

nice, i love the color, clean her up and she would be a fine ride. mod here and there and then gumball it :mrgreen:

[Pehtren]

Congratulation Tom, the car im not gonna say its cool, but its a very good car for the first car. :lol:

Love the rims and the exhaust :D

[rob940]

Hey Tom, my first car was a 1.4 RT 3 door on an M plate. I loved that car- still think its a great car even by todays standards.

I think its cool- I really enjoyed looking at your pics. Brought back some great memories. I lstened to "blood sugar sex magic" by the RHCP so much I wore the magnetic material off the cassette. I was working in Bury in greater Manchester a tthe time and every time I parked up I had to extract the stereo otherwise it would be nicked! This is before the days of slip out stereos, this was a screwdriver and cables job.

[rob940]

forgot to mention it was the same colour also.

[topgeartom]

/\/\/\/\/\
Hahahah thats cool man, glad its brought back some nice memories. I'm really pleased with it in general, great funt o drive, i just wanna drive it everywhere!

[TT]

Congrats dude! This will be a fun ride for sure!

[cooperluke]

It seems a fun car... small, nippy, with a capable engine! Be careful, and have fun! :D

[TransAm]

Congratulations on the new car, Tom! 8)

[topgeartom]

Couple more pics with my mates 205, sorry for the blur on most of them, the man cant work a camera.
http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/6074/dscn02337mn.th.jpg (http://img150.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn02337mn.jpg)
http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/9663/dscn02316jl.th.jpg (http://img150.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn02316jl.jpg)
http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/2797/dscn02267ab.th.jpg (http://img93.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn02267ab.jpg)
http://img102.imageshack.us/img102/4282/dscn02293cl.th.jpg (http://img102.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn02293cl.jpg)
http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/3777/dscn0225blurred9gu.th.jpg (http://img93.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn0225blurred9gu.jpg)

Just cos it looks cool:
http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/9564/dscn0225edges9aw.th.jpg (http://img48.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn0225edges9aw.jpg)

[topgeartom]

Just been out for a photoshoot - took this awesome photo (even if i do say so myself) probably the best pic ive taken in my life

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/8917/wellgudsmall4hj.th.jpg (http://img135.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wellgudsmall4hj.jpg)

[Daggernite]

^^ that is a nice picture actually, ill have to save it. So whos faster, you in ya clio or ya mate in his 205?

[gis]

That is a great pic Tom,i want to get a pic like that of mine but can never get it right.lol

[MIHALS]

wrong, wrong, wrong... :bah:

first, set the white ballance, so you won't get that yellow picture.
second, if you can, set the f number as high as possible and adjust the time for it
third, I'm yacking BS, so ignore me :slap: :mrgreen:

if you'll do it better Tom, I'll be VERY pleased to see those pics as I love night shots :love: :D :good:

thanx anyway and congrats for your ride :wink: (I could whisle to have such a car when I was in your age...)

[topgeartom]

^^ that is a nice picture actually, ill have to save it. So whos faster, you in ya clio or ya mate in his 205?

Well his is a 1.8 diesel so from low revs its not too bad, but if i slip it down a few cogs he has no chance :) Seriously though its nearly always me catching up with him as he just rags the tits off it. I swear to god he could make a reliant robin go farster than me in my clio.