project 2002 Renault Clio II 172

[Mr Laurence]

Bullet dodged I’d say. They’re rare, but not so rare that you can’t afford to be picky. The right one will come along eventually

[Split_Pin]

That's a £650 car imo.

[SiC]

8 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

That's a £650 car imo.

Going on current values more like £1k to £1250 I reckon. (Unfortunately)

[Split_Pin]

Go for a private seller, decent enough examples can be had for £1500

[purplebargeken]

You'll get one mate,  it'll be orange. Or silver. Probably silver. 

[purplebargeken]

If you spy one this way, happy to look at it for you.

[SiC]

You'll get one mate,  it'll be orange. Or silver. Probably silver. 

Inferno Orange is quite rare (baked bean as my mate calls it), Racing Blue is just as rare and commands a premium with Liquid Yellow being one of the most rare and virtually nonexistent. Silver is plentiful but I just, can't, do, yet another silver again!

Black is actually my preferred choice. Not to everyone's taste but there is a few about and my first car was black, etc.

[SiC]

If you spy one this way, happy to look at it for you.

Thanks! There has been a few of interest that have come up on the Facebook group, but they're all up flipping north and like 3 to 4 hours away.

[Split_Pin]

Happy to assist with viewing if it's in Central Scotland.

[Mr Laurence]

I don't want to derail things, but I spotted this Ph1 172 today and thought of this thread, and it just seemed too good* not to post. Dashcam screenshot only I'm afraid, as the guy in the black coat was the owner and I didn't really want to take any photos with him there. No photo on earth could do justice to quite how delightfully shonky this thing was. The front bumper looked exactly the same, but with holes cut into it for chicken wire mesh vents. both mirrors, the spoiler and a few other small bits of trim were mismatching colours. the lower half of the car and the bonnet had also been repainted, by hand, seemingly without any prep at all: you could see the wobbly unsanded filler underneath the paint, along with rust patches nearly as big as my hand and red oxide primer overspray on all the wheels. I suspect it's days are very numbered, and since its probably been the best part of ten years since I've seen any car in this condition out in the wild, I thought that it had to be shared somewhere before it's gone forever.

[SiC]

Boughted. Collection tomorrow. Local and only half hour away, so won't be an exciting collection.

 

 

 

 

[Mr Laurence]

Nice!! It’s not that black ph1 is it?

[SiC]

Haha no. Ph2 172. 2002 plate so no cruise or traction control unfortunately. Also done 150k.

But massive history file. Owner was a mechanic, got it from a customer after the aux tensioner failed and he didn't want to bother fixing. He wanted to strip out as a track day racer but didn't get around to it in 4yrs of ownership. Did low miles as owned other cars. Body a tad scruffy on the bumpers. No history of belts since 2007 as mechanic did it last through the garage he works at.

However drove well after a test drive on 50mph limits and then M4/M5 motorway jaunt. Possibly need bushes (arb looked a bit perished) but tracked true and straight. No bangs or knocks. Accelerated cleanly. Couldn't drive too hard as chucking it down. Got 4x nearly new Toyo Proxies, front discs done in 2019 and front shocks too. Totally original - which is what I wanted. Also non smoker owned and no pets.

MOT till June next year. RO02GZR for history. 

Was up for £1300. I offered a grand, as most I can take out the account from two cards and did the awkward silence thing while he and his missus debated it. Got accepted at a grand. 

Quite happy! Did buy in the wet, so I'll say full body condition report once I've picked it up. ?

[SiC]

I really ought to do these checks before I buy the cars ?

Thankfully reasonably clean.

The original Autotrader advert text. Not exactly the best sales pitch...

[bigfella2]

28 minutes ago, SiC said:

 

 

You know that's only 6 months of receipts for a Clio sport?

[SiC]

You know that's only 6 months of receipts for a Clio sport?

Someone actually went to the trouble of cutting out all their address on the receipts in the history file. Except after going through all that, they missed one out! I did wonder if they did that so they couldn't be tracked.

[SiC]

Anyway here is a picture of it


Going to pick it up sometime tomorrow hopefully.

[320touring]

Was working on the burds one yesterday..

A leaking caliper on one side, and brake pads to the metal on the other due to caliper sliders siezed.

Both calipers were siezed at the sliders. They were 2 years old.

 

This is your life now:)

[Split_Pin]

Monaco blue!!! The best colour imo. Love it. 

Well bought man.

These engines can handle the mileage, don't worry about that.

Enjoy!!

[SiC]

1 minute ago, 320touring said:

A leaking caliper on one side, and brake pads to the metal on the other due to caliper sliders siezed.

Both calipers were siezed at the sliders. They were 2 years old.

 

This is your life now:)

Thankfully I don't live up in Scotland. ?

Also realistically, I'll be doing well if I can crack 3k miles in a year. The one thing having many cars, your mileage on each goes down massively. 

[320touring]

That's the issue, the rear calipers do no work, and sieze up when sitting.

 

Car looks well, hope it's a good one:)

[SiC]

1 minute ago, Split_Pin said:

Monaco blue!!! The best colour imo. Love it. 

Well bought man.

These engines can handle the mileage, don't worry about that.

Enjoy!!

Yeah the fact it was looked after so well for 15 or so years made me reassured. Dephaser has never been done but from what I've heard and seen from mechanics and other places, it tends to be lack of oil changes that kill them. When the belts were last done, apparently it was still in spec. If I get the belts done again, I probably won't bother. 

It's probably due an oil change. Owner wasn't sure when it was last done but admitted it probably was around 2 years now. However in the last 5 years it's only done 8k miles. 

[Split_Pin]

Just now, 320touring said:

That's the issue, the rear calipers do no work, and sieze up when sitting.

 

 

To quote the learned gentleman "The only work the rear wheels on a 172 do is stop the back bumper dragging along the ground".

As I find more rust on my Corsa, I'm starting to wonder whether I should have got the 172 welded instead, as a better prospect....

[SiC]

3 minutes ago, 320touring said:

Car looks well, hope it's a good one:)

Well hopefully to get to 150k, it must have been pretty well looked after. Reassuringly the history file is mostly Renault dealer receipts for servicing. Coils+leads done about 3 years back. 

Emissions on last MOT look good too. 

 

?

[Split_Pin]

3 minutes ago, SiC said:

Yeah the fact it was looked after so well for 15 or so years made me reassured. Dephaser has never been done but from what I've heard and seen from mechanics and other places, it tends to be lack of oil changes that kill them. When the belts were last done, apparently it was still in spec. If I get the belts done again, I probably won't bother. 

It's probably due an oil change. Owner wasn't sure when it was last done but admitted it probably was around 2 years now. However in the last 5 years it's only done 8k miles. 

If it's quiet and the engine note and acceleration changes markedly at about 4000 rpm, it doesn't need changing.

[SiC]

1 minute ago, Split_Pin said:

As I find more rust on my Corsa, I'm starting to wonder whether I should have sold the 172 to SiC and let him weld it up. 

FTFY

[Split_Pin]

1 minute ago, SiC said:

FTFY

It's gone to someone who is doing just that apparently!

[SiC]

Just now, Split_Pin said:

If it's quiet and the engine note and acceleration changes markedly as 4000 rpm, it doesn't need changing.

Yeah no chatter at all. Started from cold, did struggle to start and took two goes. I think it was possibly just a bit flat battery. I restarted it shortly after and it started just fine. Also did a hot restart after the test drive and it restarted fine too. 

Acceleration was enough in 1st to just be on the edge where the Proxies wanted to break free in the wet. 

[bigfella2]

A tired dephaser even when noisy generally doesn't cause any harm, but if you do the belts it would be crazy not to do it if it's 15 year old. You will get your money back at sale time cos that's what buyers want and will pay a premium for. Oh and by the way, congratulations on the purchase.

[SiC]

1 minute ago, Split_Pin said:

It's gone to someone who is doing just that apparently!

If I knew you were selling it and even more so for scrapping, I'd booked a 25quid flight up to Glasgow to buy and drive it back down again! The paintwork on yours was massively better than this. 

Underneath this is pretty much rust free though. Usually bent sill jacking point (only on one side) and that's about it.