Faults:

Cut my finger on the seatbelt feeder (if that's a fault!!)

General Comments:

The 172 Cup Sport is the next best thing to the V6 Clio. I've beaten Civic Type-R's, Focus RS' (in a straight line) and easily beaten by Subaru W R X's, (RS Turbo, GT Turbo's are a breeze!)

First time I drove the car I laughed the whole time as it's so quick, (it was in the wet too!)

I have to say it gets a bit bumpy with 4 people in the car, but on the motorway it comes into it's own.

Very reliable, 220 miles to the tank. 156mph top speed and I reckon it does more!

No mechanical problems - not a sign of a blown head gasket either!

Faults:

Rumbling sensation goes through the car when you are stationary - dealer can't find fault, but can feel it?!?

Spark plugs faulty - repaired 3 times!! airbag lights keeps coming evry month or two.

General Comments:

Very plasticy dull look inside, not much room unless you sit in the boot and doesn't handle too good round windy roads unless in 2nd gear.

Faults:

My car was bought fron new. after 6 months of ownership (6,000 miles) brokedown with throttle sensor fault.

Plus the ECU had to be replaced.

After one year of ownership car breaks down, this time injection sensor fault.

3 weeks later car breaks down again.

This time the trottle sensor has gone again, and also the oxygen sensor.

General Comments:

Disappointed the car broke down within the first 6 months. took 5 days to be repaired.

Even more disappointed one year later when faults appear again. Unable to drive the car into a safe place as the engine died completely.

Car was towed to the garage. took 5 days to repair. they were unwilling to provide me with a courtesy car.

3 weeks later, the car has broken down once again with the fault mentioned above.

This time a repeat fault was recorded and my car was fixed within 24 hours. The customer service was awful. I had to keep ringing them.

To top it off when I got the car back there was a huge dent in the side of the drivers door. which they denied.

Faults:

Front fog lights stopped working. This turned out to be a wiring fault that was fixed under warranty.

There are three different rattles which sound like they are from the interior trim. I will try and get these looked at under warranty.

General Comments:

This is a very rapid car. The acceleration is frightening in first and second. I don't know if it's a fault with mine, but the esp doesn't seem able to cope in the wet. The handling is fantastic as I had expected and the brakes are very strong - in fact they are the best in any car I have ever driven.

It could really benefit from an extra gear for motorway use though. At 80 miles per hour you running at just under 4000 rpm. I guess this is par for the course for this kind of car though.

It's a real shame about the rattles. They let the car down badly as it gives the whole thing the impression of not being very well screwed together when you're driving a long a bumpy road. Come on Renault - this can't be that difficult to sort out and would make a huge difference to the feeling of quality in the cabin. Having said that, the materials in the cabin all look and feel great though, and maybe this issue has been addressed in the Clio 182.

The only other gripe I have is the driving position. The headrest feels too far forward so I can't straighten my neck fully. Also, the pedals are offset to the right which feels strange at first, but you do get used to it.

As a driving machine the Clio 172 is fantastic. It offers the same kind of point and squirt driving as my mk1 MR2 was, but with extra chili sauce.