Took my Trophy for a real hard drive on Saturday, first time that I have had the Clio at maximum attack for a prolonged amount of time, and whilst the car performed brilliantly (speed and handling) I got a couple of gripes that I can't believe are on my Trophy as they were problems on my phase 1 172, which was built five years earlier! :roll:
1 - When the engine, exhaust etc is really hot, and my speed comes down to manoevering speed (you gotta slow for villages!) I can hear a heatshield coming into contact with something and making a nasty metallic rubbing noise. Anyone else got this? Just learnt to put up with it on my 172...but would be nice to eliminate it on my new trophy!
2 - During hard acceleration, verging on wheel spin, there is some evil sounding knocking from the engine bay as the exhaust hits the steering rack, had it fixed on my 172 by moving the engine within its mounts, but I just can't believe that in 5 years and numerous model updates Renault did not solve these issues!
Still, despite these little issues, I am still very much i love with what has to be just the finest handling hot hatch there has ever been. They way that it can just deal with some truly minging (ruts, potholes etc) b-roads is unbeliveable, and then when a corner with some nice new tarmac comes along, the speed that I can carry is just awesome, don't think any hot hatch that I have driven regularily (5 Turbo, 205 gti's, Williams, 172) could live with the Trophy!
1 - When the engine, exhaust etc is really hot, and my speed comes down to manoevering speed (you gotta slow for villages!) I can hear a heatshield coming into contact with something and making a nasty metallic rubbing noise. Anyone else got this? Just learnt to put up with it on my 172...but would be nice to eliminate it on my new trophy!
2 - During hard acceleration, verging on wheel spin, there is some evil sounding knocking from the engine bay as the exhaust hits the steering rack, had it fixed on my 172 by moving the engine within its mounts, but I just can't believe that in 5 years and numerous model updates Renault did not solve these issues!
Still, despite these little issues, I am still very much i love with what has to be just the finest handling hot hatch there has ever been. They way that it can just deal with some truly minging (ruts, potholes etc) b-roads is unbeliveable, and then when a corner with some nice new tarmac comes along, the speed that I can carry is just awesome, don't think any hot hatch that I have driven regularily (5 Turbo, 205 gti's, Williams, 172) could live with the Trophy!
