Why did you buy your trophy?

[Ajr]

So many different reasons i'm guessing!

I bought mine as a daily driver to replace a boring VAG TDi barge. I have always loved french hatches, the handling balance and the way they handle bumpy roads is unrivalled by jap crap and german barges. Trophy specific, i always have to have good quality stuff, bottom of the range doesn't tickle my tastebuds, wheels look great(had a few sets of speedlines on old cars), recaros rock(had pole positions in old car), sachs suspension is top notch, one of 500 so rare, i have obsessed over trophys since the reviews started being published and with them now being a reasonable price i took the pluge.

My trophy is for road use only, 50 miles a day on country roads, was seeing a girl in gloucester(at uni), now seeing one on the other side of kent, go on long country drives when i feel like it, did 3 hours on sat night!, go to germany etc on holidays. The trophy won't see a track and will get the best treatment on road. I'm yet to see under 37mpg over a tank, always clean the car with the 2 bucket method, wash mitt, seal & wax, clean under arches & skirts etc, fill with v power, never go over 3k and part throttle till 10 mins after water temp has gone up, never abuse limiter, avoid potholes etc.

I love this car, get the feeling it's a long term addition to the fleet - 4yrs plus.

I have a dedicated track car for the fun, meaning the trophy can be used just as it's intended, on english A and B roads.

 

[Berty]

I had a Peugeot 206gti and wanted something similar but better. I'd liked every RS clio from the ph1 172 so it was inevitable I'd love the trophy. As for what sold the trophy over the other 182's it came down to the colour, recaro's and the reviews the magazines gave regarding the improvement with the sachs. I don't regret it at all, I've found it's not a car you can get in and instantly drive it to it's potential, but with time I've geled so well with it I can't think of what I'm going to choose to replace it in a couple of years time. I'd love to keep it as my second car if I can get the money for it.

 

[Stevie]

For me it's the looks, performance and handling all at a cheap price. There is no other car out there that can beat it for all of these things for so little money. I've always loved the RS Clios too and had a FF 182 before the Trophy which was great.

The Trophy is the ultimate Clio ever made and I believe Renault's best offering ever for a road car. The reviews back this up and no other hot hatch has got so much praise since the Pugeot 205 GTI.

I'm happy to admit it's my favourite car and wouldn't want anything else over one.

 

[Destined for Victory]

i bought mine to replace my Renault 21 Turbo the trophy was a good choice in my eyes though i do miss the 21T very much

 

[Matt X2C]

My brother had pretty much the first 172 Cup in the country when they were brand new and that was absolutely awesome and the best hot hatch at the time. He had it a couple of years, and i couldn't drive at the time but it felt like it flew and was such a good package for a reasonable price.

Having loved the 172 Cup (which was the first car I ever drove actually - not ideal with that nasty clutch :lol: ) and with it ticking all the boxes, fast, great handling, great looks, practical, pretty cheap to run and affordable too....I knew the RS range was for me as soon as it was realistic.

When I was 18 I wanted to sell my Punto and buy a mk1 172 but couldn't get insured on it so kept the Punto another year and having read the Trophy reviews I only wanted that, as it seemed the perfect step up for me. I bought my T800PHY plate 4 months before I got my car as my heart was set on the Trophy. When I was 19 I bought it....and boy did I feel special driving it home at that age!

 

[Johnnytheboy]

Big family car swap round left me with no vehicle, so I did a lot of homework. Car had to be substantially quicker than outgoing Puma, about the same size, and be a 4 or 2+2 seater. A lot of time poring over the internet and old Autocars narrowed it down to the Trophy which I didn't know existed until three weeks before I bought one....

 

[Drew196]

Originally ordered a 182 cup just before Renault announced the Trophy - had put down a deposit so stuck with it.
8 months later called into my local dealer just to pick up a light bulb and there was an immaculate 6 month old Trophy in with only 1800 miles on the clock.
Had just sold my flat to move in with the missus so had a bit of cash spare - hey presto one hour later had part ex'd the cup for Trophy No.196 - most expensive bulb in history!!

 

[George K]

Handling, handling and handling, also fairly civilised and in right capacity class for hill climbing. Pluses, amazingly good in the wet - downside (which is why I moved on) power to weight ratio is not special (and hard to make significant improvements without spending a fortune or spoiling the car) - as an aside the 197 power to weight is worse..

 

[oldmanspeed]

Wanted something to replace my elise 111s that was'nt quite so fair weather only, and be able to take more than 1 child at a time.

 

[scott]

Because they are awsome!!!!!!

After owning a FF182 and knowing what that could do i just had to have the best 8) .

 

[Cue]

a-b pace, fuel consumption, low insurance cost (compared to my previous cars)

 

[BenG]

Ive always loved the Clio Sport.
I was 18 when the Trophys were making there way out of the factory and couldnt afford to buy, or even insure one at that age but i had my heart set on buying one so saved some cash til I hit 21 and bought 1 straight away.

There were lots of reasons why I wanted the Trophy, like the fact it was a limited edition (and yes i like the colour ) . But the main reason was the handling and I wanted it for trackdays too so this seemed to be the right car for the job ! Never regreated it..

 

[g40steve]

a-b pace, fuel consumption, low insurance cost (compared to my previous cars)

+1

Rare as near me, think there are 3 locally never seen them on the road though.

 

[Olliev8]

After driving my mates ph2 172 he had when released i new i wanted a clio sport, once i had the money and a few years no claims the Trophy had been out a year and i just had to have one!
i love the colour and on driving it for the first time i feel in love!

 

[duffer987]

Had a 172FF and really liked the little Clios and fancied one with a warranty :wink:
At £13k brand new, there were no other new cars in 2005 that came anywhere close to providing the same bang for the buck. Being able to have tons of fun on B roads without doing stupid/unsafe speeds, which isn't necessarily the case with the current RS Reno's, was the most appealing thing. The fact its a cheap car to run is a bonus!

 

[Not a Diesel]

Because every car Mag a read told me it was the best.

(and I could not afford the supercars that it was better than :lol: )

So I had to find out for myself.

 

[D4VP-C(309)]

I bought mine as i wanted a newish car (i've always had £1500 cars lol), but it petrified me the thought of loosing loads of money! So to minimise my risk a started looking at all the different limited editions, had my heart set on an astra 888, 52reg £7500, drove it and how wrong could i be! Saw a trophy for sale (which my gf MADE me look at - as i've always disliked french cars - wrong again) Even from the passenger seat i knew it was for me!
Just goes to shows that two wrongs do make a right! :lol:
I've gone back to loving driving again now!

 

[quik5i1ver]

As with many others, I read so many reviews praising the car - it had to be good!!!

I had received my first promotion and Christmas bonus was approaching, the Ka was long in need of changing and I wanted a hot hatch. I spent many hours looking at the alternatives - at the time I focussed on the Civic Type R and the Mini Cooper S along with the 172 cup, 182's Focus ST (old shape) and Fiesta ST. During a Ferrari driving experience at Silverstone, I asked the instructor what he thought about the idea of getting a 172 cup, he suggested that if Ifancied the chance of locking up on slimey roads then it would be a good idea...!!! So the rarity combined with rave reviews was what swayed me initially. I found 002 was up for sale through allvehicles but I just missed it. Ended up seeing 154 which had more miles on it than I had initially intended to look for (15k in a little over a year) but my 1.5 hour passenger ride and honest previous owner were enough to convince me that I needn't look any further.. I had fallen for it!!!

I've never looked back since and I can safely say that there isn't another car out there that I would swap for the Trophy!

 

[mardi j]

I had an old mk1 MX-5 before, so I knew I wanted a car that was going to be fun to drive. I was a bit woried about going for front wheel drive after having so much fun hanging the back out on the mx5 but I remembered reading about the Trophy in evo magazine in their car of the year. A few searches on the internet showed they rated it top of the real world cars and 2nd when they compared it to all the exotica and thought it was worth a test drive at least.

I miss the convertible roof when blasting along B roads, but the Trophy more then makes up for that with everything else. The fact that it can fit more then two people and is quite practical is definitely a bonus, but was very low on my list of priorities.

Thought about a type R as well, but I'm not nessessarily after the quickest car, I want the car that'll be the most fun, so tempting as it was (especially with Honda's reputation for quality, and that V-tex engine), I went for the relatively weedy Trophy and haven't stopped grinning since.

Can't really go wrong with what is widely regarded as the best hot hatch ever