Has anyone owned a Clio Williams recently or in the past? I have owned a Clio 172 MKII before. Just wanted to get a feel for what they are like.

Cheers

I had the Williams' little brother, the Clio 1.8 16v. I LOVED this car. It handled like it was on rails, was much quicker than the released figures, although mine was decatted with a magnex exhaust. They really have to squeeze the block into the engine bay, and changing oil filters was a proper pain. Bear in mind its a French car, and you wont be disappointed with the little things that go wrong. It is up there with the Mk1 Golf GTi as the best hot hatch ever.

great car, only had one for a short period, but the power is great, handling isnt great in the wet but in the dry they are great fun . always hpi them as most of them have been crashed, also check the arches for rust, as they do rust if not garaged!

I had a 16v too which only gives away 13bhp to the Willy. Loved the handling - induction kit made it sound like it was packing 500bhp and never had an issue with it. It felt quicker than my previous 1.9GTi but carrying passengers absolutley killed the power :)

im another ex 1.8 16v owner, had one of the first 25 in the country on a J plate, awesome fun cars, to be honest nothing ive had since, including my 2 scoobs, have ever put such a smile on my face as the sound of the roar from the intake on that car, proper little go karts, id have one again in a heartbeat if i could find one in decent nick!

thanks for the replies. I really do fancy a Clio Williams. Just need to find a good example

I too had a valver and a 172. The 16v was quality! The williams had 13bhp more and obviously the 2.0l engine. Interiors are very comfy and williams are special edition so have all the blue carpets etc. Try to find a standard one if you can and as new as possible. My friend had a 96 N it was lovely. Most will have arch rust by now so I would expect that. Make sure cambelt has been done as it's expensive! Heater matrix is common fault too so make sure the heating works! Other than that just hpi check as said and give it a good look over. Check for signs of head gasket going as they too go!

Yeah again had a valver and loved it!

Amazing car and bags of performance. You really had to rag the valver to get the best put of it. It was gutless before 4k but once you got it above 4k mayhem breaks out and it just goes! The Williams is meant to have a bit more low down performance so a better all round drive aswell as a few suspension changes to make it handle even better.

Look out for rust especially round the rear arches.

As said heater matrix is a problem but check out the plug in the scuttle panel bit first as they prone to melting, which is an easy fix but can knock off a couple of hundred on the the price.

Gearbox is meant to be troublesome aswell. But a lot of people convert to the stronger 172 box.

I went to look at a Clio Williams today, but is was not the right example for me. Defintely want to buy a Clio Williams. Thanks again for all the help and advice.

There ok, but back to back a 172 would murder it.

I shared a stripped out Clio 16v/Williams as a track tool. Great fun, short video here Lydden 10/05 (http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-7604444398682159857)

Unfortunately the other driver had a massive crash in it but walked away.

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Pig to fix a no space around the engine

I owned one a year ago - i didnt like it to be honest, firstly i felt i was 18 driving in not 28 - attracted lots of wrong attention.

Make sure you get one which stops, i had to throw lots of money just to get the breakes all working, they rust on the arches quite bad, terrible to work on i still have the scars on that oil change i done lol.

The handling in the dry was A1 but add a little water and if your not careful the back end will flip......

Just didnt do it for me all in all. Ive made it sound worst than it was, it was only ok....

D

Thanks again for the replies and pm`s. MozzaITA, interesting to hear the other side of Williams ownership. I am going to look at another one on Thursday. The Williams would be a third car for the odd bit of fun and a run about.

Another ex valver owner here, had it 3 years and loved it. Superchip, decat, k+n and scorpion exhaust gave me 158bhp. Also had it lowered 55mm on apex suspension so handled like it was on rails though not in the rain! 17"s ruined the handling but looked awesome. My only regret is selling it last year for 750 quid!

hi there guys, noticed tht one or two of you are interested in clio willy's. i have one for sale...car can be seen on pistonheads REF:478241 take a look if interested...thanks

oh yea by the way, loved the clio! handling for a small FWD is like nothing ive driven before,gives you real confidence grip is incredible, bearing in mind ive had a Golf GTI, XR2 Turbo track car etc...1st impressions tho it felt a little spongey but you soon realise when on the b roads that the car is so well balanced, power breaks and suspension. toyed with the idea of coil overs but didnt want to ruin the feel of it!!! it simply loves the B's!!

I have one and love it :)

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b387/Lathafummi/CLIO/DSC_4572.jpg




Stripping it at the moment

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b387/Lathafummi/CLIO/clio120.jpg