Viewpoint: Why I replaced a Porsche with a 20-year-old Renault Clio
- Danny Davies
- Oct 14, 2024
- 5 min read
In February of this year, one of my ultimate dreams came true: I got to own a Porsche. The car in question was a Schwarz black 944 Lux from 1988, complete with 'Cookie Cutter' wheels, the oval-dash interior with 'Porsche' script cloth sports seats, and of course, a pair of the all-important pop-up headlights - seemingly the perfect spec, and exactly the car I had been looking for - by no means was it a perfect example cosmetically, but mechanically, it seemed like a solid car. And, for a while, I absolutely loved it. It was great to drive, surprisingly easy to get comfortable with, and looked the absolute business; To me, it was the coolest car ever, and it felt incredibly special whenever I got to drive it.
However, this certainly didn't last - and soon enough, my 944 experience quickly turned into an utter disaster.
First of all, pretty much every time I drove the car, something broke. Of course, the 944 is nearly a 40-year-old car, and mine had done 120,000 miles (which is actually low-ish mileage for one of these), so of course, I wasn't naïve enough to expect that nothing would happen to it. Things were going to break, of course they were; I just wasn't expecting them to at the rate in which they did. First of all, the rear wheels rubbed against the arches, as the previous owner had spaced them out, and the belt tensioner whined on start-up before I even picked the car up - the dealer said they would be sorted before collection, but they weren't. Then, one day after picking the car up, the dash lights stopped working, so I couldn't drive it in the dark. Not a big deal, so I wasn't too annoyed about it. Then, the electronic issues began to really start; the car locked me out, locked me in, the pop-ups got stuck, so they turned into just 'ups', lights, windows, the air-con all stopped working sporadically before coming back to life; in other words, it turned out to be a bit of a shed. A great-looking shed; but a shed nonetheless. Therefore, with a rapidly growing list of problems, the car got booked in to see my friends at Revive Iconics at Mallory Park in Leicestershire. And then things went from bad to worse, in spectacular fashion.
It turned out that the 944 was unsafe to be driven on the road - It should never have passed the MOT it was supplied with, and, ironically, while the underside of the car looked clean at first glance, a serious level of corrosion had been covered up by rust sealant. The sills were rotten, the top mounts on the rear suspension were rotten, the seat belt points were rotten; the underside of my car basically had the same structural integrity of a rice cake. Plus, the brake lines were so corroded that they could have given up at any point, which wouldn't have been fun either - significantly reduced structural rigidity combined with no brakes is a scary prospect. Upon an MOT retest, it failed catastrophically.
The sheer amount of welding that the car needed would have cost more than what it was worth alone, and that's without rectifying any of the other problems it had developed. So, as a result, the 944 went back to the supplying dealer in return for a refund (via an incredibly frustrating 3-month-long battle to get them to honour their promise of a warranty), and I never saw it again. An unpleasant and disappointing way to end my time with the car, to say the least.
However, there were certainly positives from the experience - firstly, it taught me some valuable lessons about buying older cars, and that you have to be so careful when viewing them - especially when things get covered up like they did on my 944. Even when you think you're being thorough, you might not be, and that was a big lesson learnt. But, secondly, I experienced how much more interesting, exciting and just how much cooler older cars can be; yes, they can absolutely be a pain, and you can absolutely get it wrong, like I did with the 944. But you can absolutely get it right as well, and, as a result, I didn't want to give up on the idea of having an older car. So, the search was on for a replacement for JIG2 944 - and there was every chance it was going to be older than I was.
The obvious choice from the outset was another 944, as I did love mine - and just find one that wouldn't have cracked in half if it went over a pothole too quickly. However, I also have a thing for (mainly French) hot hatches; I looked at 205 GTIs, 106 Rallyes, even 309 GTIs, and whilst they are all epic, iconic cars that I would love to drive one day, and also hopefully own, they are all so expensive now. And, I didn't want to buy a cheap one, either; as I said, lessons had been learnt from the 944.
This is the point where I landed on the little Clio 182 you see above. I have always loved this generation of RenaultSport Clio, especially with the likes of the legendary Trophy which many regard as the best hot hatch ever. They are rated incredibly highly by pretty much anyone who has ever driven one, including Evo Magazine, who knighted every version with a coveted and sacred 5-star rating. And, lovely examples of standard 182s can easily be found for around a third of the price of a nice-ish 944 or 205 GTI, while also being far cheaper to run. It sounds like a no-brainer, but, insurance-wise, I thought a 182 of any variant would be out of my league entirely as a young driver, which is the one reason why I didn't consider a 182 earlier. However, this turned out to be a bit of a myth; and, after a few weeks of searching, I found this example for sale with ST RS Automotive in Yorkshire (link below).
It's a standard 182, finished in Titanium Silver over a black leather and Alcantara interior, and in 20 years, it has done 53,000 miles. Like every 182, it has the full-fat 2-litre, naturally aspirated,16-Valve 4 cylinder engine, which produces 182 bhp and 200Nm of torque - which happens to be fitted to a tiny car, that weighs just over a tonne (1090kg). After one test drive, my mind was made up; a full 'Driving' review is coming soon, but, as you would expect with such a big engine in such a small car, the little Clio is a rocket on B-roads, and it handles like nothing else I have ever experienced. Quite simply, it's the most exciting, exhilarating and involving car I have ever driven; a verdict that has only taken 48 hours to arrive at after driving it home.
So, there you go: that is why I decided to replace my Porsche 944 with a Renault Clio. The 182 is a bonified future classic, easy and relatively cost-effective to maintain for a performance car (although I've managed to use 3/4 of a tank of fuel in a day and a half...), understated, safer than any Hot Hatches from the 80s or 90s, and absolutely hilarious to drive at three tenths, let alone seven or eight; it's an another planet compared to the 944 in terms of the driving experience. I absolutely adore it, in other words; and I can't wait to document my future adventures with this amazing little car here at Macchina Media.
A massive thank you to Karl and the team at ST RS Automotive for supplying such an awesome car, and for a great handover experience. Find them below:
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