Clio Williams

Thats Williams, as in F1-Williams. I'm somewhat surprised that nobody has started a thread about this car as it is touted by many to be the greatest hot hatch of all time. Renault's Clio was sent to Frank Williams' engineering team and the outcomes were the Clio 1, 2, and 3. Dynamically it was incredible, 150bhp in the light package making this car a raw but focused little beast, perhaps better still than the Peugeot 205 1.9GTi. The perfect match that mated the powerful engine with a brilliant package meant that this blue and gold little blob could humble much more exotic machinery. Renault's new Clio V6 has been compared with the Clio Williams and come off second best every time, and by some distance too. It had a lot to live up to and couldnt match the Clio "Willy". There is no doubting this is one of the great drivers' cars of all time, and the fact that its not that rare means you can pick one up for £8k. If only I could afford the insurance....


Most pages i found seemed to be french so here are a few sites, not great but you get a few pics, and an insight of the car from a few owners

http://members.lycos.co.uk/zclio/

http://www.carsurvey.org/review_20495.html

http://www.geocities.com/tangomad/

some pics are available on the google image search, a few nice ones of the Clio Williams in action. It was also a good car to rally.


cheers,
jay

Hi crayzayjay, cheers for mentioning the Williams clio, as I am a proud owner of the first to be made, the Williams 1.
And I noticed you have posted my link,(http://www.geocities.com/tangomad or www.williamsclio.com).
Im a newbie to this forum, but am not on others, so you will just have to bear with me. ;)
Here is a pic of mine...

http://upload.turbosport.co.uk/gallery3/200241421525907344.jpg

mahony,

congrats on owning such a great car.. ive been a fan of clio williams' for a while now... ive considered buying one several times now but im deciding to save up the extra £££ for a Lancia Integrale EVO instead :D..
your presence is very welcome on the forum, there arent enough of us UK based petroleads around.... :) unfortunately most of the people on these forums are american (Disclaimer: thats not the unfortunate part before someone jumps on my back) and therefore they have no or little interest in our european hot hatches.. as you can see your reply to my post is the first...

anyway, welcome to the forum and we look forward to your contribution, on all forums.. i like to hop around between forums :D

gotta go.. off to watch 5th gear! :D

cheers,
jay

I'm American and I think that is a badass little car. I think you underestimate the appreciation for hot hatches here. Unfortunatly we have no sense of the history because America never recieved the 205 or the clio-williams. Hell, I would buy a Clio-172 if it was sold here. The craze is spreading though with the Mini Cooper and Cooper S all over the place and a strong reaction (mostly positive) to the Focus SVT (ST 170).

Sorry for stereotyping but its rare to come across an American petrolhead who appreciates the european breed of "performance hatches". If youre looking forward to the ST170 I bet the Cosworth Focus will be right down your street :)

cant beleive i found this thread,

im not quite lucky enought to owna willy but got the the next best thing

a 1996 clio 1,8 dohc 16v. mine is heavily modified and the front splitter looks exactly like mine. i got one on the rear too

u guys should go check out cliosport,net

wongy

Yep, if anyone is interested in my Willy, have a look at WilliamsClio.com (http://www.williamsclio.com) or EMAIL ME ([email protected]).
I now have to sell it to fund my next car.

Cheers

Steve

out of curiosity, what are you replacing it with?

Originally posted by crayzayjay
out of curiosity, what are you replacing it with?

Thats ok, I dont mind you being curious, CLICK HERE (http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/t34649.html) to find out!!!

I'd go for the R33... kind of confused though, your sig says you already have an R33