Clio Big Steve Raider’s - Clio 200 Raider

[Big Steve - Raider]

Ever since Renault launched the Clio Raider (also called Angel & Demon or RS Sport Auto Edition in other markets) and Renault UK used my 5GTT Raider for a feature in Auto Express magazine:


I had a secret hankering to own a Clio Raider one day.. but given the original planned run of 50 Cars in the UK, I figured my chances would be slim to none..

As it actually turned out, renault only ended up building 28 Clio Raiders for the UK market (Guess they couldn’t sell them) so the Clio Raiders remain the most limited, of limited editions in the UK:


Yes you read that right... they only made 11 in Red, and 17 in Grey..!

So a week ago I saw an advert pop up on Facebay for a Red Clio Raider, for what I thought was the right money... I was on it like Sonic!! I NEVER thought I would own a Red car, but something about this car just flipped a switch in me, and I liked the look of it.

One owner for all its life, fully serviced and MOT’d at Toomey Renault in Southend, everything present & correct.. Within an hour of making contact with the chap, a deal was hashed out, and deposit paid.

Bank Holiday Monday (3rd May) 2021 @jas_racing and I drove down to Southend in the Clio 182 Cup, and drove back with this:





I’ve not yet officially introduced them to each other yet... but took this picture as a tantaliser:


So what’s my plan for it..? Just keep it and enjoy it. Unlike nearly all my other projects it doesn’t need a complete rebuild, so quite looking forwards to just the simple things.

Of course it needs a good clean up from being a daily driver, (you know I’ve got form) and a couple of little car-park dings I want to fix.. but nothing heavy.

Welcome along for the ride

 

[Adey]

Awesome buy. Is it meant to have a black roof too? How easy is a paint repair on one?

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Awesome buy. Is it meant to have a black roof too? How easy is a paint repair on one?

Yep, the Black roof is OE. The car is as it left the factory with no fiddling. And that’s how intend to keep it.

Paint repair...!? Don’t ask...! Thankfully it’s in really good order. I need to get a couple of car park dingers taken out, but when that’s done, she should be GOLDEN!!

 

[andybond]

Out of curiosity do you know why those colours were offered by Renault? Was the raider blue we know from the 5 not practical?
Was the model offered as raider in France as well, rather than Oreille?

 

[gordini stu]

Only ever seen a grey one , nice addition to the family. Can you get the parking dents PDR ‘d or has it got to have paint ?

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Out of curiosity do you know why those colours were offered by Renault? Was the raider blue we know from the 5 not practical?
Was the model offered as raider in France as well, rather than Oreille?

Thank you for asking @andybond , you know I love all this detail Sh1t...

From what I know/guess/assume the story goes something like this. Renault wanted to create a Run-Out model of the Clio 200 like they have done for nearly all their RS Models (Think Megane RedBull, Renault 5 GT Turbo Raider etc) and were looking to paint a few cars in this new Matt Paint that was (at the time) getting a lot of interest from the big German manufacturers.

They picked three bold colours, and offered GREY, RED and WHITE and launched the models across Europe and Australia as the ANGEL & DEMONS Range, and from what I can see they plan to build 666 pieces (hence the Demon moniker I guess...?)



Here's the press pictures from the car in Diavolo Red (Toro Red in Europe)

Givre Nacre (White)


And finally Stealth Grey (Hologramme Grey in Europe). This picture shows the special graphic that Renault put on the C-Pillar of the Angel & Demon cars, but not the Raider. The Raider got the Sugar Puff Badge on the B-Pillar:

Renault Clio RS 200 Angel and Demon Edition

Renault has made a deal with the devil on their latest creation.

carbuzz.com

I can only surmise that someone in Renault UK was not happy to offer a car for sale in the "Conservative UK" called the ANGEL or DEMON so decided to resurrect the RAIDER name from the old 5 GTT. They also decided to cut the number of colours from 3 to 2 and remove the Givre Nacre (White) colour and only offer it in the Grey and Red.

The car came as standard with a couple of the lickies & chewies available in the Renaultsport Range at the time such as:

• Recaro Seats Trimmed in Leather
• 18 Interlagos wheels as seen on the Megane R26R
• RenaultSport metal Gearknob

You had the choice of 2 no cost options when you came to purchase the car, Garmin inbuilt Sat-Nav, or Renaultsport Monitor. Thankfully my car was specced with the Renaultsport Monitor, as we all know, factory sat nav's sure get old & out of date quickly!

Have a look at the OE Brochure:

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Only ever seen a grey one , nice addition to the family. Can you get the parking dents PDR ‘d or has it got to have paint ?

The guy I bought it off reckons he took it to a few places to see if they could fix the dents, and was advised that because of the Matt Paint, no-one wanted to touch it because they were concerned about their ability to match the paint... I can only assume that he took it to a regular bodyshop that was looking to paint it and not PDR..? I'm going to run it round to my local dent guy who is very good, and see what he thinks..

The worst dent is on the rear N/S Quarter, and is pushed IN, so I believe it should be possible to push out, if he can get to the back of it, easily enough...?

I've read that the lack of gloss paint makes it difficult for the PDR guys to fix the dents, as they're not gloss... but I've also read that if you stick a bit of sellotape onto the paint, you have an instant gloss!!?

Will report back.

 

[andybond]

Fantastic information! Thank you

 

[DaveL485]

You can't help yourself can you hahaha

 

[Chris Smith]

Looks nice Steve, a little bit of love and job done.

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Looks nice Steve, a little bit of love and job done.

Yes I’ve got a lot of learning to do about Matt paint, but I’m sure it will come together..

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

JUST over 24 hours of ownership, and I’ve already dismantled the bugger..!

Wanted to see if there is access at the back of the rear quarter to get a good go at that dent... sure enough, there is loads!!

Took a pictureof the offending dent, so you can see what I’m working with:

It’s by no means massive, but ruins what is otherwise a VERY straight car!!

Noticed a couple of other small scrapes, but I think some of them may come off with some proper cleaning/polishing.

The front of the car is amazingly free from stone chips.. just look!
Of course, the engine bay needs some @Big Steve - Raider lovin... but you know that’s gonna happen right..


Thanks for reading

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Phoned my dent guy up today to see if he was working/available at the weekend... he suggested I bring it down today!!

Bish-bash-bosh and £30 later he’s pushed it out:


The longer I look at the car, the more I’m really falling for the Matt Red paintwork. There seems to be a fair share of other car park scrapes and shenanigans going on, that would have been wet sanded and polished out of a gloss-coat car, but what with it being Matt, that’s not an option.

I will see what the cleaning products I have purchased can do?

 

[Adey]

Top work

 

[Aldo]

Looks great! Nice that they came with projector headlights too. Not normally an option on other 200s iirc?

 

[Ricardo]

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Had a hour outside last night and whipped a wheel off to have a little looksie in there at the state of play.

Everything looks A~OK so I gave the arch and the wheel a little birthday:


Found a new wheel cleaner recommendation online so hunted down a bottle, and tried it out.

It’s flippin amazing stuff!! Just spray on, leave for a bit, and then wash off. Got rid of nearly all the baked on stuff in one pass!!

I got it from Euro Car Parts:

Euro Car Parts | Car Parts Online & In Store - FREE UK Delivery

www.eurocarparts.com

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

I’m a sucker for a private numberplate... and one evening toying with umpteen different configurations on the DVLA website and was 99% going to go for RA10 ERA which with a bit of sly spacing, and a squint, could read RAIDER A...

That was until I saw this plate for sale at the same reasonable money.. and I didn’t need any silly spacing shenanigans:


HUGE thanks to @Ricardo in the logistics of getting me this plate on the proper supplying dealer Toomey Renault plates

 

[Chris Smith]

Love it Steve, Toomey Vauxhall in Southend is where my Astra came from... Good old Southend

 

[Ricardo]

Absolutely welcome @Big Steve - Raider did you read the envelope

I've built up a decent rapport with all the departments at Southend Renault for probably over 15 years, especially the parts department. They're more than happy to help with any query.... Even if I don't have a Renault!

They did well to arrive today considering they weren't posted until 2-3pm yesterday.

And finally, it's always the small details like the OE plates that make the difference. They understood that and were more than happy to help