Renault Clio 1,6 Dynamique

As of now, Renault’s facelifted Clio will be represented by only two models in South Africa – the five-door 1,6 Dynamique featured here, and the three-door 2,0-litre RS. In place of a host of Clios in various trim levels and a spread of engine sizes, the 1,6 Dynamique has been prepacked with all the bells and whistles to offer an affordable “full-house” offering.

The Clio 3’s facelift, which in this case basically means a totally redesigned, angular front-end and other minor exterior revisions including a darker tint to the headlamps, new fog lamp housings and new tail-lights, generally drew mixed opinions from the test team. Those who took to the new front end praised it for making the Clio almost appear as an all-new model, but others who preferred the smoother lines of the prefacelift model pointed out that the squarer front airdam, headlamps and chunkier bumpers have taken away some of the Clio’s elegance. Remarks were even made about the Clio’s looks being dumbed down to Sandero level...

Although it could have been brightened up somewhat, the Clio’s interior remains a classy affair with perceived build quality among the best in its segment and excellent use of materials throughout. The soft-touch upper facia is a fine attribute and is supplemented by silver-finish trim aplenty – around the air vents, steering wheel-mounted badge, gearshift gaiter, door-mounted speakers and instruments, which make good use of red detailing for a sporty emphasis. As was previously the case, the Clio’s supportive seating and decent leg- and headroom for a car of its size found favour with the team, and the height-adjustable steering column coupled with sufficient basic seat adjustment meant that testers were generally comfortable for driving.

The most obvious addition to the Clio’s interior is a fully-integrated Carminat TomTom satellite navigation system with a 150 mm colour screen housed atop the central air vents. Annoyingly, the plastic binnacle actually appears as if it will fold down when, in fact, it is a fixed unit that just looks as if placed there as an afterthought because the rest of the Clio’s interior has basically stayed the same. The sat-nav is negotiated via a Bluetooth remote control and the TomTom system is one of the best of its kind in terms of the simple operation and the minimum technical knowledge required to find one’s way about it.

Full integration of the audio system into the TomTom unit means that tracks and audio settings now appear on the central colour screen, but the steering wheel-mounted audio controls offer little manipulation of music apart from volume and track listing, and getting through music folders through USB connection can prove very time consuming.

The long list of standard comforts is startling for a car of this size, with automatic climate control, electric windows all-round, electric folding mirror adjustment, auto-on headlamps and windscreen wipers, cornering lights and cruise control. The only real extra you might find yourself wanting is the electric panoramic sunroof.

Once seated, the controls take some getting used to, as is often the case for French automobiles, and the Clio boasted its fair share of quirks in this department. For starters, the transponder key “card” doesn’t appear to have any other obvious space except for inside one’s pocket, because its allocated slot is just underneath the facia’s central hangdown: the start/stop button finds itself worryingly close to the front passenger.

Tap the button once and the familiar 1,6-litre 16-valver thrums into life with a note that is both unremarkable and uninspiring. Despite relatively strong power figures of 83 kW at 6 000 r/min and 151 N.m of torque at 4 250, the twin-cam 1,6 four-cylinder struggles to move the heavy Clio 3 body in a hurry, even with a relatively short ratio five-speed manual gearbox. Throttle response isn’t the name of Clio’s game; it requires a firm prod of the right foot to get it going, and though not quick in the zero to 100 km/h stakes, the Clio is still an all-round joy to drive. It has enough torque to keep momentum going at lower speeds in traffic, while the smooth and soft engine note never gets unbearable at speed, even with the tachometer reading over 4 000 r/min at the national limit.

Just like the pre-facelifted model tested in July 2006, the Clio’s neutral handling characteristics have once again appeased the test team with good levels of grip thanks to the standard fitment of 195/50 R16 Michelin Pilot Primacy tyres, and a tendency for light oversteer on throttle lift off. The suspension is unchanged from the combination of MacPherson struts up front and torsion beam at the rear. We generally found the Clio to be quite nimble as well, likely enhanced by a revised electric power steering system.

The ABS and EBD-aided brakes are easy to modulate, but bite hard fairly high up the pedal travel – perhaps due to an overzealous Emergency Brake Assist (EBA) system. It did make for an excellent average of 2,83 seconds during our 10-stop brake test from 100 km/h though.

TEST SUMMARY

Renault South Africa has pledged to improve its customer satisfaction figures, which should go a long way to reassure potential buyers of the facelifted Clio that they’re in for a fair deal, and great aftersales service will do good to cement that commitment. We are told that great strides have already been made.

The Clio is, as ever, a wellrounded product with high levels of specifi cation and safety features (eight airbags and a five-star Euro NCAP rating) and, as a result, offers impressive value for money at R188 000.