Forget for a moment the less-than-sterling after-sales service, the horror stories where people wait months for small parts to arrive from Europe, or the tragic resale values; Renault knows how to make good hatches and the Clio Gordini is the real deal.
Put aside for a moment Renault’s current crop of great hot hatches; you can look back as far as the late ’70s to the Renault 5 Alpine to trace the French manufacturer’s hot hatch lineage. The latter pre-dates the original VW Golf GTI, even though the German car is credited with creating the segment.
There has been a barrage of hot models from Renault – affectionately referred to as La Regie – over the years. Among these are the Renault 5 GT, a mid-engined turbocharged monster of rallying fame, and various Clio models, including the famed Williams version. More recently, cars such as the Megane RS have impressed hugely. Just a few days ago, the Megane RS Trophy set a new lap record for front-wheel drive cars around the Nurburgring Nordschleife. This car, based on the Megane RS model, is near or at the top of its class and is a turbocharged model that feeds oodles of power and torque to the front wheels.
Of course, there are cars in that league that use four-wheel drive (ie Subaru WRX and Golf R) to keep power in check, but for me a good hot hatch is small, nimble car with a chuckable demeanour and a normally aspirated motor. No car meets this criteria more than the Clio RS.
Following its recent local launch, I had a Gordini model in my care for a few days some weeks back and I loved every moment of it. The “regular” Clio RS model is entertaining enough but Gordino series Clios have Renault’s more racy “Cup” chassis with retuned suspension for even quicker responses as standard fare.
The engine is a real zinger, too. It is a 2,0-litre, multi-valve unit that produces 148 kW and 215 N.m of twist action at a relatively high 5 400 r/min. It revs cleanly and eagerly passes the 7 000 r/min mark. It’s a powerplant that relishes high revs, with peak power produced at a peaky 7 100 r/min. Each time you pulls away from a standstill, you just feel the urge to hear the full crescendo of revs. And it never feels strained as the bottom-end feels like it has been lightened and balanced.
A short shift, close-ratio gearbox is equally fun to utilise. Ratios are kept closely stacked to fully exploit the nature of the engine’s power delivery, which is the cause one of my few complaints of the Clio RS models in general: that they are extremely tiresome on a freeway cruise. But it’s raison d’etre is not freeway cruising.
Find the closest piece of winding tarmac – the more crooked the better – give it a bootful and enjoy the quick turn-in, slightly oversteery nature of the suspension set-up and let the figure-hugging, race-inspired seat hug your rib cage as you feel the G-forces build. It’s a fantastic experience to pilot a Clio RS quickly and one that I recommend every petrolhead try at least once.
In a straight line, it is not tardy, reeling off the 100 km/h standing-start sprint in a claimed 6,9 seconds, with a top whack of 225 km/h. But if you live your life by these academic numbers, then you probably won’t understand or appreciate a Clio RS properly.
If you are a regular reader of our print title, you will know that I was the minder of a Mini Cooper S John Cooper Works for the better part of a year. The Mini enthralled and entertained me like very few cars have. Throw the Clio Gordini into the mix, and I’d have to say that If I was forced to choose between these two cars I would genuinely find myself in a real quandary.