No Fiesta? No problem. France’s class-leading supermini has regained a petrol option
MARK TISSHAW @mtisshaw
TESTED 4.1.24, HAMPSHIRE ON SALE NOW
This is a strange thing to be writing on these pages: a review of my very own car. It’s a brand-new Renault Clio, paid for with my own money, earned by writing about other cars. Still, a fearless, unbiased review this must and will be.
When Renault announced the revised Mk5 Clio last year, it made the supermini hybrid-only, giving the buying public a stepping stone between petrol and electric. But then Rishi moved the UK’s ban on new ICE car sales back to 2035 and Renault correctly sensed that there would still be an appetite for more affordable small petrol cars for a while yet, particularly with the cost of living crisis in full swing. I doubt it would have gone unnoticed in Paris that the Ford Fiesta was exiting the market, either.
Thus the 1.0-litre TCe 90 model was added to the Clio range in the autumn, costing some £3500 less than the cheapest E-Tech Full Hybrid. I read about it in a news story on autocar.co.uk on a Monday afternoon and had ordered one within 48 hours. There were no cars available to test drive, but we rated the Clio as class-leading before its facelift, so it didn’t feel risky.
I’m in this position of reviewing my own car because press demonstrators of this version of the Clio have yet to arrive in the UK, early customer cars having been prioritised. So unless any of my peers at other automotive titles ordered one at the same time as me, this is a true exclusive. The lengths we go to here at Autocar…
Six stars then, yeah? Not quite, but it’s a tough thing to pick holes in. The pure-petrol Clio has a real maturity to the way it drives yet retains all the joy and fun that the very best small cars bring.
Best of all is the ride quality, which is excellent at all speeds, and the way it absorbs bumps is remarkable. The Fiesta – one of which I owned from 2020 until March last year – was similar but a little bit firmer with it. The Fiesta in turn had sharper handling, but the Clio still isn’t far behind here.
Overall, the Clio feels much like a shrink-wrapped Volkswagen Golf from the class above with its handling: it’s involving and predictable at everyday speeds but doesn’t quite come as alive as the Fiesta when really pushed. Still, the result is that it’s a better car over longer distances.
The engine is fantastic. It has a huge amount o
