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Renault Clio 1.2 5-door
by Thebaker50
Hello, this is the review of the renault clio 1.2 My version is a 2005 expression 5 door, and this is the review (I have now owned the car for little over 2 weeks, so this review will be more centred around the car design, I cannot comment on the reliability of the car). The car i have has around 50k on the clock, and was bought for ... £1500ish
Design: I think the car is very cool compared with other cars of the era. If like me you are a bit broke, and your insurance is a bit high because you are a student, you are really looking at this car, an old vauxhall corsa, peugeot 206, toyota yaris, vw polo or a ford ka/ old fiesta. I think this car is either the best looking, or the second best looking in terms of external design alone.
Size, this car is small, but it has a very small backpassenger space. I have been in corsa, fiestas etc, and the clio does badly for its external size in this part. My friends yaris, which although is a smaller car, feels like it has more rear passenger space. I cant comment on the others except the ford ka, and the two are about on par.
Economy: This is great, with this car i average around 50-60 mpg. To be fair I am not a fast driver, but i feel that this car has very low running costs, which is great. My friend in the yaris doesnt get mpg that good (more around the 40 mark), but he does drive a lot faster than me, so this may be a factor. But to be fair, my engine is a 1.2, whereas his is a 1l so how much an influence the speed is i am not sure.
Feel: The car inside feels like in places that the plastic is a bit cheap. Epecially the indicators stalks. This car has a lot more gadgets that competitors, and at a cheaper price (electric windows, AC, electric mirrors, sunroof, radio wheel controls). BUT in the yaris my friend has, they feel of way inferior quality. THe indicator stalks feel like they are made of the plastic you would normally buy milk in. To be fair it doesnt bother me that much personally, but if you think this is going to be a BMW with leather seats, IT AINT!
Also the car has a "cheeky feel" to it. FOr example, becaue the car is french, and they drive LHD, the key to entry the car if you are not using it remotely is on the left door. In the uk we drive in the right. It might never be a problem for me, but its just a funny little quirk of the car that if the battery ever died on my keys, I would have to go round to the passenger side, unlock the car, then walk back around to the driver side. But it doesnt make the car feel badly well, as its overridden by the driving experience and the cheekiness of it all.
Another thing about this car is the drive. THe drive feels very involving, but not to the point where it is wearysome. Unlike other cars I have driven, it feels well engage, and very light, like a go kart. WIth a 1.2, (12 valves), the engine is very responsive (but the gear changes I found are a bit bumpy, but then i might just still be getting used to the gearbox and clutch). The ride is no where near as good a that in the yaris (sorry i wish i had driven some other similar cars, or been in other similar cars, but sadly none that i see as a direct rival to this car). But then this car is more exciting to be in, which means the ride doesnt matter so much. ALso this car has a HUGE boot for its size. It sort of explains why the rear passengers must amputate their legs to even get in the back.
The all round visibility of the car is fair. It has small wingmirror to make it more city friendly, but overall its very acceptable levels of vision around the car. Another side note is that the clio has a very high NCAP rating for a car of this class. I have not tried this out personally though...
The driving comfort in all fairness isnt that good, although it has full adjustable seats, the suspesion and eat do not rival the japanese or germans, or maybe even the americans in terms of comfort. But they add a sporty feel. For me personally I couldn't give 2 figs about the comfort during driving, but then I am fairly young and these things become more of an issue as you age i guess.
In summary then?
A cheeky car, with a sporty feel (for only a 1.2), but probably isnt actualy all that fast in the real world. Good fun to look and drive, with a big boot and lots of gadgets, but not as refined, well made, or practical as japansese competion (yaris has fold down rear seat, I have no idea how to do this on the clio). I would really recommend giving this car a test drive if you are thinking of getting something in this catogory, but again i cannot say it will be reliable, i haven't had ti long enough to have bad experiences, and even if I had, it doesn't mean that yours will have same or no problems.
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Fiat Doblo
by MagdaDH
Officially a winner of a ''small van of a year'' accolade fairly recently, the van version of Fiat Doblo (Doblo Cargo) was what I was offered when hiring a van for our recent move, following a write-off of our family car.
I wanted something big enough to carry our house stuff (not furniture) to the storage facility while at ... the same time small enough to drive as a vehicle for moving about. I also wanted a cheap hire, and as small vans seem to be the cheapest kind of vehicle there is (a car equivalent would be some tiny 3-door puddle jumper). In all honesty I was a little worried at first, as I expected a car-sized vehicle like an Astra van or a Berlingo. The Doblo is car-sized lenghtwise, but it's quite a bit wider than a normal sized car. Still, that's what I got and I was very positively surprised. I had the Doblo for 10 days, and used it for general driving around as well as transporting stuff. I would have kept it for the whole period we need the hire car but I needed a car for taking children to their old school and the Doblo van has only two seats (thus came the era of the Miserable Micra, see review).
All in all, I was very happy with this van. In fact, if I was hiring a car for a longer journey for one or two people and looking for a cheap hire price I would much rather have this than a Group 1 small car which was equivalent in price from the hire companies I checked at the time.
The new Doblo has a 1.3 MultiJet diesel engine which gives enough oomph for most normal driving situations and copes well even with the van loaded (the payload by the way varies by model, from 750 to 1,000kg). The driver's seat was nice and high, with good visibility, quite comfortable and easy to adjust to my liking, together with an adjustable steering column. I am quite finicky about my driving position and I was able to get it right in the Doblo. We didn't do any longer stretches in this van but I felt it wouldn't be difficult. Steering was good, though not particularly tight and the controls felt intuitive and comfortable.
As most vans, the Doblo lacks the internal mirror, but the two large wing mirrors provide in fact lots of visibility and are perfectly sufficient for normal driving and overtaking. Obvioulsly reversing is always an issue unless you have lost of practice, but that's the way with vans.
The cabin is fairly basic and a bit Spartan but doesn't feel cheap and nasty and it provides loads of room for the driver and lots of room in the passenger seat too, with nooks and crannies for storing stuff and even a large, lockable ''glove compartment'' thing, ideal for hiding smaller pieces of more valuable stuff you might not want to keep in the back or carry around.
There is really loads of space inside the Doblo for stuff, and the back door, opening asymmetrically, gives good access (and it's easy to just step into the car even for a fat middle-aged woman), while a sliding side door gives extra access to the forward section of the cargo space.
In summary, a basic but not cheap-and-nasty small van with a surprising amount of cargo space and quite comfortable cabin; altogether recommended.
NB if I was buying one for myself I would certainly pay extra for remote locking as gong back to having to lock the doors manually (even with a central lock) was a real hassle.
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