Renault Clio 1.2 3 door review (Renault Clio 1.2 3-door)

Member Name: Orichalon

Product:	Renault Clio 1.2 3-door
Date:	01/11/08 (579 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great fun to drive, great little engine, good handling, cheap

Disadvantages: Not a fan of the brakes

My son has just turned 17, and so I decided to get him a car to learn to drive in. I didn't want anything too fast or powerful that he couldn't handle, or something too flashy or expensive (he'd simply scrape it/bump it etc). So, after much deliberation, I settled on a pristine 1999 Renault Clio 1.2.

The inside is a long distance away from the cars that I'm used to, but it's not unbearable. There are lots of plastics, but, with teh heating on I find it quite cosy, and the seats are very comfortable. Space in the rear is perfectly acceptable, and I can happily fit there (I'm 6') for a journey of a couple of hours if I need to. Wind noise at motorway speeds is acceptable.

I actually really like the engine on the car. It's only a 1.2, and so the car doesn't go anywhere particularly quickly, but it's good fun to rev (it happily goes up to its limiter at 7,000 RPM) and generally has character. You get next to no torque, and it's great fun to go round country lanes revving the nuts off the thing, which, lets face it, is what you should do to a 1.2. The car has a lot of roll in teh bends, and has very skinny tyres so, despite being relatively light, grip is at a premium.

However, despite this, it's just such great fun to drive. You really have to concentrate to get the best out of it, but if you do over-step traction, then it'll simply start to understeer. The handling is very forgiving - great for learner drivers. It has excellent steering feel, far better than most sports cars, and you really know what the front wheels are doing. The brakes are fine for normal driving, but for quick driving are terrible - I find that they don't have much feel and can be quite jerky when you really want to stop. I find this just adds to the character though!

Cost is also very respectable. I bought it for about £1600, and so far (fingers crossed!) nothing's gone wrong with it. The car has done just under 50,000 miles and is still on its first clutch (despite the fact that for the last 500 miles or so my son has done continuous burnouts!). Tyres are very cheap.

Overall, this is a great little car. For the first month or so that we had it I didn't much like the looks, but now I'm really warming to them. It's just such a laugh.

Summary: An excellent little car for those learning to drive.

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