RENAULT CLIO RS 18 F1 EDC

OVER a weeklong getaway during the festive season, the Clio RS was put to the test by acting as our chariot along the Garden Route from Cape Town to Knysna. Due to its stiff Cup chassis and anti-social Akropovic exhaust system, I was expecting the drive to be somewhat intolerable. However, Renault’s little hot hatch held its own on the open road, where it proved to be adept at comfortable cruising.

Considering we set off on Christmas Eve, the roads were remarkably quiet with almost no trucks in our way, negating regular overtaking. Most of my time was spent using the Clio’s cruise control but, on the odd chance I needed to pass a slowermoving vehicle, I had to place the transmission into manual as the EDC transmission can sometimes delay a downshift.

Despite keeping a constant speed for most of the trip, the Clio wasn’t as frugal as I had hoped, posting an average of 8,8 L/100 km (and completely emptying its 42-litre tank on the 480 km drive). This is partly due to top gear being short, with the 1,6-litre turbopetrol engine spinning away at 3 000 r/min at an indicated 120 km/h. Thanks to an abundance of torque, it could certainly handle a loftier top gear.

On our journey back, the Clio embraced its sporty side throughout the intricate mountain passes along the R62 from Oudtshoorn. In fact, this was the first time I took the RS onto a mountain pass, which allowed me to get a great impression of how the hot hatch feels when it’s in its element.

At this point, all those sportscar attributes which had me worried about its long-distance capabilities came together to create a memorable experience. The engine and snappy dualclutch transmission (when set to manual) gelled well with the stiff chassis and grippy Michelin tyres, making for a joyous, thrilling sprint.