Renault Clio
MODEL TESTED: Renault Clio Tce 100 Iconic PRICE: £16,495 ENGINE: 1.0-litre 3cyl turbo, 99bhp Well equipped and good-value supermini is our current favourite. Can it keep its crown?
STRAIGHT away, the Renault shows its value for money. In Iconic trim it gets more equipment than the Peugeot yet costs less, priced from £16,495 with the TCe 100 engine. The Renault has already notched up two road test wins in just a few months on sale, but it’ll need to offer more than just value to rack up the hat-trick, so let’s see if it has what it takes.
Design & engineering
LIKE the Peugeot, this new fifth-generation Clio is based on an all-new platform for the model, with Renault’s supermini adopting the CMF-B architecture. It uses the same suspension design as the Peugeot and the Clio’s predecessor, but the new platform has allowed its designers to manipulate the packaging so that the car’s dimensions are actually smaller than the fourthgeneration car’s, yet there’s more space inside.
At 1,178kg, the Clio is heavier than the 208, but not enough that the 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbocharged TCe 100 engine can’t cope, as we’ll see. It kicks out 99bhp and 160Nm of torque – this latter figure is some way down on the larger-engined 208’s output – while the Renault is fitted with a five-speed manual gearbox compared with the six-speed unit in the Peugeot. We’ll see if this makes much of a difference to performance and cruising refinement.
One area where the Renault does have the Peugeot beaten is kit. Despite costing £2,355 less, it gets sat-nav, CarPlay, Android Auto and connected services as part of its seven-inch touchscreen, which works well enough (see Infotainment on P42 for more details). It also features a good level of safety tech, parking sensors and LED headlights, while there’s potential to add options, such as a reversing camera (£400), that are not available on the 208. However, on the Peugeot you can opt for more luxurious items that are unavailable on the Clio, such as heated leather seats as part of a £1,400 pack.
The Renault’s interior might not look quite as slick or premium as the Peugeot’s, but the Clio beats the 208 for quality because there are just a few places where the materials are softer and more tactile. But, the build quality is about equal in both cars.
First blood to the Renault, then, when it comes to cost, kit and quality, because they’re all square when it comes to the engineering that underpins them. But do they feel any different on the road?
Driving
THE answer is yes. The Clio feels like a larger, more mature car, thanks to its softer ride and relatively impressive refinement for an affordable supermini. Its TCe engine is quiet, unless you really rev it hard, and is a little less vocal than the Peugeot’s 1. 2-litre unit, but it doesn’t have the legs to stay with its French rival.
It took 11. 2 seconds to accelerate from 0-60mph, 11 seconds to go from 30 to 70mph through the gears and 15.7 seconds to go from 50 to 70mph in top gear (fifth). This compares with 9.8, 9.6 and 11.5 seconds respectively in the Peugeot; that latter figure (in sixth) showing how the 208 makes swifter and sometimes easier progress than the Clio.
Neither car has a particularly precise or involving gearchange and, although it’s good, the 208’s firmer
set-up means it fidgets just a little more on the road, whether that’s around patchwork urban streets, crowned country lanes and even smoother motorways. It’s not by much, but the Clio feels softer, more forgiving, and more comfortable as a result.
There’s more weight to the Renault’s steering, although it’s obviously the slightly less dynamic car, due to its focus on comfort. It doesn’t change direction or handle with quite the same precision as the Peugeot, but it’s not by much and it offers more in other areas as a trade-off.
Practicality
THE work Renault’s engineers put into the Clio’s packaging really shows. Access to the rear seats is slightly easier than in the 208 and there’s a little more room back there, too, particularly legroom. But it doesn’t sacrifice boot space either, because there are an extra 80 litres with the back seats up, for a total of 391 litres.
That’s more than the new Volkswagen Golf, so while it’s not quite as roomy as some family cars in the rear, there’s enough luggage room for four people’s bags, meaning the Renault can operate as a family car more convincingly than the 208. The interior has enough storage, and the Clio pegs it here, because despite the Peugeot’s extremely modern design, with a big central bin, cupholders, a tray in front of the gearlever and good-sized door bins, practicality is good.
Ownership
WE’VE already seen Renault trailed
Peugeot in our Driver Power 2019 satisfaction study, and the brand’s dealers weren’t as convincing as Peugeot’s, either, with Renault’s official network finishing 26th out of 31 manufacturers. Peugeot’s garages took 16th spot.
Renault does offer three years’ roadside assistance to Peugeot’s 12 months, though, while servicing costs are good at £449 for three years’ routine maintenance. The 208’s servicing prices have yet to be finalised.
Safety technology is also strong, because the Clio matches the 208’s tally, with autonomous braking and lane-keep assist as standard, but the Renault scored a full five-star result in Euro NCAP tests.
Running costs
ANY supermini has to be efficient and these two downsized turbo hatches live up to that billing. The Renault returned 44mpg on test, which means you’ll spend £1,587 per year in fuel. The Peugeot returned just a little less at 43.3mpg, which equates to a annual spend of £1,613 on petrol. There’s very little between them.