RENAULT CL IO T Ce 100 Vive l’évolution
FOR Engaging, upmarket interior with big-car optional gadgets. If you spec it correctly AGAINST Not a huge revolution in terms of styling, not the most exciting car to drive
If it sounds simple, it’s probably less simple than it sounds. So when the corporate communication that said ‘Do the same, but… y’know… better’ came through to the development team of the new Renault Clio, the significance of the job probably didn’t register. The trouble is that this new MkV version of Renault’s small hatch (v1.0 hit the streets in 1990), is following on not from waning sales, but a car that has stayed solidly popular – Europe’s best-selling B-segment supermini since 2013, no less. Which means that you have to use all-new bits, but not scare off all those notoriously easy-to-frighten current customers, make it fresh and better without changing any of the things that make it appealing to the people that don’t like change. Oxymoronic upgrading.
It might not look particularly different, but this really is a new, new Clio. As ever with these things, it’s now spun off a shared platform called CMF-B (Common Module Family – B), the use of which is said to deliver improvements in space, safety, weight saving and tech, and it has a brand-new interior and new engines, including a proper hybrid due next year. We’ll get the aforementioned clever hybrid, and initially another four engines in three trim levels. A pair of three-cylinder petrols (SCe 75 and TCe 100) with 73bhp and 98bhp respectively, a warm-ish TCe 130 four-cylinder petrol with – you guessed it, 130PS (128bhp) – and a Blue dCi 85 four
cylinder diesel with 83bhp. The lower-engined petrol variants get a 5spd manual, the diesel a 6spd, and the faster one a 7spd dual-clutch auto. The trims are Play, Iconic and RS Line, the latter a nod to the sportier Renaults, the others variations of kit.
Outside, it’s shorter than before – though the 12mm reduction in length isn’t all that obvious – a touch wider and lower, but with more space, load capacity and general volume inside. Noticeably more space, in fact, and it feels more capacious up front, though the rising roofline makes it a little less airy stuffed in the back. There are LED headlights across the range, Renault citing safety benefits, and C-shaped daylight running lights. There are sharper creases, bonnet feature lines, the usual Clio hidden rear doorhandles up in the C-pillar, a big Renault badge in the front grille, some nice horizontal lines that widen the car visually. It’s all very clean and crisp, without being particularly scary or revolutionary. If the intent of Laurens van den Acker (senior VP, corporate design at Renault) was to clean up a MkIV Clio, then the brief has been exceeded.
Which is about as exciting as a nice glass of water. But where the Clio really scores is with its new interior, which is several jumps ahead of the old one. Renault calls it the ‘Smart Cockpit’, and the first thing you notice is the 9.3-inch infotainment screen stuck up in the middle of the console, portrait-style. Rotary knobs for aircon are
handily perched beneath, and the gearstick is pushed up into the right place in a semifloating console just below that. In front is another small TFT instrument cluster – there’ll be a 10-inch optional version next year – and a generally very agreeable layout. In fact, with some of the different colours available, the interior is a really very nice place to be – you’ll almost forget that you’re in a supermini at all.
As for actually driving, the new Clio is more mature, better-riding but generally capable without being particularly exciting. The warm-ish RS Line with the dual-clutch ’box is fine but feels like overcomplication; a better bet is the relaxed and light TCe 100, which provides plenty of usable power, without making you yearn for any more. The steering is light, the gearbox and clutch similarly innocuous and you never miss sixth gear, even on the motorway. There are bigcar options like Highway and Traffic Jam companion – basically adaptive cruise and lane assist – an optional Bose stereo and various ‘enhanced’ customisation options. It’s a neat and comprehensive little package. So it probably won’t blow your socks off, but this is a supermini that should definitely be on the list when shopping, simply because it’s a very astute take. We’ll get proper pricing and specification details later this year, but expect the range to start at £14.5k and walk up to nearer £19k before we get into the faster stuff later on.
“IT’S ALL VERY CLEAN AND CRISP, WITHOUT BEING PARTICULARLY SCARY OR REVOLUTIONARY”