Renault Clio 1.2 '07 (previous shape)

[Interphase]

I had one of these as a hire car recently whilst mine was in having open timing chain surgery, and for a car with only 7k on the clock it was utterly atrocious. Even though it was a hire car I didn't get the impression it had been thrashed at all - it felt new but none the better for it. Here's a list of my observations:

- Rubbery notchy gearchange

- Handbrake that felt like it was about to fall off

- Gutless and coarse engine with little pickup

- The most awful artificial steering I've ever suffered in my life that had no feeling whatsoever and a stupidly strong resistance to moving just off-centre

- Badly offset pedals that twisted me round in the seat

- Ridiculously loud and annoying relay for the intermittent setting on the wipers

- Steering wheel wasn't on straight, twisted to the right

- Car pulled badly to the left on the slightest camber

- Headlight height adjuster did nothing at all

- 30mpg average showing on the computer (from a modern 1.2 being driven lightly?!?!?!)

- Grips for the headrest adjustment popped out of their sockets and rattled around

- The rearview mirror was so convex it made cars look about 2ft wider than they were - I thought a Leon was a Volvo S60 at first glance..

- The door mirrors curved so much at the edge that they bend cars in the next lane in half

- Heater wouldn't melt an icecube

- Fans on full blast resembled an asthmatic gerbil

- 30mph mark on the speedo was a tiny line with no number, and as the dial is tilted you can be doing the book-able 33mph and not notice

- Grim grey plastic strip across the dash looked like it was cut from a packing crate.

I honestly spent two days trying to find a single thing I liked about it and all I could come up with was that the brakes were superb.. but were ruined by an on-off pedal action. Suffice to say I was glad to return it, and wish the next driver all the best

[Aspman]

SWMBO used to have a 1.2 8v Clio (poverty spec) before the Tigra.

Indeed the accelerator pedal is more like an engine volume control. It gets louder but there isn't much increase in speed.

Her Clio also ate an incredible amount of fuel but that was down to the thing having to be driven full throttle all the time.

I've driven the 16v version and tbh it's much the same.

[Tom_vRS]

Nothing modern about the 1.2 8v in the clio at all...

Not very inspiring cars really.

['daiking']

Nothing wrong with it imho, had a new(ish) Clio Campus in Gran Canaria last October, for a week. Don't forget its a shopping trolley with a roof. It goes, it stops and it'll fit a few shoe boxes in the boot, does it need to do anything else?

If you want unejoyable, drive a previous generation Mazda2. Worse than the mk2 ibiza I previously had.

[3td]

I had to hire one last spring coz I trashed furby clutch on holiday in Cumbria . What got to me most was on the twisty hilly ( aren't they all ! ) road from Ambleside up to the rented cottage discovered it had cornering lights activated by a given amount of steering . There's me , doing my best to re-live my road-rally days and roast it uphill , when every five seconds there's a random flash of light at a front corner !

Sorry , misread thread . Although it was last year it was a new-style clio - still rubbish though!:thumbdwn:

['daiking']

I had to hire one last spring coz I trashed furby clutch on holiday in Cumbria . What got to me most was on the twisty hilly ( aren't they all ! ) road from Ambleside up to the rented cottage discovered it had cornering lights activated by a given amount of steering . There's me , doing my best to re-live my road-rally days and roast it uphill , when every five seconds there's a random flash of light at a front corner !

Sorry , misread thread . Although it was last year it was a new-style clio - still rubbish though!:thumbdwn:

lol, that reminds me of driving that hire car at night on a cliff top road. As a car approached I went to take my full beams off and somehow switched the lights off! :eek: **** me that was scary - so maybe the light stalk isn't very user friendly.

[VRSPhil]

Glad you liked it!