| Long Term Test | Renaultsport Clio 200 Cup |
Been anywhere interesting?
With only a few short weeks left to enjoy the Clio I took any opportunity I could to use it. Every mile was driven as hard as possible, though the joyous back road runs have been punctuated with far too many tiresome motorway squirts. In four months I've managed to wind about 4,000 miles onto its odometer. That's not bad considering that snow stopped play for at least two weeks, and for another two weeks I was away playing on the stuff (skiing).
The Clio has been around Silverstone, all over the roads around the South Downs and covered a good bit of Warwickshire, too. Sadly, I never managed to make it to some favourite roads of mine up in my native Scotland.
Anything stand out...?
Aside from the large grin on my face every time I drove it, I always appreciated the Clio's practicality. On several occasions it ferried four and the boot is a decent size, too. It took a while to empty it of golf clubs and other detritus when the man from Renault came to collect the keys.
The engine seemed to get faster and freer with age - though regular oil checks indicated that it never used any. My worry that its stiff suspension could shake the interior to bits never materialised - even on our post apocalyptic winter ravaged roads.
The Recaro seats proved supremely comfortable and hugely supportive - they're about the best I've ever had the pleasure of sitting in. The right hand side bolster was showing a bit of fabric wear after nearly 16,000 miles of use, but otherwise, the interior wore its miles extremely well.
The biggest surprise with the Cup has been the economy. Renault claims that the 2.0-litre engine will return 34.4mpg but on one occasion we bettered that. Admittedly it did cover a number of motorway miles, but not once was it ever driven with any thought to economy - quite the contrary, in fact. That makes 31.22mpg over 3,894 miles very impressive indeed.
The overall average includes a dip to 21.93 mpg for one tank at a RenaultSport track day at Silverstone - a must if you really want to experience the car. They're very cheap days and, should you want to try the latest hot models, Renault obliges by bringing them along, too.
...and for the wrong reasons?
My fiancé's hatred of the Clio was evident - she commented on every single bump. I'll admit that on the rare occasions when I was in the passenger seat, the ride did seem a little uncompromising. So much so that I'd be inclined to opt for the regular non-Cup Clio RenaultSport if I were living with it everyday. As an occasional toy, I'd live with the Cup's compromises.
I could also live with the shiny, hard dash, but I think Renault went too far by removing reach adjustment for the steering from the Cup cars. The 12-volt socket stopped working, which wasn't really an issue until I wanted to film the Silverstone laps with a Racelogic Video VBox system – or plug in my TomTom. I never got the chance to have it repaired, or, more to the point, I didn't miss its use enough to lose the Clio for a day when I could have been driving it instead.
The stereo could have done with being a bit more punchy. It was especially quiet whenever I plugged an iPod into the aux socket. Radio 4 needed almost maximum volume, too. Small complaints, on a car I otherwise thoroughly enjoyed.
Where next?
The Clio has gone back to Renault and it'll be tempting buyers on a used forecourt soon. It's worth about £13,000-£13,500, which is an epic amount of car for not much money.
Take the plunge and you won't regret it, as there's little out there that offers so much fun in such a useable, affordable package. Sadly it's out of my reach for the moment, as I have a new house and a wedding to pay for. The new place will have a garage though, and I've a good idea of what will eventually be filling it.
