A facelift four years after the Clio’s initial launch in 2005 has introduced a more modern appearance that takes many of its styling cues from the New Megane, At the front there’s a reprofiled nose that features larger, swept back headlamps, while the rear gets a new bumper and tailights. As before there’s a choice of three and five-door hatchbacks together with a versatile Sport Tourer estate. There are six trim levels to choose from – Extreme, Expression, Dynamique, GT, Privilege and Initiale. At the top of the range is the scorching RenaultSport 200"
The cabin has always been one of the most spacious in the supermini class, with room for five adults at a pinch. Hatchback models feature a useful 288-litre boot that can be extended to 1,038-litres with the rear seats folded flat. Go for the Sport Tourer and these figures increase to 439-litres and 1,277-litres respectively. Whatever bodystyle you plump for you’ll get the same well laid out and solidly constructed interior. Dynamique models and above get a classy soft touch dashboard finish and air-conditioning.
The smooth and quiet 1.5-litre dCi diesels are the engines to go for, with both the 85bhp and 106bhp versions delivering enough punch effortlessly keep up with more powerful machines and 60mpg fuel returns. The latter unit comes with a six-speed manual gearbox for relaxed motorway cruising. The range of five petrol engines are The 1.6-litre VVT comes in two states of tune (108 and 126bhp), the 73bhp and the muscular and responsive turbocharged 98bhp 1.2-litre is excellent and isn’t that far behind the diesels in terms of filling station performance. The Renaultsport's screaming 197bhp 2.0-litre unit is a masterpiece and delivers blistering performance.
