I bought the car brand new and have covered around 6,000 miles so far. The look and style of the car make an excellent first impression. The car rides and handles well and is very quiet at dual carriageway speeds.

Performance and Economy
When choosing I drove the 1.5 diesel and 0.9 three cylinder petrol. Both are very good and feel surprisingly nippy and agile on a country road. The lighter petrol feels sharper on twisty roads. On bigger A-roads and motorways the diesel feels much more accomplished. The steering is nicely weighted too. The diesel pulls well but does struggle a bit when the car is full of people.
I chose the diesel for the extra fuel economy. It is possible when driven very gently to get near to the claimed 78mpg, I normally average around 60-64mpg. The stop-start system works pretty well most of the time. Although it often doesn’t function when the aircon is in use.

Equipment
All Clios come with Bluetooth and cruise control as standard. The Dynamic S trim comes with all the extras you are likely to need or want. The MediaNav unit works well but there are some niggles. If you want to use the satnav or Bluetooth then you must have the radio on. It is annoying having to turn the sound down every time. I have had problems with the unit not recognising my iPod for no obvious reason. But it does have an AUX socket and will recognise USB sticks too so there are options.

Comfort
The front seats are supportive and very comfy over a long distance. The ride is good too making the Clio a very good cruiser. At lower speeds the engine can be a little noisy but not excessively so. At higher speeds the car is very quiet.

Other Stuff
The quality of the interior materials is great, the steel wheel feels nice to handle. All the controls are easy to use. That said it could be better glued together though. The 17 inch wheels look great.

The boot is big enough but has a fairly high lip making loading heavy objects awkward.

The spare wheel mounting system is difficult to use.

Be careful when choosing colours, the Flame Red looks excellent but is difficult to repair. The base coat is pink with a red lacquer, so far Renault are not selling touch up sticks and the dealers cannot touch up the paintwork either.

The service package is good and the car comes with a 4 year warranty.

Overall
The car is really good to drive, comfortable and looks fantastic. Despite the niggles I would buy another one, but not in Flame Red.