Renault CLIO EXPRESSION range
Renaults Clio Has Moved Up A Gear In Search Of Supermini Sales Success But Its Core Values Havent Changed. Jonathan Crouch Checks Out The Latest Expression Models
The latest
Renault's Clio change of image has paid dividends. Once upon a time, it was the car you mainly saw on a shopping trip, Harrods, Next and Selfridges bags littering the back
seat. The current model, in contrast, is the car you'll see heading purposefully out of town, armed with a more masculine, harder-edged set of virtues.
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Value for money, however, remains a keynote, especially of the popular Clio Expression model featured here. Replacing the strong-selling Grande variant, the Expression is part of the affordable Freeway Collection one of three groupings into which the latest Clios are sorted. The Grande had popular appeal over the previous entry-level Liberte Clio model because it included the extras that so many people wanted in an affordable package: things like power steering, central locking and electric front windows. Thanks to a general specification upgrade, the £8,650 Expression faces a harder struggle. The entry-level £7,875 Authentique does, after all, already come with these things as well as twin front and side airbags and ABS with Brake Assist.
"In true
Renault style, safety gets its usual top billing"
Still, the extra £800 does now buy you a more up-to-date engine the 75bhp 1.2-litre 16v unit as opposed to the ageing 60bhp eight valve 1.2 used in the entry-level Clio. From £9,350, theres also the option of two of Renaults three common rail diesels, one developing 65bhp and the other 80bhp (the 100bhp unit is reserved for higher spec Clios), both offering what Renault reckon are some of the greenest drives on the planet.
Whichever engine you choose, theres the option of the five-door bodystyle for around £500 more. Plus, you can expect to find niceties like electric heated door mirrors, Pixis wheel trims, a manual tilt/remove sunroof, a height-adjustable drivers
seat, three rear headrests, a 60/40 split rear seat, a pollen filter with air recirculation, a 60W hi-fi with six speakers, an outside temperature display, a front map reading light and a delayed courtesy light. You may not instantly recognise the styling revisions on the latest Clio when its positioned alongside its predecessor but, take our word for it, they are there. The changes at the front amount to what Renault insist is a bolder, more sporty front bumper and inside, the interior has been similarly warmed over with enhanced materials and extra equipment.
The panels on the rear doors are now soft-feel, while the dashboard instruments now mimic the design found in the Megane for a more cutting-edge appearance. Most salient amongst the interior additions is probably the digital screen now mounted on the centre console to supply up-to-the-minute information on the Clios various systems. In true Renault style, safety gets its usual top billing. The previous Clio had already achieved a top four star rating in the EuroNCAP crash tests and builds on that by including adaptive intelligent twin front and side airbags with two levels of inflation, depending upon the seating position of the driver and the severity of the impact.
For the rear side seats, pretensioners are now combined with 600kg load limiters. Finally, the latest Clio is equipped with Isofix three-point child safety seat attachments in the rear side seats and the front passenger seat, which is provided with airbag inhibition, should you wish your child to be placed alongside the driver. On the road, its the diesels that makes more sense of the three engines offered to Expression customers. The dCi 65 isnt a bad unit, combining what Renault reckon is the lowest fuel consumption (65.
7mpg) and CO2 emissions (115g/km) of almost any UK conventional-engined car. Its a pretty marginal advantage over cars like Audis A2 TDI or VWs Lupo TDi but nonetheless, a big improvement over the noisy old dTi unit that was the companys previous offering in this class. A Quickshift manual gearbox with automatic change mode is available on Expression 1.2 models.
Performance isnt that startling though: youll need the dCi 80 to get any where near the faster supermini diesels, given that the dCi 65 takes 15.0s to get from rest to sixty on the way to a maximum of just 100mph. To be fair, it feels a bit perkier than those figures suggest on the road, though its never the kind of engine you really ever want to push hard. The dCi 80 averages 67mpg, will sprint to 60mph in 12.
2 seconds and top out at 109mph all in an impressive showing. The 75bhp 1.2-litre 16V petrol unit isnt quite such a stellar turn. Since this was offered only in the entry-level Sport version of the pre-facelifted Clio, its an engine for which Renault UK has had high hopes but it hasnt quite delivered.
No. This is not an engine youd want to exercise for the fun of it but then the Clio, in its humbler versions at least, never really was that kind of car. Everything else, to be fair, it does pretty well, assuming that you like the French way of doing things. This tends to be to prioritise ride over sharpness of handling, which means that the Clio floats over even very poor roads with real aplomb but you dont really get much feel through the anaesthetised power steering as to exactly what the cars doing underneath you.
Not that this will matter to typical Clio customers. These people tend to care more about straight value for money, something that these Expression models offer by the barrowload. If that counts for real market share, then Renault would appear to have got their sums right.
FACTS AT A GLANCE
CAR: Renault Clio Expression range
PRICES: £8,650-£10,450 - on the road
INSURANCE GROUP: 3-4 CO2 EMISSIONS BAND: 110-160g/km
PERFORMANCE: [1.5 dCi 65] Max Speed 100mph / 0-60mph 15.0s
FUEL CONSUMPTION: [1.5 dCi 65] (urban) 52.3mpg/ (extra-urban) 76.3mpg/ (combined) 65.7mpg
STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front and side airbags, ABS, Brake Assist
WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: Length/Width/Height [3dr] 3770/1640/1417mm
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