Renault CLIO INITIALE
The Luxury Version Of Britain's Favourite Small French Supermini Now Offers More Big Car Virtues Than Ever. Jonathan Crouch Reports
Renault was one of the first car makers to realise that theres a profitable market niche for well-equipped small cars. The 5 Monaco brought unprecedented levels of luxury into this category over a decade ago and the tradition was handed on to the Clio Baccara and Initiale. This latest restyled Initiale is the most luxurious small Renault ever.
This is part of the Elegance Collection in a range of revised Clios and can be ordered in five-door form with a 110bhp 16-valve 1.6-litre petrol engine for £13,500 or in automatic form for an additional £1,000. Diesel buyers can now opt for a dCi100 version for £14,600. The Clio Initiale appears especially suitable for the type of buyer whos had a company car for most of their working life.
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On retirement, the executive express with all the trimmings goes back and the search begins for a smaller but no less luxurious car to get to golf, the shops and the holiday cottage in Provence. The Initiale has what
Renault claims to be the most comprehensive standard equipment of any small car on the market. The list originally included leather/alcantara upholstery, air conditioning, wood trim, alloy wheels, anti-lock brakes, four airbags, a CD player, power windows and mirrors, illuminated vanity mirrors, remote central locking, a leather-covered steering wheel, metallic paint and a garment carrier under the rear parcel shelf. In its latest guise however, this model has also gained quite a bit extra big car features that Renault hopes will enable it to steal sales from family hatchbacks in the next class up.
Additions include automatic climate-controlled air conditioning, cruise control with a speed limiter to stop you losing your licence in built-up areas, xenon headlamps with auto height adjustment and power wash, automatic rain-sensitive wipers and automatic headlamps that switch on by themselves in poor conditions. A satellite navigation system is now optional.
"If you want to downsize without giving up on luxuries, the Clio Initiale may be well worth a look"
The manual Initiale 1.6-litre is no slouch. Sharing its 16-valve 1.6-litre engine with the sporty three-door Dynamique model, it sprints to 60mph in 9.
6 seconds on the way to 122mph Thats a fair bit faster than the automatic version which uses Proactive technology first seen in larger luxury cars, the transmission matching gear changes to driving style. That means it changes up sooner if youre driving leisurely yet holds on to gears longer when you want to press on. It can also sense when youre descending a steep hill and will downshift to provide engine braking to help slow you down. 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 that incorporates revised fog-lamp housings on those models deemed posh enough to be equipped with fog lamps. The Initiale model is one of these chosen few. 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 further 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. The Initiale may be loaded with luxury equipment but its obvious that a lot of thought has gone into tackling real world issues. Take the bendy composite front wings, designed to withstand supermarket scrapes (you can stamp on them and they still pop back into shape without a scratch). Then there's the lengthy service interval (two years or 12,000 miles). This is one of the reasons why the eight-year paintwork warranty is the longest in the class. But the Clio hasnt just grown up on paper, it is more mature out on the road. A wider front track enables the car to use a much more sophisticated suspension system, first featured in the Megane.
The result is a huge improvement in ride, though the springing - like the seats - is still soft enough for it to be obvious that you're in a French car. As far as handling is concerned, the Clio isnt quite as sharp as some of its supermini rivals. Still, its arguably the best small car you can buy for long distance work, as at home on motorways as it is around town. If the rear seat legroom was better, you could really tour four-up: still few superminis excel when it comes to back seat space. It's a case of carry on Clio then. This has always been one of Britain's favourite French small cars. Now, with its more individual identity and range of big car virtues, that position has been consolidated. If you want to downsize without giving up on luxuries, the Clio Initiale may be well worth a look.
FACTS AT A GLANCE
CAR: Renault Clio Initiale
PRICE: £13,500 - £14,600 - on the road
INSURANCE GROUP: 10
CO2 EMISSIONS: 165g/km
PERFORMANCE: Max Speed 122mph / 0-60mph 9.6s
FUEL CONSUMPTION:(Urban) 30.1 (Extra-urban) 47.1(Combined) 39.2mpg
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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