I'm no car journalist, however I thought I would share my opinions on the new Clio 200T which I have had over the last 4 days. Renault UK delivered the car to me to be used for the French Car Show at Castle Combe for “Hot Laps”. I used it for both commuting and on circuit covering a total of about 500 Miles.
Rather than beat around the bush, I will head straight to the main concern that the majority of people have with the new Clio 200T, the gearbox. There is a number of different settings which you can set the engine/gearbox in. Normal Auto/Manual. Sport Auto/Manual or Race Manual. I personally spent the duration in either Normal Auto (for road and around town) or Race Manual. (In any manual mode, you have the option of either the paddles or the sequential style gear leaver) Before I get onto the gearbox itself, I would like to mention the “Launch Control”... It works!! Very very well. Not only that but Renault do not limit the amount of “launches” in the warranty. To operate the Launch control, you must be in Race Manual mode, sit with your left foot on the brake with both leavers on the steering wheel pulled towards you. Then you plant the throttle, the revs build to a measly and initially disappointing 2500rpm with the engine note banging whilst it builds boost like some sort of restrained rally car. As soon as you release the brake the car gets a perfect getaway with a small amount of wheel spin, it literally surprised me every time I used it and after many many starts, the novelty has not even started to wear off.
Now back to the gear changes, this gearbox is a manual solenoid operated dual clutch 6 speed gearbox. The common perception of this gearbox is that it is going to offer a less “involved” driving experience... how wrong can you be! In auto mode, it is possible to catch the gearbox out and make it lurch a little however you can easily avoid this with the way you drive. I love the fact that I could just pop it in auto, sit back and cruise around without a worry but when I fancied a little blast, I just popped it into “Race” and started working the gearbox, often needlessly going up and down the box just for fun. The changes are crisp and very quick, having the flat shift felt like I was back in the race clio. The down-shifts need to be selected at the right RPM otherwise it will not go into gear, this is no different to a Manual box but luckily this one wont let you send a leg out of bed (con-rod out of the block!) like its predecessor. I am not ashamed to say that I, like many others was put off by the fact this car was not a manual, but after having this one... it is THE REASON why I would buy one, I love it. I could talk about the gearbox all day long, but I will move on to other aspects of the car.
Now we have the box out the way, I will start with the appearance of the car. I personally felt the same way with this as I did when I first saw the Clio 200 Mk3, a bit boggle eyed but it has very very quickly grown on me (which is quite annoying). I even parked this next to a Mk3 200 and now every time I look at one, I cant help but think they looked a little dated in comparison.
The Car I used was a 200T with Cup packs, this was no where near as “crashy” as its predecessor with the cup pack option. Don't get me wrong its still a stiff car, but it was a relief to not have to keep an eye on my open beverage in the cup holder.
The interior of the car is a really nice place to be, it doesn't feel cheap and plastically. The car really feels like it was put together well, a little German in fact! The R-Link system which now incorporates all of the cars entertainment system and Sat Nav took a little getting used to. It was fully compatible with my Iphone/Ipod which offered all my playlists on a touch screen which was a nice feature. The front of the car felt very spacious without feeling big, everything is where you expect it to be. I sadly cannot comment on the rear as I spent all the time driving it! The driving position was perfect for me and very adjustable, being 6ft 2 its often difficult to find a car which I actually feel comfortable in, but this nailed it. I will also mention the in-car noise animations, its a fun gimmick, I listened to them all once... but I spent the WHOLE time with that crap turned off. The engine with that gearbox make for an awesome noise, so I do not see why anyone would want to mask it.
The next hyped fear of this car was the fact that Renault had removed the Brembo brakes. There is not much to be said other than the fact they are literally amazing. They stop the car mentally quickly and after a full day at Combe at basically race pace, (with bog standard pads), there was not even a HINT of brake fade. So that's another worry off the list..
Now for the engine, the direct injection 1.6T is awesome. Renault have really got this right. It redlines at 6500rpm but is very free in getting there and loved to rev on the down-shifts especially. There is next to no turbo lag and it literally pulls all the way to the limiter. The low down torque is especially obvious, it really does feel like its a larger displacement engine under the bonnet.
There is so much I could talk about this car but I will basically sum up a few more of my observations over the last few days or this will go on for ever!
Literally 95% of all passengers got in commented on the quality of the gear changes within the first lap! (sometimes even on the way out the pit lane!). Every single person who I spoke to was impressed with the car as a whole.
There is only one thing about this car that I was not genuinely impressed with.... this was the tyres. The Dunlop sport max tyres did offer decent grip on road and wet conditions, but for use on track under warm conditions like that, I would consider swapping them for something a little more focussed.
As a final comment with my “tuning” head back on.....What a base this car is to start from... I cannot wait to get my hands on one to start slapping some modifications on. I simple remap is going to get decent power, hybrid turbo etc. A decent set of lowering springs would certainly increase the look of the car as I do feel it is sat a little high as standard.
I am sure I have missed plenty and/or worded sections very poorly, but I had to write this quickly. Must get back to work... so I can earn some dough to buy one!
Josh
Rather than beat around the bush, I will head straight to the main concern that the majority of people have with the new Clio 200T, the gearbox. There is a number of different settings which you can set the engine/gearbox in. Normal Auto/Manual. Sport Auto/Manual or Race Manual. I personally spent the duration in either Normal Auto (for road and around town) or Race Manual. (In any manual mode, you have the option of either the paddles or the sequential style gear leaver) Before I get onto the gearbox itself, I would like to mention the “Launch Control”... It works!! Very very well. Not only that but Renault do not limit the amount of “launches” in the warranty. To operate the Launch control, you must be in Race Manual mode, sit with your left foot on the brake with both leavers on the steering wheel pulled towards you. Then you plant the throttle, the revs build to a measly and initially disappointing 2500rpm with the engine note banging whilst it builds boost like some sort of restrained rally car. As soon as you release the brake the car gets a perfect getaway with a small amount of wheel spin, it literally surprised me every time I used it and after many many starts, the novelty has not even started to wear off.
Now back to the gear changes, this gearbox is a manual solenoid operated dual clutch 6 speed gearbox. The common perception of this gearbox is that it is going to offer a less “involved” driving experience... how wrong can you be! In auto mode, it is possible to catch the gearbox out and make it lurch a little however you can easily avoid this with the way you drive. I love the fact that I could just pop it in auto, sit back and cruise around without a worry but when I fancied a little blast, I just popped it into “Race” and started working the gearbox, often needlessly going up and down the box just for fun. The changes are crisp and very quick, having the flat shift felt like I was back in the race clio. The down-shifts need to be selected at the right RPM otherwise it will not go into gear, this is no different to a Manual box but luckily this one wont let you send a leg out of bed (con-rod out of the block!) like its predecessor. I am not ashamed to say that I, like many others was put off by the fact this car was not a manual, but after having this one... it is THE REASON why I would buy one, I love it. I could talk about the gearbox all day long, but I will move on to other aspects of the car.
Now we have the box out the way, I will start with the appearance of the car. I personally felt the same way with this as I did when I first saw the Clio 200 Mk3, a bit boggle eyed but it has very very quickly grown on me (which is quite annoying). I even parked this next to a Mk3 200 and now every time I look at one, I cant help but think they looked a little dated in comparison.
The Car I used was a 200T with Cup packs, this was no where near as “crashy” as its predecessor with the cup pack option. Don't get me wrong its still a stiff car, but it was a relief to not have to keep an eye on my open beverage in the cup holder.
The interior of the car is a really nice place to be, it doesn't feel cheap and plastically. The car really feels like it was put together well, a little German in fact! The R-Link system which now incorporates all of the cars entertainment system and Sat Nav took a little getting used to. It was fully compatible with my Iphone/Ipod which offered all my playlists on a touch screen which was a nice feature. The front of the car felt very spacious without feeling big, everything is where you expect it to be. I sadly cannot comment on the rear as I spent all the time driving it! The driving position was perfect for me and very adjustable, being 6ft 2 its often difficult to find a car which I actually feel comfortable in, but this nailed it. I will also mention the in-car noise animations, its a fun gimmick, I listened to them all once... but I spent the WHOLE time with that crap turned off. The engine with that gearbox make for an awesome noise, so I do not see why anyone would want to mask it.
The next hyped fear of this car was the fact that Renault had removed the Brembo brakes. There is not much to be said other than the fact they are literally amazing. They stop the car mentally quickly and after a full day at Combe at basically race pace, (with bog standard pads), there was not even a HINT of brake fade. So that's another worry off the list..
Now for the engine, the direct injection 1.6T is awesome. Renault have really got this right. It redlines at 6500rpm but is very free in getting there and loved to rev on the down-shifts especially. There is next to no turbo lag and it literally pulls all the way to the limiter. The low down torque is especially obvious, it really does feel like its a larger displacement engine under the bonnet.
There is so much I could talk about this car but I will basically sum up a few more of my observations over the last few days or this will go on for ever!
- Steering weighted really nicely, steering wheel is thick too which is nice.
- Standard RS seats hold you real well, much better than previous models.
- Stereo system sound quality is good
- Gear lever paddles feel spot on
- Averaged 32mpg on low mileage engine with mixed driving (no motorway)
- No temp gauge but a blue light goes out when its ready to be thrashed
- Gear change light is perfect on track, as well as the beep
Literally 95% of all passengers got in commented on the quality of the gear changes within the first lap! (sometimes even on the way out the pit lane!). Every single person who I spoke to was impressed with the car as a whole.
There is only one thing about this car that I was not genuinely impressed with.... this was the tyres. The Dunlop sport max tyres did offer decent grip on road and wet conditions, but for use on track under warm conditions like that, I would consider swapping them for something a little more focussed.
As a final comment with my “tuning” head back on.....What a base this car is to start from... I cannot wait to get my hands on one to start slapping some modifications on. I simple remap is going to get decent power, hybrid turbo etc. A decent set of lowering springs would certainly increase the look of the car as I do feel it is sat a little high as standard.
I am sure I have missed plenty and/or worded sections very poorly, but I had to write this quickly. Must get back to work... so I can earn some dough to buy one!
Josh
