The French manufacturer has a strong history of great hot hatches. The Clio Williams started it off in 1993 (or perhaps even earlier with the 5 Gordini), then successive 172 and 182 versions of the Clio 2 uprated the deal and despite the lack of the Williams grand prix associations, were more desirable still.Please click images below to enlarge:
Looks
Now the Clio 3 gets the full Renault Sport treatment and it works a treat. The bodywork is all rather subtle, and the lack of wings may disappoint the Max Power brigade. However, the closer you look, the more there is to lust over. The rear wings are ever-so-subtly flared to accommodate the wider track and the 17-inch multi-spoke alloys. At the front things are more aggressive, with much broader wings and a considerably wider stance to the front wheels. There is a bigger grille at the front and side skirts, of course, but two neat tricks really put the stamp on this Clio’s presence.
An air extractor vent is mounted in the trailing edge of each front wing, to draw hot air from the engine compartment and, apparently, to enhance the airflow alongside the car. Then at the rear, spoilers are pushed aside in favour of a Formula 1-style air diffuser built beneath the bumper. It creates a zone of low pressure under the car which sucks the car down to the road. At motorway speeds it effectively adds 40kg of downforce, and as much as 70kg on the race circuit. Apart from looking decidedly cool, unlike a rear wing it doesn’t add drag to compromise straight line performance.
Interior
The interior’s a bit of a treat too. Alloys pedals, a sports look to the instruments and chunky leather wheel, complete with red centre-point stitching. Recaro seats, with rigid clam-shell backing and holes for full harness belts are optional, and they really look the business. But then so do the regular sports seats specially designed for the Renault Sport models. They hold you firmly yet there is real comfort on offer too. Don’t forget that the Clio 3 has grown so much is stature that it will now happily seat four adults and take their luggage too.
Drivetrain
But all of this is mere gloss if the Clio Sport doesn’t do the business on the road or track. The first thing that hits you is the incredibly low gearing of the six-speed transmission. In sixth the road speed is just 19 miles an hour per thousand revs – at 70mph it’s spinning away at close to 4,000rpm, a seemingly absurdly high speed. It does mean that the ratios are incredibly close though, which means whipping up and down the gearbox is a driving style you rapidly adopt. It adds to the fun even though you are likely to occasionally, and embarrassingly, wrong slot until you get used to it.
European buyers call it the Clio Renault Sport 200, which sounds rather good to me, but they use PS rather than bhp. Either way, 197bhp is pretty spectacular in a supermini. With all that power extracted from just two-litres, with no turbocharger, it comes as no surprise that a good supply of revs are needed to extract the full dose. Peak power at 7,250 and torque maxing out at 5,550 are the sort of numbers we used to associate with Honda engines.
They mean that the Clio’s power unit needs to worked to the limit to maximise the possibilities but the results reward determination. 0-62mph is just 6.9 seconds, but the real joy is making the Clio sing along through the bends while continuously flicking up and down the gearbox. It’s quick, have no doubt about that, though a downside of so little torque at low revs is that this Clio can have trouble accelerating up a steep hill in second gear.
Driving
And then there is the chassis. Fabulous. Has Renault done its homework here or what? So much development work has gone into the new design of the double-axis strut system up front that this is as good as front wheel drive gets. The Clio turns into corners with extreme precision and sharpness. You can set the car up for corners with so much confidence that it will track precisely where you demand, you’ll quickly become a better driver than you ever dreamed.
Part of the trick is the optimisation of the ESP electronic stability programme. It allows the Clio Sport to move around in the corners enough to allow you to adjust its attitude on the throttle to a level I have not experience before with ESP. Of course there is still the safety net if you overdo it but so subtle is the operation there was never a hint of it interfering with the driver’s car control.
Torque steer, usually the plague of powerful front-drivers, is absent, and helped by specially developed asymmetrical Continental Sport Contact 3 tyres; there’s no wheel spin either. Switch the ESP off, which I did on the race track, and you can turn the benign Clio Sport into something rather lairy, but on the road there’s really no point. The electric power steering has been weighted up over the regular Clio, thank heavens, and feel is good if not great.
The Clio 3 is no lightweight and the Sport, at 1240kg complete with its full complement of airbags and climate control, is undoubtedly a bi porky. That’s the reason behind the low gearing, but no real excuse for the extraordinary din from the exhaust. At low roads speeds, at around 5,000rpm, the resonance inside is decidedly unpleasant. It seems to lessen at higher cruising speeds and oddly varies according to where you sit in the cabin. It sounds like a simple case of getting the exhaust and its mountings wrong; hopefully right-hand-drive cars will be better.
Verdict
The fact that the noise is the only real minus point about the Clio Sport 197 is a compliment to the sheer all-round success of the package. Exciting, fun, immensely rewarding on the right road and comfortable too, this is the new standard setter amongst hot hatchbacks.
Looks
Now the Clio 3 gets the full Renault Sport treatment and it works a treat. The bodywork is all rather subtle, and the lack of wings may disappoint the Max Power brigade. However, the closer you look, the more there is to lust over. The rear wings are ever-so-subtly flared to accommodate the wider track and the 17-inch multi-spoke alloys. At the front things are more aggressive, with much broader wings and a considerably wider stance to the front wheels. There is a bigger grille at the front and side skirts, of course, but two neat tricks really put the stamp on this Clio’s presence.
An air extractor vent is mounted in the trailing edge of each front wing, to draw hot air from the engine compartment and, apparently, to enhance the airflow alongside the car. Then at the rear, spoilers are pushed aside in favour of a Formula 1-style air diffuser built beneath the bumper. It creates a zone of low pressure under the car which sucks the car down to the road. At motorway speeds it effectively adds 40kg of downforce, and as much as 70kg on the race circuit. Apart from looking decidedly cool, unlike a rear wing it doesn’t add drag to compromise straight line performance.
Interior
The interior’s a bit of a treat too. Alloys pedals, a sports look to the instruments and chunky leather wheel, complete with red centre-point stitching. Recaro seats, with rigid clam-shell backing and holes for full harness belts are optional, and they really look the business. But then so do the regular sports seats specially designed for the Renault Sport models. They hold you firmly yet there is real comfort on offer too. Don’t forget that the Clio 3 has grown so much is stature that it will now happily seat four adults and take their luggage too.
Drivetrain
But all of this is mere gloss if the Clio Sport doesn’t do the business on the road or track. The first thing that hits you is the incredibly low gearing of the six-speed transmission. In sixth the road speed is just 19 miles an hour per thousand revs – at 70mph it’s spinning away at close to 4,000rpm, a seemingly absurdly high speed. It does mean that the ratios are incredibly close though, which means whipping up and down the gearbox is a driving style you rapidly adopt. It adds to the fun even though you are likely to occasionally, and embarrassingly, wrong slot until you get used to it.
European buyers call it the Clio Renault Sport 200, which sounds rather good to me, but they use PS rather than bhp. Either way, 197bhp is pretty spectacular in a supermini. With all that power extracted from just two-litres, with no turbocharger, it comes as no surprise that a good supply of revs are needed to extract the full dose. Peak power at 7,250 and torque maxing out at 5,550 are the sort of numbers we used to associate with Honda engines.
They mean that the Clio’s power unit needs to worked to the limit to maximise the possibilities but the results reward determination. 0-62mph is just 6.9 seconds, but the real joy is making the Clio sing along through the bends while continuously flicking up and down the gearbox. It’s quick, have no doubt about that, though a downside of so little torque at low revs is that this Clio can have trouble accelerating up a steep hill in second gear.
Driving
And then there is the chassis. Fabulous. Has Renault done its homework here or what? So much development work has gone into the new design of the double-axis strut system up front that this is as good as front wheel drive gets. The Clio turns into corners with extreme precision and sharpness. You can set the car up for corners with so much confidence that it will track precisely where you demand, you’ll quickly become a better driver than you ever dreamed.
Part of the trick is the optimisation of the ESP electronic stability programme. It allows the Clio Sport to move around in the corners enough to allow you to adjust its attitude on the throttle to a level I have not experience before with ESP. Of course there is still the safety net if you overdo it but so subtle is the operation there was never a hint of it interfering with the driver’s car control.
Torque steer, usually the plague of powerful front-drivers, is absent, and helped by specially developed asymmetrical Continental Sport Contact 3 tyres; there’s no wheel spin either. Switch the ESP off, which I did on the race track, and you can turn the benign Clio Sport into something rather lairy, but on the road there’s really no point. The electric power steering has been weighted up over the regular Clio, thank heavens, and feel is good if not great.
The Clio 3 is no lightweight and the Sport, at 1240kg complete with its full complement of airbags and climate control, is undoubtedly a bi porky. That’s the reason behind the low gearing, but no real excuse for the extraordinary din from the exhaust. At low roads speeds, at around 5,000rpm, the resonance inside is decidedly unpleasant. It seems to lessen at higher cruising speeds and oddly varies according to where you sit in the cabin. It sounds like a simple case of getting the exhaust and its mountings wrong; hopefully right-hand-drive cars will be better.
Verdict
The fact that the noise is the only real minus point about the Clio Sport 197 is a compliment to the sheer all-round success of the package. Exciting, fun, immensely rewarding on the right road and comfortable too, this is the new standard setter amongst hot hatchbacks.
