Well... i've just got back from 2 hours of driving pleasure, and the Clio is now mine and fully paid for MUAHAHAHAHA!
Took the two and a half hour train journey slog to the dealers to collect and they picked me up fomr the station in the car. Got back to the dealers and gave it a good inspection... the alloys have been all refurbed and look like brand new. Most of the little paint chips have been gone over with a bit of black paint, but nothing special there... there's still a couple about. Meh, I can sort those myself in future.
Also of great delight was that he appeared to er... forget to charge me the £295 extra for the extended 12 months warranty... he put the total down including the warranty extension on the invoice as £6'995 and we both signed it before I then paid... so I essentially got the extended warranty for free, woo-hoo! Ok so I had to fill the tank up myself as it was almost empty but meh... I chugged it with 97 ron as a treat and it only cost me £48 for a brimming tank.
It really was a great drive down the motorway... the cabin noise wasn't too bad and the ride was very smooth... certainly no worse than my Vectra SRi which this car is replacing! Cruis control is awesome... no idea how I survived without it before, I barely touched the pedals all the way! The car sits at almost spot on 3.5krpm @ 70mph and I found that perfectly comfortable, and economy was well above 30mpg... must have been 35+ considering it was on 21mpg average when I got it, and ended up at 32mpg average when I reached home. Certainly more than acceptable. Oh, how do you reset the bloomin trip computer? I can find out how to skip to the next feature, but couldnt see how to reset it to 0 or id have done a more accurate gauge of economy lol.
One thing I notice is that when you press accelerate there was a quiet yet noticeable kind of little whooshing sound coming form the fan grill area... but the dealers sat inside and had a listen and said it was the fuel injection system kicking in, and it's a quirk common to Clios. Can anyone else confirm?
Speed and acceleration are all very nice... only thing I noticed was a slight "juddering" when booting it, but I think it responds just as well to a slightly lighter foot and I think I may have been flooding the system at slightly too low revs. Would make sense.
I noticed the amber engine sign on the right of the dash kept slicking on and off every now and then... usually while cruise control was engaged... then dissappeared... is this a "quirk" too? The car seemed to be running fine with nothing to worry about... the light just kept flashing now and then. Odd.
Overall though i'm over the bloody moon... can't wait to go out and drive it again!
