Personally I think that the build quality is no worse than the majority of car manufacturers and much better than quite a few others. Cars like BMWs, Mercs and similarly priced cars are obviously better built, but then look at the price difference!
At least Clios havent had eight recalls like the Mini, as according to my friend who, after having loads of problems with her Cooper, and BMW wouldnt change it for a different one, she called out the AA for an independent assessment in which they had a big list of problems and told her that there had been eight recalls on the Mini.
I think the Clio has much standard equipment, which would be extras on most other cars and for the money, is pretty well built, but I can only vouch for the 172.