Mk1 behaviour at speed depends what you are doing. On the motorway its stable, not too badly affected by wind and brakes in a straightline. On the twisty stuff or round a track the picture is a little different:
The front end is too soft, initial turn in can be poor and body control is limited. The car will understeer before oversteer and in that sense communicates the fact that you approaching the limit quite effectively.
Once at the limit the difference between "this is fun" and "why am I pointing in this direction" is pretty slim and you will need to be on top of things to control it. Dont expect to be drifting it around corner for 100s of yard at first!
Its worth bearing in mind that all Clio v6s are overweight and this has a dramatic effect on both the handling and the effectiveness of the v6 engine.
If you are talking about driving it fast round a track you will find that it can done but requires a combination of finesse and commitment. The v6 lacks the communication skills of other cars and you need the finesse to get it round the track.
As CraigV6 has said the turning circle is appalling at low speed but the steering starts to make sense at high speed.
Now that might all sound like I am dissing it but...
Running costs are not as bad as you might think. I have paid circa £190 for both 12k services. It has never used any oil in between services and is still on the original brake pads. Tyres are an issue and I reckon on getting approx 7000 to 8000 miles out of the rears and managed 17000 out of the fronts.
Petrol consumption is, of course, dependent on how hard it is driven. I can get 30 mpg on the motorway, 25ish on A/B roads and much less at a trackday. It does like Optimax but can deal with cheap stuff.
The handling can be improved but it is not cheap to do. Project254 is the man to speak to about full on revision to the rear suspension. If you dont want to invest too much money then I have done the following and it has completely changed the handling (for the better!):
Installed KW Variant 3 Adj. coilovers and then had the geometry setup
Changed to Pirelli PZero Rossos and run the pressures +5% normally, + 10% on a trackday
Total cost of these changes is somewhere in the region £1500 to £1600. The primary differences are that turn in is much better, the front end is much more composed. The damping on the KW makes the Renault effort look like a childs experiment.
Other changes have included PiperX IK, ignore all the hype about +10bhp and accept that it makes the car sound nicer and adds a small amount of power (possibly). You will want to replace the backbox because the standard fit Renault item is over-silenced and rots within 1/2 mile of water - K-Tec have a new backbox or Quicksilver in Battersea are another supplier.
I dont have any regrets about buying mine. I paid 5k less than sticker price at a main dealer so the additional cost of the mods has kind of been soaked up in the initial saving.
The car attracts alot of attention and because of its characteristics is rewarding to drive quickly. If all want effortless speed and sublime handling dont bother looking try a scooby or evo instead.
If you want anymore info PM me.
