OK I vaguely recall some people here own or have owned one before.

What were your ownership experiences like?

Particularly I'm interested in experience with dealers / servicing and the build quality and reliability of the car itself.

Had a quick drive of the Clio Sport 197 this morning. The car was not run in or registered yet, so I didn't exceed 4000 rpm (cause it's gonna be somebodys car, so a little respect was in order) but it potentially seems like a very nice drive.

Not convinced that I would swap my WRX for it, but if anyone has any feedback they'd like to share..

i had a clio dci and it was recalled 4 times!!

gearboxes are rubbish on the little renault and you gotta keep em revving to be quick

Thanks Gez,

The Renault dealer was not exactly 100% convincing in his answers to my questions about the Clio's reliability and longevity.

More along the lines of 'It's as reliable as any mainstream car you can buy today'

Whereas Subaru / Honda tend to totally emphasise the reliability of their vehicles.

It wasn't really confidence inspiring

Subarus are the most reliable cars ever, just look at these forums for proof.

Anyhow, the older Sports are known for being a great little car to drive, but extremely varying in build quality. 2 people Ive known had owned these, one thrashed the living crap out of it, never had a single issue. The other needed a motor rebuilt as it bent all the valves, a box rebuild, and had some stupid wiring issue with meant half the loom had to be replaced, yet he didnt drive it very hard at all.

Youd hope they have solved it with the new model but who knows.

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I am only an asshole on the internet :)

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My WRX has not let me down once in the (almost) eleven years I've owned it. In light of that it is with a lot of cynicism and caution if I'm even considering going to another brand.

I'm actually only scored a drive of the Clio as I was simply looking out of curiousity and they were having a quiet day.

I was upfront about not even being set on buying a car, but they were keen to convince me otherwise.

Thanks for the feedback guys, it's kind of what I was suspecting..

edit: sarcasm acknowledged.

i sense sarcasm from teejay lol. I quite like the clio's. Very popular in portugal. Those i know that have one seem to praise it if anything...

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MY04 WRX CLUBSPEC 7

It's built by French people.

The same people who have a National shrine to victorious soldiers upon their return home..........NEVER USED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Arc de Triumph for the un-educated)



I believe you now have my thoughts on the subject

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No more GC8, sad face.
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my mrs drives a meganne, and I have to say it is very nice car. There are some tunning issues with its gearbox (it tends to rev engine I guess thats because they are tuned for euro roads).

She bought hers brand new and havne't had any issues since then. The interior is awesome and very spacious. Fuel economy is very good as well.

IMO renault suffers from the bad publicity they recived due to older laguna's.

Actually dude, the French Legionaires are the only armed forces in the world who have never had to surrender

Cool, so after sales service, etc has been satisfactory then.

I found the pedal placement a little bit odd, (accelerator did not sit flush with the brake pedal) and not enough travel in the brake pedal, but otherwise it had a nice spread of torque and a nice feel to the controls (considering it was only 10 kms old)

On face value there is a lot to like about the car. If I was serious I would wait until they had a proper demo and ask for an extended drive.