Faults:

Last year at about 45000 miles my car started to play up; the coil light came on and the engine would not rev, even with my foot on the floor...

From what I am led to believe, the Clio has a sensor instead of the traditional accelerator cable, but this only happens when the coil light comes on. Not at any other time.

I read a few reviews on here, and tried some redex in the fuel tank; this seemed to work. Now this time round it's started again, and also this time the engine won't tick over. This is only true after the engine has warmed up. So what I am going to try is replacing the spark plugs and replacing the coil pack, then next month I will replace the accelerator sensor. I believe once I have done this, I should have no more problems.

Also last year I had to replace the rear springs and front track rod ends at a cost of £500. Does anyone else agree the previous owner decided to go over speed bumps at 100mph???

If anyone would like to mail me for some advice, then please do marsbars_63@hotmail.co.uk

General Comments:

This car has served me quite well to be fair. I have kept the engine topped up with oil, and drive it like an old granny, always changing gear at 2000 revs, and very rarely take it over 80mph.

I can also confirm I am getting around 49mpg, a full tank costs roughly £46, and I can get around 460 miles out of this. That's at current fuel price of 102.9p per litre.

But to be perfectly honest, I would think twice about buying a car over 3 years old next time from any car manufacturer.

Faults:

Well l brought a Clio Billabong 1.2 about seven months ago. Sometimes when I try and start the engine, the car won't start and I have to try it a few times before I can actually get it to start. But on other occasions the car starts first time with no problems at all.

I took it to the dealership, and they tested it and said the cam sensor needs replacing. They said it would cost £160, which is mad, and I went to my local garage who did it a lot cheaper. I have a warranty with this car, but they said the cam sensor is not covered, as only certain parts are. What is the point of having a warranty then?

I would advise people not to buy a Clio, as they are not very good cars.

I was also having a problem with performance as the car was not going very fast. I got a service done, had the sparkplugs, oil and filters changed, and it seems to be much better for the meanwhile.

General Comments:

The car does not go very fast.

I shouldn't be really having problems with the car after just having it for 7 months.

Faults:

Toxic monitoring warning light within 2 days of owning it, fixed for 2 days at garage.

Immobiliser fault after 4 days of owning it.

Toxic monitoring warning light again, and never went off!

Immobiliser fault again!

General Comments:

I used to have a Saxo until I was in an accident and it got written off. I was devastated, and when I got my claim money through, I fell in love with a 2003 Renault Clio Authentique.

I only had the car 13 days, and it broke down twice, and went in the garage twice for 2 different reasons! The toxic monitoring warning light was on constantly, and the garage had no idea what the fault was! They told me to take the car back because it would eventually pack in altogether! Apparently the 2003 version is full of faults and are pretty rubbish, a shame really because it was a nice car. Needless to say though, I will never buy another Renault because they are really badly built!

It was one of the most stressful experiences of my life owning that car, due to the unreliability and terrible service from the garage I bought it from. I now have a lovely Vauxhall Corsa SXi, which is a lovely car.

In a nutshell, don't buy a Renault Clio, especially a 2003 reg!