Faults:

Nothing really compare to other cars of a similar age:

The car was in the family from new, and was passed onto me as a first car, for the last few months of its life.

The seat had started to wear at around 80,000 miles.

Paint flaked off around the rear wheel arches, rather than the normal rusting from the inside out.

Speedometer needle wiggled whilst driving, but that just added to the character of this wonderful little car.

Driver's side wing mirror came off very easily when knocked, compared to other cars.

Track rod ends and drive shaft boots at around 80,000 miles.

General Comments:

This little car must be one of the best mk1 Clios ever made.

It had its faults, but at 17 years old barely nothing had gone wrong over its life.

Having first been purchased by an older lady and run until around 20,000 miles, then passed onto another family member who clocked up 60,000 trouble feel miles.

Then finally onto me for a few months.

This car was seriously nippy, and for 17 years old the red paint was like new. Always came up good with a wash and polish.

The car always started first time and sipped fuel; it ran on fumes.

Sad to see a car with so much character go, but with a large regular commute on the horizon, it was time for the old girl to go.

I did not want anyone else having this wonderful little car, so with regret I scrapped her.

Replaced with newer 2000 Renault Clio Grande; not a fraction of the character the old model has, and much more to go wrong.

This must be one of the best French cars ever.

Faults:

Nothing in particular, just normal wearing of parts.

Had a major accident in 1999, but the engine wasn't harmed, only the chassis got bent.

General Comments:

The Clio is very spacious for its size, and makes the ride for 4-5 people comfortable. The boot is deep, and makes the loading of big suitcases a bit hard.

However to make it, simple Renault put the spare wheel under the boot, outside the car.

Doesn't have luxury options, like power steering, ABS, air bags, only power brakes. The Clio UP was the most economy version, and didn't have as standard, comfort options like air conditioning, car stereo, electric mirrors and windows, fog lamps.

It doesn't have a good fuel economy, just 10km/Liter, but with the CNG conversion I installed, I can get easily 3.5kg/100km, that can be roughly compared to 62 UK-MPG.

It's just a 1.2L engine with about 58hp, but runs well at low RPM without power loss. It's a Euro2 with catalytic converter and multi-point injection system

The engine is really good. In 13 years it didn't do lots of kilometers, just 117k km, but the engine was never opened, just the standard oil change and spark-plugs. Spark-plug wires were the original ones until 2010.

The clutch is the original one, and only now (2011) is starting to slip a bit on really steep hill starts.

The manual transmission is good, no problem with it, is always a slow paced car, so don't expect F1 gear changes.

The chassis is a bit heavy for a little hatchback like the Clio, but makes the car feel safer.

It rolls a lot on fast corners.

Wheels are a bit small, just a common 155/70R13 tires and the high distance from the ground easily accentuates the body roll.