Faults:

The car had a few scratches, a damaged wheel and a dent in the boot lid when I picked it up. However Renault sorted these out without any problems.

The indicators stopped working after about 20 miles and the heater controls also stopped working at the same time. Renault again sorted out the problems quickly without any questions.

General Comments:

The Clio Cup 172 is a real drivers car and needs to be revved to get the best performance out of it. My Cup is just about run in now and when you open it up, especially in 3rd and 4th around country lanes it is awesome. The power delivery is smooth up to about 5k and then goes crazy after that and you have to hold on to the wheel tightly.

The handling of the Cup us very precise, but it can be a bit twitchy on uneven surfaces. However out on the open road it is very sure footed and backed up by powerful brakes it stops very well.

The only downside to the Cup is that on long journeys the very stiff suspension does get a bit annoying and the lack of ABS during the recent snow made driving a bit exciting!!!

But who cares I love the car and once you get in and start the Cup up all that is forgotten and it is time to hunt down Civic Type R's!!!

Faults:

Did stall when idle, but this has been rectified by the dealer.

Wouldn't start when warm, but this has been rectified by the dealer.

Sun-roof rattles. This has been rectified on several occasions by the dealer, but the problem keeps coming back.

In cold weather, the dash board rattles - obviously shrinks. This makes a new car sound pretty old.

Several 'creaky' noises around the passenger and driver's door. This has been partially rectified by the dealer.

When I purchased the Clio boot 'organizer' (I must be dull to have bought one) it didn't fit. The dealer couldn't get it to fit the old model either. Don't know what was going on there.

General Comments:

I have mixed feelings about the Clio. It drives well: cornering and acceleration are not bad at all for the class of car. The seating is comfortable, music system fine and it looks good. All the gadgets initially impress, like the rain sensitive windscreen and the automatic lights which are again good for the class of car. But, my windsreen's got a crack in it and I am not sure what it will cost to replace a non-standard windscreen - check your insurance.

What lets the car down is the quality of the cabin. It's a tad noisy for a 8 month old car. Rattles and creeks spoil the otherwise great ride. The other thing I noticed, compared to other cars I have driven is the loud road noise you get at high speed. However, I've got used to this and pretty much ignore it now.

The Renault dealer has been fairly good and have always sorted problems under the warranty. I think the number of times I have had to take the car back is unacceptable though and that the £10 insurance fee for the hire car should be waived for new car buyers. Because the dealer cleans the car whenever I take it in I have very rarely had to clean the car - looking on the bright side!

Faults:

Before purchasing the car (on test drive), the passenger seat pulley had seemed to have broken. Also, one off the headlamp cleaners had broken. Both problems were fixed by the dealer.

General Comments:

I bought this car with slightly high miles at 6 months old, apart from the problems that are outlined above I was first impressed by the sheer power given out from the engine, seriously fun, but can sometimes be quite aggressive in the wet, especially when you don't need it to be! The car has a beautifully crafted interior, most impressive was the lack of lights on the dash, all are confined to the central display. Climate control, ABS, ESP, disk brakes all round, cruise control and airbags are standard, and make the nearest rival (the Civic Type-R) seem to be from the 80s! Having driven Golf GTis, Civic Type-R's and Peugeot GTi's, this car is simply unbelievable, at almost £5000 less than most of the competition it's a bargain I just could not refuse! The ride is solid and the feeling you get from simply watching the MPH gage go up is amazing, although the engine sounds like it has no power at 7000 revs, not that i'll be doing that. 172 horses, I'm off to the Autobahn to really see how this goes. Trust me, you'll love it. Vavavoom.