Renault Clio E-Tech Hybrid 2024 long-term test
Monday, 15 July 2024 ()
Has a coronation been arranged for our outgoing sporty hybrid supermini?
*Why we ran it: *To see if the Clio is the heir apparent to the Ford Fiesta’s ‘default buy’ throne
-Month 1 - Month 2 - Month 3 - Month 4 - Month 5 - Month 6 - Final report - Specs-
-Life with a Renault Clio hybrid: Final report-
It's very rare that I get to keep a car for as long as I have this one. What great fortune, then, that it should turn out to be one of my favourite long-termers in eight years of doing this job, and one I have had no difficulty finding things to write about (unlike a fair few I could mention).
My Renault Clio hasn't been flawless, regrettably, as many of my past long-termers have been. It intermittently irritated me with rattles from the dashboard and driver's door; its stereo volume controls suffered a glitch that occasionally made me look like an ass in public; its Apple CarPlay integration tripped up a couple of times; and its parking sensors once went haywire. Yet despite all of that, I already miss it like an old friend.
Primary among its qualities for me was the fuel efficiency, and consequently also the cost efficiency, of Renault's E-Tech Full Hybrid powertrain, which combined a 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with an electric motor and a small drive battery by way of a unique transmission so fiendishly complex that I still have to refresh my memory every time I need to explain exactly how it works (which does give me some concerns about long-term reliability, but only time can tell on that front).
This resulted in 53.5mpg over the course of my 10,000 miles with the car, and it even refused to drop below 50mpg when two friends and I did a trip to Belgium that included some unrestricted stretches of autobahn, which is just incredibly impressive (thanks not least to it recuperating 24kWh of energy, as revealed by the trip computer, and while in 'D' mode rather than regen-heavy 'B').
During that time, my mates also had no major complaints about practicality, despite both being over 6ft tall and the car carrying plenty of luggage. It was just the lack of separate air vents and cupholders.
It was easy to drive In town, entertaining in the countryside for the rear seats that bothered them. Meanwhile, the Clio pleased me with sensible touches like digital switches for turning the instrument dials from imperial to metric and the headlight beams from left- to right-leaning.
If I'm sounding prosaic here, let me assure you that the Clio was simultaneously a whole lot of fun. I'm still not entirely convinced by the Renault Group's strategy of applying blue 'A' branding to everyday Renault models, even if it is officially only the spirit of Alpine', when no mechanical modifications are made but the handling of the Clio was sharp and rewarding. It's one of the most fun superminis on the market - even in its cheaper petrol manual form, which I also tried for a comparison during my time with the hybrid (shown above in orange, and which returned an equally impressive 48mpg on average).
Such control and grip did contribute to a firm ride, but not an unpleasant one. After all, my commute is 140 motorway miles on each office day. This was a car in which I could sit back and relax, with the powertrain flitting in and out of EV mode to optimise economy and performance, the sports seats both supporting and comforting me and the touchscreen's CarPlay giving me voice-controlled podcasts or streamed music through the high-quality stereo speakers.
Oh, and of course, there was the benefit of the lane keeping assistance staying off once I'd turned it off after my first drive, and the lack of speed limit warning bings and other now-mandatory safety systems.
Aside from the aforementioned hiccups, I liked that touchscreen too, large as it was and with all the features I wanted and no laggy response times. Plus, I didn't have to use it anywhere near as much as I have done in other cars recently, because Renault has retained the physical air-conditioning controls that should in my view be a legal requirement, along with a row of physical shortcut buttons.
As more colleagues tried the Clio throughout its time with us, I sensed an impassioned rhetoric building momentum, each one singing its praises when returning the car - not that editor Mark Tisshaw needed any convincing, having already spent his own money on a petrol model.
And when I was tasked with delivering the first verdict on China's new MG 3, which is positioned essentially as a cut-price Clio (both start at around £17k, but the latter has more standard equipment, and this Esprit Alpine version is nearly £25k), it just made me appreciate all the more the roundedness and polish of the French offering.
The premise of this test was to discover whether the updated Clio was primed to become the new default super mini purchase after Ford killed what had for many years been Britain's favourite car - and, in short, it really should be.
*Second Opinion*
Nothing I have driven has made me want to buy it so quickly. From a practical perspective, the Clio costs the same as Suzuki’s new Swift but drives like it’s from the class above, and more fatuously I love the dulcet tones of its beeps and bongs. If it fits the bill, you should buy one immediately
*Jonathan Bryce*
*Back to the top*
*Love it:*
*Hybrid powertrain *Aside from being extremely fuel efficient, it gave sharp standing-start and in-gear acceleration.
*Interior design *The interior looked great dressed in its Alpine glad rags and none of the materials felt unpleasantly cheap.
*Practicality *Who needs a bigger crossover when a supermini can accommodate four adults and their luggage?
*Loathe it:*
*Stupid key *This smooth card was forever slipping out of my hands or going missing. Just give us a fob, please.
*Imperfect electronics *That several glitches occurred in the first 10,000 miles doesn’t augur well for long-term reliability
*Final mileage: *12,126
*Back to the top*
-Life with a Renault Clio hybrid: Month 6-
*Trip down to Spa reveals its talents aren’t diminished with another two men aboard - 5 June*
Do you want to attend a major motorsport event but have never got round to doing so? If so, please, don't go to the British Grand Prix.
Why? Well, if you buy a ticket today, it will be at least £309, or £479 if you want to sit in a grandstand, plus £40 to park, plus the fuel and hotel bills.
Alternatively, you could spend £171 on tickets for you plus two others to sit wherever you please at the 6 Hours of Spa, plus £28 to park, £114 for the tunnel and fuel and hotel bills.
In short, the trip would cost the three of you a fiver less than it would for one to do the Formula 1 at Silverstone. Furthermore, the racing will be far more exciting and between a greater variety of cars.
So, that's exactly what my mates and I did. What a way to see off my Clio too (final report next week). I've properly fallen for this innovative hybrid supermini over these past few months. Twelve hours at the wheel in three days? Lemme at it.
Ben and Harrison are over oft tall, but I knew room in the Clio wouldn't be an issue, as it can simultaneously provide 80cm of leg room front and rear, plus 100cm and 90cm of head room respectively. That's in addition to almost 400 litres of boot space - far more than weekend bags and camping chairs could ever need.
Preparing for our departure, I was delighted to find that I didn't need to buy headlight stickers as well as UK stickers, because my Clio features a digital switch to change the direction of the LED beams for driving on the right - something I'd seen before only on premium cars.
The Eurotunnel has always been slick for me, but not this time. First, the queues took forever, meaning we were the last to board our late-departing train. (Apparently it will take "five to seven minutes longer" when the EUs new fingerprint and photo requirements come into force in October!).
Second, a short while after Coquelles had unblurred, we were informed that we had to wait for le breakdown services. Was that vintage Jaguar we'd seen earlier to blame? Nope, a modern hybrid...
That first stretch of autoroute is always bliss. Smooth, light traffic, actual lane discipline, no cameras, a speed limit that's not only higher 130kph (81mph) but also doesn't change every mile for no reason...
There are plenty of pretty cities to stop in on the way down to the Ardennes too: Bruges, Brussels, Ghent. However, we'd visited those before, so we instead opted to skirt along the border and explore Lille.
The Clio's wireless Apple CarPlay made it easy for us to find a metro station with free parking, and from there it was a short ride into a picturesque centre of open space and ornate old architecture. It was small but had plenty to see, and the lunch cuisine was, well, French.
Onwards. Like all good tracks, Spa is in the middle of nowhere, meaning the few hotels in the local towns are absurdly expensive when big series are inbound. So we'd instead booked an Ibis Budget hotel on the outskirts of Aachen. It was meant as a truck stop, being tacked onto a petrol station, but that made for an ideal start the next morning.
Forty minutes down the N622, we were queuing on the hard shoulder, and it seemed that my warnings of Spa's random rain were wrong, as we happily made full use of the air-con in glorious high-20s sunshine.
Well, at least we up front did; my mates' sole complaints of the Clio were that the rear seats didn't have their own air vents or cupholders. Even the stereo didn't upset Harrison the sound engineer.
We'd left three hours to get into our pre-booked space, but to our frustration, this proved insufficient. Crawling through the surrounding farms and hills, we had to stream the race start on Ben's phone. At least there was still 5hr 30min to go by the time we'd laced up our walking boots for the trek to the gate.
Spa's parking marshals clearly need training to cope with the fast-growing popularity of the World Endurance Championship; indeed, the crowd, from all over Europe, totalled an unprecedented 88,000.
Elevated seating gave us the breathtaking view up the Eau Rouge hill shown above, after we realised we didn't need pricier tickets to get into the grandstands - not even the fabulously located new one atop Raidillon. It was simply first come, first served.
We'd started our day by trekking up that iconic hill - which® is far steeper than it looks - then walking up the Kemmel Straight, under Les Combes, past the long, downhill sweeper of Pouhon and then back down the forest innards to the paddock, on the other side of Eau Rouge - where we could freely walk about the teams' hospitality units. Can you imagine that being permitted by Fl for anyone who hadn't arrived by helicopter?
Here I was delighted to bump into Autocar's Charlie Martin, on duty to report on Alpine's launch of the hydrogen-combustion Alpenglow concept, and our former editorial director Jim Holder, now comms director for Renault Group UK.
I hoped my old boss hadn't heard the woman who, walking past the hospitality unit, exclaimed "ohhhh, so Alpine is Renault" ... or maybe he would have appreciated that? After all, motorsport is the ideal way to build performance brand cachet (unlike your new supercar concept breaking down and having to be towed onto the track for display...), and that's precisely why Renault sent Alpine into the WEC and Fl.
Having arrived in my own 'spirit of Alpine' Renault, I was routing for the striking blue A424s - not that it helped at all. The Ferrari 499Ps, Porsche 963s and Toyota GRO10s were clearly a good deal faster. We had been enjoying seeing them keeping each other on edge at the front of the pack, and the GT3 class had served up similar excitement, with Iron Lynx's all-female-crewed Lamborghini Huracan - a clear fan favourite, alongside the BMW M4 of MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi, which sadly crashed out early on - trying to escape the clutches of a Lexus RC F and a Porsche 911.
Then sudden chaos: with two-thirds of the race gone, a hypercar driver misjudged the differential to a sports car and suffered a terrible crash, nearly rolling at 200mph and littering the Kemmel with shredded composites. As the sun sunk ever lower in the sky, so did our hearts.
Yet in a break with tradition, the organisers added on the 1hr 44min delay to the race time, setting up a fine dusk sprint to the flag that would delight the crowd - if not Ferrari, who perhaps fairly felt that they'd had victory stolen from them and gifted to Porsche privateer Jota.
On the return leg from Aachen the next day, we took a northern arc, stopping en route in Eindhoven (did you know that Philips invented basically everything electronic, as well as this Dutch town itself?) and Antwerp, another charmingly gold-lined, grand market-squared city centre (in which the amazing if unintentionally asymmetrical cathedral bears the world's 37th largest clock face, apparently, two spots behind Big Ben).
Less Big Ben and I had promised Harrison, who has only recently passed his test, that he'd never enjoy driving in Britain quite the same after experiencing how much better things are in mainland Europe, and the M20's roadworks, potholed concrete, average-speed camera zones and lane hogs immediately confirmed that to him.
But I was much more satisfied that the Clio had easily convinced both of them just how brilliantly capable a car it is. Roomy, comfy, smooth-riding, refined, more than potent enough and still stubbornly doing more than 50mpg, even at 100mph on an unrestricted autobahn with three men and their bags aboard.
No matter how good my next car may be, I will miss it terribly.
*Mileage: *10,240
*Back to the top*
-Life with a Renault Clio hybrid: Month 5-
*We aren’t the only happy ‘owners’ of this affordable hybrid supermini - 24 April*
I'm always pleased to receive readers' letters (unless they're nasty...), and recently one arrived from a fellow Clio E-Tech driver.
Jeremy and his wife live in rural southern France (oh, if only) and she's a habitual buyer of Renaults. Having traded in her Kadjar, she got a new petrol Clio, thanks in part to Autocar's commendations, then traded that for a hybrid model. She's very happy with it, I'm told, not least because of its larger touchscreen.
Funnily enough, it was the matt feel of the smaller touchscreen that bothered me, not its size, whereas the colleague with whom I swapped Clios opined exactly the opposite.But I digress. Jeremy continued:
"Both the 1.0-litre and the hybrid are fine for our relatively short journeys around our area. Both were slightly out of their depth on the autoroute, especially the 1.0. It needed a sixth gear. The hybrid is fine if pushed gently, but when the engine kicks in and it changes down, it's gruff. It changes down a lot - only four gears, for goodness sake! However, for the money the hybrid is great value, refined and nicely appointed."
I was surprised by his comments about suitability for 80mph driving not least because the petrol Clio I tried did actually have six gears. It turns out there's a boggo five-speed SCe 65 sold in France that, with no turbo helping its three cylinders, makes just 64bhp.
Hitting 60mph takes 15sec, so I don't think we're missing out. (I note there's also an LPG-fuelled version of the 1.0 TCe and a 1.5 diesel four in France. If the former piques your interest, Dacia offers it here in the related Sandero.)
The 89bhp 1.0 TCe was acceptable for my motorway commutes, if not able to nip into a gap in the outside-lane stream and get up to speed before triggering German SUVs' LED full beams. The 141bhp hybrid, meanwhile, can do that with ease, thanks in part to the instant torque of its strong electric motor.
One more thing from Jeremy: "I'm 6ft lin tall, and this is the only car we've had, including the original Ford Ka and Fiat 500, where my head brushes the door frame on entering. Oh, and the front pillars are so big that visibility round the numerous tight bends is restricted."
I have no trouble getting in, at 5ft 9in. On balance, I'd still rather be 6ft, but I guess we can count that as a rare win for the 'short kings'.
*Love it*
*Gone for good*
I switched off the lane keeping ‘assistance’ on day one and it has never returned. How it should be.
*Loathe it*
*Annoying noises *
I hate cars reprimanding me, so off went the sensitive speed alert warning too. I can put up with the speed camera warnings, though.
*Mileage: *8402
*Back to the top*
*We compare a range-topping hybrid with an entry-level manual petrol - 10 April *
Over the extended Easter weekend, I swapped my Shadow Grey Clio for a Valencia Orange Clio - and the very next day, the grey rain clouds pictured below dissipated to reveal a warm spring sky. 'My world got a whole lot brighter' it's tempting to say, but I like my little Renault so much that such a pathetic fallacy would read too much like criticism.
The reason for the change was that a What Car? colleague, Jonty Renk, recently started running the cheapest Clio you can get, the TCe 90 Evolution, whereas my car is the dearest, the E-Tech Full Hybrid Esprit Alpine, and we both wanted to know how the other half live.
Priced from just £17,995, the basic Clio has a 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbo petrol engine sending 89bhp and 118lb ft of torque through a six-speed manual gearbox. By Alpine cars get a 9.3in infotainment touchscreen, Evolution and Techno models get a 7.0in one.
However, that difference appears greater than it sounds, due to the change to landscape orientation. It also lacks some features, but I didn't care, because it still has wireless Apple CarPlay to provide sat-nav, audio streaming and digital radio (there's Android Auto too if that's your thing), while the controls for the climate are ideal twisty dials whichever version you go for. Plus, wouldn't you agree that the smaller screen gives the dashboard a smarter, cleaner design?
The digital gauge display also contracts, from 10.0in and 70in, and becomes far less customisable. There are only a few display options and not one replicates traditional dials, which seems a trick missed. But then in this nation of constant surveillance, I prefer a numerical speedo anyhow.
I also liked how the horizontal tacho has not just a red zone but also a green zone representing optimum operation in each gear - a simple yet great concept that I haven't seen before.That gearbox itself impressed too, with a clearly defined biting point, no notchiness and an easy throw - which made the driving experience all the more fun.
While it obviously lacks the instant electric shove of the hybrid and has poorer rolling acceleration, I would actually prefer this powertrain for a cross-country blast. Automatics just don't give me enough to think about, nor that satisfaction of nailing planning and execution.
The compromise is fuel economy. From its latest tank, my hybrid achieved 51.2mpg, while in the 713 miles that Jonty and I have so far covered in his petrol, it has done 48.0mpg. Note that in both instances, a more sedate driver could achieve another 10mpg or so, at least according to the official test.
I already thought the Clio was one of the best affordable cars, and a joyous weekend in a version that was £5000 cheaper than mine yet in which I couldn't find one flaw has really strengthened that conviction.
*Love it*
*Sweet simplicity *
When it’s done well, there’s still so much good to be had from the traditional combination of a small fossil-burner and a stick-shifter
*Loathe it*
*Slip and hide*
It’s not just klutzes like me who drop and lose the Clio’s card-style key: Jonty has gone so far as to tape an Apple Airtag onto his.
*Mileage: *7697
*Back to the top*
-Life with a Renault Clio hybrid: Month 4-
*It's not all perfect! - 6 March*
Recently Renault’s software failed to detect when a few phone calls had ended, despite Apple CarPlay having done so, leaving me with no way to get any audio back. Then the parking sensors went into a continuous beep when I fired up in the work car park and stayed like that until I reached a red light and so could turn the car off and on again. At least that glitch left me laughing, rather than bored.
*Mileage: *6262
*Back to the top*
-Life with a Renault Clio Hybrid: Month 3-
*Its Alpine badges aren’t quite as gratuitous as you might think - 21 February *
In my initial report on our Clio, I was pretty dismissive about its sporting credentials, disappointed as I was that its Alpine badging wasn't matched by chassis or powertrain alterations.
This disappointment stemmed from several sources. First, it's just so lame when things appear to be what they patently are not. Fake exhausts and fake air intakes do not make your BMW X1 an M1.
Second, the Alpine brand has enough cachet these days that a good number of people will know what the blue A stickers on the sides are meant to imply: Formula 1, Le Mans hypercars and delightful little sports coupés.
Third, I have countless times read and watched motoring journalists struggling to maintain their composure when talking about hot Clios - first the Williams and then the Renaultsport series. In tact, many see those as among the best hot hatches of all.
However, the point I want to make here is that actually my Clio is sporty enough anyway that the sporty makeover brought by Esprit Alpine trim doesn't make me feel like a twit, at least not in the way that it would if I were driving an Austral or, for goodness sake, a bloody Espace.
And yes, this even though it is an outstandingly economical electrified automatic (at least if you don't habitually use revomaniac Sport driving mode).
Part of this is because it's pretty quick for what it is. The E-Tech Full Hybrid powertrain makes 143bhp and 106lb ft of torque, sending it to 62mph in 9.3sec, but it feels quicker than that in reality, because initial acceleration is by the electric motor, so it can really scarper away from junctions and into gaps in motor way traffic.
Go back two decades and the most revered Clio RS of all had 181bhp, making it 2sec quicker in the standard sprint. The regular 1.6-litre turbo petrol auto, meanwhile, had 109bhp for 0-62mph in 12.2sec. Makes ya think.
Look, I'm not naive enough to be making any direct comparison. The RS 182 Trophy is another world from this Clio. But I do continually find myself revelling in how nimble my car feels, how it will faithfully fling itself into a tight arc at speed without complaint, the way it rides flatly and firmly yet not nastily.
And when I did once cross the point of taking the mick, it signalled clearly that it was starting to understeer and was easy to rein back in. Hot hatch? Nah. Warm hatch? Maybe not even. But a fun hatch? Absolutely. Which is really saying something when it's also a comfy one and a fuel-saving one.
It just makes me wish that the regulatory wisdom of recent years hadn't rendered affordable hot hatches unviable, because I have no doubt that Renault could easily make an outstanding one with the fifth-generation Clio as its basis.
I really hope that the public recognise qualities like this in the Clio and so flock to it like never before. I have little faith in my fellow countrymen, but one good thing they have done was make the Ford Fiesta the best-selling car year after year, and I don't think that was entirely because it was simply the most convenient and familiar option within budget.
No, I think it was because, whether or not they understood why, they knew that particular hatch felt better than other cars to drive. Please, people: don't start settling for less.
*Love it *
*Pub tonight?*
I’m really noticing the high MPG in my bank balance. Some relief during the cost of living crisis.
*Loathe it*
*Grubby fingers*
The boot release button sits on the ledge overhanging the plate, which isn’t really the ideal place.
*Mileage:* 5309
*Back to the top*
*The Clio's ergonomics are impressive - 14 February*
I love that the Clio has a dash rocker for adjusting the brightness of the digital dials and touchscreen in sync, rather than making me prod around to find two sliders. I just wish I could keep ‘night mode’ after the system belatedly realises it’s light outside. Talking of strained eyes, reader Stewart notes that, contrary to my 31 January update, auto hold doesn’t activate the brake lights. Never take common sense for granted…
*Back to the top*
-Life with a Renault Clio hybrid: Month 2-
*Auto-hold makes for simpler driving - 31 January*
I’ve come to really appreciate the Clio’s auto-hold because it lets me drive in traffic without having to shift between P and D every two seconds or annoy people behind by keeping my foot on the brake pedal. This is a common feature on autos, but my old Peugeot 408 lacked it. Although I did turn it off by accident and then fail to locate the button for two days
*Mileage: *4487
*Back to the top*
*Dry January? Don’t know about that, but it certainly is warm - 24 January*
Oh, am I glad to have an Esprit Alpine version of the Clio. Not because it means I can enjoy back roads to a higher degree, though.
Actually, the 'sporty' one handles no more sharply than the others, and nor does it have a more powerful engine. Instead, I'm rosy-cheeked as this trim adds heated seats and a heated steering wheel (which aren't even options lower down the range).
In deepest winter, even when I'm wearing my coat that makes people think I'm off to audition for a Michelin advert, I'm always delighted to be warmed by elements rather than engine-cooked air..
It's beneficial to my wallet, too, because a car can achieve the same level of warming with far less energy. That's why most electric cars have them - and why heated armrests, doors and seatbelts are now all real things.
I had wondered whether, being a hybrid with the emphasis firmly on the electric side, my Clio would be annoying on winter mornings.
I had worried that I wouldn't be able to warm it up conventionally before leaving, because the bizarre workings of the E-Tech powertrain can result in the engine firing up at random times and running to incomprehensible revs.
But the four-pot does fire up when I stick the air-con on full blast, and by the time I've sprayed every window with de-icer, the car is happy to head for the motorway.
By contrast, my parents have a Hyundai Kona Electric, and driving that recently was a pain, as it took ages to defog its windscreen and then needed constant blasting of heat-pumped air to keep it clear.
My one winter worry in the Clio is minor: the silver trim on the steering wheel. I can't work out if it's plastic or metal, because it looks like the former imitating the latter but, on cold mornings, is convincing in a physical way too. Thumb freezing wouldn't be an issue if you default to the ten-to-two position, mind.
The only other annoyance I've had was a rattle emanating from somewhere in the dashboard. My pot of chewing gum? No. My keys? Something in the glovebox? The gearlever surround? No, no, no.
Then, after a few days, I shoved the panel on which the air-con controls sit upwards and the noise stopped. I hope it doesn't return, because the Clio is now perfect again.
*Love it*
*Easy listening*
I love being able to simply ask aloud for an artist or playlist from Spotify, or something nerdy from Podcasts, and Siri almost always gets it right.
*Loathe it *
*What a racket*
Sometimes it bongs at me but I don’t know why. Ugh, I’m going to have to read a manual, aren’t I…
*Mileage: *4152
*Back to the top*
-Life with a Renault Clio hybrid: Month 1-
*Welcoming the Clio to the fleet - 20 December 2023*
For so many years, the Ford Fiesta was the 'default' British car buy. Now that it's dead and buried, which affordable small hatchback should take its place?
Although the Vauxhall Corsa has since scaled the sales charts, it isn't fun like the Fiesta was. Likewise Europe's favourite car, the Peugeot 208.
The Volkswagen Polo? Even the GTI version leaves me cold. Skoda Fabia? Dacia Sandero? Worthy but, like the Corsa, dull. Seat Ibiza? Hyundai i20? They're strong contenders - as is the Renault Clio.
Despite having been around for decades, the Clio always seems to get a bit forgotten for some reason, despite being, in its 2019-born fifth generation, very talented. It can be great value for money too: Autocar's editor got an astounding finance deal on his one (see second opinion below).
His entry-level version, priced from £17,795, has an 89bhp 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbo petrol engine - which Renault reintroduced to UK showrooms a few months ago "in order to meet the needs of some customers in a difficult economic climate". Massive respect for that.
In contrast, my new long-termer has the E-Tech Full Hybrid powertrain, priced from £22,695, which comprises a 1.6-litre four-cylinder atmospheric petrol engine, a 24bhp integrated starter-generator (ISG), a 48bhp electric motor, a small 1.2kWh drive battery and an off-the-wall transmission.
How the DiscoLocoBox (great name!) came to be is a fascinating story that started way back in 2010 with a Renault engineer keeping himself entertained over the Christmas holidays with a load of Lego Technic pieces.
You can read it online by clicking here, but in a nutshell there's a four-speed gearbox with dog rings instead of synchros and no clutch, so the engine is put into neutral and then rev-matched by the ISG; two gears can be engaged at the same time, one to the engine and one to the motor; and so the E-Tech has 14 modes of powertrain operation.
My initial reaction was "why wouldn't they just use a CVT like everybody else?", but apparently this transmission, despite its huge complexity, feels more natural and allows for an engaging drive - while offering advantages of cost, size and versatility to the manufacturer.
I'm told that some of the system's technology came from Renault's Alpine Formula 1 team, so I don't feel quite so embarrassed about the blue As on the fake side vents of my Clio as I did initially.
You see, as part of the Clio's mid-life facelift, Renault has added a range-topping Esprit Alpine trim level, which also brings Alpine-branded sports seats and unique alloy wheels with blue centrepieces - but no power boost or any dynamic enhancements.
I've always felt uneasy about such things: if Renault really wants to make Alpine into "the French Ferrari", surely sticking its branding willy-nilly on a hybrid Clio or, for goodness sake, an Espace 1sn t the way to build brand equity. I can't imagine Maranello endorsing a Fiat 600... but then every Mercedes-Benz is an AMG Line and every BMW is an M Sport now, so who knows?
In any case, really like how this facelifted, Alpine-spirited Clio looks. Compact, confident, not over-detailed and with cool new LED lighting patterns at the front. It's just a shame that it's finished in dreary Shadow Grey; I definitely would have paid another £100 for the Flame Red, Valencia Orange or especially the Iron Blue.
The interior, I really must say, is fantastic in the context of today. Yes, it has succumbed to the trend of having a large infotainment touchscreen totally dominating the environment, but its unusual portrait orientation leads to less stretching away from the wheel and, crucially, there's still plenty of physical switchgear.
Underneath the screen is a dial each for the heat, fan speed and air direction, just as it should be, as well as buttons for the heated seats, EV mode and driving mode selection. Then over to my right is an absolute treat: not just buttons for the heated steering wheel and lane-keeping assistance but also up-down toggles for the angle of the headlights and the brightness of the two screens. (The instruments are, of course, fully digital and customisable.)
The bar is on the floor these days, but Renault is leaping high anyway. Alpine spec also puts sustainable fabric on those sports seats, as well as synthetic leather, which features on the steering wheel too, complemented by blue stitching and blue lining on the seatbelts - small details that I really like.
I noticed an enormous difference in my bank account when moving from an antiquated diesel Toyota Land Cruiser to a modern turbo petrol Peugeot 408 fastback earlier this year, and I'm hoping that this innovative hybrid supermini will yield a similar improvement.
My Clio promises a fabulous 65.7mpg (compared with 53.3mpg for the equivalent petrol), and in these inflationary times that's a prospect that really has got me enthused.
*Second Opinion*
Yes, I’ve bought myself a new Clio – not the hybrid but the pure-petrol model, for a mere £29 per month. I’ve been a serial Ford Fiesta buyer, but with that gone, the Clio is the heir to its throne as the best small car you can buy. I look forward to swapping notes with Kris.
*Mark Tisshaw*
*Back to the top*
-Renault Clio E-Tech Hybrid Esprit Alpine specification-
*Prices: List price new* £24,095 *List price now* £24,295 *Price as tested* £24,695 *Options: *Shadow Grey metallic paint £600 FUEL CONSUMPTION AND
*Fuel consumption and range: Claimed economy* 65.7mpg *Fuel tank* 39 litres *Test average* 53.5mpg *Test best* 55.0mpg *Test worst* 51mpgmpg *Real-world range* 459 miles
*Tech highlights: 0-62mph* 9.3sec *Top speed* 112mph *Engine* 4 cyls in line, 1598cc, petrol, plus electric motor *Max power* 143bhpbhp at 5600rpm *Max torque* 106lb ft at 3200rpm *Transmission* 4-spd automatic *Boot capacity* 254/1006 litres *Wheels* 17in, alloy *Tyres* 205/45 R17, Continental EcoContact 6 *Kerb weight* 1323kg
*Service and running costs: Contract hire rate* £263.17 *CO2* 97g/km *Service costs* None *Other costs* None *Fuel costs* £1216 *Running costs inc fuel* £1216 *Cost per mile* 12 pence *Faults* Infotainment glitches, continuous parking sensors beep
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