Clio - more than a bit special at 20
HARD to believe that the Renault Clio will be 20 this year and that of the 10 million sold worldwide, one in ten of them have found British homes.
There are lots of superminis but the Clio is a bit special – I mean, let’s face it, how many others have had a mid-engined V6 version made?
Those slightly manic V6 versions aside (and the second generation ones are much better than the early ones by the way) the Clio has always been one of the most popular cars here. Notwithstanding its value and excellent road manners, Renault pulled off a marketing masterstroke when it commissioned the famous Papa and Nicole series of TV adverts, arguably the most famous car adverts ever.
Running over seven years it became a soap in its own right and when the last one was screened in 1998 23 million of us tuned in Brits to see the cliff-hanger wedding of Nicole to comedian, Vic Reeves, only to have her ‘elope’ with Bob Mortimer, the other half of the Reeves and Mortimer double act. In comparison, Coronation Street at that time had six million fewer viewers.
The Clio has found a successful formula from which it has never strayed in two decades – a soft, smooth ride, a wide range of engines, cute styling and an indefinable fun factor missing in so many rivals. Even though it was produced in its millions, Renault still found a way to sprinkle a little magic into its supermini.
Now in its third generation today’s Clios are a world away from those first. It’s bigger, stronger, safer (the Clio was the first car in its class to get the maximum four-star NCAP crash rating in 2000, followed by a the maximum five-start rating in 2005 when the test was made harder), more reliable, more everything in fact.
There are lots of really great superminis around today and I always say that small cars are the area where the manufacturers have made the biggest strides in the past 15-20 years or so. I like the Fiats, the Fiesta is still the best handler, but the Renault vies with its French counterpart from Peugeot for the accolade of being the smoothest riding.
Let’s salute the Clio – the car that put the va va voom into the supermini market.
Get your Clio at Perrys - with all the advantages of buying from a franchised Renault Dealer