Anyone know much about Renault Clios?

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

Will

Hardcore MB Enthusiast
SUPPORTER
Joined
Jan 21, 2003
Messages
13,876
Location
Surrey
Car
GL63 AMG / 190E 2.5-16 / Porsche 911
Hi Gang,

A friend of mine needs a new car and has around £1k to spend. Must be 1.2-1.4 engine size for insurance/running costs.

She likes the look of Renault Clios, I've driven a couple over the years and they seem ok.

Seen these two that look ok for the money:

Renault Clio 1.2 16V Dynamique Billabong 3dr | eBay

2001 Y Renault Clio 1.2 16v Sport | eBay

Any pearls of wisdom? I did a couple of wheel bearings on one for somebody back in the summer, and a headlight/tie bar bush for an MOT but other than that I've no idea what they're like!

What do you reckon - the slightly newer/better spec one with higher miles or the older one with lower mileage? Only a couple of years between them though I suppose.

Probably going to see the lower mileage one later on, should be a nice car with 40k if it's been looked after ok.

Will
 
Will

From my experience of Clios they always fall at the opposite ends of the scale either they are brilliant and never fail or they are always in the garage usually with electrical problems. My daughters pal has a Y reg and has had it for 6 years apart from routine servicing its never had a spanner on it. My Pals wife has a 1.2 on a 52 plate and its been hit several times by the electrical gremlins. Talking to people in the trade there's no way to spot a good one from a bad one in terms of electrics failures, so you pays your money and takes your chance.

For this very reason I bought my daughter a Fiat Punto, on a Y plate with only 36k on the clock and 2 years in no major issues other than consumables.

My twopenneth FWIW :D
 
As above-- good safety rep on NCAP---- comfortable suspension on the standard models-- electrics seem to be their Achilles heel. Problems tend to surface after a few years/ high mileage.
 
Cheers guys,

As cheap/small cars go I guess there's worse out there - which is about as enthusiastic I can get looking at them :eek:

I always look at small cars like these as having typically been abused around town by kids/old ladies etc bumped up and down kerbs, no mechanical sympathy/run on a shoestring budget etc..!

I'll have a look, I can usually tell a well looked after car - even if it's not what I am used to :)

£1k isn't big money for a Clio but you don't want to be spending out much £££s on a car of that age/value in repairs/servicing either.

I guess if anyone knows Clios in greater depth - is a 2003 or 2001 car a better bet, and would you buy younger with higher mileage or older with lower? :thumb:
 
I had a 51 plate 1.2 clio expression as a first car and got it with 52k on the clock and put 32k on it. If i remember correctly it had 83k when i sold it. It was cheap to insure being 850 (for a new driver) is pretty cheap, cheap to run and could not fault it. A few friends still have clio's and they are going strong. I believe the newer shape one's suffer from electrical problems at times however for a cheap economical car I could not fault it! mine was 8v however but i cant imagine there being a huge difference with the 8 & 16v. Any questions just fire me a pm!
 
Forgot to add - Sold it for £1250 about 18 months ago however they have gone down in price even more so £1000 should get a 01 plate or newer if lucky depending on condition and mileage etc
 
It's old and it's French so it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect problems.

But as others have said, it may prove to be a decent car although I'd also consider a Micra or Polo if I was going down this route.
 
There is not much to dislike about a Clio - very popular with the young at heart & very friendly car.

Spacious , light, responsive chassis, cheap plastic bolt on front wings, excellent parts supply at reasonable cost & frugal with good general reliability.

I collected a folder of articles a couple of years ago, and the only significant downside seemed to be the sun roof rattle which no one could fix.

The only downside with those examples you viewed is the colour - black - which is so out of vogue now, and especially on small cars anyway - which should be colourful joyful things.
 
Clios

Had personal experience of 6 clios one way or another- always found them to be reliable where it matters in 1.2 8v and 16v versions-the 16v is surprisingly good fun to drive if you like using max rpm. If you get a sunroof beware of leaks and I would avoid high spec ones with lots of electrical toys. I would suggest a 1.2 16v in 'expression' or 'dynamique' spec as a good all rounder.
 
Will

From my experience of Clios they always fall at the opposite ends of the scale either they are brilliant and never fail or they are always in the garage usually with electrical problems. My daughters pal has a Y reg and has had it for 6 years apart from routine servicing its never had a spanner on it. My Pals wife has a 1.2 on a 52 plate and its been hit several times by the electrical gremlins. Talking to people in the trade there's no way to spot a good one from a bad one in terms of electrics failures, so you pays your money and takes your chance.

For this very reason I bought my daughter a Fiat Punto, on a Y plate with only 36k on the clock and 2 years in no major issues other than consumables.

My twopenneth FWIW :D

Also my experience with Clio's, and Renaults in general. Please avoid and with a sunroof, these ALWAYS leak, and cause havoc with the central locking/alarm, which is fitted beside the interior light. See a lot of broken coil springs too, but this isn't limited to Renault nowadays. Get a good one and they're great, otherwise get Green Flag cover....
 
Cheers guys :thumb:

Had a quick look at both of them for her - first one was a complete shed - bonnet rattle can repainted - or near as dammit - dented/peeling paint/flat as a blackboard - dented all over down both sides like it had been through a tumble drier...plus other stuff.

Second one (43k miler) only looked to have been serviced three times in 12 years? (Despite having asked in advance about this sort of stuff), had both rear lights broken and taped over, split/torn wiper blades (and a fresh MOT with 'no advisories?!?') - plus numberous bad dents on the roof, OSR and tailgate - enough to be off putting on anything but a £200 banger.

Both had 'no-name' ditchfinder tyres too - kinda ties in with the sort of care/maintainence that they had been afforded by previous owners I guess :(

I said to keep searching - hopefully a decent privately owned/well maintained example will turn up soon :)
 
So for a grand you want pristine paint,full service history and 4 new premium tyres!
Good luck looking!

Tony.
 
My Son has had a Clio for the last 2 years, when I bought it every rubber part front and rear axles had perished and needed replacing.
The only issues have all been electrical

windows regulators
rear lights connectors and earth corroded
immobiliser

Engine is on 110k and once all the above was sorted it starts first time every time.
 
So for a grand you want pristine paint,full service history and 4 new premium tyres!
Good luck looking!

Tony.

Tony,

I expect you are trolling...but nope, I dont expect that - nor did I imply that :rolleyes:

I would expect a legitimate MOT certificate, servicing at least mostly up to date and in roadworthy condition.

As for the cosmetics - I'd expect wear and tear commensurate with the age/mileage - not excessive amounts of damage nor obviously sub-standard repairs. I'd expect car park dinks, maybe the odd minor dent or a few scratches - not major dents/unrepaired damage on 3 seperate panels.

As for the tyres - cheap sh!tty tyres=cheap sh!tty cars in this case. It's a trend that I've noticed over the years and dozens of cars that I've bought and sold. People who fit decent OE quality tyres to their cars tend to look after the other aspects of them too.

Why would you want to buy a carelessly driven/badly looked after car like these when there's no shortage of good condition uses ones out there for similar money :)

Do you always buy the first of anything you see regardless of condition?

I know there are decent cars out there in this price range. It shouldn't take too long to find one either :)
 
I must admit when I was collecting my file of Clio articles, I was surprised that they held their prices so well, but I guess that was the way the market was moving (to smaller more economical cars).

So, I was even more surprised that you found such modern versions/low miles for sale at those prices.

I guess I now have the answer - their condition being very poor.

The proper cars will be more costly or will be sold very quickly.

It's a tricky job, but if you/she are patient......................
 
As with any volume car like this - there's loads of crappy ones out there and there should be a few decent ones out there too.

Not expecting a perfect example or anything unusually good for the money, just a typical 2/3/4 owner car with average mileage, some service history and evidence that basic maintenance at least has been attended to.

C'mon though - 2x broken rear light clusters and a damaged wiper on a car that was MOT'd on the 8th of May - with no advisories?

I am certain that a suitable car will surface and be bought in the coming days :)
 
If you want a small reliable car then something like a vw polo, seat ibiza, skoda fabia or Toyota yaris is what I would go for. You wont get a lot for a 1000 with either as they hold their money well but tend to be a lot more reliable then clios. Also Ford fiestas are brilliant look past the badge I used to have one as my commuter car did 27,0000 miles in it in a year drove it everywhere with my foot on the floor as it had 55bhp and all it needed in that time was servicing and tyres.
 
Over the years I've bought and sold several cars in the £500-£1000 range. I'd say it is very realistic to want to find a nice example. There's no need to except a shed just because it's cheap. As I'm sure you know, it's about being patient waiting for the right car to come along.

FWIW I'd also consider a Nissan Micra.
 
The bonnet may well have been resprayed due to the infamous Clio bonnet catch issue. Picked up a few of them with the bonnet wrapped over the roof, scary, and all for a squirt of grease...
 
FWIW I'd also consider a Nissan Micra.

Just make sure the steering wheel doesn't come off in your hands:D
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom