1996 Renault Clio RL Oasis review from UK and Ireland

Nothing ever "went wrong" as such.

Normal wear and tear meant windscreen wipers needed replacing as soon as I got the car.

Rear Washer never worked, not that I'd use it anyway.

Had two tyres replaced in quick succession. When I bought the car there was considerable underside damage between the front wheels, which didn't affect handling or performance, but meant tracking was a bit off for both front wheels, and they wore through more rapidly.

The local Renault garage overcharged for services and tried to exaggerate problems. The car will just keep on going no matter how roughly you treat it.

I loved this car. It never let me down, and was appealing enough inside and out.

My only quarrels with it where in design - the gearbox has no synchromesh. However once you've got used to clutch control for second gear at low speeds it is perfectly controllable in traffic.

The absence of a rev counter and engine temperature displays on the dashboard was cheap on Renault's part.

The speakers were a very cheap affair, replacements are required if you are serious about your music.

The seats weren't as comfortable as on on the RT & RN versions.

Acceleration didn't seem that great from a drivers perspective, but it would beat most other cars in its class, and overtaking was never a problem.

This is the second Clio I've written off in a head on collision, and I know of three other such incidents. The car is easy to control and relaxing to drive - perhaps these combine to induce drowsiness at the wheel? Or maybe we always hurt the ones we love (!)