1996 Renault Clio Versailles 1.1

Summary:

More than a car, she was a friend

Faults:

Nothing really compare to other cars of a similar age:

The car was in the family from new, and was passed onto me as a first car, for the last few months of its life.

The seat had started to wear at around 80,000 miles.

Paint flaked off around the rear wheel arches, rather than the normal rusting from the inside out.

Speedometer needle wiggled whilst driving, but that just added to the character of this wonderful little car.

Driver's side wing mirror came off very easily when knocked, compared to other cars.

Track rod ends and drive shaft boots at around 80,000 miles.

General Comments:

This little car must be one of the best mk1 Clios ever made.

It had its faults, but at 17 years old barely nothing had gone wrong over its life.

Having first been purchased by an older lady and run until around 20,000 miles, then passed onto another family member who clocked up 60,000 trouble feel miles.

Then finally onto me for a few months.

This car was seriously nippy, and for 17 years old the red paint was like new. Always came up good with a wash and polish.

The car always started first time and sipped fuel; it ran on fumes.

Sad to see a car with so much character go, but with a large regular commute on the horizon, it was time for the old girl to go.

I did not want anyone else having this wonderful little car, so with regret I scrapped her.

Replaced with newer 2000 Renault Clio Grande; not a fraction of the character the old model has, and much more to go wrong.

This must be one of the best French cars ever.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 30th July, 2013

31st Jul 2013, 07:48

"I did not want anyone else having this wonderful little car, so with regret I scrapped it".

What kind of mentality made you do this? If this little car was so great, why the heck wouldn't you want to keep it on the road and maintain the number of these unique cars remaining?

Also, if you say that you scrapped it because it was not good enough to commute in and at the end of its life at only 80000 miles and 17 years, what kind of great little car reaches the end of its life before it clicks over to 100K miles?

2nd Aug 2013, 09:14

I understand what you mean, however I failed to mention that the tax and MOT were about to expire.

This, along with the fact that it needed the drive shaft boots and track rod ends replaced, was getting very close to the low price I paid for a MK2 low mileage Renault Clio from a family friend.

Therefore even though the problems were just maintenance on a older car, I decided to go with the newer car.

I scrapped the car because it had been in my family from new, and I had many memories of the car along with my other family members. So I decided that I wanted to be the last one to have it.

1996 Renault Clio RT 1.4

Summary:

Junk on wheels

Faults:

I really hate this car. Everything that can go wrong, has gone wrong. Maybe I have just been unlucky, but a few of my friends have also had the same car, and most of the same problems.

The leak in the sun roof; what's that about? I really don't enjoy taking a shower while I am driving.

I have spent way too much money on this car in the past year. The heater has packed up 3 times, the engine mounts have broke twice, head gasket went, tires have been changed twice, but that would be like any car, but this was the last straw; me and my girl went for a nice drive the day before, had a really nice day, but the next morning when I left for work, it wouldn't start. It didn't make sense. It was fine yesterday, did a few checks, couldn't work out why it won't start, so as I kept trying to start the car, it decided it would be funny to set itself on fire.

So THAT IS IT, I'm going back to BMW and FORD. Can't beat them, but for some reason I am really sad to see this car go. I have enjoyed it when it was working (not very often).

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 28th August, 2010