Faults:

The car rattles a lot, especially the glove compartment and the driver's side of the dash board.

My steering wheel has started to creak when parking, or turning when moving slowly.

The car pulls around all over the place when driving normally, and there is a bit of a vibration in the steering. It does it slow and high speeds. Its driving me crazy and it's a little dangerous too. I know the tyre's are big and the suspension is lower, but its really bad and I am very concerned. I've come close to having an accident a few times.

It also pulls vigorously to the left when braking.

When turning slowly over a bumpy surface I can hear some kind of squeaking noise, and I don't have a clue where its coming from.

Oh and the spoiler has cracked too.

I've also noticed a loss of power from when I since got the car. It doesn't move half as quick as it did when I purchased it.

General Comments:

The car was extremely quick when I got it. Excellent performance.

Very comfy seats, started to fray a little though.

Great to drive. Handling can be brilliant at times.

I am going to have to get it checked for so many things. I am a little annoyed, I have had the car only 3 weeks.

The car was previously owned, but its only 6 months old.

Faults:

Water ran into the trunk through a crack of sorts in the solder with the first rains after purchase.

A fuse blew before the 1,000 km and had to have the car towed away by the dealer's service trucks.

General Comments:

Besides the initial two glitches the car has been awesome.

After driving a Nissan Pathfinder for some years it was great pleasure to return to real driving, feeling every curve of the road and gnawing at straight highways.

Sure enough with a 1.4 engine with 100 horse power you can't expect to be the fastest thing on the road, but at least it beats all the SUV and is a good competition to most cars on the road.

The Clio's handling on curvy, wet roads and in emergency breaking situations is unlike anything I had experienced before. This is really the car for mountainous (but paved) terrain.

As to fuel economy I can't complain, with the air conditioning turned on most of the time in urban conditions I am still getting an average of 8.4 liters per 100 km (that's 28.7 miles per gallon for the USA folks).

Overall; smart looking car, could do with a little more engine power, feels Good to drive it!

Faults:

Passenger seat runners were very loose and had to be replaced.

Oil leak from power steering.

The rear brake pads stick to the brake disk when the car is left standing and it rains!

The alarm sometimes doesn't arm when the key-fob is pressed.

The engine sometimes doesn't start after a long journey. The starter motor turns over, but it doesn't seem to have a spark.

The most annoying fault is a knocking from the front right suspension (which gets worse by the day).

General Comments:

Good points first. If you are after a seriously 'fun' car then this is it. Find a decent B road, put your foot down (keeping within the speed limit off course!) and you will have the biggest grin on your face. This is a true track-day car and cheap as well. Performance and handling are exceptional.

This car is only 6 months old and it has had numerous faults so build quality and reliability are poor (see faults!).

Another bad point are the dealers. Avoid if you can, but no doubt you will be visiting them sooner rather than later. I took my car to my local dealer to fix the suspension and brake problem. They couldn't fix the suspension problem because they didn't know how. The dealer phoned up Renault, but they didn't know how to fix it either! Apparently the sticking brake fault is a 'feature' of 172 cup's, although I don't believe that.