2002 Renault Clio Dynamique review from Greece

Due to a design flaw, I requested a replacement for the glovebox lid at 3000 km. Afterwards, this design flaw affected the new lid too, so I decided to live with it rather than start replacing glovebox lid after glovebox lid.

At around 40000 km I had to replace the driver's side CV and wheel bearing.

At 67000 km, the passenger-side window guide broke and the whole assembly had to be replaced.

At 75000 km, the same part gave trouble.

At 80000 km, the exhaust started showing signs of wear.

The car was purchased new, and was in my opinion, the one with the highest perceived quality in the B-segment. In fact, it appeared to be every bit as solidly built as the German "benchmarks" (the already ancient back then, Golf Mk-II based, Polo - and don't get me started on the Opel Corsa), and a test drive convinced me that it handled very nicely and provided the ride quality one would expect from a grown-up car.

The handling was very friendly, with bags of grip; the rear twist-beam axle (which, handily, came equipped with an anti-roll bar) participated in the car's positioning mid-bend, giving the car a very sporty feel not unlike that of the 2.0 sport version or even the glorious Peugeot 106 Rallye. Nimble, precise and inspiring. It was also remarkably stable at very high speeds on motorways (we're talking about speeds exceeding 160 km/h).

The steering was not particularly quick, and unfortunately, the turning circle was atrocious. It was rather nicely weighted, though, and provided a decent amount of information and feedback to the driver's hands.

The gearbox never missed a change, had a nicely short throw, but it wasn't particularly precise.

The brakes were adequately powerful, although the pedal had an initial dead area.

The driving position was a pain. The car had the same semi-bucket seats as the 2.0-liter Sport version, but their backs were too low and the lumbar support adjustment was barely effective. Things were made even worse by the fact that the steering column's rake was truck-like and no amount of adjustment would fix that.

The glovebox lid's design was seriously flawed: the side that was closer to the driver was unsupported, so it eventually (especially if "aided" by a hand resting for even a fraction of a second on the open lid) had its "hinge" (which was basically just a long piece of notched plastic) deformed and the part closer to the driver wouldn't close properly. This meant that the switch for the glovebox light on the inside didn't get turned off, so you'd be driving at night with the glovebox light on. Renault suggested a U-shaped piece of metal to be inserted where the lid latched. They could have just moved the switch to another place instead...

The rear seats weren't made for tall persons; headroom and legroom were limited.

However, it managed to absorb the irregularities of greek roads very well, and so it was a pleasure to drive for long distances.

The engine provided good performance for the car's class (as long as you didn't expect to do any serious overtaking with the A/C on) and managed to give excellent fuel consumption. I loved that motor.