1995 Renault Clio RT review from UK and Ireland

Had a very bad blowout the first morning I owned it.

Had a very bad leak coming through the front of the sunroof through the remote locking sensor which I believe caused the following faults:

Never got the remote locking working; the sensor was presumable corroded from all the water leaking through it.

Radio reception was non-existent. Presumably because the wire connecting the aerial to the radio was corroded. It was "fixed" three times. Workman said that Renault aerials are infamous. Seemed to eat tapes as well. Worked fine with external input.

Gearstick shook violently under acceleration.

From 57,700 miles the car would not go into 1st while still moving.

Soon after 2nd and 3rd became very sticky.

The string holding the back board kept coming off.

A deceptively powerful car. Deceptive because it is not nippy at all. Most unresponsive small car I've ever driven. I think this is due to a long gear box and loose gear ratios. A fiesta Zetec may speed up to 40mph, but a Clio RT will continue accelerating uphill from 40mph. Never had to drop a gear climbing up even long winding hills.

I wasn't to keen on the Burgundy colour. Despite other reviews arguing the contrary, this isn't much of a boy racer's car. It looks bland, the back end more than the front (which at least had foglights). Lowering it would probably make it look a bit snappier.

Clutch was lovely. It's a little late, but it doesn't suddenly catch up with you when easing your foot off. It means it doesn't lift off like a Ford, but equally its hard to stall.

The interior was very grey, fitting in with the geriatric market that snaps these cars up, but it was very comfortable. I loved the seat, which had lumber and rocker control as well as the usual slide and slope adjusments. Very comfortable all round.

Left footrest is a nice extra for the longer journey or to tap your foot to your favourite tunes.

Steering wheel looked as though it was too close, but I never had any problems with it.

The gizmos were great - the stereo remote control was fantastic, although I only got to use it to control the volume for my MP3s. Sound was very good, bass never seemed to distort. The stereo had an external input 3.5mm jack - great for those (like myself) who get annoyed with tape conversion kits.

Electric mirrors and windows were a fancy extra, but in the end how many times do you need to adjust mirrors? The nearside window goes up with one tap, whereas you have to hold down the button for the offside window.

Misting up inside was a bad problem, it happened within a few seconds when driving. Eventually, along with a squall shower, it meant I ended up writing this car off.

Not having a working radio really soured my opinion of the car - every other problem I had with it was bearable.