1994 Renault Clio RL van review from UK and Ireland

Rear passenger-side shock absorber mount broke (the poor van was regularly overloaded, so hardly its fault).

Other than that, utterly faultless - I can't see where Renault gets its reputation for unreliability from.

The whiny 1.2 litre engine is utterly gutless - please, whatever you do, buy the 1.9 Diesel version of this van. I drilled some holes in the air filter box which seemed to make it a little more free-revving (and fruitier-sounding) - unless you can't stand boominess I recommend this free modification. The engine is extremely reliable and has never let me down, even in temperatures down to -20.

It's a very neutral-handling and fun car to drive, but the larger wheels (195/45/15s) someone had put on it before I bought it completely spoiled the steering feel - larger wheels might look better, but they do nothing for driveability, or handling adjustability on such a low-powered car - if only I'd swapped back to the original skinny 13" wheels and tyres.

Interior-wise it's okay, if very Spartan. As a van, the load capacity and room just isn't enough - more for pizza deliveries than tools and materials. The interior is relatively well put together, with few rattles; the BMW E36 3-series I drove wasn't all that much better.

All in all a very good supermini, but probably not cut out as a van. If you're buying the car version try to get at least a 1.4 as the base engine is dreadful - and another thing, don't over-tyre it.