build quality is hardly as bad as they say on the Renaults and the handling/ride is excellent...however, parts costs are astronomical (My S3 is cheaper to maintain than my wifes ex clio) and dont bother having work done anywhere other than the dealers.

I dont understand why not all manufacturers use drive chains instead of cambelts like Merc. Much more reliable and no need to replace.

@Thomas , the Jap scrap you think is allthat, doesnt stand out from the crowd. It will never.....As far as timing chains go, great advancement, Nissan had it yonks ago on the sentra sr20 motor. Anyways that is until you have problems.... Yaris vs CLIO no comparison, one is a mass produced army like issue , the other a designer item.....

Camchains can be noisy and steal power from the motor. The Italians beat the japs to it anyway, my 1973 Alfa Junior had a cam chain, twin carb, twin OHC, beating the japs to all of that, this unfortunately did not improve the reliablity of the car where the japs do a better job. Anyway, Renault has more performance, goodies & style than most jap cars

Is it not maybe that you guys are all jealous because you can't afford a Renault?

Is it not maybe that you guys are all jealous because you can't afford a Renault?

I've had a unfortunate experience of being a passenger in my mates Renault Clio from Durban to Polokwane, and a diesel 1 at that!....there came a stage where the rattles in the car = mid volume with East Coast Radio on. Disaster design if you asked me, I own a Ford Sierra 3.0i RS and still appreciate the solid build after 17 years on the playing field. Good write up tho!

The most reliable Renault in Renault's range. I'm not even gonna comment on the Naysayers.

1 comment, buy a JAP car. My Yaris got a timing chain, only replace after 200 000km!!!!!! Just show you really how far behind Frenchies car technology is.

A Clio with a diesel engine? They're great little cars yeah, I've driven a few, but you absolutely have to have a petrol engine in a small french city car like this one. The diesel is awful :(

My daily drive is a 2005 Clio 1.2 Authentique. Bought it new and now on 115000km without any issues. I understand why people warn others about staying away from Renault, Peugeot, Land Rover, etc. But I can honestly say in the Renault's case it is unwarranted. Every time that I take my car in I can see the service improving. Renault realized their mistake and are working hard on improving their image. Also have a VW Golf 5 in the family and the service and support is 10 times worse when compared to Renault. I am very happy with my choice even thought I had serious doubts in the beginning. You can buy any Clio 2 with confidence. BTW my cambelt also only replaced at 90000.

Wake up dude - if it wasn't for Renault, Nissan would have shut shop. Renault owns 51% of Nissan and taught them how to make cars as well as do business. Nissan was only ever good at making 4x4's and trucks, now their vehicles have more & better technology in them.

I had a brand new 2001 Alize 1.4 8V, just before this facelift model. One of the best cars I have ever owned. Ride quality, handling, economy and sprightly performance. These car are brilliant on gravel too. Had a bad experience with cheap (in this class) Pirelli's though. Service from the agents in Port Elizabeth was average. Never had a serious problem with mine. It now belongs to my inlaws who contiune to enjoy it.

Unfortunately I had a horrible experience with my Peugeot 207 which gave me problems since I took it out of the showrooms and onto the road. French cars look good but can become a real pain. I just hope that owners of Renaults and Peugeots dont experience so much heartache as I did with my car. I took it in to the dealers almost every month cos of something going wrong. From now on I will stick to Japanese and German...however I am starting to have my doubts about Nissan's reliability as well now seeing that its sharing engines and platforms with Renault.

What a nice review. definately a cotender for this month's winner. Your article was informative. Just wish others can learn from it. We don't want to hear people trying to defend their brands. Now if I'm looking for a small hatchback I'll be better informed and ready to make the right decision. The other issue that one needs to look at is the cost of total ownership.

Renaults are brilliant cars - I'm on my second one. Started with the Megane CC and moved to a smaller Twingo RS. These cards come fully stocked without having to pay for all those extras, it's all standard. I've had no reliability problems and good service (Northcliff) although Renault did have service problems IN THE PAST. Resale of my CC was not great but was just as bad with the VW's, Nissan, BMW I had in the past. Pete is a plonker, you probably changed your cambelt at 150000km at the same time as you replaced your pistons and valves after it snapped. Cambelts should be changed at 90000km, dunno why he changed it at 60Kkm

My 2003 5-door Dynamique (particular model was not available in SA) was good fun until the TCU gave up the ghost at almost 70k and the dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree. Used virtually no oil in that time. It can be summed as: mechanically great, electrically horrid.

My wife drives a 2005 Clio 1.2 expression. Great car but am a bit worried by the fact that the Renault service station in CT Northern Suburbs is a shared "multi-dealer" service centre. - Shared with Tata, Daihatsu & Kia. Don't want a Tata mechanic working on my wife's Renault thank you vary much. Rather take it to Steve's Auto Clinic for services from now on - Also much cheaper!

I owned a Renault Megane RS, infact traded it in three weeks ago on a new BMW 320D AT. I also had some service issues with Renault but they have improved some. My actual car mechanically didnt have a problem over its 4 year life with me. I enjoyed her, she was fast, fuel efficient and bearing in mind that I only paid for one service was not that expensive to maintain. Like anything if you look after it it should reward you. Motoring is a quid pro pro

Bought one of these a while back, 1.4 auto. Gearbox gave lots of trouble at 111000kms, rediculously expensive to repair. Would keep on going into the slow get me home mode. Coud't sell it, best trade-in I got was from Kia. The new auto boxes are too complicated and seriously unreliable, AUDI, BMW, MERC, VOLVO S40 the whole lot. So now it's only manual for me.

if you by any french car, no matter how good the 'deal' is, you'll regret it. French cars my look good, but they will introduce you to a world of financial hurt. don't be a retard and buy a french car.

Nice write up... my switch from pertrol to deisel took very little getting used to :) diesel rules

After sales service is really poor, but it all depends where you have your Renault worked on, (though it should not be this way, it is). This can be contributed to the lack of experience some of these technicians have. As for the car i have no issues, i just did my 90k service and the cost was just over 3k(including Cambelt), very impressed with the Clio Sport phase 2. i have all the features and performance i want. Despite what people say(some from experience) renaults are actually great cars if maintained well. but hey thats just my opinion.

A well written review with useable information. I too made the swap from petrol to diesel this year but I'm not completely convinced. Economy and mid-range torque are great but refinement and excitement are a little short in supply.

Good luck mate. I forced Renault SA to take back my Me"gone". Very nice ride until something goes wrong. Electrical cutouts "ad nausioum". The add the service quality levels and the pricing of this bad service.... Such a bad buy if it goes wrong and it will. Just give it time. Don't spend that savings on fule money. Renault does not want you to give it to the Petroleum companies, no, they want it all for themselves. If you can off load it onto an deserving jerk. Best form of revenge I can think of if somebody has p***ed you of. MAke him a special offer.

Enjoy your car, don't mind these naysayers. Similar drivel was said about BMW's, I drive mine superhard (20X harder than they do their Toyota's and VW's), zero problem!!!! Too many exciting cars outthere to spend valuable years stuck in some mundane appliance!

Nice write up and good choice. I agree - if you look after it, it will look after you - like most cars actually. IMHO the biggest problem with turbo cars (Petrol or diesel) in this country is that as soon as the motorplan runs out the owners rush out to Midas to replace the oil with some cheap 20W50 rubbish instead of the syntethic oil these engines demand. Having been involved in the motor industry for many years we often see petrol and diesel turbo motors that do in excess of 400 000kms without any major hassle, the distinguising factor usually being proper maintenance and quality oil. The highest I've personally witnessed is one of our customers who have done in excess of 500 000km in a 1.9TDI A4. Still with original turbo and injectors it runs ever so sweetly!

I have had my Clio 1.5Dci from new in 2004, with no Major issues except crappy service from Renault. That all went away when I hit 90 000Km and I have done all services myself since then with the 120k cam belt and water pump replacement done by an ex renault mechanic on his plot. Total cost less than R3000. I now sit close to 160 000Km. I replaced disks at 50 00Km with a pattern Megane disk for R350 from Autozone. Most other service items (Diesel/air/pollen filters) I bring in from the UK at about half price. My journey to work is around 55km each way with 5Km on a very bumpy dirt road. Nothing has fallen off yet although the inner frong wing liners did flap around a bit until held in place by a couple of zip ties. When Diesel got a bit expensive last year, I ran for 10 000km on Bio Diesel made from old fryer oil. Engine ran fine, just made you feel hungry when you got a whiff of the KFC exhaust. Before coming to SA in 1996 I only had french cars. Plenty of old Renaults and Citroens included the dreaded 2CV, so maybe I have a biased opinion, but my little "Colin Clio" is the best vehicle I have ever had.

I let my low mileage Renault Clio III go just before the warranty was up.......the dealer service was so shocking while the vehicle was still under warranty that I was not going to risk having the car longer as the dealer incompentancies would then be costing MY pocket......terrible service, even worse trade in.....stay safe, stick with the regular brands. Regular brands might not have the pizazz and flair but will hurt your pocket alot less when the time comes for trade in.....

As a Former Renault Megane Owner, I am very curious. I had terrible reliability issues with 2 Meganes, and almost all the complaints I have heard from Renault owners have been about the Megane. Is the Clio any better when it comes to electrical reliability?Is it just the Meganes with the Electrical issues?

Nice car...but big mistake. As an ex Renault owner when it goes wrong, it goes horribly wrong!

Listen to Pete's comments and trust me you will learn to regret your purchase!!!

I agree with Pete. Take the cost of ownership into account and the owner would one day say something like this... "After 300,000km on the clock it cost me an arm and a leg to keep running. The fuel consumption only made my financial crash landing a bit softer. Not to mention the times I had to be without my baby as she was in for show stopping repairs"

Good fuel consumption is not going to outweigh the costs of excessive service fees and poor resale when you do finally get rid of it. 60 000km for cambelt replacement is rediculous. A 160i corolla gets replaced at 150 000kms. 400 000km before any major faults? I think many of the bits around the engine will have gone south by then, and a fortune will have been spent replacing them. Best to sell it once the warranty is up. Thanks for the review.

Nice review, a lot of info etc.