Renault Clio X65 (2001-2008)

Love my Clio – I bought this car second hand in 2007 as an urban commuter. Since then I have driven 70K trouble free km's, mainly around suburban Melbourne. PROS: -it handles like a go-kart and makes roundabouts highly enjoyable. Suspension, steering and ride are wonderful. -Fantastic heating and aircon for a little car. -It fits into tight… Read more

parking spaces that everyone else drives straight past.

-Real world fuel economy is 7.5 L/100 km doing 5-10 km trips, low 6's with some longer driving thrown in.

-Paintwork is TOUGH and scratch resistant (unlike my wife's fragile Mazda6).

-It has been the model of reliability. The only things replaced were a hazard light switch ($25 from EBay) and a seat belt clasp that my daughter broke ($10 from a wrecker)

CONS:

-needs a preventative timing belt change every 100K kms or 5 years (roughly $800).

-Dealer mechanics are expensive and quite likely to break something due to their inexperience / low care factor. I found a local French car specialist who did a much more competent servicing job.

- some of the interior components are a bit plasticky but, to be fair, are pretty tough.

- only takes 95 or 98 RON petrol.

I still see plenty of these cars on the road so I don't think I'm the only one to have had a positive experience. I'll miss this car when it's gone, but I can't wait to pick up my new Clio next week.

Four years on and still going strong – Four years ago I purchased a used 2003 Clio Expression Verve automatic mainly to drive back and forth to work which is a 30km round trip five days per week and to save the daily wear and tear on my new cars over the years. To date apart from a once a year service totaling never more than $450, fuel and rego I have spent nothing on the vehicle.… Read more

This little runabout is economical and actually still a bit of fun to zip about in, I fully expected to have traded it in by now but given its on going reliability, comfort and ease on the hip pocket I see no need too at this point in time. Comfortable, safe and economical little car. A little cramped in the rear seat.

So cute, but so unreliable – We bought a 3 year old Renault Clio and sold it after 2 years of headaches! One would think a 3 year old car as a nice new reliable car, not our little Renault. My wife (girlfriend at the time) was going back to uni so we decided to downsize and get a nice small economical city run-about. So we looked around and ended up with the very fun to… Read more

drive, funky looming, and efficient Renault Clio.

We bought it with an RACV "green light" check, they said it all check out and was in great condition. So we went ahead and bought it... here's a list of SOME of the issues we had in the next 2 years

* seized wheels bearings

* fried AC control unit

* bent valves

* Cracked engine mounts

* Alarm/central locking unit needed replacing

* full engine rebuild

* Needed RACV towing on at least 5 occasions

* frequent issues with drive belts

* fuel pump died

This car looked great on paper, but in the end cost us a lot of money when we didn't really want to be spending money (single income)! Very fun to drive, very fuel efficient. Very very very unreliable.

Excellent – Brilliant car for the money. Ok it's a 1.4l auto and would be considered a girl's car, except that I'm a guy whose other car is a 5.7l V8, and I really like this little Renault. I think for what it is, a small economical car with zip that is easy to park and has great vision all round, it is very good value for what is out there nowadays. Slightly… Read more

different to the more common Korean and Japanese cars and is good quality and has reasonable internal space considering it is a "micro" car. Would happily buy another Clio (in fact am considering get a Sport 182) as my gf will be taking this one soon and not letting me near it, but equally happy to zip around in this 1.4L (Expression Verve). Cruise would be nice but not a deal breaker. Style, economy, easy to park. Lack of cruise control.

Excellent – Love my 2005 Renault Clio, great size and has lasted well (still going strong!). Only criticism is the entertainment system, found it strange how the volume goes down as you slow down... Got it serviced and was informed that it was a "special feature" of the car. Don't know that many people who would enjoy their music going down every time they… Read more

halt... Would be "less innovative" with this feature and don't fix it if it ain't broken.

Apart from that, great car! Almost everything Entertainment system

Excellent – Amazing little car. She drives beautifully I couldn't ask for a better 2nd car after my mx6. She turns corners smoothly and just overall drives smoothly. It is nice to have a car that doesn't cost so much to feed up on petrol every week. For myself with the current australian/melbourne petrol prices she will cost about $35 to fill up compared to… Read more

the $60-70 I was paying for my old V6. She is easy to park if you are use to the turning circle as she is a small car. Best of all you can get into the hardest and most annoying of all parking spots with this car. Believe me I have tried and she did it beautifully! I really couldn't be any happier with my Clio. Though buying it brand new may be a bit hefty in price try buying 2nd hand and you may find a good price as I bought mine 2nd hand for $7200 and she only had about 46000km's clicked, so she is worth about $14000k you just never know what you can find on 2nd hand car deals.

As well as this its pretty tough, I'll admit when I first got my Clio I knocked and bumped her a few times while parking as I was just getting use to having a smaller car compared to something huge (didn't hit any cars only gutters and a pole) and let me say this NO SCRATCHES! NO DINTS! NOTHING! She was perfectly fine... Amazing I thought.

Either way this car is surperb. Clio 2002 manual - Stylish, Cute, Comfortable, Silent Engine, Great fuel consumption. Small engine - I just like fast cars and big engines so no real cons about this car really.

Excellent – This is the best performance car I've ever owned. It does all things well and some things it's just amazing at. Its chassis is sublime with amazing handling and still with the ability to provide a comfortable ride, a 9,000 km three weeks cross country drive can attest to that. With 132Kw you'd think it would be thirsty yet I consistently return… Read more

7-8 L per 100 Km.

The first tyres lasted over 36,000 km, the second set are up to 41,000 km and have plenty left. Bang for your buck this is THE performance car to buy. There is nothing out there to match it for its price. Anyone whining about paying any money for this car hasn't driven one. 2004 182 Cup - Phenomenal handling, very torquey engine that just pulls all the time, wait for the rush at 5200 rpm! The 182 Cup has stiffer and lower suspension that just adds to the go kart like handling, brakes are fantastic, and its economical to run. Yes it has cruise control, some earlier 172 versions didn't. To many extras to list. The rear vision mirror can block your view of cars entering from the left, a problem only 175cm or taller drivers will experience. Seating position can't be adjusted as much as I'd like but after 75,000 I'm not bothered so its a minor issue.