Renault Clio 1.6

I have just returned from one week in Italy where I have been driving this car.

I rent cars there fairly regularly on business.

I normally ask for a Punto, but this time I was given a Clio.

I do not like French cars, and did not like Clio before trying it.

The 1st impression, was very positive, the car is very easy to drive, and I was surprized to see it accelerating pretty well!

When the car reached 160 Kmh, I began to reconsider the whole car!

The air-conditioning system is very fast, this is a feature which is very useful in Italy, where, particularly this year, you need to cool the temperature down from the beginning of May.

The stereo provided also proved to be of good quality.

The legroom in the front seats is in my view more than similar cars' However, the back passengers are a bit sacrified in terms of space.

One of the drawbacks, is that you cannot flatten the back seats if you need more space in the boots and it is only 2 of you travelling. I was carryting a bicylce and it proved a bit tiring to put in the boot.

All the instrumentation is very close to the driver and the way I felt driving the car was very positive, you feel more driving a sport car than a small car, definitively a sportier way of driving than driving a Punto, for example.

It was only when I stopped at the petro station, that I realized I had been given a 16 V!! I had not realized this earlier!!!

I managed to go up to 180 KMH, althugh I felt the car was losing a bit of contact to the ground at that kind of speed!

All together, I ofund this cra very good fun to drive, very easy to park in town.

Consumption of petrol was around 12-13 litres per KM. I reckon my drive is not the most fuel efficent one!