Renault Clio Review (2023-present)

What is the Renault Clio?

You probably don’t need too much of an introduction to the Renault Clio hatchback. This chic French supermini has been a mainstay on British roads since the release of the original in 1990, and over one million have been sold in the UK in that time, with 16 million sold globally, mostly in Europe.

This particular Clio, meanwhile, may not be so familiar. The new-for-2023 Clio is actually an extensively facelifted version of the fifth-generation car, which was originally released in 2019. The looks have been heavily revised to bring the Clio into line with newer offerings such as the Austral SUV and Megane E-Tech, while the trim structure and equipment levels have also received a shake-up. Many trims - such as RS Line and Renaultsport - have been deleted from the range, and so have many powertrains, such as the DCi diesels and, inexplicably, the excellent TCe 100.

The new Renault Clio sits at the bottom of Renault’s model range beneath the Zoe and Captur, and it competes with rivals such as the Ford Fiesta, VW Polo, Mazda 2, Peugeot 208, Honda Jazz, Seat Ibiza, Skoda Fabia and Toyota Yaris.

How practical is it?

The facelifted Clio is identical on practicality to before. That is to say that there’s plenty of space in the front seats and plenty of adjustment for your driving position. Visibility could be better at the front quarters of the car due to the thick pillars that flank the windscreen, but it’s far from catastrophic and your view at the rear of the car is clearer than most.

The rear seats have an acceptable amount of room compared with other superminis, but no better than that. Both headroom and legroom are on the tight side, so tall passengers will feel hemmed it. The rear bench is quite wide, though, making it marginally more comfortable than most superminis when carrying three in the back, but it’ll still be a squeeze. There’s a hump in the floor in front of the middle passenger, but it won’t get in the way of their feet too much.

On paper, the boot space looks huge at 391 litres: that figure not only makes it bigger than those of most rivals, but also many cars from the class above, the Volkswagen Golf included. There’s a fairly tall load lip to negotiate when loading heavy items in, and a step up to the 60/40 split rear seats when you fold them down, but both of these can be levelled off with the moveable boot floor if you’re not in need of maximum capacity. It’s worth remembering, though, that all that only applies to the entry-level petrol-engined car: go for the hybrid, and the boot you get is much smaller at just 301 litres. That’s still more than you get in some rivals, but plenty of others have it beaten.

What’s it like to drive?

The Clio is a very grown-up-feeling car, especially on the motorway, with a pliant, comfortable ride, very presentable refinement by and large, and with light controls. It’s a very easy car to drive. It’s fair to say that you’ll be more satisfied than excited - a Ford Fiesta is far more entertaining and engaging in the corners due to its superior grip, sharper responses and weightier, more involving steering - but there’s very little that flusters the Clio, so at least your life should be drama-free.

Two engines are available in the post-facelift car. The first is a 1.0-litre, three-cylinder TCe turbo petrol with 90 horsepower which offers acceleration that is eager and smooth, if not hugely fast. Or there's the Renault Clio E-Tech self-charging hybrid, which combines a 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with an electric motor and a 1.2 kWH battery. On paper, the Clio E-Tech hybrid is the fastest version of the car, with a 0-62mph sprint time of 9.3 seconds, but although the performance feels perfectly adequate, it never feels particularly sprightly. It does, however, blend its various power sources fairly smoothly, so things stay civilised most of the time, although the petrol engine can make a fair old racket on the rare occasion that it needs to work hard.

Technology, equipment & infotainment

The latest Clio has three trim levels to choose from. The first is called Evolution, and it comes with standard equipment including 16-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights and rear lights, climate control, a hands-free key card and a wide range of electronic driver aids (more about that in the Three Things to Know section of this review).

The next rung up the ladder is called Techno, and that adds 17-inch wheels, chrome exterior styling pieces, an electronic parking brake, automatic high-beam headlights, a wireless phone charger, front- and rear parking sensors and a reversing camera.

At the top of the range sits Esprit Alpine trim, which includes sporty styling additions inside and out, part-synthetic-leather upholstery, heated front seats and steering wheel, and a few extra items of safety kit.

Evolution and Techno trims both come with a 7.0-inch digital driver display behind the steering wheel in lieu of conventional analogue dials, and a 7.0-inch central touchscreen to operate the various infotainment functions. DAB radio, Bluetooth, built-in navigation and wireless Apple Carplay and Android Auto are all standard. Esprit Alpine trim, meanwhile, gets bigger screens, a 10.0-inch one behind the wheel and a 9.3-inch one in the middle.

Whichever you end up with, the user interface isn’t the most intuitive, and the graphics can be glitchy and look a little dated. You’ll likely get annoyed with the satnav system’s ambiguous instructions, too, so you’re best off just hooking up your phone to the integration software and using your app of choice to guide you.

Renault Clio running costs

On list price alone, the Clio is priced aggressively compared with its rivals. That applies to both the petrol model and the hybrid. In fact, with the hybrid, opting for a Clio could save you thousands compared to a Honda Jazz or Toyota Yaris Hybrid.

As for efficiency, no prizes for guessing that it’s the hybrid that’s the star of the show. Official WLTP figures suggest average fuel economy of 67mpg and CO2 emissions of 96g/km, which isn’t game-changing in hybrid terms, but it’s not half bad. The efficiency figures for the more conventional turbocharged petrol engine don’t look too bad, either, with average fuel economy given at 54mpg and CO2 emissions at 118g/km.

Renault Clio reliability

Once upon a time, Renault offered its customers an impressive (but still not class-leading) warranty package of five years and 100,000 miles. Those days are no more, though, and these days, you get unlimited-mileage cover for the first two years, and then a third year of cover up to a limit of 60,000 miles. That’s the bare minimum you should be expecting on a new car these days, and when considered alongside the way-more-generous warranty arrangements offered by certain Korean and Japanese brands, it all looks rather mean. The traction batteries in Renault’s E-Tech hybrid models, meanwhile, are covered for eight years or 100,000 miles, and that’s also pretty par-for-the-course.

The 2022 What Car? Reliability Survey would suggest that you’ll get a pretty average level reliability from your Clio. The car placed equal 19th out of 28 cars considered in the small car class. In the 2023 version of the same survey the Clio didn't appear in the small car class, but as a manufacturer Renault placed 23rd out of 32 carmakers considered. That's a five place drop from its performance in the 2022 survey.