Renault Clio

jebuz

Hey Guys,

I'm currently scoping the market for a car preferably one that moves and has wheels. Now its gonna be my first one so I'm not exactly sure what I should be looking at when deciding if this is a car for me.

My dad got a call off a mate who's keepin an eye out for me, and he's recommending I have a look at this 01' Clio Sport, 1.2L and around 40k miles on it. The prices is 6,300 i think, so I'm gonna go test drive it on saturday. Has anybody had any experience with this car and more importantly any problems?

Any feedback appreciated.

mukki

my 00 clio is the most reilable car ever!! (touches wood)only problem with it so far is the battery needed replacing once, and it was hard to start untill i got around to swapping it
its got 75,000k on it, girlfriend has it nowadays

kifi

My bro and Mam both have '99 Clio's each with around 50k on the colock. They're a nice little car to drive and so far have had no problems with them

Guy:Incognito

Had a 00 clio myself that the mother owns now. 65k+ trouble free miles. Very comfortable for a car it's size (huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge step up from the ex's 99 micra). It's nippy and generally has good reviews.

My cousin has a 02 one that he really likes and will be sticking with a renault (probably a megane) when he changes soon. He's an electrician and it's been a work car with no problems.

Cue Colm_mcm with a renault bashing post , and (impartial ) advice to buy a Yaris.:)

mloc123

good car, great engine. Uses the DIET engine from the mk1 clio and will easily do over 140k if looked after. Check the timing belt has been done even tho its not at 60k yet, any renault specialist will recomend doing it every 4-5 years or 50k miles.

Where abouts is it located?

jebuz

cheers for the replies lads, well no negative remarks here so i'll presume that its the car of my dreams.

mloc123, car is located in wexford, ill take it for a test on sat and will probably have to make a move on it fairly promptly if I like it

colm_mcm

I might as well throw Renaults far from exemplary reliability record into the argument - Clio was 88th out of 124 models in the 2005 JD Power survey

That said, some people will have Clios without problems.

mloc123

You can say that about any car. In fairness if some comes on here and says "I'm looking to buy a whatever" unless its a toyota (which people seem to love, god knows why) somebody will say... "Oh I wouldn't, the electrics are crap or they have poor reliablility etc.."

Any modern car once it has been maintained well and serviced is good for 140,000 miles at least. All cars have problems. suspension, brakes, fuel pumps etc... wear and fail on all cars. Once the body is good and the engine is running smooth not much else can go wrong.

I can vouch for the DIET engines used in the clios of that era, very reliable once serviced and the biggest problem you'll have is either a dodgy Map sensor or CTS both cheap and easy to replace.

colm_mcm

Fair enough, but going on the posts before your last post, nobody mentioned any problems that Clios have. If one was to go purely on the other posts, it would give the impression that Clios are trouble free. The reality is that they aren't, and as with most French cars, electrical gremlins, faulty coil packs, window regulators, premature timing belt failures are common

colm_mcm

Honest John says:

What's Bad?


Renault build quality. Complaints of seat material fraying. Complaint of rattling sunroof. To be replaced with new car on same platform as new Nissan Micra in late 2003. Some automatics have been prone to surging - cured by replacing faulty inlet manifold gaskets. Various other engine problems. On petrol models, fuel tanks may pressurise, expelling petrol. Reports of coil failures, similar to those affecting VAG cars. If this happens, must replace all four coils, not just one, or it could re-occur with another coil. On 3-door models, clips holding electric front windows in place can pop out, the window winds up outside the doorframe and the regulator cables can stretch. Costs £200 - £300 to fix, but some dealers will fight for a 50% contribution from Renault even for cars up to 4 years old. Reports of coid spring failures on 3 year old Clio 172s. On 1.5DCIs EGR valve should open to allow carbon dioxide, which acts as a cooling gas) into the combustion chambers when the engine is under load (>30% boost). This allows the combustion chamber temperature to drop and thus the temperature of the exhaust gases. If it sticks in the closed position the exhaust gas temperature will rise causing a) the turbo bearings to fail and b) engine oil into the induction system. This will cause the engine to go on running until it has consumed all its oil and then it will go bang.Problems with EGR valves in Renault dCi engines are often the cause of rough running when the valve is stuck in the open position as well. In several cases turbos have blown but the EGR valve has not been replaced. Inevitably the new turbo unit will not last long. 1.2 16vs seem to be suffering a lot of timing belt failures at mileages as low as 36,000. Best to change the belts at 5 years or 40k miles max. June 2001 Renault was rated by Motor Warranty Direct as Britain's joint 4th worst out of 22 marques for used car warranty claims. 18th from bottom for reliabilty in Auto Express 2002 reader survey of 100 models. Renault had above average warranty repair costs in 2003 Warranty Direct Reliability index (index 114.24 v/s lowest 31.93). Average warranty repair costs in 2003 Warranty Direct Reliability index (index 101.16 v/s lowest 31.93). Link:- www.reliabilityindex.co.uk 27th from bottom out of 137 models in 2003 Top Gear survey. Least reliable out of 10 Superminis in 2006 Reliability Index survey.
What to Watch Out For
See above and expect kerbing damage, easily spotted by damaged protruding plastic wheeltrims. Continued high incidence of automatic transmission failures. On 1,149cc D4F 16v and D7F 8v engines it is essential to change the timing belt, tensioners and the water pump every 3 years or 36,000 miles (whichever comes first).


Recalls
21-2-2000: 29,000 cars built Jan '99 to Nov '99: possibility that brake servo valve may malfunction resulting in loss of servo assistance. Valve to be inspected and replaced if necessary. 24-8-2001: 10,588 Clios built 1-1-1998 to 28-12-1998 recalled because accelerator cable may break. Modified cable to be fitted. 7-12-2001: 897 Clios built 27-7-2000 to 29-7-2000 recalled because one of the four airbag securing bolts could be missing. Missing bolts to be replaced. January 2001: TSB on 1.2 16v models to solve a fuelling problem by re-mapping the ECU. 15-2-2002: Recall of 1,574 1.4 16vs with MGI motorised throttle housing and Sirius 34 injection computer due to incorrect locking of connector to throttle housing causing instability in injection system resulting in engine hesitation and idle speed instability. September 2002: All 1.9 diesels built 1997-2000 with gold colour alternator pulleys recalled because pulley can fail and cause the timing belt itself to fail or jump a few teeth. More at www.scenic-renault.com 2-12-2002: 1,861 Clios and Twingos recalled because of risk of loss of brake servo assistance due to incorrect poritioning of air pressure sensor in inlet manifold. Position to be checked and corrected where necessary. 11-8-2003: 2,381 Clios recalled because front or left front suspension arm may break if subject to impact. Check arms for codes of faulty batch and replace where necessary. September 2004: 54 reg Clios recalled to have their wheels re-balanced.

mloc123

I don't know where this French car electrics gremlin comes from, maybe people have had bad experiences before I never had. My mam has had 4 sceinics, I have had a clio and a megane and in all that time none of them had electrics problems.

What electric problems are most common? Lights etc.. or the ignition system?

Edit: maybe the problem comes from the Nissan join unreliable jap scrap

colm_mcm

mloc123 wrote:

I don't know where this French car electrics gremlin comes from, maybe people have had bad experiences before I never had.

I'm going on cars we've had in the garage

mloc123

What were common problems? coilpack, sensors etc..? At least they are easy to replace yourself tho'

colm_mcm

random intermittent wiring faults are hard enough to trace. most people don't want to have to fix stuff on their cars.

HungryJoey

I've had terrible experiences with Renault. Lets not go there..

But I have heard nothing bad about the good ould' clio. More the electronic Filled meganes / laguna's I hear of failling.

I'm looking at a 00 Clio too for my 1st car soon, Still just waiting for the prices to drop first. Its just one car IMO that is faily comfy / solid and doesnt look like a sh!t box and from my experiences havn't seen to many issues with them. So it will also be my choice of 1st car soon.

EDIT : I'd be quite happy to end up with something like this : http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=441550
Wait till the start of next year see if there is a difference in the price. I really dont fancy driving one of the Mk1 Clio's.

Best of luck with the car, let us know how it goes

Hj