04 Clio Diesel Y/N

Yawlboy

Daughter has a 00' Clio 1.2 5 door, needs Head Gasket, Starter Motor, Timing Belt, NCT in other words more than its worth.

She has been offered a one owner 04 Clio 1.5 dCi 5 door with 85k miles for €3k from a local mechanic/dealer. Very clean car with loads of extras (sunroof, alloys, CD etc).

She is happy with the price and the car - diesel makes sense as she travels from Dublin to Cork weekly. The dealer is someone I've dealt with a lot in the past - good guy and always stands over everything he sells, so no worries there.

However I can't find a lot of info on Diesel Clio's from 2004 - any issues/problems/etc that I should be aware of?

TIA
YB

drunkmonkey

Much as I hate them, with that budget and if it was my daughter I'd be putting her into a Toyota corolla 1.4 petrol 04 (there fairly economical), just for an easy life, they just won't break and believe me I've tried.

Moneymaker

I had a 2004 1.2 petrol for about 2 1/2 years. Never gave a days trouble. A few niggly things but nothing major.

That 1.5dci is a tried and tested engine, I believe it's one of the most widely used diesel engines in the world. 60-65mpg should be no problem either. I believe it's 89bhp, which is adequate for a car that size.

Oh and check the sunroof, they have a tendency to rattle on Clio's. Drove me mad!

I don't think 3k is a fair price either. The car is worth about 2,500 imo.

bcmf

Workmate had a 02 diesel clio (same engine I think!!!!!)
Pro's: It was a nice nippy little car and really went on a sniff of diesel.
Engine seemed pretty bombproof*
Nice and compact and imo a nice interior -> and I say that considering I am not a fan of the Renault interior.

Cons: Parts werent the easiest to get from breakers and he ended up getting stuff from Traynors.
He started to get a lot of niggly problems from it (not surprising given it's age)
with the one 's that stick in my mind being the sunroof seal. Was leaking and the price for a replacement from Renault not being cheap and not a stock item.
He had a persistent fault with a fault light (afair it was an abs light) on the dash and was eventually traced to a unit on the front passenger seatbelt. I maybe wrong about the light but it was something bizzare like that.

*It was bombproof till the timing belt went and he ended up selling to a scrappy


HTH

coolbeans

I'm gay for Clios me. Lots write them off but they're actually a very tough little motor with a bit of small car character about them. Top marks in the NCAP crash tests too. They're all decent from the bottom of the range to the 172.

colm_mcm

A lot of hot Northern irish girls drive diesel Clios for some reason.

Just an observation. Probably not much use to the OP though.

pred racer

Drove one in France for over 3 yrs as a company car, never any trouble, great on juice. It was abused, rarely maintained and it just kept going. Great around town, I did a couple of runs to Belgium in it too, they are a bit skittish on the motorway at 140+ but at 120 they're fine. All in all a great little car.
Headlight bulbs are an absolute bitch to change though.