Motors North

Make

ANY AC AIXAM ALFA ROMEO ASIA ASTON MARTIN AUBURN AUDI AUSTIN BENTLEY BMW BRISTOL BUGATTI CADILLAC CATERHAM CHEVROLET CHRYSLER CITROEN COLEMAN MILNE DAEWOO DAIHATSU DAIMLER DATSUN DAX DE TOMASO DODGE FERRARI FIAT FORD FSO GINETTA GMC HILLMAN HOLDEN HONDA HUMMER HYUNDAI INFINITI ISUZU JAGUAR JEEP JENSEN KIA KOENIGSEGG LADA LAMBORGHINI LANCIA LAND ROVER LEXUS LIGIER LINCOLN LOTUS MARCOS MASERATI MAYBACH MAZDA MCLAREN MERCEDES-BENZ MERCURY MG MICROCAR MINI MITSUBISHI MITSUOKA MORGAN MORRIS NISSAN NOBLE OPEL PAGANI PANTHER PERODUA PEUGEOT PILGRIM PLYMOUTH PONTIAC PORSCHE PROTON RELIANT RENAULT RILEY ROLLS-ROYCE ROVER SAAB SEAT SINGER SKODA SMART SSANGYONG SUBARU SUNBEAM SUZUKI TALBOT TATA TOYOTA TRIUMPH TVR ULTIMA VAUXHALL VOLKSWAGEN VOLVO WESTFIELD WOLSELEY YUGO

Model

ANY

Area

ANY Badenoch and Strathspey Caithness Inverness Inverness Area and Loch Ness Lochaber Moray Nairn and District Ross and Cromarty Sutherland Other

Price From

0 500 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 70000 80000 90000 100000

Price To

500 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 70000 80000 90000 100000

Your Local Newspaper

Inverness Courier Highland News
North Star Lochaber News Northern Scot
Ross-shire Journal Caithness Courier
John O Groat Journal Northern Times
Forres Gazette Banffshire Journal
Strathspey and Badenoch Herald

Copyright SPP Group

our test drives or view them all

Renault Clio Sport Tourer 1.5 dCi Dynamique

CLEVER Renault has come up with a family estate for the price of an allotment!

No, not an offer for the impoverished landed gentry, just an incredible low-cost space ship based on its latest Clio supermini.

I would not have thought it possible, but the French manufacturer has squeezed a quart into a pint pot and delivered a compact estate that won’t break the bank but will swallow a massive volume of cargo.

The new Clio Sport Tourer was launched in May - a seven model family with power from 75bhp or 101bhp 1.2i and 111bhp 1.6 VVT petrols to a cracking 86bhp 1.5 dCi turbodiesel. It’s quite a surprising package.

The estate has all the attributes of the latest Clio hatch with the practicality and convenience of a much larger car. What’s more, with a maximum capacity of 1277 litres of cargo space it’s not that far short of its slightly bigger Megane Sport Tourer that manages 1600 litres.

Even with the rear seats in place, the Clio estate delivers impressively on the cargo front – 439 litres compared to 520 litres in the Megane.

So why do it? I would have thought Renault was shooting itself in the foot by offering yet another Sport Tourer – but the French masters see it differently.

By widening the range they believe they are offering unmatchable choice to Renault drivers. True, but equally it might offer too much choice and muddy the waters.

As it stands the Clio Sport Tourer is a useful family holdall that ought to be cheap to run.

I found it a sensible and compact front-drive family estate that’s just 4.2 metres long and stands 1.5 metres tall. At 1.2 tonnes it’s something of a lightweight and that shows both in its economy figures and trim.

Sadly the car was let down by poor quality internal plastic mouldings – some flimsy enough to pop out of their mounts without much provocation.

But that’s the price we have to pay for recycling, high oil costs and mounting tax bills.

The Sport Tourer is recognisably a Clio from the front – but there’s a twist.

Incredibly, no sooner had the Clio estate been released on the UK market than Renault announced a "facelift" version – just weeks after its May 15 debut. The changes are cosmetic and mainly at the front. But a "facelift" so soon? The reason is that the Clio Sport Tourer was already available in France and had been appearing with the older Clio nose that was still in production when the model hit the UK market.

Only a handful with the old nose crossed the Channel and almost all you’ll see on the road will have the new corporate grille design that’s on the latest Laguna and Megane. But could this mean a right-hand-drive Clio Sport Tourer with the old nose will become a collectable rarity? Unlikely.

In its favour the carryall drives well. Like all new Clios it has a selection of turbodiesel or petrol power that are efficient, quiet and give it a briskness on the open road.

But with a model designed to haul cargo, I wonder just how much puff you’d get from a 1.2 litre 75bhp 16-valve petrol entry level model. Strikes me that the clever money is on either a 111bhp 1.6 petrol automatic or hotter 128bhp VVT. Or play safe and opt for Renault’s fine 1.5 litre dCi turbodiesel.

Here the oil-burner makes a lot of sense. The excellent £14,645 1.5v litre dCi model I had on test has an adequate 86bhp and comes in generously-appointed Dynamique trim that is reflected in its relatively high price.

Not only did the perky diesel bless the Sport Tourer with good pulling power, but it was smooth, quiet and averaged a superb 61mpg on test. I achieved that on a run to Skye and back with the cargo area full of family detritus and four people.

Renault claims 70mpg on the extra urban cycle and while that might be hard to hit in the real world, there is no doubt the high 50s or low 60s is where the average family driver will end up.

It’s remarkably frugal and with insurance in lowly Group 4, service intervals every 12,000 miles and a three year/60,000 mile warranty to add confidence, this affordable family car could make a lot of sense to the larger family where motoring costs are an issue.

Prices start at just £11,445 for a 1.2i petrol in Expression trim – but it’s more realistic to consider a 1.6 petrol with standard automatic at £13,545 or an entry level Expression 1.5 dCi with 86bhp at only £13,095. Buying too small an engine might lead to performance embarrassment with a heavily loaded 1.2i on a Highland hill.

On the other hand the 1.5 dCi Dynamique with its 86bhp and a healthy dose of torque delivering 147lb/ft at just 1900rpm, was perfect for pulling a load and even managed the 2000 foot climb from the shores of Loch Carron to the top of the Pass of the Cattle without hesitation – even though it called for some energetic gear-changing on the slick five-speed manual fitted to the car.

Believe me, if a well-loaded car can cope with the dreaded Pass of the Cattle then it has all the right credentials for a family workhorse.

There was a fair bit of road noise, possibly thanks to the car’s lightweight build. But the ride quality was good and wind rush was only an issue heading into a brisk westerly gale at cruising speeds.

The Dynamique is a well equipped car. I like Renault’s steering column audio controls and appreciate the latest seating that still has a traditionally soft French feel, but offers better support than Renault seating of 10 years back.

The Dynamique comes with light power steering that’s great round town, though a bit lifeless on the open road.

ABS braking, front seat belt pre-tensioners and front and side airbags are standard, but I was disappointed to find electronic stability control is still a £300 option – and this from a company which prides itself on achieving excellent five-star safety ratings for most of its models in the EuroNCAP tests. To date the Clio Sport Tourer has not been NCAP tested.

Other features include air conditioning, alloys, central locking, powered door mirrors and front windows, a good CD/RDS radio and split and fold rear seats. Not bad given the price, and the potential for discount.

Rating: 7/10

FINAL THOUGHT: Affordable and useful addition to the Clio supermini range. There’s nothing “mini” about this compact family estate - it has a huge cargo capacity for its class. Great value, despite indifferent quality plastic trim and its lightweight feel. Fuel economy is excellent. The Dynamique test car is at the expensive end of the line-up but the seven-model range starts from just £11,445 for a 1.2 petrol Expression model.

Renault Clio Sport Tourer 1.5 dCi Dynamique

• Price: £14,645
• Capacity: 1461cc
• Power: 86bhp
• 0-62mph: 13 seconds
• Maximum speed: 108mph
• Economy: Combined 64.2mpg; Urban 54.3mpg
• CO2 emissions: 117g/km
• ESP: £300 option
• Insurance: Group 4