Renault prices up Clio Renault Sport: £15k and 200bhp
Newswheel staff :: 01 June 2006 :: Filed under Hatchback, Renault, Renault Clio, Europe & UK
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Bargain basement superhatch
Hats off to Renault for keeping faith with the compact hot hatch sector
when all others have forsaken it. The VW Golf has swelled beyond
recognition in both size and pricing, the Polo GTI is frankly a rather
feeble simulcrum of a hot hatch, Ford’s Fiesta ST lacks a certain
rawness and the less said the better about Peugeot’s pitiful 206
GTI (here’s hoping for a return to form with the upcoming hot 207). For the
moment, therefore, it’s left to Renault to keep the dream alive with
the Clio Renault Sport. Now on sale in the UK for £15,995, the latest
hot Clio boasts nearly 200bhp as well as a number of very serious
chassis mods…
The Renault Sport’s new all-alloy, naturally aspirated screamer was jointly developed by Renault Sport Technologies and Renault’s Powertrain Engineering Department. The showbiz numbers are 197bhp at 7,250 rpm and 159 lb/ft at 5,550rpm. Tech highlights include carefully honed valve seat aerodynamics, a high compression ratio of 11.5:1 and the usual variable valve timed twin-cam trickery. Power is delivered to the front wheels via a six-speed box.
Performance-wise, 62mph in 6.9 seconds and a terminal velocity of 134mph are the headline stats. And if you’re a little underwhelmed by a 6.9 second sprint from a 200bhp supermini, well, welcome to the safety-obsessed new millennium. The airbagged-up, crumple-celled and impact-beamed Clio Renault Sport weighs only slightly less than a first generation Porsche Boxster at 1,240kg.
Nevertheless, we’ve high hopes regarding chassis response. Sure, the fundamental setup remains the same as the slightly stodgy standard-issue gen-three Clio with struts up front and a torsion beam at the rear. But a 10mm wheelbase stretch, along with 48 and 50mm wider tracks, front and rear, should give you some idea of just how much attention Renault has paid to the handling. Indeed, out go the boggo steel front MacPherson struts and in come a pair of double-axis struts, hewn partially from aluminium in the name of reducing unsprung mass. The usual stiffer springs, bushes and roll bars as well as polyurethane bump stops also make an appearance in the quest for improved body control. What’s more, this pocket rocket should stop at least as well as it goes courtesy of drilled discs grasped by Brembo callipers all-round. Yup, it’s a comprehensive all-round effort and surely something of a bargain for just £15k.
A few snaps of the Renault Sport from its Geneva debut:
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