Price as tested: €28,000 (approx)
+ Scalpel-sharp chassis and steering, characterful engine
– Silly paint job, high Co2
= A purist’s hot hatch
Quite why Renault has chosen to revive the old Gordini name for its hot hatch range is a little baffling, to me at least. OK, so there’s the connection with the classic R8 Gordini, some sixties Le Mans cars and, not least, the original fifties Gordini F1 team. But, looking back at Gordini’s F1 record, it’s hard to ignore that aside from a couple of thirds for legendary charger Jean Behra, the team’s record was one of lower placings and retirements. Which is why I’m puzzled. After all, Renault already has the RenaultSport brand, which has won mulitple F1 world championships as both an engine maker and a team, has won the Le Mans 24hrs and the Monte Carlo rally. So why go to the bother of resurrecting a racing name that few have ever heard of?
Especially when, applied to the Clio 200 RS, the Gordini name seems to signify little more than some sparkly blue paint, some silly stripes and some blue inserts in the cabin. Amedee Gordini’s signature is conspicuous by its absence and there are no mechanical changes to the chassis or engine.
Then again, there didn’t need to be. The Clio RS has been THE reference small hot hatch for some years now, providing the sort of razor sharp thrills that once seemed to have been outlawed, or at least forgotten about. And while I’d aver that that crown has slipped a little (we’ll come to more of that in a minute) this is still a properly thrilling little car to drive.
It is, in a way, quite old-fashioned. There are no turbos here, no clever downsizing. Just a big (2.0-litre, with 200bhp and 215Nm of torque) engine stuffed into a relatively small, light car. There are hot camshafts, improved breathing and all the classic techniques for getting more grunt out of a simple engine.
That lack (if that’s the right word) of a turbo means that the Clio RS is quite unforgiving. There’s enough torque to pootle around happily at low speeds, and the gearing is so short that even sixth on the wonderfully notchy-feeling gearbox won’t bog down around town. No, if you want to feel what the Clio is really capable of, you have to rev it. By 3,00rpm it’s starting to move, and starting to fart angrily down the exhaust too. By 4,500 that fart has grown in intensity and is now really roaring. But you sense that there’s still more, much more, to come. And you’re right. Get the needle moving about 5,000rpm, get the engine onto the cam properly and things really start to move. By now the Clio is bursting with energy, ripping through its last 3,000rpm to the redline and you’re seriously moving. So grab another gear, drop back down the rev range and begin again. 0-100kmh is done in 6.9secs, should you wish.
The problem is, and this is where the Clio starts to wobble a little atop its throne, is that while having such a highly tuned, high-revving engine is wonderful, it does bring with it some limitations. The chief one of which is that you have to drive it like you’re in your own personal Le Mans to get the most out of it, which is hardly a practical, or even law abiding, state of affairs. Its turbocharged rivals may not have the true, spine-tingling feel of the Clio at high rpm, but their torquey, low-down oomph is more suited to the quick-thrill-and-then-relax driving style so necessary in these heavily regulated times.
It doesn’t do the running costs any favour either. Renault claims 8.2-litres per 100km on average, we managed 10.1l/100km, thanks to some (ahem) enthusiastic driving. The Co2 figure of 196g/km doesn’t look to clever either, especially when you consider that a Mini Cooper S Works manages 164g/km.
But where the Clio really starts to make up for all this is when you get it on to a twisty road. Now, a small, light car with big wheels and low profile tyres is hardly going to prove a perfect match for Irish back roads, and so it proves as the Clio hops and skips its way along. But the way this thing steers is where the real gold is to be found. That steering is just alive, flowing with information and perfect weighting, in an era when even the best supercars have numb, over-assisted tillers. There is still that slight whiff of unnatural self-centering, but that apart, this is not so much a car as a tool for deconstructing the geometry of the road builder’s art. Tightening apexes, sudden changes of direction, long, fast sweepers; all are a playground for the Clio’s talents.
The rest of the chassis backs that up. You’d have to be clinically insane to be going fast enough to get it to slide or slip, but there is still a sense of adjustability. It’s not just a point and squirt car. Once you get into the meat of a corner, you’re not just waiting for the apex to come and go before opening the throttle again. The Clio gives you options. Tighten the line to give oncoming traffic a wider berth. Let the nose run a little wide to avoid an errant tree root. Or just stick to your chosen line as if the tyres were covered in PrittStick and blast out the other side with a massive grin on your face.
The rest of the Clio fits neatly into the classic hot hatch playbook. Spacious cabin, comfy seats that support without squeezing too hard (even if the driving position is all over the place). A decent boot and a sense of decent build quality, even if some of the materials used simply don’t look or feel up to the task.
I have to admit to a slight, lingering sense of disappointment about the Clio Gordini too. It’s not the colour scheme, with its silly stripes (all car makers succumb, sooner or later, to such needless theatrics). It’s not the fact that you have to wring the engine so hard to truly experience its magic. It’s not the jiggly ride or the offset pedals. It’s actually a comparison to its bigger brother. The Megane RS Trophy (full road test HERE) is only around €10,000 more expensive. I say only, but there is a serious point here. Whereas the Clio stands in comparison to the likes of the Citroen DS3 Racing, the VW Polo GTI and the upcoming Ford Fiesta ST, the Megane is something else again. It is a spacious, comfy, practical hot hatch that bears serious comparison with seven-figure supercars in its ability to cover ground. It is on another planet entirely.
So while I loved driving the Clio, and would recommend it as a tonic for the ills of the modern motoring world, perhaps I made a mistake. I shouldn’t have driven its bigger brother first.
Facts & Figures
Renault Clio Gordini RS
Price as tested: €28,000 (approx)
Range price: TBC
Capacity: 1,997cc
Power: 201bhp
Torque: 215Nm
Top speed: 225kmh
0-100kmh: 6.9sec
Economy: 8.2l-100km (34.6mpg)
CO2 emissions: 196g/km
VRT Band: F. €1,050 road tax
Euro NCAP rating: 5-star adult, 4-star child, 1-star pedestrian
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