What gearbox does a Renault Clio have ?

MouldyOldDough

Zinger549 said:

MouldyOldDough said:

OK Test drive, yesterday was interesting - the car was extremely well put together - nothing like Renaults of old (I remember a Renault 5 from the mid 70's) - nothing rattled and the dashboard, seats and trim were high quality materials!

Driving it was an extremely weird experience - starting up was simply putting my foot on the accelarator (they start in electric mode) and after roughly 1/2 a mile, the engine seamlessly cut in - the gearbox was almost as good as my TC box.

Putting my foot down pulled like a train - pretty fast !

Suspension was soft (not anything like as soft as the 5 but softer than my present Suzuki) - I reckon that, yes I could drive one for a long distance without any problems.....

Just one thing - the new hybrid Mitsubishi Colt is due out in a few months - it is a rebadged Clio - so I will wait to see what thats like before deciding !

Mistubishi left the UK market so the Colt won't be on sale here.

Thanks - hadnt realized that

Goudy

Yes, the Colt has bolted from all UK stables.

The Clio feels better on the 16 inch wheels, the 17 inch are ok but you can hear a bit of roar on rough road surfaces at speed. Nothing dreadful but you do notice it.

As I wrote earlier, the Clio is being facelifted soon, this year in fact and will be hybrid only.
Renault have managed to eck out a little more from the facelifted models as I now read they should have a slightly better mpg and perhaps a gram or two less Co2.

I know they aren't on your mobility list but it's worth test driving the Toyota Yaris to compare.

GenieBoy

facade said:

Here you go

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYjh_42t1uU

Just make sure that you don't have anything heavy within reach, as you will want to throw something at him.

He would make a good Politician, talks for ages and says nothing, and even when it would be better if he just shut up so you could hear how it drives he won't.

(Probably went to the Dan Snow school of presenting- there's another man who can take the single most interesting topic of the last hundred years and make it dull and uninteresting) 

Most of these YT car reviewers never have anything good to say about the car they are reviewing. Like they will says things like buy a VW because it has 2 litres more boot space. If I want more boot space I'd buy a van. 

Goudy

I like that, though someone should tell then the Clio (391 litres) has more boot space than a Golf (380 litres), which is a whole class of car up.

Though I believe the Clio E-Tech is less at 300 litres due to the battery.

MouldyOldDough

Goudy said:

facade said:

I know what he means. A torque converter just feels "right". The way the engine comes up to stall as you start off, the feel as it changes gear, the engine note as you accelerate gently uphill and it goes up the gears get ingrained into you.

A modern hybrid that will run purely on electric up to certain speeds just isn't going to feel anything like "right" (a Torque Convertor)
In fact I would say, in regard to feel it's going feel a bit alien to start with.

It's going to pretty much start and set off without the ICE and at city speeds the engine in only likely to kick in and out to charge the battery, so it might not even use the ICE to power the wheels until it's up to speed. The main tell tale sign it's actually changing gear (revs rising and dropping) probably won't be as noticeable.

When it is on the ICE and changing gears, these modern gearboxes do it so fast, smoothly and (usually) at the perfect moment, that you would hardly notice it doing it.
I have the non hybrid Clio with just the ICE and a twin clutch gearbox with 7 speeds, I notice the first change in the morning as it tends to hang onto that one for a fraction of a second longer (it's a wet clutch and I presume the oil is cold) and after that I can't really feel when it's changing, it just flicks the tacho a little when it does. No slip, no lurch, nothing really to tell you it's changed either way.
Even kicking down one or two gears, it's instant so there's no fuss, it just changes without the fuss of changing.

Ok the E-Tech uses a different type of gearbox, but the mechanism to change the gears is going to be very similar.
A short and hardly noticeable cut in power while an actuator shifts forks to engage the next gear.

As the E-Tech takes off in electric and doesn't actually have a clutch, they'll be no slip and add that to the instant and smooth flicks up and down the gearbox, it's going to feel fairly well connected to the road speed just with the oddity the engine isn't always hooked up to the wheels.

I quite like the way it feels, but I'm a lazy manual driver and not overly keen on torque convertors.
I've driven the E-Tech Clio a few times and had one on a weekend loan, it's impressive for this class of car.
I think it's a cut above the latest Yaris hybrid, even though that now has that low gear direct drive, at speed they still have that CVT/engine speed fluster.

I've been a automatic driver for 23 years after 20 manual years and would struggle to drive a manual today.
From a Shogun to a Swift autos rule!! 

Goudy

I have owned manuals most of my driving life, but have had and driven autos from time to time, though not as my main car.
They never really floated my boat unless they were mated to a large and powerful engine with plenty of torque.

Due to a knee problem and considering I spend a lot of time shuffling around London I started to consider an auto a few years ago as a main car.
I pretty much test drove every new car on the market at the time in my price bracket with an auto gearbox, that was a bit of a feat in itself as not all dealers had those models on their test fleet, so had to travel far and wide.

The Clio wasn't really on my list as I had eyes on a top spec Ibiza DSG and would have probably pulled the trigger on one of those if my nearest dealer wasn't such an a*#e. I actually stumbled across a Renault dealer on my way home from Seat and they were more than happy to cater to my extended test drive whims.

I am glad I did, I have had the Clio for three years now and it drives lovely.
The fit and finish is great, lots of soft touch trim everywhere. It's built like that from the off rather than jazzed up just for the top spec models.
It's been faultless and the dealerships (my nearest one closed last year so have to use another) have been great. After service I get courtesy calls from the dealer and Renault and their prices are pretty reasonable.
While it's in for service, things like new wiper blades are actually cheaper than buying them yourself and fitting them. 

It's a smart looking car without loads of mat black plastic trim dotted around the body (it's silky silver trim), something I dislike on most cars as it turns grey and nasty.

My Mrs had a 2004 Scenic a few years ago and that drove really well, when it worked!
It was problematic, mainly the electrics which was a shame as it was really comfortable.

Renault now slap 5 years warranty on all their new cars and when you think other manufacturers are pulling out of the hatchback market (goodbye Fiesta) they have put a lot of faith in the Clio.
We don't see as many as the Fiesta here in the UK but the Clio actually challenges the VW Golf for top sells across Europe. 

When the facelifted model hits the dealers I might have another look at the hybrid again.




 

MouldyOldDough

Goudy said:

I have owned manuals most of my driving life, but have had and driven autos from time to time, though not as my main car.
They never really floated my boat unless they were mated to a large and powerful engine with plenty of torque.

Due to a knee problem and considering I spend a lot of time shuffling around London I started to consider an auto a few years ago as a main car.
I pretty much test drove every new car on the market at the time in my price bracket with an auto gearbox, that was a bit of a feat in itself as not all dealers had those models on their test fleet, so had to travel far and wide.

The Clio wasn't really on my list as I had eyes on a top spec Ibiza DSG and would have probably pulled the trigger on one of those if my nearest dealer wasn't such an a*#e. I actually stumbled across a Renault dealer on my way home from Seat and they were more than happy to cater to my extended test drive whims.

I am glad I did, I have had the Clio for three years now and it drives lovely.
The fit and finish is great, lots of soft touch trim everywhere. It's built like that from the off rather than jazzed up just for the top spec models.
It's been faultless and the dealerships (my nearest one closed last year so have to use another) have been great. After service I get courtesy calls from the dealer and Renault and their prices are pretty reasonable.
While it's in for service, things like new wiper blades are actually cheaper than buying them yourself and fitting them. 

It's a smart looking car without loads of mat black plastic trim dotted around the body (it's silky silver trim), something I dislike on most cars as it turns grey and nasty.

My Mrs had a 2004 Scenic a few years ago and that drove really well, when it worked!
It was problematic, mainly the electrics which was a shame as it was really comfortable.

Renault now slap 5 years warranty on all their new cars and when you think other manufacturers are pulling out of the hatchback market (goodbye Fiesta) they have put a lot of faith in the Clio.
We don't see as many as the Fiesta here in the UK but the Clio actually challenges the VW Golf for top sells across Europe. 

When the facelifted model hits the dealers I might have another look at the hybrid again.




 

The Clio hybrid is supposed to be capable of 65mpg (combined) as well - which for a car that can do 0-60 in under 10 secs must be worth investigating ?

MouldyOldDough

The Captur 145 appears even better 

Goudy

The Captur is available with a straight Hybrid and a Plug in version.
The normal Hybrid starts at around £26k and the Plug in around £32.5.

I would hazard a guess Renault will facelift the Captur soon so it matches the facelifted Clio (which I think will be available to order next month). 
They are both based on the same platform, so it seems a no brainer they revamp that as well.
I presume they will also drop the straight petrols from the line up as some point soon.

There probably isn't a world of difference inside, the Captur rides higher and the boot is bigger (when comparing both hybrids it's around 80 litres bigger)

I also read they have revised the straight Hybrid, it's a little more efficient and they have shaved a couple of grams off the Co2 compared to the current version.

MouldyOldDough

Goudy said:

The Captur is available with a straight Hybrid and a Plug in version.
The normal Hybrid starts at around £26k and the Plug in around £32.5.

I would hazard a guess Renault will facelift the Captur soon so it matches the facelifted Clio (which I think will be available to order next month). 
They are both based on the same platform, so it seems a no brainer they revamp that as well.
I presume they will also drop the straight petrols from the line up as some point soon.

There probably isn't a world of difference inside, the Captur rides higher and the boot is bigger (when comparing both hybrids it's around 80 litres bigger)

I also read they have revised the straight Hybrid, it's a little more efficient and they have shaved a couple of grams off the Co2 compared to the current version.

The bigger boot suits my mobility scooter!