I’m no longer a VW owner! 😮

[SRGTD]

12 MONTHS OWNERSHIP UPDATE

Today marks 1 year of Clio ownership for me, so I thought it was appropriate to provide an update on the ownership experience during the last 12 months.

To recap - my car is a Clio E Tech full (self charging) hybrid, Flame Red paintwork and Esprit Alpine trim level.
Options; just a space saver spare wheel as there are no other options apart from paint colour choice. Standard spec is very comprehensive and there’s nothing else I would’ve really wanted - well maybe just VW’s dipping kerbside mirror (sadly, Renault don’t offer one).

Mileage; 4,785

Long term average fuel consumption;
- currently; 62.8 mpg.
- at the 6 month milestone; 56.3 mpg
- during the winter months at end of last year / beginning of this year; 55.1 mpg.

Fuel consumption is still improving but realistically I doubt it’ll improve much beyond 63 - 63.5 mpg before the winter, when it’ll worsen slightly as the traction battery is less efficient in colder temperatures. The official WLTP average fuel consumption is quoted as 65.7mpg and considering the official figure is rarely achievable (IMHO), I’m pretty chuffed with just under 63mpg which is significantly better than any diesel I’ve owned in the past.

Oil consumption; nil (still at the max mark on the dipstick prior to the first service).

Reliability and build quality; - excellent.
Nothing has failed, broken or dropped off, and there are no interior creaks or rattles, so in my experience Renault’s build quality is as good as - or better than - VW’s. My Polo GTI+’s build quality was ‘disappointing’ to put it mildly - I’d probably rank it 4th out of the five VW’s I owned, with five being worst. The Clio’s panel gaps are tighter and more uniform than they were on my Polo GTI+. The petrol filler flap on my Polo was particularly poor; flimsy and ill-fitting whereas the Clio’s filler flap is sturdy and a perfect fit. The paint finish on the Clio is great and paintwork seems more durable and resistant to stone chips than VW paint. Only three tiny stone chips on the Clio in the first year (one on nearside sill, another on the offside rear door and the third on the front bumper). The largest was no bigger than a pin head and I’ve repaired all three using a paint touch up pen.

Dealership; very good.
The staff - sales and after sales - seem to go that extra mile to deliver a great customer experience and IMHO a good / great dealership experience is an important factor in the overall car ownership experience. Sadly, a good / great customer experience isn’t something I experienced from VW of late - especially after the VW dealer I used was taken over by a large dealership group.

I’ve made three visits to the Renault dealer since taking delivery of the car last September;
- warranty work; software update to fix erratic indicator behaviour early on during ownership (covered in previous updates in this discussion topic).
- collection of spare wheel; my car was an in-stock car with no spare wheel. The dealer added a spare wheel to another customer’s order and when that car was delivered to the dealership they swapped the spare over to my car in exchange for my unused tyre inflation kit.
- first service; carried out last week. There were no issues that I needed the dealer to investigate - they just needed to carry out the standard service.

I had a waiting appointment for the service so was able to enjoy the complementary coffee while I waited. I did have a look at the Renault R5 EV that was in the showroom; an R5 in Iconic trim with 52 kWh battery, Arctic White paint and contrasting black roof - the exact model and colour I would order if I was buying an EV now. I peered through its window but resisted getting in and trying it for size in case I was tempted!

Issues during first 12 months; just a couple of minor ones;
- Indicators; see above.
- sat nav display froze on one journey; only the once which was around 3 months ago, and it’s been fine since.

Favourite features of the car - in no particular order;
- the good balance of ride and handling
- acceleration from rest in EV mode and how it seems to surprise some drivers of more powerful cars.
- heated seats and steering wheel. I’ve been spoiled having these and they’re now a ‘must have’ for me in any future car.
- perceived quality of the interior, which IMHO is better than the Polo’s and has been described by some motoring journalists as one of the better interiors in the B segment class. The seats deserve a special mention as they’re super comfy and supportive.
- Renault’s practice of retaining physical controls for the most frequently used functions.
- Very effective / efficient climate control (much more so than the Polo’s air con) which has been very welcome during the hot summer.
- The standard sound system - better than I remember the Polo’s standard sound system being. It also has a bass boost feature!

Anything I’ve missed that the Polo had but the Clio doesn’t? Very little;
- dipping kerbside mirror
- the Polo’s higher definition rear view camera; the (standard) rear view camera on the Clio is poor by comparison
- DSG; which IMHO is better than the Clio’s auto transmission
- not having steering wheel paddles to manually change gear

Surprisingly, I’ve not missed the superior performance of the Polo GTI+

Things I’d be happy to do without;
- keyless entry; I deactivated it on day 1 of ownership.
- diamond cut alloys; I’d much rather have a decent set of powder coated alloys.

French quirks;
- The third column stalk for audio controls (a feature of all Renault cars and has been for many years). It’s often criticised by motoring journalists but seems to be really liked by die-hard Renault owners. In practice, I’ve found it’s very intuitive to use and works really well; operates volume, audio source selection and radio channel / audio track selection.
- Location of tailgate release button - ‘hidden’ in the rear bumper above the number plate.
- Key fob, which is a similar size to a credit card, only thicker.

Disappointments;
Just one really; the wear rate of the tyres, which is more a disappointment in Renault’s choice of tyres rather than a disappointment with the car itself. The tyres are Continentals, which seem to have a reputation for wearing quicker than many other premium brand tyres. At the current wear rate, I’d anticipate they’ll need replacing at around 18k miles.

In summary;
A very good car that I’m enjoying owning and which has exceeded my expectations. It’s one of the favourite cars I’ve owned and I’d score it an 8.5 or 9.0 out of ten.

New (next generation) Clio
Renault unveiled the next generation Clio last week - LHD markets will get it next year with RHD versions not due to appear in the UK until the year after. IMHO the styling is definitely a departure from the current and previous Clio’s so might not be to everyone’s taste; some motoring journalists have described the front end design as being similar to a Jaguar and I can see where they’re coming from. The Interior has quite a premium look for a B segment car, and IMHO it’s good to see that Renault are continuing to fit physical controls in their cars for functions such as heating/ventilation and air con. If I decide not to go electric for my next car, then a next generation Clio will certainly be on the list of possible replacements for my current car.

Autogefühl’s initial review of the next generation Clio;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFEH2rlX4p4

[OomStu_ZA]

Hello SRGDT

Quite the update and glad to hear you're still happy with your Clio. Here in SA we will not receive the new model at all, sadly, because it means less variety on the roads. All I see nowadays is SUV's and pickups (in SA). Hatchbacks are dying a quick death.

I still have my Polo and after 6 years of ownership I am still happy as well, now with 127500KM's on the clock. I also plan to keep it as long as possible since it is paid for and has a maintenance plan to 300 000KM.

[SRGTD]

Hello SRGDT

Quite the update and glad to hear you're still happy with your Clio.

Yes, still happy with it. It’s not as quick as the Polo GTI but that’s not really an issue when most of my driving is on quite heavily congested single carriageway roads where all I’m doing is going with the flow of the traffic at (usually) around 50-55 mph or slower. Under those conditions, it is as quick as a Polo GTI.

Here in SA we will not receive the new model at all, sadly, because it means less variety on the roads. All I see nowadays is SUV's and pickups (in SA). Hatchbacks are dying a quick death.

I wasn’t aware a Clio was due to be announced. I wasn’t sure about the front end design when I first saw pictures and videos of it but it’s grown on me. I still prefer the front end design of my Clio. I do like the side profile of the new Clio though.

Lots of SUV’s on the UK’s roads too - mostly being driven either by mothers on the school run or where the driver is the sole occupant. Agree that sadly, hatchbacks do seem to be a dying breed, although it’s good to see manufacturers like Renault still building small hatchbacks and giving customers a choice of ICE, hybrid and EV’s with B segment (Polo sized) cars.

I still have my Polo and after 6 years of ownership I am still happy as well, now with 127500KM's on the clock. I also plan to keep it as long as possible since it is paid for and has a maintenance plan to 300 000KM.

That’s longer than I’ve kept any car - I usually keep mine 4.5 - 5 years. Good to hear that you’re still happy with it; it does make sense to make full use of your maintenance plan.

[Snickers]

Neither am I, too many problems

[SRGTD]

Two year ownership update

So I’ve now had my Renault Clio for two years. As the saying goes, ‘time flies when you’re enjoying yourself’ and I have enjoyed - and I’m still enjoying - owning the Clio. The two year update as follows;

• Mileage; 10,387

• Long term mpg; 66.9 which is better than the official WLTP figures (64.2 mpg overall WLTP fuel consumption). My mpg figure represents the last 6 months as a software update in March reset the fuel consumption data to zero.

• Oil consumption; nil

• Tyre wear; remarkably, just 0.5mm in the last 12 months / 5.5k miles

• Key fob battery needed replacing last week, so the original lasted pretty much two years, although I have the keyless function switched off.

• 2nd year service; carried out on 9th September and no additional work identified as needing to be done.

• Build quality; the car continues to feel well screwed together. No creaks or rattles from interior trim and nothing has broken or failed. It has been almost faultless, but see below under ‘issues’.

Issues

• not really an issue as the car has been running fine but I’ll note it here anyway. I received an email from Renault in March advising the software controlling the car’s fuel injection system needed to be updated. Booked the car in at the dealership I use and the update was carried out while I waited. Unfortunately the update reset my long term fuel consumption to zero so the current overall mpg figure only reflects the last 6 months use of the car. From memory, prior to the software update long term mpg was at around 61 / 62 mpg.

• parking sensors in front bumper can trigger false alerts after driving in heavy rain - it’s happened on a couple of occasions in the last 12 months. A search of the internet suggests this is a fairly common issue affecting a number of vehicle manufacturers’ cars, so it’s not something that’s specific to Renault.

• one nasty stone chip picked up on the leading edge of the bonnet. I’ve repaired it using a paint pen touch up kit, but Flame Red comprises a base colour plus a colour tinted lacquer and it’s quite difficult to get an accurate colour match with the original factory paint. The repair looks OK, but it took a while to get a repair I was happy with, and it’s not noticeable unless it’s pointed out.

Dealer service continues to be very good and the two service advisors are very knowledgeable and always courteous. There’s been two visits to the dealership in the last 12 months; one for software update, and one for the 2nd year service. The dealer now has an excellent Rijo ‘bean to cup’ coffee machine that makes great free coffee!

There’s not much I miss about my Polo GTI. One thing I do miss though is the reminder message to take my phone out of the car at the end of the journey. The Clio doesn’t have a similar reminder and after two years, there are still occasions when forget to pick my phone up off the charging pad!

Will I keep the Clio long term? I’m undecided at present. I’m still very much enjoying it and certainly have no regrets in making the switch away from VW. I may be tempted to take a Renault R5 EV for a test drive at some time and also the all new Clio 6 when it arrives in the UK next year. I’m not an early adopter of an all new model, but the Clio 6 has been on sale in LHD markets since early 2026, so hopefully it’ll be tried and tested by the time it gets to the UK and any teething troubles will have been identified and sorted. Who knows, one of those two cars may tempt me to change. Would I consider one of the many Chinese EV’s? No I wouldn’t; I’ve read of horror stories of dealerships not always having the technical know-how to fix the cars along with long delays in getting spare parts, resulting in customer cars being off the road for weeks or even months.

Will I be tempted by the new ID.Polo?; probably not. As said above, I wouldn’t be an early adopter of an all-new model and VW doesn’t have a good track record with software in their new cars. Initial reviews of the ID.Polo are certainly very positive though, and it does seem that VW have upped the quality compared to other ID branded cars. It’s also good to see the return of physical buttons and switches in the ID.Polo. VW does seem to have adopted the subscription based business model for certain optional features on their cars and that’s something I’m not a fan of.

Next update; in twelve months time - or sooner if I’ve done something impulsive and changed my Clio for something else (although I’m not known for being impulsive).

[Leif]

I collect my new Renault 4 tomorrow then I sell my 2018 Polo. I didn’t wait a few weeks to see the UK Polo pricing. After ordering the Renault I found a UK car owner survey. The VW ID 3 and 4 are some of the most unreliable cars on UK roads, two electric Renaults are among the most reliable. The 4 and 5 are too new for the survey. Kia EVs are good too. I was talking to a friend who reckoned the problem was that VW created their own software, Renault et al use Google, no idea if that is true. Dieselgate and no cheap Russian gas must hurt them.

The ID.Polo looks okay albeit dull and very expensive. Kia makes some of the most appealing electric cars today, even the PS5 spanks the oh so trendy but outrageously expensive ID.Buzz.

[SRGTD]

I collect my new Renault 4 tomorrow then I sell my 2018 Polo. I didn’t wait a few weeks to see the UK Polo pricing. After ordering the Renault I found a UK car owner survey. The VW ID 3 and 4 are some of the most unreliable cars on UK roads, two electric Renaults are among the most reliable. The 4 and 5 are too new for the survey. Kia EVs are good too. I was talking to a friend who reckoned the problem was that VW created their own software, Renault et al use Google, no idea if that is true. Dieselgate and no cheap Russian gas must hurt them.

The ID.Polo looks okay albeit dull and very expensive. Kia makes some of the most appealing electric cars today, even the PS5 spanks the oh so trendy but outrageously expensive ID.Buzz.

I hope everything goes well with collection of your new R4. I’d be interested to hear how you get on with it.

I agree that many of the issues with new VW models launched from 2020 have been software related and the issues went wider than just the ID.3 and ID.4 (e.g. the mk8 Golf had multiple software issues) and also affected the other main brands within the VW / Audi group. I seem to remember that software issues also caused the launch delays within Porsche (Porsche is part of the VW group). Your friend is correct; VW did create their own software in house; Cariad is their in-house software company. Those issues must have caused significant reputational damage and lost sales - the VW Group CEO at the time (Herbert Diess) lost his job as a result. I think things have improved and VW no longer use Cariad as their sole software developer.

I was very tempted by the Kia Ceed when I considering what to replace my Polo GTI+ with. The build quality was very good and the interior reminded me very much of the mk6 Golf I owned - probably influenced by the ex chief design engineer for VW group - Peter Schreyer - who moved from VW to Kia in the noughties. I ultimately decided against it as I didn’t want - or need - to upsize to a C segment car. I’m not too keen on Kia’s current design language which is quite ‘boxy’ and that must have a detrimental impact on the range of their EV’s.

I don’t mind the styling of the ID.Polo; I’d describe it as ‘safe’ rather than boring. I probably wouldn’t buy one though for the reasons stated in my previous post.