Renault Clio review

Say bonjour to one of the best selling cars in Europe, the Renault Clio. It may be small, but its sales numbers are big – and it only seems to be getting more popular, too. 

After all, the Ford Fiesta is off sale, and unlike some small cars that have seen significant price rises in recent years, the Clio remains very well priced. In fact, in late 2025, Renault made the Clio even more affordable via a £1000 price cut.

Renault Clio video review

It all looks very tempting – at least on paper. However, rivals are plentiful and some are also very recommendable. For instance, there’s the comfy Skoda Fabia, the uber-practical Honda Jazz and the super-efficient Toyota Yaris, along with its smaller sibling, the Toyota Aygo X. So, does the Renault Clio hold its own against the best small cars?

Learn more about the Clio from Renault

What’s new?

- June 2024: Autocar names Clio its Best Small Car in 2024

- August 2023: Renault reveals pricing for forthcoming full-hybrid Clio, which can use electric power the majority of the time in city driving

- April 2023: latest version of chic hatchback revealed, with heavily revised styling front and rear, sustainable interior materials and an upgraded infotainment set-up

With 90bhp from its 1.0-litre, three-cylinder petrol engine and a 0-60mph time of 11.5sec, in our tests, the Renault Clio TCe 90 is fine for dashing around town. True, the Skoda Fabia 1.0 TSI 95 feels stronger in the mid-range, but if you drop down a gear using the Clio's six-speed manual gearbox, it has enough oomph to overtake slower traffic or get up a steep incline.

The other Clio engine option is the 1.6-litre regular hybrid – the E-Tech 145. It produces 141bhp for a 0-62mph time of 9.3sec. When accelerating from a standstill it can take a second or two for the petrol engine to wake up, but once it kicks in, performance is reasonably sprightly and on par with a Toyota Yaris Hybrid.

That said, the E-Tech 145 has a rather unconventional four-speed clutchless automatic gearbox and the gap between each gear is enormous – we’d estimate there’s at least a one-second delay between shifts.

The Clio doesn't round off imperfect road surfaces as well as a Skoda Fabia or VW Polo but its firmer suspension delivers superior body control. That means that, on an undulating country road, it doesn’t suffer from the floaty effect you feel in the soft-riding Fabia – a real bonus if your rear-seat passenger is prone to car sickness.

The entry-level Generation trim comes with 16in wheels and these provide the best ride comfort. However, the 17in wheels you get on other versions, including our favourite Techno+ model, are perfectly acceptable. You’ll notice around town that the ride is a touch more unsettled but the difference is marginal.

If you pitch the Clio into a corner briskly, you’ll find that body lean is kept well in check. Plus, the steering has a more direct and accurate response than most small cars – including the Citroën C3, Dacia Sandero and Skoda Fabia – and gives a better sense of connection with the front wheels.

If you go for Techno+ trim or above, an additional Sport driving mode adds weight to the steering for an extra bit of reassurance when pressing on. There is also plenty of grip on offer, but if you start to really lean on the tyres you’ll find that it starts to run wide at the front before the stability control kicks in to bring everything under control. It's a safe but not particularly fun set-up.

If you want a small car that grips more evenly front to rear and allows you to adjust your line with a lift of the accelerator pedal, we’d point you in the direction of the Seat Ibiza in FR trim, which is much more of a hoot to drive.

You’ll hear very little suspension noise as you drive along in the Clio but it does produce slightly more wind and road noise than a Fabia or Polo. Likewise, while the TCe 90 petrol engine is quiet for the most part, it's not quite as smooth as similar engines in those rivals.

Meanwhile, in the Clio E-Tech 145, there’s a slight whine from the electric motor when it’s running on electricity but nothing that’ll get annoying around town. What can get a little annoying is that, if the battery is low, the engine will kick in quite loudly to top it up. It can sound quite coarse when you put your foot to the floor, too. 

Unlike in the Toyota Yaris, the hybrid Clio’s automatic gearbox is not a CVT auto but it does sound like one when it holds on to gears to get the most out of the engine under hard acceleration. What’s more, while the gear changes are relatively smooth when you’re driving in a relaxed manner, if you want an instant burst of acceleration, the slow gear changes feel very unnatural.

"Initially I found the Renault Clio's brake-pedal response a little sensitive but I quickly got used to it. The brakes performed strongly, even when I was driving a bit more spiritedly." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

Both the Clio's driving seat and steering wheel have a decent amount of adjustment and most people should be able to get comfortable behind the wheel. 

What’s more, the seats themselves are comfortable and supportive, especially the sportier seats in the Esprit Alpine versions. Our only demerit is that you don’t get adjustable lumbar support, which you do in the Skoda Fabia.

You get a clear and crisp 7in digital driver display with the Generation and Techno+ trims, which gets a few basic lay-outs to choose from. Esprit Alpine trims come with a larger 10in driver's display that extends the full width of the cluster and can show sat-nav directions and other information.

The windscreen and front windows on the Clio are large by small car standards, and while its windscreen pillars are chunkier than on a Fabia, their shallow angle means they don’t impede very much at junctions or roundabouts. For a better view forwards, try the Citroën C3 or Honda Jazz.

Rear visibility in the Clio is not so good. The smaller side windows and narrow rear windscreen conspire to reduce the amount you can see out of the back and over your shoulder.

Still, parking shouldn’t be too difficult, thanks to the standard front and rear parking sensors. A reversing camera is also standard.

The size of the infotainment touchscreen in the Clio depends on the trim: Generation and Techno+ get 7in screens while the two Esprit Alpine trims have a 9.3in screen. Both come with touch-sensitive shortcut buttons and plenty of features, including wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring, DAB radio, Bluetooth and built-in sat-nav.

Starting with the smaller screen, the graphics are pretty crisp and it responds quickly enough as you prod around its interface. The only problem we found was that the feed from the rear-view camera looked fuzzy at night, but it was still easily usable.

As well as being larger, the screen in Esprit Alpine trims is portrait-oriented like a tablet computer (rather than the more usual landscape format). It’s also glass-fronted and has better graphics.

The Clio looks and feels much smarter inside than most rival small cars. That's especially true in the Esprit Alpine trims, which (as we touched upon) get sporty, Alpine-branded seats, for instance.

The Clio in entry-level Generation trim misses out some plush materials and lacks the top trims' flair, but its textured plastics do a semi-convincing job of looking like them. What’s more, it’s still more appealing than the C3’s interior which, while it has an interesting design, is filled with scratchier plastics. 

The metal-effect climate-control dials have a tactile feel, adding to the sense of quality, although the controls in the Fabia and VW Polo feel more robust overall.

"Many new cars hide all their controls in the infotainment touchscreen so I find it refreshing that the Renault Clio comes with proper buttons and dials for the climate control." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

For what is a fairly small car, front space in the Renault Clio is generous, with plenty of head and leg room for drivers well over 6ft. It’s quite wide too, meaning there’s little danger of clashing elbows with your passenger – unless you’re both very broad.

Item storage includes a big glovebox, decent door bins, storage in the central armrest and a deep tray in front of the gearlever. That said, few models in the small car class can quite beat the Honda Jazz for interior storage – it has deeper pockets and two gloveboxes.

Rear space in the Clio is fair but there’s no doubt that an adult over 6ft will find their head very close to the roof. If the person sitting in front of them is a similar size, the rear passenger’s knees will be wedged against the front seat.

The regular hybrid Clio is just as spacious as the entry-level version, although neither has as much rear space as the Citroën C3 or Honda Jazz. It’s the same story with the Skoda Fabia and VW Polo, so there are a fair few roomier rivals. In particular, the Jazz shines in the back, offering a lot of room for six-footers, as well as wide door openings that make loading in a child seat a doddle.

The Jazz and Fabia are also better at accommodating a third rear passenger – the Clio’s raised middle seat will force a tall occupant's head even further up against the roof.

Every Clio has 60/40 split folding rear seats, which is the same as most small cars. The highly versatile Jazz allows you to fold up the rear seat base, revealing a cavernous area you can park a bicycle across.

Still, the seatbacks in the Clio fold to create a flat floor, making it easy to store larger items. That said, it would be handy if the front passenger seat folded forward a little more to give extra-long items a bit more space (in fairness, most of the Clio’s rivals are the same).

You get driver’s seat height adjustment as standard with every Clio. If you want to give the same luxury to your front-seat passenger, you’ll need to go for Techno+ trim or above.

On paper, the Clio TCe 90 looks to have a vast boot by small car standards. At 391 litres, it’s bigger than rivals' on paper – and also bigger than the boot in the VW Golf from the class above. In reality, though, we managed to fit five carry-on sized suitcases into the boot, which matches the Citroën C3, despite that rival’s much smaller (on paper) boot. 

That’s still more than enough for most, though, and you get a two-level boot floor so you can either maximise space or reduce the height of the lip when loading it through the tailgate. In the floor’s lowest position, lifting heavy items in and out can be rather awkward. The Honda Jazz has a much lower lip to lift items over, making it easier to load and unload.

The Clio E-Tech 145 has much less boot space (301 litres). It’s still bigger than a Toyota Yaris’ boot but very slightly smaller than the Jazz’s. 

“I like that the Clio's central armrest doubles as a storage cubby for your odds and ends.” – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

The Renault Clio is offered with temptingly low pricing, with the entry-level TCe 90 Generation undercutting the Citroën C3 by a modest amount and most other small cars, including the Skoda Fabia and VW Polo, by a not-so-modest amount. And even when you look specifically at the E-Tech 145, the Clio still costs a lot less than a lot of rivals, including the Honda Jazz. As hybrid rivals go, it’s only really the Toyota Aygo X that can beat it on price. 

In our tests, the Clio TCe 90 managed a very impressive average fuel economy of 54mpg, which was much better than the C3’s 47.1mpg on the same day. The E-Tech 145, meanwhile, managed 57.6mpg in the same test but on a different day. 

If you’re looking for a company car, the E-Tech 145 will be the cheapest Clio to run because its lower official CO2 emissions (from as little as 95g/km) mean lower BIK tax rates.

Regardless of the trim level, the Clio has a generous amount of equipment. Entry-level Generation trim comes with 16in alloy wheels, automatic full LED headlights, automatic windscreen wipers, keyless start, automatic climate control, touchscreen infotainment and rear parking sensors.

Techno+ trim is our favourite because, for a small premium, it adds a few desirable features. We’re talking 17in alloy wheels, heated front seats and a wireless phone-charging pad. It also gives you access to the E-Tech 145 engine, should you want it. 

Techno Esprit Alpine goes for a more aggressive 17in alloy wheel design, plus it has other sporty exterior styling cues. It also gets the larger infotainment screen we’ve spoken about, as well as the 10in digital driver’s display. 

Iconic Esprit Alpine represents a big jump in price, making it difficult to recommend. If you’re interested, it gets a heated steering wheel, a nine-speaker sound system and adaptive cruise control.

In the 2025 What Car? Reliability Survey, the Clio placed towards the middle of the small car category, just above the Dacia Sandero and Toyota Yaris. Renault as a brand, meanwhile, placed in 20th place out of the 30 included manufacturers. That’s way below Honda (which topped the table), Skoda and Toyota, but above Ford and VW. 

Every Clio comes with a three-year warranty with no mileage limit for the first two years and a 60,000-mile cap in the final year. That matches the three-year warranties offered by most rival brands, although Hyundai, Kia and Toyota cover your car for longer.

On top of the base warranty, the E-Tech 145’s hybrid battery is covered for an additional eight-years/100,000-miles or until the battery drops to 63% of its original capacity.

Testers from Euro NCAP awarded the Clio the maximum five stars for safety, and it performed better than the Audi A1 at protecting adults from chest injuries in the event of a frontal impact. However, because the Clio was tested in 2019, it can’t be compared directly with the five-star VW Polo, which was tested under 2022’s tougher regime.

As well as being well-rated for protecting occupants in a crash, the Clio also helps to prevent you having one in the first place. Automatic emergency braking (AEB), traffic-sign recognition and lane-keep assistance are all standard.

“When we tested the Renault Clio against the rival Skoda Fabia we found that the Clio would cost a typical owner less to run over three years.” – George Hill, Used Car Writer

Buy it if…

- You’re looking for a good balance between comfort and agility

- You want a small car with a spacious boot

- An attractive interior is important to you

Don’t buy it if…

- You regularly carry tall rear passengers

- A low boot lip is important to you

- You’re looking for a car with a lengthy warranty

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