Renault Clio long-term test

The Car Renault Clio 1.0 TCe 90 Evolution Run by Jonty Renk, senior videographer

Why it’s here To prove that you don’t need to break the bank to have a fantastic small car

Needs to Offer a versatile and practical interior for camera gear storage while being small and nimble enough to drive in a busy city

Mileage 5822 List price £17,795 Target Price £16,462 Price as tested £18,695 Official economy 54.3mpg Test economy 55.6mpg

8 July 2024 – The shape of things to come

In most respects, the standard-fit keyless entry system on my Renault Clio has impressed me from the start.

It intuitively unlocks and locks at exactly the moments you’d want it to – not too early and not too late – which is handy when I'm laden down with camera kit or my weekly shop. And with keyless start as well, I can just keep the key in my pocket at all times. However, there is one drawback to the Clio's 'key' that I am struggling with – its shape.

I am not a careless person; I have never lost my car keys, partly because I have a keyring with an Apple AirTag which uses Bluetooth and a smartphone app to show me wherever it is. Whenever I get a new company car, I add the key on to the keyring, safe in the knowledge that it'll never get lost.

However, the key to my Clio is a credit card-shaped plastic black fob that doesn’t allow attachment to anything, and often slips out of my pocket in the car like a toboggan down an icy slope.

I’ve had to take matters into my own hands and strap my Apple AirTag to the card with some tape, such is my fear of losing it. This solution is effective, but hardly pretty.

I'm all for car makers keeping the design of something as mundane as a car key fresh, but if in doing so it makes it harder to use – or keep track of – then in my book, it's a backwards step.

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