CLIO - THE SMALL CAR WITH A BIG IMAGE There has always been a tendency among the younger generation to take fairly basic, and therefore cheap, cars and tart them up a bit. It seems the thinking is that more noise and a bit of fancy paint make the car sportier – the background philosophy to go-faster stripes. In my youth, I had a Ford Anglia van (actually a Thames 7 cwt but no-one ever called them that) in a sickly shade of green. I stuck a metallic red horn from an old Rover on the bonnet, added a big-bore back box from Peco to the exhaust, and did some nifty work with black and silver paint on the wheels so they looked like wide ones. There was no radio to even start to make entertainment like that provided by modern sound systems with woofers, sub woofers, and tweeters but somehow the hours passed quite happily thanks to the cushions in the back, but perhaps we shouldn’t go there! Kids these days are snapping up Peugeot 106s, Citroen Saxos, and Vauxhall Corsas as the basis for their mobile discos. Some of the more sophisticated ones have moved up to the Renault Clio and I can’t say as I blame them. There’s a bit more room, for a start. Renault has very cleverly kept the current Clio in the limelight by continually announcing ever more sporting derivatives. It’s widely held by the motoring press that these Clios are the best of their type in a market that’s crowded with competition. Kids are switched on to image and know the Clio is therefore better than the rest. It’s also a more current shape than the others. They are excellent at what they do, but they also do it a competitive price and that’s really what the whole Clio range is about - excellence combined with economy of ownership, whether it’s in the purchase price or the running costs. I’ve long liked the Clio and its forerunner, the Renault 5, which was really the start of the whole supermini thing. So you might say that teaching Renault how to make excellent small cars is a bit like teaching your grandmother to suck eggs. You just don’t do it because you know they already know all there is to know, if you can follow that. To prove to myself that Renault is well clued up on small cars, I’ve just been driving the 100 bhp 1.2 litre turbo petrol car that’s a fairly recent addition to the range and can be yours straight out of the box for as little as £10,525 - probably much less if you know how to haggle. Search diligently and you might find an ex-demonstrator or fleet car for £8,000 to £8,500, a saving worth having. But there’s no need to spend that sort of money to get Clio excellence. The car has a strong presence in the used market so you have a wide choice. And you don't need a diesel to get top rate fuel costs, although obviously it helps. The Clio was revised in 2005 although the look stayed much the same and it is now starting to show its age a little. Even so, it still has an appealing shape. My only word of advice would be to check the more sporting cars - the earlier Williams, which did not turn out to be the collectors’ pieces everyone hoped, and the 172 and 182 models - to make sure they have not had the guts thrashed out of them. After all, you want them to have enough life left to give you some fun, too. Long intervals for services on Renaults have been around a long time and the current cars have this stretched to 18,000 miles for petrol engines and 12,000 for diesels. They were shorter for minor attention on older cars. Insurance starts at Group 1, which makes the Clio ideal for novice and young drivers although the car also has appeal for older drivers who are downsizing. A budget of only £2,000 will get you a more than half decent Clio - an 01Y 1.2 bought privately should be within this. I would prefer the safety of a reputable dealer and a warranty, so £4,000 will get you the latest plate format with a 54 1.2 Expression five door. Post current facelift cars are only around £5,000 for starters with the basic Campus on an 06. Maurice Hardy