Renault Sport Clio 200. A hot hatch with a new face

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There’s a reason why hot hatches have always been big sellers in Europe and haven’t really caught the imagination of the mass Middle East crowd (with, perhaps, the exception of the Golf GTI). Low capacity, compact and buzzing hatches just don’t lend themselves well to the expanses of most GCC cities and road designs. In essence, power rules. Power, to paraphrase Karl Marx, is the opium of the GCC people.

Seen from such a perspective, things don’t look too bright for the Renaultsport Clio 200. With barely 200bhp and 160lb ft of twist produced towards the top of its rev range, it’s not going to bowl many people over with its grunt. So what does it have to offer?

Outside, the revisions to the somewhat froggish front are the ‘F1 blade’ in the lower grille and front wing air extractors that neutralise turbulance and extract heat from under the bonnet. Underneath, the diffuser reduces lift by 40kg at 130kph, and the set of dark Speedlines sit well within the haunches of the Ultra Red paint scheme.

The region’s Clio 200 only comes in one trim, but it’s an appropriately specc’d one, with cruise control, a full-size spare wheel and body-bolstering Recaros. The wheel is thick and grippy with yellow stitching at the 12 o’clock position, and looking through it, there’s a conspicuous bright yellow-and-red rev counter.

Stand-out features in the chassis comprise an uprated torsion beam rear axle and a steering axis to the front suspension that’s independent of damping. It’s the same torque steer-reducing system found in the non-GCC Ford Focus RS and something Renaultsport has used on its cars for a while now. Renault claims it’s a unique feature in this segment.

Unfortunately, there’s no Cup chassis (thicker front roll bar, quicker steering rack, stiffer springs and dampers). While available in Europe, it’s not homologated over here, we won’t see it. The only optional extra will be the $2200 pearlescent Liquid Yellow paintjob.

Fear not, because there are some important changes in the dampers, now with ‘double-effect’, with a higher level of valving and 15 per cent more softness than the 197’s. Normally that’d be questionable in a car that’s meant to liven up the senses, but in this case, a touch more comfort in a small feisty hatch isn’t necessarily a big loss when the trade-off is some refinement on those frequent Middle East highway slogs. (Remember that the Golf GTI has three settings on its adaptive chassis.)

There is, in the first few kilometres, a feeling that this latest Clio (now celebrating its 20th anniversary) is a little too comforting in its smooth steering and light throttle. However, that’s only when you’re in an indifferent mood. Push on and it responds with accurate directions changes; the steering neutral and consistent throughout, and there’s no slack between input and reaction. It’s somewhere between the pointiness of a Mini Cooper S and the linearity of the aforementioned GTI.

The ride is firm but never overly so, riding well over the bumps, the car flowing beautifully and transitioning from one bend to another with alacrity. Grip is superb, and the chassis has that set-in-drying-concrete feel.

The downside on an open road is the lack of power. New cylinder heads, continuously variable intake valve timing and shorter ratios have boosted torque by 20 per cent in the low- and mid-range, but to really motor along, you have to keep it at the top of its rev-range and work the gearbox – now shorter in its first three ratios.

With just over 2000km showing on our test car and this being the summer, the engine hadn’t quite opened up, but like the RS 197 and F1 Team R27 that were sold in limited numbers in the UAE last year, it’s not about horizon-chasing pace. It’s about the front end, and how it adjusts.

On a tight Dubai Kartdrome, the front is happy to dive into a corner with lift-off oversteer. Tardy driving can be corrected with the throttle as it pivots like its hooked onto an imaginary pole fixed into the apex of the corner.
Understeer can be wiped aside with a brush of the middle pedal. The brakes have a firm and progressive action, the Brembos always alert to your soles’ tendons. When you’re pushing it, the 200 is so alive and alert it’s like it’s just gulped down three cans of Red Bull.

Yes, many around the region are still hooked on horsepower, but maybe they should take note of the Clio 200 – it may just wean them off that bewitching drug.

Dimitri Pesin

Renault Sport Clio 200. A hot hatch with a new face

Tom Bird

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