Clio-ly ahead

A vehicle with its eye firmly on performance is not something everyone can appreciate. If the ultimate aim is the single-minded pursuit of speed and power, something usually has to give.

Cases in point are the Lamborghini Superleggera and Ferrari Scuderia. So focused are these cars in doling out speed that everyday comforts are almost nonexistent.

Halfway to the other end of the spectrum are the hot-hatchbacks – fast, focused and engaging.

Fun coming right up!

The hot-hatch is possibly the cheapest and most fun on four wheels for the enthusiast eyeing something that marries some measure of performance with daily usability.

But not many are able to appreciate such a car, not in a country where cheap fast cars are rarer than a unicorn.

Forget the word cheap for a minute and a number of fun cars come quickly to mind. The latest entry into the world of fast small cars is the Renault Clio RS 200. Following a glorified tradition of creating fun hot-hatches, the latest Clio RS lives up to the hype about the Renault hatch and how it’s the best in the business.

Like every other hot-hatch, the Clio RS is based on a lesser sibling, the Clio 1.6, but the similarities end there.

Both cars may be Renault but the boys from the RenaultSport department like their cars lighter, faster, handle a lot better, and yet usable on a daily basis.

The new Clio is exactly that. The design of the car may not be to everyone’s taste, it looks docile, feminine even, but it is what I call a blank canvas. All it needs is a properly-designed bodykit – perhaps one from RenaultSport – and it would look better.

That was exactly the case for the previous generation Clio RS 197 as well – it looked much better with the RenaultSport kit fitted.

The rear diffuser, though, is functional and produces 40kg of downforce at over 100kph and the side vents work to cool the brakes at high speed.

Inside it’s typically French: simple, well-built and easy to use. The purpose-built thinly padded Recaro bucket seats are great to look at but can be a little uncomfortable over long distances.

However, the seats do a great job of holding you in place during a corner.

The interior is a pretty comfortable place to be in, the amount of legroom for adults is decent even at the rear and there’s the usual gadgetry like USB and AUX connectivity to keep the gadget and music geeks entertained. But don’t expect concert hall-like sound from the speakers.

The keyword is lightweight. The Clio RS does not care about serenading you in Beethoven’s MoonLight Sonata in the clearest, crispest sound. To the Clio RS entertainment vocabulary comprises mainly of two words – speed and agility.

And so, the centrepiece of the Clio RS is the two-litre naturally-aspirated engine, tasked with providing the real entertainment, and boy does it do a great job.

It revs all the way to the 8,000rpm redline and will ride the rev limiter anytime you ask it to.

It’s an eager powerplant, producing 200hp and 215Nm of torque, the Clio RS sees off the sprint to 100kph in just 6.9 seconds and hits a top speed of 225kph. But the Clio RS is not about the figures it produces; rather, it’s about how it produces the figures.
 
The revs feel light and fly freely, the six-speed manual transmission suits the character of the engine down to a tee.

Like a handmade Italian shoe that snuggles up to your feet the first time you put it on, the four-cylinder engine and the gearbox are a perfect fit to the Clio. Taking the Clio RS to its limit requires you to work the gears as the gearings are short and the torque is bundled up at the lower and mid-level of the rpm band.

But that’s no issue as the gear lever comes fitted with a short shifter, combine that and a light clutch and you have a manual transmission that is easy to live with, even in traffic.

The short shifter also ensures you never lose power during hard runs and it makes it easier to keep the engine on boil through corners. Of course, there’s never such a thing as enough power but the combination of the powertrain and the body and the way it handles the corners is something anyone can appreciate.
 
And contributing to the overall agility of the new Clio RS 200 is its Cup chassis, what that means is that it behaves like a race car.

It skips and hops over bumps on the road thanks to a stiffer chassis, it stays flat in corners with very little body roll, and it reacts to the slightest input of the steering wheel.

What you get is a car that just needs a rollcage and it will be fit for a circuit race.

So then comes the big question, at RM199,000 is it worth it? It may look a bit odd, and there are plenty of other options for the money. But it’s a lot of fun on the right kind of road and the engine is just oh-so-sweet.

Designed for a driver whose skills are far beyond those who enjoy flappy pedal boxes and electronic driving aids the new Clio RS is worth it.

Just be prepared to lose money on the second-hand market. - Photos by RASHIDI SALEH