Ever driven the Skenes Creek Road?
It's a lovely piece of winding bitumen that has the Great Ocean Road at one end of the fun bit and the top of the Otway Ranges at the other. It's 30 minutes or so of bitumen goodness; climbing, falling, bending and curling.
I have had some great drives through here; from late 1990s six-cylinder Aussie sedan shoot-outs to an awe-inspiring run in a McLaren 650S last year.
So a great place for the motoring.com.au Renault Clio RS 200 EDC long termer – or at least a great place to figure out whether I like it or not.
And the answer is a lukewarm 'sorta'.
The thing about Skenes Creek is it's not only fun, it's hard work for the car because it's pretty rough in places. And that's something the little RenaultSport does not like.
Mid-corner bumps – hell mid-straight bumps – are not appreciated by the yellow pocket rocket, which transmits road shock back into the cabin via its stiff and noisy 'Cup' suspension and the bump-thump of its low profile 18-inch tyres.
There's also body buzz and vibration that doesn't inspire.
On the most severe surfaces the rebound is too fierce. There is no doubt tyres lose contact with the road. If ever there was a car that presented the case for adaptive damping then this it – although price would obviously become an issue then.
The Clio behaves much better on smooth surfaces – which is no surprise given it is tuned like a race car with vertical movement of the body so tightly controlled.
Then you can appreciate the strong front-end much more. It is tenaciously grippy, diving for a corner like a professional footballer. It is the most enjoyable part of the car.
Trouble is the electric-assist steering lacks the true feel a car like this really needs. More than once I found myself applying too much lock going into corners and over-correcting coming out.
Then there is the way the 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine delivers its torque – broadly. That's fine once the penny drops and you stop revving it beyond 5000rpm and thrashing up and down through the EDC dual-clutch transmission.
Let it sit in third and fall and the revs rise like the forested hills around you, occasionally popping into fourth for a higher speed blat but never needing second on even the tightest corners.
The only problem is losing the aural dram that revving this engine delivers. You'll have to make do with the crackle-bang on the over-run that appears in sport and race modes.
Speaking of the gearbox, there's no real feel of mechanical connection when shifting via the lever or the too-short flappy paddles. The shift itself is decisive enough though, which is what counts more. And in auto mode when touring it is fine too.
And the brakes? Really strong, but too touchy at low speed, which is where the Clio is – in reality – going to spend a lot of its time.
If all this sounds like a grievous list of deadly sins, it actually isn't. The 200 is a really nice car to punt along at a good pace, but when the framework of the Skenes Creek Road is applied to it I know there are other cars that do this drive with more panache and involvement (and no, I don't just mean the McLaren!).
There is something indefinable that changes an involving drive to a memorable one and for me that's where the Clio resides. On the wrong side of outstanding.
But hey, the seats are good, the dashboard layout is original and attractive, especially the digital speedo in the instrument panel.
But bring a long cord if you are charging your phone as the USB plugs in high on the centre stack; buy small drinks because the cupholders are tiny and don't rely on the cruise control to keep you under the speed limit going down hills – it won't.
Much else has been chronicled about the Clio in previous reports listed below, so I am not going through all that again.
Nor do I propose taking the Clio for another drive along one of my favourite roads. I fear the experience would just not be that memorable.
What we liked: |
Not so much: |
>> Torquey engines | >> Rough ride |
>> Great front-end grip | >> Noisy |
>> Comfortable front seats | >> Engine lacks aural flavour |
Related reading:
>> Renault Clio RS 200 EDC Cup Long-Term Introduction