My, my, how the Clio has changed over the years, not an evolution but very much a revolution. Some cars just evolve, car such as the Ford Fiesta, Volkswagen Golf and BMW 3 Series. You can tell what it is, whatever age, whichever model; you instinctively know what it is. But not the all new Clio, as it is just so different from any other Clio we have seen before and the change is for the better.

Every other Clio has been available with either three or five doors, with the three door version taking the lion’s share of the market. Therefore it would seem to make sense to carry on producing the cheaper three door version. But did Renault do that?  No they decided in their wisdom that it was no longer necessary, which could result in losing many sales to the three door traditionalists.

Renault has been clever by concealing the rear door handles, to make it look like a three door and to some extent it has worked. With the car I had on test quite a few people I gave a lift to, attempted to get into the rear through the front doors. They were looking for the front seat lift handle to move the seat back rest but to no avail, as there isn’t one there. Then I told them it had rear doors and they had to find the concealed handles, some did and some didn’t. My Mum was one that didn’t find the handles.

Therefore this proved beyond any doubt that you can produce a five door to look like a three door without all the disadvantages of the three door, the main one being they can be awkward to get into the rear of. 

Once you have found the doors and the handles and got in to the Clio, there is plenty of leg, shoulder and head room for two adults, but with three it gets a bit tight.

There is no doubt though that the new Clio is a great looking car, from every angle it is all in proportion, the lines are crisp and the design works well. The car we had was black with red features, which made it look sporty and it certainly stood out on a (very rare ED) dull day in Huddersfield.

The interior carried on with the red design feature, with a part red steering wheel and red dashboard and console trim. When you first get in it you do think it is a bit bright and over the top but after a very short time, you get used to it. Then after a few hours you don’t even notice, it just blends in.

The car we had was fitted with MediaNav, which includes: navigation, bluetooth, radio and other car functions. It is a touch screen system, and very easy to use. Setting up and connecting a phone via bluetooth took just a few minutes and once installed was so easy to use. However, an incoming call did take a bit of connecting. You press the answer button and expect to talk immediately but it took quite a few seconds for anything to happen and you found yourself repeatedly saying ‘hello, hello, hello, anyone there hello, then suddenly you would hear the caller, who was equally confused.

The Clio we had on test was powered by a 1.5-litre dCi diesel engine that produced 90ps and goes from 0-62mph in 11.7 seconds. It has a top speed of 110 mph, where permitted. The official combined fuel consumption figure is 83.1mpg but during the time we had the car, it averaged 64.7mpg according to the on-board computer. Of course this isn’t a bad result, but nowhere near the published figure. The all important Co2 emission figure is 90g/km, which means that the first year VED rate is zero as are subsequent years.

Renault is and always has been good at making small and economical cars, the new Clio is no exception. Gone are the days of poor build quality and shocking reliability. The old French cars, and their notoriety are gone and hopefully just a part of history now. Renault, like the other French manufacturers have spent time, research, resource and money on improving everything about their cars, including design, quality and reliability. 

The new Clio is a great B-Sector hatch that looks brilliant and drives so well, is economical, comfortable and of high quality throughout. It just needs that bluetooth sorting out and then it will be perfect. 

The price of the 1.5 dCi Dynamique MediaNav we tested is £15,295 OTR