When I arrived at my dad's Renault dealership last Saturday, I was very much looking forward to getting behind the wheel of my first Renaultsport purchase. Since I was a wee boy, I have had the pleasure of spending many school runs in RS products, from way back in the Clio Williams days to the lunacy of the Sport Spider.
Some changes in my personal situation [Jack's leaving PH sales for pastures new - Ed.] meant that I needed to find a car pretty sharpish - and after plenty of debate I settled with a Renaultsport Clio 200 EDC. It was up against a new Clio 220 Trophy EDC, but after seeing the car in the PH car park - I wasn't convinced it looked any meaner and was put off with the lead time. I'm sure the Trophy is an improvement in terms of drive, but for me, the 200 EDC ticked the right boxes, was available immediately and was substantially cheaper!
I bought the car blind after a phone call with Woodgate senior. I was assured, a great spec, Flame Red 200 was available via Renault, and here I was, three days later picking it up!
As I approached the gleaming Clio I had one of those deja vu moments. "Where have I seen this car before?" I racked my brain - was it a mate's car? Had I just seen it in the wild? I couldn't come up with the answer - so I did what most blokes do and Googled it.
The numberplate was familiar as it had graced the pages of PistonHeads.com for a number of months. Damn! I had just purchased the ex-PH Fleet Clio. Cheers, dad!
After an initial worry - I thought to myself, is this necessarily a bad thing? The car has been maintained to the absolute highest standard by Renault - and I have been given all the history to match. Yes, it has been tracked, it has visited Spa, the Nurburgring and it most definitely has been driven to its limit. But do you know what - that's fine by me! Experience tells me that Renaultsports are known to respond better to hard driving in the long term - and if maintained properly - this should not present any issues (I'll let you know if I eat my words here).
Well it's certainly been run in properly...
So here I am, a couple of weeks later and a few thousand miles down. I can honestly say that I agree with the criticism the car has faced in the hands of my PH colleagues. The gearbox is not quick enough, the car in 'normal' mode does not respond a sharply as it should and the styling is not as aggressive as it could be. For me, though - the Renaultsport recipe is still there, just a bit watered down. It is still a small car with a 200hp engine. That means as a daily driver, it is fun. Full stop.
Having read Danny's reviews of the car, I find myself sitting more with Mr Harris' thinking when he first drove the 200 EDC. The Clio is not perfect, Renault has 'dropped the ball' to a degree - but let's not get caught up in the milliseconds, stats and metrics. As a hot hatch - the car delivers, and providing the engine doesn't explode next week I will continue to enjoy it for many miles to come.
FACT SHEET
Car: Clio Renaultsport 200 Turbo EDC LUX
Owned by: Jack Woodgate
On fleet since: July 2015
Mileage: 14,450
List price new: £21,835 (Basic list of £19,995 plus £650 for Cup Chassis, £300 for 18" Renaultsport wheels and Dunlop Sport Maxx RT tyres, £595 for Flame Red i.d. metallic paint, £295 for Renaultsport Monitor)
Last month at a glance: Coming to terms with the fact that PH ran my new car as a long-termer.
