Will I regret buying french?

[A500leroy]

Guess most of you on here are french car lovers, my first time, so am I going to regret buying my Clio from a reliability prospective?

[A500leroy]

Fantastic!

Im coming from a car which hasnt put a foot wrong in 8 years up to now and was concerned id swapped for no reason, but the Clio is a much nicer place to sit than the Fiat.

[A500leroy]

The Rotrex Kid said:

The only thing that really fails catastrophically on the Clio you've bought is the timing chain. The TCE 90 is sensitive to oil changes and as long as these have been done, you should be pretty safe.

Great, it been due as Renault schedule up to now, but itll be having two a year with me, id sooner put £50 of oil in than have a wreaked engine.

[A500leroy]

wal 45 said:

Assuming you've bought a 0.9Tce the only thing I'd add to previous posts is to carefully watch your coolant level, if it starts dropping you'll need to change the (pretty cheap and nasty) plastic Thermostat housing. It distorts with heat cycles which stops the rubber gasket sealing, hard to spot as it's quite well hidden.

If I was buying another one of circa 3 years or more old I'd probably change this out as a matter of course.

Also had 3 of the 4 alloys go porous on it (65 plate) but apart from that it's been fine to date. I do service it annually to try and preserve the timing chain life but that's about it.

We've got a 500 too and agree how well the Clio drives in comparison, absolute pleasure down a country lane.

Oh and body parts are an utter nightmare to source at the moment (as my Daughter found out after being hit by a lorry), loads of basic stuff like doors are back order with no delivery forecast. We ended up waiting for over 6 months and had to get agreement to use a used door in the end as Renault gave no indication when they'd start production again. Put it this way it's put me off wanting an Alpine a bit as if you can't get parts for an 8 year old Clio what chance one of those?

Thanks for the info.

[A500leroy]

Anyone know when its best to get the timing chain replaced on the 0.9 tce, what else needs doing with it, how much it costs and how many have snapped?

[A500leroy]

The Rotrex Kid said:

You don’t/shouldn’t have to change the timing chain. They’re a ‘for life’ item.

I’ve known of a few go on older 2013/14 Clio/Sandero with high mileages but I’d hazard a guess that the servicing hasn’t been done properly on these vehicles….

You can buy full timing chain kits on eBay for £200, factor in maybe 6/7 hours labour and consumables and it’s maybe a £1000 job?

If it snaps, it’s an engine rebuild/replacement

You shouldnt have to change a chain on a MINI or BMW but ive burnt by that one before too!

[A500leroy]

The only thing im concerned about is the timing chain slipping/snapping/guides breaking.