Following a few weeks abroad at the beginning of August, my return to the Clio couldn't come soon enough. When the taxi from the airport rounded the corner into my road, all I could see was an ocean of traffic cones surrounding a solitary Clio. Reading the partially disintegrated note on the windscreen from the water authority revealed the embarrassing truth. Apparently it had been trying to replace the water main in our road, and the abandoned Renault was all that stood in the way. Oops.
Probably should have left it parked here
Since getting home, I've been predominantly clocking up miles of a mundane variety. It's a facet that's far from glamorous, but increasingly significant given the more mature direction taken by this version four Renaultsport Clio. If class-leading dynamic brilliance is now subordinate to duplicitous versatility then its capacity to perform as a daily driver will increasingly come under the microscope.
By rights, mooching around town should be all about leaving the gearbox in auto, leaning back in the excellent seats and letting the stresses wash over you. For the most part it is. But once again that gearbox can end up causing the blood pressure to rise, inexplicably clinging on to a gear way well beyond the point where I'd normally have shifted up. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does I'll usually end up doing 25mph in second with the revs racing away and the feeling that everyone else in the traffic jam is thinking 'what's that twonk doing?'
Easing off the throttle never seems to send the desired signal to the gearbox, so instead I tend to pull the right paddle and override the computer. Within ten seconds the gearbox reverts to auto, letting me get back to doing, well, not very much.
Interior much improved over old Clios
I can think of many worse places to spend time stuck in traffic. While the cabin is not the last word in quality, the important materials - seats, paddles, wheel, buttons, screen - feel nice to the touch. Next to previous Renaultsport Clios, it's positively luxurious, and so far it's still creak and rattle-free. There are traces of the past though; the bright orange panels are cheap and nasty, as is the gear selector. Having only used the sequential-style push/pull action to change ratios once, I'd happily see it shrunken down to an inconspicuous dial on the centre column.
Hospitable though it is when you do get stuck in a jam, usually I'm one step ahead. Live traffic updates are a £150 option, but it's one that was ticked on our Lux spec car, and so far it's proved invaluable. As a matter of habit I now have a quick check of the traffic map on the huge touchscreen whenever I leave the house, and on the approach to known blackspots. There have been the odd occasion where it hasn't given an accurate update, but nine times out of ten the information has been spot on. Equally handy are the little grey flags denoting nearby petrol stations. With a 45-litre tank, I'm averaging around 300 miles between fill-ups (32-35mpg). But when the onboard computer has a range that falls from 60 miles to zero, you need every help you can get locating the next pit-stop.
Someone needs a bike rack!
In addition, the navigation system is very clear and intuitively simple to operate. My only criticism is that it has an annoying habit of resetting the map to a tight zoom, even when you've manually selected a wider overview. One useful feature is the option to use the star at the bottom of the home screen to set up a list of favourite destinations, phone numbers and radio stations; simplifying regular tasks.
Getting the Bluetooth to connect has mostly been successful first time, and always on the second attempt. What's has been frustrating is that, although I can happily access phone contacts, the R-Link won't let me cycle through any music folders. Maybe it's just an Android thing? I'd be interested to know if iPhone owners enjoy full control over their music.
A final point on manoeuvring around town; the Clio suffers from annoying blind spots, particularly from the thick A-pillars and small rear window. The latter is particularly annoying if a) like our car, you don't tick the box marked parking sensors, and b) your road is being dug up and all the neighbours are parking like Parisians.
FACT SHEET
Car: Clio Renaultsport 200 Turbo EDC LUX
Run by: Danny Milner
On fleet since: April 2014
Mileage: 7,459
List price new: £21,835 (Basic list of £19,995 plus £650 for Cup Chassis, £300 for 18-inch 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: Wouldn't you know, there's another gearbox grumble with the Clio