If there's one way to guarantee eyes on PH in a lockdown, it's to suggest the culling of a manual, Renault Sport hot hatch - for the sake of a more expensive, automatic coupe - was a good thing. But I promise it's not as cynically click focused as you're thinking it is. I really think it was the sensible thing to do. Honestly.
Be in no doubt: I loved the idea, and those who did get to drive the Clio RS16 suggested it was a fab little car. How could it not be? Take the Clio IV Renault Sport - which, believe it or not, has a really nice chassis - embellish it with all the best bits from Meganes and Clios of old (including Ohlins dampers, a rally car rear axle, Trophy-R Brembos and so on) then make it really fast. It's a list as guaranteed for success as adding Cobra beers and garlic naans to your lamb biryani base.
And it looked awesome, too, the RS16, distilling plenty of Clio Cup race car attitude and Megane aggression - not to mention 60mm wider tracks - without looking too barmy. Alright, nobody was going to mistake it for a regular 200, but also it wouldn't appear silly in a world where the Civic Type R exists. That was what made the prospect so exciting: even as a prototype, the RS16 looked just right and ready to hit the road. They even painted one Liquid Yellow, as if to show off just how good it would be in your dream spec.
Moreover, it was reportedly excellent to drive. Focused, direct, aggressive and memorable in a way the standard Clio R.S. (mellowed out to appeal to a wider audience) could no longer be. The RS16 seemingly addressed all that the enthusiasts had queried about the Clio. It even had the hallowed manual gearbox, carried over unchanged from the Megane and retaining its ever so slightly long throw that never got much attention in the rave reviews. It was a low-volume, high-grade reputation repairer of the sort that mainstream manufacturer's rarely get to build.
But it wasn't to be. Come late 2016 Renault said, after much deliberation, that there simply wasn't capacity for any RS16s at Dieppe: "The plant is also gearing up for the production of the Alpine and, it's due to the focus on this, that the eventual decision was made not to divert attention away to make some RS16s."
Understandably, there was some consternation on these pages. "Typical and arrogant Renault as per then. I'm sure that more people were interested in this than the bloody Alpine", read one comment; "Really is a shame they are not building it, even if they charged 50k, as said, it'd be sold out!" went another. The people, they like a good Renault Sport, and they don't like to be taunted...
Whatever, I maintain that it was the right thing for Renault to do. Primarily, and I really do mean this, because the Alpine A110 that the Clio was sacrificed for is absolutely brilliant. By 2016 we knew beyond any reasonable doubt that Renault Sport could make a hot hatch. With the leash removed it could make a fabulously good one. But it was a predictable sort of greatest hits project. Much less predictable was the first-album A110: especially when it involved going it alone in Caterham's absence, and producing Renault's first mid-engine sports car in decades on a brand new platform. Hard to recall now, but the chances of triumphing in the Porsche Cayman class were perilously slim.
We needn't have worried. The A110 seamlessly combined the old-fashioned charm of low mass and a supple set up with the modernity required for vice-free everyday use. It showed the world that comfort and dynamism, usability and desirability are not mutually exclusive traits in a £50k sports car. If Lotus had launched that car it would have been sublime; for Renault to release the A110 onto the world was borderline revelatory. And for that to be sacrificed, or its impact lessened, for the sake of another fast Clio would have been the wrong decision.
A Clio that, in addition, I don't think would have sold. Think about it. Every time another two-seat 'ring warrior is announced, the pitchforks are wielded and the "not a proper hot hatch" brigade are out in force, whether it's Renault Sport, VW or Mini attempting it. The Clio also lacked the collectible reputation that the Megane had built up with its Nordschleife antics and, if it hadn't broken the record, it would be selling on the fact it was merely very excellent to drive. Which, let us not forget, isn't always easy, given there are Megane Trophy-Rs apparently still available. Is a £40,000 brilliant Clio any easier to flog than a £50,000 brilliant Megane?
There's also the slightly trickier ideological argument to make over what a fast Clio should be. Because the very best ones, the 172, 182, 200, have traded on the immediacy of response that came from a naturally-aspirated engine. And on the flipside, the memorable Meganes wouldn't have been the same without a muscular, whooshing, angry turbocharger along for the ride. Perhaps the RS16 would have been the best of both worlds - or it could have been an awkward compromise between the two.
Alright, perhaps that argument isn't watertight. I would have loved a go in the RS16, and loved even more for it to have made production as well as the Alpine. It looked possible too, didn't it, what with Renault's reputation for signing off on the silliest of silly concepts. So near and yet so very, very far...
But it didn't happen and we got the Alpine instead of the Clio of our dreams. A sceptic would say that Renault cagely chose an additional revenue stream over what was presumably a slimmer profit margin. But it measured its moonshot so beautifully that it's surely impossible to begrudge it. Let's not forget, either, that the appeal of the Clio - chiselled good looks notwithstanding - was in its promised revival of old school Renault Sport goodness. And although the realisation of that dream never did happen, the core of what made the Clio so good remains abundantly available. Want a great Renault Sport Clio? This end-of-the-line 200 is £7,495. Want a great Megane with 275hp? This one is half its new price. Want a one-off, two-seat, caged and track ready Renault with big Brembo brakes, just like an RS16? This one is £10,000. So, while the Clio RS16 never did the light of day, the magic of Renault Sport hardly needed rekindling when its back catalogue remains remarkably accessible. And even if it did, we've been treated to one of this decade's great cars in recompense. Doesn't sound like a bad compromise to me.
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