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<b>Why we ran it:</b> To see if the Clio is the heir apparent to the Ford Fiesta’s ‘default buy’ throne

Life with a Renault Clio hybrid: Final report

It's&nbsp;very rare that I get to keep a car for as long as I have this one. What great fortune, then, that it should turn out to be one of my favorite long-termers in eight years of doing this job, and one I have had no difficulty finding things to write about (unlike a fair few I could mention).

My Renault Clio hasn't been flawless, regrettably, as many of my past long-termers have been. It intermittently irritated me with rattles from the dashboard and&nbsp;driver's door; its stereo volume controls suffered a glitch that occasionally made me look like an ass in public; its Apple CarPlay integration tripped up a couple of times; and its parking sensors once went haywire. Yet despite all of that, I already miss it like an old friend.

Primary among its qualities for me was the fuel efficiency, and consequently also the cost efficiency, of Renault's E-Tech Full Hybrid powertrain, which combined a 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with an electric motor and a small drive battery by way of a unique transmission so fiendishly complex that I still have to refresh my memory every time I need to explain exactly how it works (which does give me some concerns about&nbsp;long-term reliability, but only time can tell on that front).

Primary among its qualities for me was the fuel efficiency, and consequently also the cost efficiency, of Renault's E-Tech Full Hybrid powertrain, which combined a 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with an electric motor and a small drive battery by way of a unique transmission so fiendishly complex that I still have to refresh my memory every time I need to explain exactly how it works (which does give me some concerns about long-term reliability, but only time can tell on that front).

Renault Clios

During that time, my mates also had no major complaints about practicality, despite both being over 6ft tall and the car carrying plenty of luggage. It was just the lack of separate air vents and cupholders.

It was easy to drive In town, entertaining in the countryside for the rear seats that bothered them. Meanwhile, the Clio pleased me with sensible touches like digital switches for turning the instrument dials from imperial to metric and the headlight beams from left- to right-leaning.

If I'm sounding prosaic here, let me assure you that the Clio was simultaneously a lot of fun. I'm still not entirely convinced by the Renault Group's strategy of applying blue 'A' branding to everyday Renault models, even if it is officially only the spirit of Alpine', when no mechanical modifications are made, but the handling of the Clio was sharp and rewarding. It's one of the most fun superminis on the market - even in its cheaper petrol manual form, which I also tried for a comparison during my time with the hybrid (shown above in orange, and which returned an equally impressive 48mpg on average).

Such control and grip did contribute to a firm ride, but not an unpleasant one. After all, my commute is 140 freeway miles on each office day. This was a car in which I could sit back and relax, with the powertrain flitting in and out of EV mode to optimize economy and performance, the sports seats both supporting and comforting me and the touchscreen's CarPlay giving me voice-controlled podcasts or streamed music through the high-quality stereo speakers.

Oh, and of course, there was the benefit of the lane keeping assistance staying off once I'd turned it off after my first drive, and the lack of speed limit warning bings and other now-mandatory safety systems.

Aside from the aforementioned hiccups, I liked that touchscreen too, large as it was and with all the features I wanted and no laggy response times. Plus, I didn't have to use it anywhere near as much as I have done in other cars recently, because Renault has retained the physical air-conditioning controls that should in my view be a legal requirement, along with a row of physical shortcut buttons.

As more colleagues tried the Clio throughout its time with us, I sensed an impassioned rhetoric building momentum, each one singing its praises when returning the car - not that editor Mark Tisshaw needed any convincing, having already spent his own money on a petrol model.

And&nbsp;when I was tasked with delivering the first verdict on China's new MG 3, which is positioned essentially as a cut-price Clio (both start at around £17k, but the latter has more standard equipment, and this Esprit Alpine version is nearly £25k), it just made me appreciate all the more the roundedness and polish of the French offering.

The premise of this test was to discover whether the updated Clio was primed to become the new default super mini purchase after Ford killed what had for many years been Britain's favorite car - and, in short, it really should be.

Nothing I have driven has made me want to buy it so quickly. From a practical perspective, the Clio costs the same as Suzuki’s new Swift but drives like it’s from the class above, and more fatuously I love the dulcet tones of its beeps and bongs. If it fits the bill, you should buy one immediately

Warning title!

I love that the Clio has a dash rocker for adjusting the brightness of the digital dials and touchscreen in sync, rather than making me prod around to find two sliders. I just wish I could keep ‘night mode’ after the system belatedly realises it’s light outside. Talking of strained eyes, reader Stewart notes that, contrary to my 31 January update, auto hold doesn’t activate the brake lights. Never take common sense for granted…

I've always felt uneasy about such things: if Renault really wants to make Alpine into "the French Ferrari", surely sticking its branding willy-nilly on a hybrid Clio or, for goodness sake, an Espace 1sn t the way to build brand equity. I can't imagine Maranello endorsing a Fiat 600... but then every Mercedes-Benz is an AMG Line and every BMW is an M Sport now, so who knows?

Renault Clio E-Tech Hybrid 2024 long-term test

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