RENAULT CLIO 1.2 16V Dynamique 3dr (2001)

A sound investment for a first time buyer

I've been with my Clio now for almost three years and I think its a brilliant little first car. The trouble is, when you buy your first car, you are limited when it comes to the budget and so you'll never get anything that is out of this world and fault-free.

The quality is good, nothing amazing but also nothing terrible. Nothing has fallen off since I've owned it and if anything does go wrong, all of the panels pop off with the aid of a flat-headed screwdriver for you to take a closer look. The small problems I've had include a small sun roof leak in torrential rain and the fog lights broke because a cable got worn and snapped inside the steering column. The biggest MOT expense has been replacement of the offside headlight cluster due to a bit of disintegration. I've also never seen a warning light so far and its started first time every time.

I've done a few long journeys in the Clio and although the engine is a little loud at motorway speeds, the Clio is a reasonable cruiser and comfortable the majority of the time.

The Clio is no race car so it isn't particularly fast but I'd describe it as quite 'chuckable' in the corners meaning a challenging country road can be a bit of fun.

Anything that a 17-21 year old buys will be expensive to insure but other than that, the tax is quite cheap and it usually returns about 40mpg which I think is quite reasonable.

I do have one word of warning which can be said for most used cars under £2000, avoid getting a Clio between 70,000-80,000 miles because this is when things start to go wrong - cambelt change, water pump, coil springs and anti-roll bar. These are all jolly expensive jobs.

Overall, there aren't any massive issues to complain about. Its not bad but its not the car of the century and as long as you bear that in mind, you should be satisfied.

In conclusion, if you pay a fairly cheap price, you can't really complain. Get one between 50,000-60,000 miles and you're on to a winner. Alternatively, find one above 80,000 miles but check its had all the above work done on it. And for those of you looking for a really cheap one, remember that petrols are rarely designed to do more than 100,000 miles, so how ever cheap they are, avoid these!