The Clio will only be available as a five door but Renault have cunningly copied Alfa Romeo and hidden the door handles for the rear doors. Judging by photographs if you want to hide the rear doors it would be better to go for a dark colour - and not the yellow one.
It will be available in four trim levels - Expression, Expression+, Dynamique MediaNav and Dynamique S MediaNav.
Renault predict the Dynamic MediaNav will be the top seller, but we're not so sure. How many people will actually bother to say the whole name? Expression is much easier than the mouthful that is Dynamique MediaNav.
The GT Line and Renault Sport 200 Turbo will be available in 2013.
People are quite happy to quote long car names when the car in question is a supercar. Mercedes-Benz C 63 AMG Black series trips off the tongue purely because it is a massively expensive and desirable car and every extra word counts in terms of price and performance. You know that 'Black series' means more power and handling so it is worth saying.
At £12,995 Renault should really have kept the Clio Dynamique MediaNav name short and snappy. Clio DynaMN sounds much more dynamic.
Anyway, back to the car. It comes with three basic engine configurations, a 1.2 petrol (1.2TCe) and two diesels (0.9 litre TCe 90 and a 1.5 litre dCi 90).
The chart below gives full engine, trim and pricing combinations.
If you study the chart you'll see it is possible to order a Clio called the Dynamique S MediaNav dCi 90 Stop & Start ECO.
That is a hell of a name.
On to equipment levels. Even the Expression gets a 4x20W radio with Bluetooth and USB connection, Bass Reflex system (enhanced speaker sound quality), driver/passenger/side and curtain airbags, 60/40 split-folding rear seat, cruise control, daytime running lights, ESC, Hill Start Assist, height and reach adjustable steering wheel, electric front windows and door mirrors, keyless entry and ignition, plus speed limiter.
Not too shabby for a £10,595 car. The Expression + also gets alloy wheels, zircon and fog lights.
The DynaMN (our name, not Renault's) gets black gloss exterior touches with chrome inserts (doors, boot lid strip and grille) and 16” Passion alloy wheels with a choice of black or grey inserts, auto lights and wipers, 7” touchscreen with MediaNav incorporating Navteq’s Nav ‘N’ Go satellite navigation, Arkamys radio with Bluetooth and USB and fingertip remote controls, leather steering wheel with gloss black insert and the convenient handsfree keycard.
The DynaMN S gets the above plus lots of chrome and electric folding mirrors.
There are also all the usual combinations of colour for the paint and exterior highlights and interior trim.
So, to the design. Do you like it?
We think it looks pretty funky although the Clio's 'face' now looks either grumpy or angry depending on how you look at it. The rear end is great and the overall profile is pretty nice to look at although nothing to shout about.
In fact the only thing about the design we don't like is that bit that runs along the underside of the doors. It looks like a piece of plastic that has burnt and melted. Very strange.
The interior looks lovely although the choice of colours for the initial photos is a strange one. If you want to promote your new small car as classy yet funky then brown is hardly the colour to do it.
Instead it looks morbidly boring. Black would have at least highlighted the interior for what it is - fresh, modern and well designed.
We like the new Clio. We can forgive the brown, the silly strip along the doors and the ridiculously long names. We look forward to driving one.
