| The Renault Clio, a run of the mill small hatchback | | | | squint but it's a tough job, the original styling |
| aimed squarely at the mass market. A reliable | | | | drowning in huge bumpers, air intakes and almost |
| super mini driven by new drivers, mothers on the | | | | ridiculously wide wheel arches. This is not a subtle |
| school run and old dears popping down to the | | | | car and was not designed to go unnoticed. The |
| shops. So what happens when you add an insane | | | | design ethos extends to the cars practicality - it's |
| body kit, rip out the rear passenger seats and | | | | not. With the rear end of the car dominated by |
| shove a growling 3.0 litre V6 in the back of one | | | | the engine, rear passenger seats are gone, the |
| these sedate little motors? Well Renault decided | | | | boot is gone, fuel economy is, yes, gone. |
| to find out in 2001 when they did just that and | | | | Even being as heavily modified as it was, the Clio |
| unleashed the Renault Clio V6 Sport in Europe. | | | | V6 was not a class leader by any means. |
| The Clio V6 was superficially based upon the MKII | | | | Unrefined and very heavy for its humble size, the |
| Renault Clio although in reality the two cars share | | | | Clio was little match around a track against the |
| few components. This was quite necessary to | | | | Japanese rivals of the time. And despite the |
| transform the standard Clio from a front wheel | | | | engine, the extra weight meant that much more |
| drive, front engine car typically using a 1.2 or 1.4 | | | | modest hot hatches could keep up with the Clio |
| litre engine, to a mid engine rear wheel drive hot | | | | V6 in a straight line. Ownership was not a walk in |
| hatch. The major difference is of course the | | | | the park either, the Clio V6 having a high price |
| engine - the 3.0 litre V6 being sourced from the | | | | tag, low fuel economy and a high Clio insurance |
| Laguna, Renault's large saloon model, before being | | | | group. This was ultimately beside the point |
| heavily tuned to deliver 252bhp. | | | | however. In a time of restraint and blandness in |
| The most obvious difference to the untrained eye | | | | the motor industry, the Clio was a breath of |
| is the Clio V6's looks. You can still see the | | | | fresh air. Quirky, a little bit mad and most |
| standard little Clio underneath the body kit if you | | | | importantly - fun. |