SA Road Tests

Welcome

This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. I drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under real-world South African conditions. Most, but not all, the vehicles driven are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get where you live.

My most recent drive is on the home page. Archived reviews and opinion pieces are in the active menu down the left side. Hover your cursor over a heading or manufacturer's name and follow the drop-down.


This is a launch report. In other words, it's simply a new model announcement. The driving experience was limited to a short drive over a preselected course. We can therefore not tell you what it will be like to live with over an extended period, how economical it is, or how reliable it will be. A very brief first impression is all we can give you until such time as we get an actual test unit for trial. Thank you for your patience.


Collectors’ Edition: 2018 Renault Clio RS 18 F1

Makes a bold statement

Posted: 2 June 2018

The numbers
Price: R449 900
Engine: All-aluminium 1618 cc, DOHC, 16 valve, four-cylinder, turbopetrol
Power: 162 kW at 6050 rpm
Torque: 260 Nm at 2000 rpm (280 Nm on overboost in 4th and 5th gears)
Zero to 100 km/h: 6.6 seconds
Maximum speed: 235 km/h
Average fuel consumption (claimed): 5.9 l / 100 km
Tank: 45 litres
Luggage: 300 – 1146 litres
Warranty: 5 years/ 150 000 km
Service plan: 3 years / 30 000 km at 10 000 km intervals


“Mon Dieu! What was that? An automobile, I think. I definitely saw headlights, side windows and tail lamps. Apart from that it was small, seductively rounded and clothed all in black – although I imagine I caught one or two tiny flashes of yellow. There were no identifiable markings and as it flashed by there was no roar, scream or whoosh. It rasped. What can it be?“ 

There it was at the next fuel stop and restaurant, lightly covered in road dust and ticking gently as its 1600 cc, turbocharged engine cooled. The recently passed travellers then recognised the mystery car as a Renault Clio. No ordinary Clio.

Apart from grey pennants proclaiming RS 18 on each side and a yellow double-diamond motif, followed by the letters “RS”, on its roof there were no other markings. Until they stood really close, that is. The Renault diamond is there, proudly centred in the grille, with RS lettering below it. Walking around behind and looking really carefully, they could just discern Renault Sport on the left and RS to the right. The text is, appropriately, glossy Diamond Black on Diamond Black. No need to follow the Teutonic vanity of deleting identity markers, is there?

The overwhelming darkness is relieved slightly by a narrow Liquid Yellow stripe running across its front blade and around the fog lamps, with side flashes and wheel centres in the same colour. There is no colour range. This is it. Built in limited quantities to celebrate 50 years of Renault Sport, 25 of Clio RS and honouring the similarly attired 2018 Renault Formula One car, it makes a bold statement.

Renault Clio RS 18 F1 shares the Formula One car's colour scheme

Because it’s distinctive it demands a special engine; Renault’s 1618 cc M5M, all-aluminium turbocharged and intercooled motor with twin variable valve timing, mirror finishes on crankshaft- and camshaft journals and offset cylinder placement to help them slide more easily. Also called Nissan MR16DDT and fitted to Juke Nismo, it was an in-house family effort.

The bottom line is 162 kW (220 PS) at 6050 rpm and 260 Nm from 2000 rpm. Overboost, available only in fourth and fifth gears, ups this to 280 Nm.  It’s capable of zero to 100 km/h in 6.6 seconds with a top whack of 235. Fuel economy (with performance like this you really give a rats’ ass?) is a claimed 5.9 l /100 km on the combined cycle. The only transmission available is Renault’s six-speed EDC (efficient dual clutch) unit with manual override via stick or paddles. A special free-flow “muffler” by Akrapovic, the Slovenian performance exhaust systems manufacturer, supplies deep breathing and rasping sounds to share.

Reining it in are big disc brakes; ventilated 320 x 28 mm in front and solid, 260 x 8 mm, units at the rear. Suspension consists of double axis struts up front and a flexible axle with programmed deflection and coil springs at the other end. Electronic assistance consists of ABS brakes with EBA, EBD and ESC with anti-slip regulation.

Other safety kit includes four airbags, three sets of ISOFix baby chair anchors (it is a Clio, Renault’s top-selling family car after all), cruise control with speed limiter, hill start assist, parking distance control front and rear, and anti-submarining seats.

Keeping it sporty is the Cup chassis with suspension lowered by 10 mm, and RS Drive with three modes; Normal, Sport and Race. As expected, these change engine, gearshift and steering responses. Race mode shifting takes place only in manual - with paddles. Launch control? Obviously.

Then there’s the RS Monitor that allows your passenger to keep an eye on the car's performance numbers while you attend to keeping it quickly on track. Functions include a lap timer with memory function; acceleration time read-out; transverse and longitudinal g-forces; data for main engine functions including oil temperature and real-time torque and power outputs. This information can be saved to a flash drive for later review on a computer or for sharing with your instructor. The literature suggests bragging to your mates online, but you wouldn’t be that crass, would you?

Keeping it convenient are the usual must-haves of powered windows and mirrors, leather seats (warmed in front, naturally), automatic climate control, Renault hands-free access card, push-button starter, on-board computer and LED headlights.

Intelligent technologies include an R-Link® connected 7" multimedia touchscreen with voice control, radio, TomTom® navigation with SA Maps, audio streaming and Bluetooth® hands-free telephone system, USB and jack ports and 3D Sound with a Renault Bass Reflex® optimised audio system.

Renault SA let us wring it out doing laps around Swartkops Raceway and negotiating a timed gymkhana course on the adjacent skidpan. It was glorious. Warning: Clio RS 18 could be addictive. Buy one and succumb.

An initial shipment of 60 vehicles will be available from dedicated RS dealers or on order through your local Renault outlet.
 
Information gathered at a press launch sponsored by the manufacturer


What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.

Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material.

If ever I place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with a very similar vehicle already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. There are no advertisers and no “editorial policy” rules. I add bylines to acknowledge sponsored launch functions and the manufacturers or dealerships that provide the test vehicles.  And, as quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so you can see I do actually exist.

Comments or questions?
Want to ask a question, comment or just tell me you completely disagree with what I say? If you want advice or have a genuine concern, I will be happy to hear from you. All I ask is that you write something in the subject line so I know which vehicle you're talking about.