I’m no longer a VW owner! 😮

[SRGTD]

Clio 2 week ownership update; 3rd of 3 posts.

I drove my Clio for the first time in very heavy rain Thursday evening during the period covered by the Met Office yellow weather warning for rain for my area. I did a 30 mile journey without issue, although I’d expect any new car to do such a journey without issue. Headlight performance in heavy rain was significantly better than my Polo GTI+’s LED headlights would have been in similar weather conditions. I did wonder if I’d notice an increase in road noise on water-saturated roads compared to the Polo as the Clio’s rear wheel arch liners are hard plastic like the front liners (same as the previous generation 6R/6C model Polo); the current Polo has the ‘sound deadening’ carpet type liners in the rear wheel arches. I’m pleased to say I didn’t notice any increase in road noise compared to my Polo GTI+.

My Clio is looking a little dirty just now after my 30 mile journey in heavy rain yesterday evening. As the weather forecast is reasonably good for the next week, I’m planning on giving it a good clean this weekend, and giving the paintwork some protection before the winter weather sets in - I’ll be using either Soft99 Fusso 12 Month’s Wax (actually a synthetic sealant rather than a wax) or Collinite 845 Insulator Wax. I’ve used both products many times before and each has very good durability, so should give decent protection until well into next springtime and possibly beyond. I also want to ceramic coat the alloys this weekend and as I don’t need to use my car for the next 4-5 days, I can shut it away in the garage to give the ceramic sealant sufficient time to fully cure before exposing the alloys to the elements. Applying the ceramic coating doesn’t take long - it’s the preparation that takes the time; i.e. the decontamination process to ensure the surfaces to be coated are squeaky clean to get a good bond between the coating and the wheel. Even the wheels on a new car won’t be contamination free, so decontamination is important.

I’m really enjoying life with the Clio E-Tech Esprit Alpine self charging Full Hybrid - its full name, which is a bit of a mouthful! - and I hope that enjoyment continues. It’s a car I actually find I turn around and look at after I’ve parked it and walk away; something I remember doing with previous cars I’ve owned that I particularly liked .

[MikeDO]

Keep the updates coming. Always interesting to hear a real world write up from an actual owner (car tests quite often don't tell the whole story).

[SRGTD]

@MikeDO; I will do, although the next update might not be quite as long as this latest 3 post update .

[lancslad1985]

Nice feedback on the Clio. Which ceramic do you use on the wheels? I’ve got a sample of Adam’s graphene ceramic from the states and initial tests against its competitors at work have shown it to be quite good, so contemplating putting it on the golf at some point.

[SRGTD]

Nice feedback on the Clio. Which ceramic do you use on the wheels? I’ve got a sample of Adam’s graphene ceramic from the states and initial tests against its competitors at work have shown it to be quite good, so contemplating putting it on the golf at some point.

I used Gtechniq C5 Wheel Armour on the wheels.

I spent between 7 and 8 hours on the Clio today; first time of washing it, and it might sound strange but when I get a new car, it doesn’t really feel like mine until I’ve given it its first wash. So it got a ‘safe’ three bucket method wash and dried with my warm air blower to minimise contact and inflicting swirls, followed by some protection on the bodywork (Soft99 Fusso 12 Months Wax), wheels decontaminated and ceramic coating applied, windows cleaned (Autobrite Crystal Superior Glass Cleaner) and interior vacuumed. I haven’t dressed the tyres yet as I want to ensure the ceramic coating has fully cured first (the Clio is tucked up in my garage now until mid week next week). All being well, I’ll dress the tyres on Wednesday.

One final word on the wheels; they are quite an intricate design which means they took a long time to clean and decontaminate! Hopefully now they’ve been ceramic coated, wheel cleaning will be a much easier - and quicker - task.

The first clean is also a great opportunity to fully inspect a new car for defects IMHO. I must say I was pleasantly surprised with how the dealer prepped it prior to me picking it up. There are a few swirls on the piano black B pillar trims, but apart from that, it was pretty good. Build quality is IMHO better than my Polo GTI+’s build quality. The only small criticism is that the Clio’s tailgate doesn’t shut with quite as solid a sound as the Polo’s tailgate does, although there’s not much in it and from memory, it’s on a par with the mk8.5 Golf courtesy car I had while my GTI+ was being serviced early this month.

[lancslad1985]

No I get it, whenever I get a new car it gets the 6-7 hour treatment then it feels like mine. Haven’t done that with the Mazda but damn I’ve never seen paint so soft. Chips just looking at it. Nowhere near as hard as the German paints and I actually miss the resistance of the German paints now.

[SRGTD]

Quick update on life with the Clio after three weeks’ ownership. Not much to report, which IMHO is a good thing.

Fuel consumption; manually calculated after filling the tank today. The car’s fuel computer is showing the long term mpg as 62.5. I calculated it manually and it was 60.8 mpg, so the car’s fuel computer is slightly optimistic by 2.7%. The official WLTP combined figure is quoted at 65.7mpg, so my manually calculated figure is within 7.5% of the official figure. I’m pretty impressed;

• that I’m as close as I am to the (usually optimistic?) official figure.

• with the actual real life mpg I'm achieving, as I’m not really driving the Clio any differently to the way I used to drive my Polo GTI+ (my long term average in the GTI+ was around 44mpg).

I needed to go out early on Saturday and there was a definite autumnal nip in the air, so it gave me an opportunity to test out the heated seats and heated steering wheel. I found they are very effective and quick to warm up. This is my first car with heated seats / heated steering wheel and IMHO it’s a nice little luxury to have.

One thing I’ve not got used to yet is arriving at destination in complete silence; I’ve found that on the majority of my journeys, the car is running in EV mode at the end of the journey, so there’s no engine sound to act as a prompt to cut the power and switch off. If I forget, the car lets me know in no uncertain terms (audible warning and a message on the instrument display) when I open the door to get out that I need to switch the power off!

Car goes into the dealer’s on Wednesday for the software fix for the erratic indicators issue mentioned in the previous update. It’ll be interesting to experience Renault’s after sales service and see how it compares to VW’s. Service at the VW dealer I used had been declining in recent years following a couple of takeovers, so the Renault dealer won’t need to try too hard to better the VW dealer.

[funkyg]

One thing I’ve not got used to yet is arriving at destination in complete silence; I’ve found that on the majority of my journeys, the car is running in EV mode at the end of the journey, so there’s no engine sound to act as a prompt to cut the power and switch off.

I had similar issue when first got my Polo when the auto stop/start kills the engine when I’ve parked up. No engine noise = I’ve stopped the car…. Until I open the drivers door!

[SRGTD]

One thing I’ve not got used to yet is arriving at destination in complete silence; I’ve found that on the majority of my journeys, the car is running in EV mode at the end of the journey, so there’s no engine sound to act as a prompt to cut the power and switch off.

I had similar issue when first got my Polo when the auto stop/start kills the engine when I’ve parked up. No engine noise = I’ve stopped the car…. Until I open the drivers door!

I’ve got used to my Clio starting silently (it always starts in EV mode); just not the silence at the end of the journey when it’s in EV mode and I sometimes forget it’s still powered up .

[lancslad1985]

@SRGTD how did Renault perform?

[SRGTD]

l

@SRGTD how did Renault perform?

@lancslad1985; Assume you’re referring to the Renault dealership and my experience of dealing with the after sales team in getting my erratic indicators fixed, and whether the software update actually did fix the issue.

My car was the first at the dealership to get the software fix for erratic indicators. It took most of yesterday for the updated software to be downloaded (only 60% completed by 3.00pm) so my car didn’t get the update yesterday; car stayed at the dealers overnight so the update could be done today.

One of the service desk team of two people (only two as it’s a fairly small dealership) called me yesterday to update me, telling me I could keep the courtesy car (a Dacia Sandero Stepway) for as long as necessary and they would provide me with a progress update on the software update being loaded to my car today, which they did. Called me today when the software had been successfully updated and tested and they were happy to let me collect my car.

I picked it up at 4.00pm and was asked by the service team to check the indicators worked as they should to ensure I was 100% happy before leaving the dealership (they did and I was). I now have the latest software version for the Clio hybrid; there are one or two small differences to the content of the instrument display. Additionally, I noticed the speed limit (national speed limit) on one specific stretch of road I drive fairly regularly is now also showing correctly in the instrument display - previously it incorrectly showed 40mph. And most importantly, no more erratic behaviour from the indicators!

So all in all, a good experience and I’m a happy customer .

[lancslad1985]

Good to hear as that’s how easy car ownership SHOULD be and how VW were once.

[SRGTD]

Good to hear as that’s how easy car ownership SHOULD be and how VW were once.

Agree 100% on both points; i.e. on how it should be and how VW used to be (but sadly aren’t now ).

The dealer I bought my Clio from and I’m using for after sales work has been Renault’s dealer of the year multiple times, and the difference between them and the VW dealer I used before is certainly noticeable. They’re not the closest Renault dealer to me (they’re about a 40 minute drive away) but I’m prepared to travel a few extra miles for good service. IMHO car ownership is about more than just getting and driving a car; it’s also about the dealership support .

[SRGTD]

A quick update on life with the Clio hybrid after 39 days of ownership;

• Current mileage; 523.

• Problems or issues; nothing to report(!), which IMHO is a good thing and just how it should be . The software update that was installed on 09/10/2024 to fix the erratic indicator behaviour does seem to have worked - no recurrences of erratic behaviour since the update was installed.

• Fuel consumption has dropped marginally; no great surprise as the traction battery won’t be as energy efficient as the weather gets colder. MPG is still at around 60 though so I’m more than happy with that.

A few observations;

• the car has a switch for quick windscreen demist and pressing the switch increases the fan speed to maximum and 100% of the airflow is directed onto the screen (I think VW’s with auto climate control may have the functionality?). The thing that impressed me though was when the switch is pressed, the heated rear screen is also activated, so Renault have assumed that if it’s necessary to demist the windscreen, then the rear screen also needs to be demisted (in my experience, usually it does); very simple and quite a logical set up.

• heated door mirrors are activated when the heated rear screen is switched on - IMHO a better, simpler system than that used by VW for switching on the heating for the exterior mirrors.

• while driving on a dual carriageway earlier today, I was aware of an orange illuminated dot in the driver’s side door mirror; it was the blind spot warning which lit up whenever a vehicle in the fast lane / overtaking lane approached from behind. I’d not noticed it before, but then I don’t often drive on dual carriageways or motorways. It’s good to know blind spot monitoring works though.

• the glovebox is illuminated; I hadn’t noticed until today. The last time I had an illuminated glovebox was back in 2016 when I had my mk6 Golf GTD.

• interior is free of creaks and rattles. Coming from a Polo that was pretty much creak and rattle free during 4 years of ownership, I did have a few concerns that that might not be the case with the Clio. However, based on my experience to date, I needn’t have worried. Here’s hoping the lack of creaks and rattles continues

[lancslad1985]

So like SRGTD I said I’d keep people updated on my life without a VW, but in my case I’d gone all Japanese and switched to a Mazda cx30. The car is now a year old and no major issues. It had a wobbly back in July for five minutes where it decided that the anti-crash system wasn’t working but it corrected itself upon a restart. Other than that it’s been very reliable.

I also found a good dealer who serviced my car last week, didn’t wash it as requested and didn’t push any extras that weren’t required, unlike my 12 years of vw ownership. They even did the recall whilst they serviced it, again something VW never did with me as it always needed an extra booking.

What REALLY surprised me is when I collected the car they asked to book it back in as I had leaking rear shocks and there is a tech document telling them to replace for free. Bit disappointing to then see this has been a Mazda issue since 2018 and they’re only fixing cars that show the issue within warranty for free, but the garage was honest with me and up front. The only negative is that I had to pay for servicing as they wouldn’t do me a deal with the car and it cost £250 for a first service….which was £40 cheaper than the dealership that actually sold me the car last year!

So I have to say it’s been a happy first year. I am quite smitten with my wife’s new golf so I am tempted to come back to VW but I’m waiting to see how reliable it is first.