Renault Clio Authentique shed
Discussion
For the past few years I’ve always tried to have a shed on the road primarily for the purpose of cheap motoring as I do drive a lot of miles and many of those are in either iffy weather or iffy roads. Shed history in very brief has been Corsavan (£800), Yaris (£650) and Fiestavan (£2k). Fiestavan came to a premature end in December in a fairly nasty smash so I’ve been without a shed vehicle until today:
Welcome to the fleet for this splendid 2003 Renault Clio Authentique 1.2 8v with a smidge under 60000 miles on the clock. It has a varied history having been used locally for short journeys for many years, then more mileage for a couple of years with another owner until the timing belt snapped. The lad I bought it from swapped in a similar mileage engine from a scrap Clio he had then sold it to me. 11 months MOT, £850 paid. Doesn’t seem too bad in the current market.
Feels quite solid and tight on the road. Interior still needs a clean, smells a little bit of sheep but I believe the car had sat in a field for a while with an open window!
Welcome to the fleet for this splendid 2003 Renault Clio Authentique 1.2 8v with a smidge under 60000 miles on the clock. It has a varied history having been used locally for short journeys for many years, then more mileage for a couple of years with another owner until the timing belt snapped. The lad I bought it from swapped in a similar mileage engine from a scrap Clio he had then sold it to me. 11 months MOT, £850 paid. Doesn’t seem too bad in the current market.
Feels quite solid and tight on the road. Interior still needs a clean, smells a little bit of sheep but I believe the car had sat in a field for a while with an open window!
I actually owned a few of these Clios, a 1.2 8V pre-facelift one in 2001 as my second car. Was great, I did plenty of miles in it and apart from the window coming off the runner it was great. Had two different Clio 172s which were also great although built differently to the usual Renaults.
Should be a good little car! I think they still look quite tidy too. The styling has aged well.
Should be a good little car! I think they still look quite tidy too. The styling has aged well.
carinaman said:
I don't know about the value but I know someone that had a petrol one new from about 1999 and it was problem free other than water ingress from around the sunroof getting into the electrics.
My wife had a 2000 Clio which she bought in 2003.Yes, indeed water got in through the sunroof and into the electrics. I had the London Sunroof out twice to tighten the cassette/sort the seals. I ended up disconnecting the alarm.
Some years it barely did 1,000 miles and so it soldiered on until it was 20. It ate the odd coil pack, got through an exhaust and a couple of springs but nothing more, really, for most of its life.
In 2019 the a/c compressor failed and that was very annoying. And it 2020 it developed a fault in its throttle body and so that was that. Scrapped it.
Still, we got 17 years out of it and it did exactly what it said on the tin. The trade like this generation as they're pretty simple and tough.
Replaced it with a Fiat 500 1.2 which, like Clios and Twingos of that era, are like cockroaches.
Pretty sure these are the more or less the same as the Dynamique - the throttle body is inside the inlet manifold and it can become contaminated with oil due to a design fault.
This manifests itself as a rise and fall in revs, eventually getting worse over time until it continually cuts out as soon as the revs drop. No amount of dabbing the throttle will prevent the stall.
It's an easy fix - just remove the engine cover and injectors etc, open up the inlet manifold, remove the throttle body, clean it wiht a load of brake cleaner, thoroughly degrease the inside of the manifold which will be oily, stick a new gasket on, chuck it back together and that's the fix.
If you've got no symptoms, they're really reliable with excellent fuel economy. Happy Frenching! (frenching is probably in the urban dictionary, I'm not looking it up)
This manifests itself as a rise and fall in revs, eventually getting worse over time until it continually cuts out as soon as the revs drop. No amount of dabbing the throttle will prevent the stall.
It's an easy fix - just remove the engine cover and injectors etc, open up the inlet manifold, remove the throttle body, clean it wiht a load of brake cleaner, thoroughly degrease the inside of the manifold which will be oily, stick a new gasket on, chuck it back together and that's the fix.
If you've got no symptoms, they're really reliable with excellent fuel economy. Happy Frenching! (frenching is probably in the urban dictionary, I'm not looking it up)
ReverendCounter said:
Pretty sure these are the more or less the same as the Dynamique - the throttle body is inside the inlet manifold and it can become contaminated with oil due to a design fault.
This manifests itself as a rise and fall in revs, eventually getting worse over time until it continually cuts out as soon as the revs drop. No amount of dabbing the throttle will prevent the stall.
It's an easy fix - just remove the engine cover and injectors etc, open up the inlet manifold, remove the throttle body, clean it wiht a load of brake cleaner, thoroughly degrease the inside of the manifold which will be oily, stick a new gasket on, chuck it back together and that's the fix.
I didn't know that. Still what with that, the lack of a/c and the imminent arrival of ULEZ it was on borrowed time.This manifests itself as a rise and fall in revs, eventually getting worse over time until it continually cuts out as soon as the revs drop. No amount of dabbing the throttle will prevent the stall.
It's an easy fix - just remove the engine cover and injectors etc, open up the inlet manifold, remove the throttle body, clean it wiht a load of brake cleaner, thoroughly degrease the inside of the manifold which will be oily, stick a new gasket on, chuck it back together and that's the fix.
Like many here, I’ve had all the hot Clios from 16V onwards - but also some basic models.
We bought a 2001 1.2 60hp Authentique for my wife in 2004 at the same time my parents bought a relatively loaded new 1.2 75hp Dynamique - both facelift mk2 Clios, which I think were a real high water mark among budget cars. Seems the world agrees, given how many are still left at 20 years old.
Have models like the Up! or i10 moved on much all these years later?
We bought a 2001 1.2 60hp Authentique for my wife in 2004 at the same time my parents bought a relatively loaded new 1.2 75hp Dynamique - both facelift mk2 Clios, which I think were a real high water mark among budget cars. Seems the world agrees, given how many are still left at 20 years old.
Have models like the Up! or i10 moved on much all these years later?
ReverendCounter said:
AC43 said:
I didn't know that. Still what with that, the lack of a/c and the imminent arrival of ULEZ it was on borrowed time.
Didn't realise you'd had throttle body problems, I only posted because it's the only bit of useful info I can share with OP about Clios!In my case, I was going to have to get shot of it anyway because of ULEZ and the cost of labour would probably have ruled that fix out anyway.
Plus, I wanted to get something with a tiny engine and even cheaper insurance so my son could learn in it (the Clio was a 1.6 16V).
But one way to work out good sheddage is to visit small French and Italian towns and villages. The French ones are still full of Clios and Twingo's of that era. The Italian ones are full of Fiat 500's and Pandas.
They're simple and pretty bomb-proof if you pick the small petrol 4 pots.
I had an 02 plate expression in the same colour as my first car back in 2014 and all it did was break but that might have been my driving style, I was 17 in my defence 
my brothers dynamique though on an 05 bought only a couple of weeks after owning mine never missed a beat and went in garage about twice outside of mot date in its 6 ish year ownership.
my brothers dynamique though on an 05 bought only a couple of weeks after owning mine never missed a beat and went in garage about twice outside of mot date in its 6 ish year ownership.Work colleague over a decade ago had a top spec Clio Dynamique with most of the options for an 2005 car. He got over 50mpg and it looked the part. He then at 20 years of age did some man maths and swapped it for a BMW 330ci Coupe and well most fo he wages went on keeping it topped up.
Had a bit of a poke and prod around it today. It’s not going to be taxed until tomorrow (to save a month’s tax cost) and I’d a couple of hours spare.
Good news: it’s very very good underneath having been waxoyled or similar at some point!
The interior is slowly cleaning up. Seats are bogging but it came with seat covers. Bodywork has got a few small scrapes and random marks on it. The worst area is the bootlid where it looks like someone has spilt paint stripper.
Headlights are foggy so they’re on my to do list to polish up. It will be for its first drive of any length under my ownership tomorrow
Good news: it’s very very good underneath having been waxoyled or similar at some point!
The interior is slowly cleaning up. Seats are bogging but it came with seat covers. Bodywork has got a few small scrapes and random marks on it. The worst area is the bootlid where it looks like someone has spilt paint stripper.
Headlights are foggy so they’re on my to do list to polish up. It will be for its first drive of any length under my ownership tomorrow
Looks very reasonable!
The headlamps respond well to polish. Do everything you can to avoid having to replace them - bumper needs to come off, and that's a faff.
The non - Renault Sport ones are less prone to rusting, cos they don't have the sill trims - so they don't get mud trapped and rot inside out.
Seats are easy enough to remove if you want to get them out to scrub down.
I have a tame Clio breaker that I use - happy to share details if you're needing bits:-)
The headlamps respond well to polish. Do everything you can to avoid having to replace them - bumper needs to come off, and that's a faff.
The non - Renault Sport ones are less prone to rusting, cos they don't have the sill trims - so they don't get mud trapped and rot inside out.
Seats are easy enough to remove if you want to get them out to scrub down.
I have a tame Clio breaker that I use - happy to share details if you're needing bits:-)
Great shed. My other half (and I) ran a 55hp 1.5 diesel version from about 60k to 170k in 5 years when commuting to and from uni as a postgrad. It had a couple of belts, and servicing. It needed a clutch at about 150k, and it had one ARB droplink. Eventually died when the oil/coolant exhchanger blew internally. Did 60+mpg all day long and felt far better than 55hp should. Absolutely refused to corrode in any way.
Sold it to a geezer who cleaned and skimmed the head and took it past 200k before it gave up. Probably the most reliable car I’ve ever owned. Would 100% have another.
Sold it to a geezer who cleaned and skimmed the head and took it past 200k before it gave up. Probably the most reliable car I’ve ever owned. Would 100% have another.
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