1994 Renault Clio 1.4 RT

[FiatStiloJTD]

As the title suggests. I've been looking with my dad for a cheap runabout to run alongside our cars for my mum.

Friend has a clio (specified above) for £500. A bargian if you ask me.

Mileage: 80,000 Spec: EW, RCL, Cat 1 Alarm, EM, Sunroof, Alloys, PAS etc.

Are they pretty sound and reliable, or are they best avoided?


Picture:

 

[Seraph]

that's like the same specs as mine was. I sold mine for the same too... 500 is a bargain.
easy to repair. so long as it's just a runabout you'll prolly be happy.

Parts can be a bit steep, cos it's valeo parts and they're a rip off, but scrappers are rarely short of a few spares.

Starts getting expensive when you want to "get more out of it" (i.e. modifications). I personally never had ANY trouble with my Clio. There were occasions that it needed fixing, but it's an old car and it was things like the heater broke (i replaced the motor for £10 easy as pie) and bits of rust (easily sealed with some wax)

My mate bought it from me and then complained that he kept having to replace the clutch ( I had it for over 18months and never had to replace the clutch so I reckon it was his driving).

Other than that, they're a bit windy in the cab (not very airtight), the leccy windows are only held up by litle bits of plastic, but assuming you don't mind the godsawful sticky stuff, it's just a matter of takin off teh door cards and clipping it back on.

EDIT: oh yea, and some knob tried to steal my fogs and broke the bumper, also the bumper can break easily (i broke it on a rose bush).

Hope that helps.

 

[Stu DemonD]

I had one of these as well, an L Reg 93 plater.

Wasn't a bad car, at the time, although it had its fair share of problems, plus the dealership was useless I ended up with a blocked heater matrix, head gasket blew, eh :chin: and then about 3 weeks after I PX'd it in, I got a phonecall from the new owner in London, saying the whole bottom end had fallen off....

 

[FiatStiloJTD]

Ohh dear Stu...can't take you anywhere.

Its pretty damn smart, got all the service reports from 1994 onwards and comes with reciepts for a new clutch and cam belt.

The bonnets abit cool, it opens the other way. I have to say im not a fan of the dashboard though. Its worse than our old 405 GTXi. But it does the job with a few gysmos too.

Matt

 

[Helz]

A very good friend of mine has one of these (which he got for £50 but has since got running again) and it's been pretty reliable. Only major problem was the speedo cable and the exhaust, all is now working fine. As in Seraph's post, not the most comfortable of cars, a bit above a Cinq but still that tin-box sensation. If you could drag the price down it would be worth it

 

[Si - Punto]

I had a J Reg RT as my first car and I quite enjoyed driving it, it was pretty quick for a first car and had a fair bit of equipment for a 13 year old shopping car

It did come with its fair share of problems but I think a lot of it was due to mistreatment from its previous owners (all 7 of them lol).

Alternator went middle of December at night down a dark road. Headlight control stalk went, replaced it and it went again. Clutch cable went then clutch went along with the new cable and new pedal box about 100 miles later.

Those were the main problems with it, a few other problems here and there and then come its MOT in October last year it was so knackered that it was gunna cost a fortune to put right, underseals had gone on both sides, front passenger shock was gone, engine mount gone, hole in the rad (think it was just leaking from the thermo switch) head gastket on its way out

It served its purpose though, gave me transportation for a year and got me road experience then I brought the Punto

As a little run around though it was a good little car but it had covered 106k miles and just wasnt worth repairing any more.

 

[FiatStiloJTD]

I've always had a fetish for those renault/peugeot/citroen infa red keys. You know, the ones you had/have to wipe the window free of dirt to make a hole and point to a specific place several times - its longer than using the key. Sadly it has one of those too. I think they were introduced on the CX - a gorgeous citroen as was the SM - mmmmmm.

 

[Seraph]

oh yea, forgot to mention, the exhaust was brittle as hell.. i clipped it and it blew a nasty hole in it... but a made of mine made a new one, and it was all gravy.

 

[courtster]

The RT model is indeed a good car, the 1.4 energy unit is proven, apart from the odd head gasket failure, the spec is good for a car that age with E/W, Remote C/L, front fogs, body coloured bumpers, and the fingertip stalk for the stereo.

Check for rust in the window seals at the bottom of the front windows...

 

[Dunc Uno Turbo]

im a renault nut at heart, had 3 clio, all that shape. veruy good cars and at 500 sheets its a very good purchase. nowt wrong with the energy lumps and they go alright too for a 1.4!

i had a k plate clio 1.2, a R reg last of line old shape 1.4 maxim and a j plate 1.2 with a 5 turbo conversion! all very good cars!

Dunc