2024 Renault Clio Techno TCe 90 at Col du Lautaret (2057 m.)
More than 2000 km with this full petrol 2024 Clio Techno TCe 90 has been an interesting experience. A ride with lots of the impressive-sounding driver assistances, adaptive cruise control, hill start assist, parking assist with 360° view and Lidar (presumably) sensors giving stereo beeps. An electronic driver display (speed, revs, fuel etc) plus a 9.3 inch entertainment and navigation screen. A whole load of the Clio Techno’s functions can be controlled by an app if you want to. So a tekkie treat on wheels.
It was great to drive a new full petrol engine again: this was a hire in France, Renault no longer sell this full petrol model in the UK, only the hybrid. I find the hybrid engines inconsistent, sometimes you get a lot of oomph, but, often enough to be disconcerting or dangerous, you don’t get the power you expect.
This 2024 full petrol, 3 cylinder, 12 valve, 60 kW/90 hp engine was pretty useful on the road. It clearly has an aggressive engine management system to achieve Euro 6 pollution standard. Also a 6 speed gearbox where the top gear is really only of use when cruising on an autoroute, though double-shifting 2 to 4 or 3 to 5 works fine. The main drawback was a tendency to stall at low speeds, as in pulling away from a stop. But great on the many mountain cols and open roads of our touring trip. No ride stye selection, Sport or Economy etc, that control seems to be being left out of 2024 cars.
I’ve not been ragging the curves so can’t comment on the extreme road-holding but it’s not a problem for reasonable driving and overtaking. Fuel economy pretty good, I was getting between 4.3 and 5 l/100km, so similar to a hybrid but with a lighter car, without the weight of the battery. But the fuel consumption became much worse on slow country roads where you’re actually driving not cruising, that’s usual with modern cars.
The techno toys were both intriguing and a curse. I find the adaptive cruise control very useful on the autoroutes, it closes down the speed (brakes or engine brake) when it senses a vehicle in front; the speed it calculates is sensible and there’s a smooth accelerate when the road clears or the vehicle in front speeds up. A great saver on driver fatigue on long runs and with a smoother ride for passengers.
There’s an app that will run many of the features, including the door locks. I also noticed that key cutting shops in France now offer to copy vehicle remotes: if shops can do that so can the car thieves, so I’m worried.
The Clio Techno has a whole vocabulary of beeps and bonks. Distracting at first and some of them made no sense nor did I see a text notification in explanation. In time, I did learn to interpret the parking assist beeps, they are sensibly in stereo, and useful in conjunction with the cameras all round plus the synthesised view apparently from above. The big screen is great when you’re parking or choosing entertainment in a traffic jam; and there’s an option to switch it to minimal (time and outside temperature), but that doesn’t always work: software bug, ugh! The built-in map was out of date on speed limits even on a vehicle showing less than 4000 km when I first drove it.
But did I like the Clio Techno TCe 90? Would I buy one? Not so sure. Lots of distractions and quite a few infuriations. The front risers of the passenger compartment block out a lot of view, good for safety but giving a large blind spot; similarly you have to use the mirrors to see behind, no over-the-shoulder check as is instinctive to me as a biker. The hill start assist sort of works in a simple situation but is too slow for parallel parking on a steep hill, there isn’t the fineness of control you get with a hand brake. And the single feature I cursed the most was that the boot-open control is only on the key-remote, that’s a pain when there are two of you and the one not holding the key-remote can’t get in the boot without asking.
So I filled the Clio Techno up and handed it back to the rental agent in Marseille with some relief.