Why Steven and Irene drive their Renault Clio until it falls apart

Steven and Irene’s Clio

• Bought for €4,000
• How long owned Almost eleven years
• How many owner are you? The fourth
• Driven kilometers Over 241,000
• Biggest plus It is very well equipped
• Biggest flaw No sixth gear
• Largest expense That was the exchange engine that had to be put in
• How long are you keeping him? Until he really can’t anymore.

Steven Wilmink has a thing for Renault. For example, he sent a Safrane 2.5 (with the Volvo five-cylinder) to 286,000 kilometers. Not surprising, because driving every day from Siebengewald (in Limburg) to Apeldoorn (he works at the water board there) yields an annual mileage of 35,000. In addition to the Safrane, its predecessor 25 was also at the door, but rust and defects helped this car to the exit. Steven traded it in for a 2002 Clio Initiale. “Found on the internet,” he says. “Via AutoWeeks CarBase, among others, we searched by size, comfort, luxury, consumption and suitability for LPG, without a brand preference. Nevertheless, we ended up at Renault. The test drive went well and the car, then nine and a half years old and with some 107,000 kilometers of experience, was for my wife, Irene.” Steven soon had LPG built in. The luxury was already there: leather upholstery, air conditioning, wood inlay, xenon lighting, light metal and metallic paint. Count out your profit.

Look what a wood laying!

No sooner had the Clio been owned than he already went on holiday to Corsica and Italy and he also came to Great Britain. He was not completely harmless. “At the height of Eindhoven we ended up in a huge hailstorm. We took shelter under a viaduct, but still discovered some pits in the roof.” And it didn’t stop there, says Steven. “We got into a pile-up once. We were hit from behind and then rammed into the vehicle in front. And once we were standing at a traffic light behind a Panamera when it suddenly backed up and hit us.” Each time the blue rascal was patched up, because he still lived up to expectations. Mainly due to its luxurious facilities and compactness, it continued to score with both Steven and Irene.

In 2018, when the Clio had been housed in Siebengewald for six years and had done 170,000 kilometers there, the family was still happy. Pros: the spicy 1.6, the comfort, the rich equipment and the space sufficient for two people. Downsides also came to light: with 4,000 rpm at 130 km/h, Steven missed a sixth gear or (extra) sound insulation. Furthermore, the LPG tank with 38 liters was very small and the Clio sometimes stalled when downshifting. Nevertheless, the car, until then always maintained by a former Renault dealer, was allowed to remain in the stable. Well-known Clio ailments were reviewed, such as replacement of pin ignition coils, rear dampers and springs. The last two items have already been replaced several times.

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Renault Clio Initiale, sumptuous French seating comfort.

Nice inside Renault fact: the clothing cover under the parcel shelf comes from the 25 Baccara.

Head gasket out, but Clio drove better than Safrane

In October 2021 there was a black day in the life of the Clio. At mileage 343,000, the head gasket turned out to be leaking. For a car with so much experience, both in age and mileage, there was really only one thing left: a one-way final resting place, or scrapping. But it was corona time and Steven and Irene were working from home, so the Clio wasn’t really needed and stayed put. After corona it turned out to be difficult to have only one car. Irene also liked the Clio to drive better than the Safrane. “Well, it was very crazy. Cars have always been mere utilitarian objects for me, but the thought that the Clio would have to be scrapped made me really sad,” says Irene. The decision had to be made: drain and replace or refurbish?

Even air conditioning is on it, quite a lot for that time.

Renault Clio did get a different engine

It became the last. An acquaintance of Steven had already done an engine change on a Clio 1.2, so the expertise was there. Now another engine. Steven found it at a dismantling company: a 1.6 that had run 178,732 kilometers. The heart transplant did not take much time and to make this block of LPG swallow as well, an LPG specialist replaced the gas injector rail. The software was updated and the gas installation was recalibrated, with the bonus of a more pleasant driving car on LPG. “For ten years the engine sometimes stalled, but we haven’t experienced that since the switch,” says Steven.

Clio is not aggressive, but tough

When AutoWeek comes by, the odometer is now over 348,000. After the transplant, the old, faithful Clio covered another 5,000 kilometers in just a few months. “A lovely little car: not aggressive, but tough,” says Steven. “As long as he continues to do well, he can just stay with us,” says Irene.