IF you are looking for the most potent hot hatch in town for the fewest possible dollars, look no further. The Renault Clio Sport is a well-endowed light car with V8-style performance unhampered by the idiosyncrasies of turbocharging, and a chassis that looks after it all very well indeed. The money might seem an awful lot for a car so small, but it's not if you want to cover 400 metres in not much over 15 seconds and have road grip and handling to match. The Renault looks pretty special, too, although its presentation is quite subtle. It also comes with most of what you would expect - climate control, CD stacker, sports seats with leather inserts - but you'd think a $34,000 light car would include cruise control.
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Clio Renault Sport
Released: May 2001
Ended: December 2001
Family Tree: ClioNOT quite the previous generation to the current car, the giant-killing Clio Sport nevertheless arrived Down Under in May, 2001, just seven months before the present, subtly facelifted version (tested here) went on sale in Australia. While the name has changed (it was first called the Clio Cup, then the Renault Clio Renault Sport), the concept has not.
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