Why The Renaultsport Clio 200 Is 2013’s Most Important Supercar

Part of the reason we love mid-engined, exotic supercars (like the LaFerrari and McLaren P1) is that they showcase and test the tech that will one day trickle down into regular cars you and I can afford, will buy, and want to drive. The new RS Clio is the first car to truly keep that promise, not just with one Ferrari-spec gadget, but loads of’em.

The 2013 RS Clio’s spec wouldn’t embarrass any modern European supercar. It’s got a turbocharged engine, a dual-clutch automatic gearbox, launch control, switchable driving manners including a full Race Mode, dynamic telemetry for checking your boost pressure and clutch temperature, and it’s a good deal lighter than the old car (around 36kg, give or take a bit of fuel).

Sure, you can get a dual-clutch box on stuff as mundane as a Skoda Fabia these days. A Nissan Juke has a GT-R-style telemetry display. Lots of cars are lighter than before, and pretty much everything is turbocharged. Big woop? Well no, actually.

The Clio wraps all those factors up, but in a hot hatch – surely the most relevant of any type of fast car. More practical than a sports coupe, more accessible to more people than a hot saloon, and more likeable than an uprated SUV, hot hatches are what we aspire to drive when we pass our tests, and buy once they’re affordable – our aspirations having jumped up to the next level of M3s, AMGs and 911s. The Clio RS brings supercar hardware to the masses.

Numbers? 197bhp (same as before but lower in the rev range) and 177lb ft (up 18lb ft, and developed from 1750rpm rather than 5400rpm). Its 0-62mph dash time is 6.7sec (0.2sec faster than the old car) and top speed is up 2mph to 143mph. It’ll cost £18,995. Claimed mpg is up a massive 10.3mpg to 44.8mpg, and CO2 is now 144g/km, saving you £200 in road tax every year.

If you’re thinking ‘ahh, but the VW Polo GTI, Fabia vRS and Seat Ibiza Cupra are paddleshift/turbo only, and they’re pretty dull and really rare’, then you’re right. Renaultsport is late to the party, but that doesn’t make them irrelevant. The RS boys are frankly the best thing about Renault, the reason we hope it makes it through its current bank balance issues. The Megane, Clio and Twingo RSs are all genius benchmarks in their class – as were the last-gen versions. If anyone has the nouse to take so-called driving-spoilers like turbos and DSG gearboxes and turn them into something truly desirable, fun and better than the old-school revvy engines and manual ‘boxes, it’s the Dieppe RS crew. They could nail this.

At the very least, the Clio RS is this year’s most important, most influential sporty car because it’s actually moving the game on. The Fiesta ST is no doubt fab to drive, the Peugeot 208 GTI could be a mojo-saver for Pug. But they’re three-door only in Europe, manual only, and simple dynamically. Renault is truly trying to break new ground for the hot hatch. When Peugeot last did that, it created greats like the 205 GTI and 306 GTI-6. When Ford last did it, it created the Focus RS (Mk1 and Mk2).

Cayman, F-type, LaMcLaren blah blah. Tomorrow’s Clio RS verdict is the hottest, most relevant story of the year for young petrolheads, because it IS the beginning of a new future for entry-level performance cars. It’s the world’s best hot hatch builders re-writing the rulebook, and whether they score big time or suffer a massive fall from grace, you just have to stay tuned.