BMW 3 Series vs Renault Clio

What's the difference?

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the BMW 320i M Sport. It’s fun to drive and I felt connected to what the car was doing on the road. The harder ride may not appeal to some but I didn’t mind it. The cosy back seat and boot mean it will probably suit a smaller family best and one which doesn’t have to worry about carrying a lot of gear around regularly, but it suited my needs just fine.

I reckon this is a car for those drivers who don’t want to compromise on performance but still have a kid or two. If you’re after the cushioned comfort of a Merc, this won’t appeal but I didn't want to give this one back and happily give it a firm 8/10.

My son liked the sports car looks and enjoyed the amenities in his row. He gives it a 10/10.

The Clio RS is still a ton of fun and in Cup spec, probably the best compromise between price and livability. Despite its advancing years (it turns five this year, so ready to start kindy) and big brother Megane hogging the limelight with a fancy new model on the way, the Clio is a stayer. It's missing some frustratingly obvious things like CarPlay, AEB, rear airbags and rear cross-traffic alert, but it's hardly alone in the segment. 

With the departure of the Fiesta ST, though, the Clio returns to the top of the list of best small hot hatches on sale today.

Sharper than its predecessor, the new 320i has LED everything with the rear lights being longer and curving around to the sides of the car.

The classic 'kidney' grille is darkened and more pronounced, with the black panelling extending to the rear to create an unapologetically sporty presence. A presence that’s accentuated by the twin exhausts.

The batcave interior with its black headliner, black seats… black everything, looks smart and stylish.

You do have a fair bit of harder touchpoints throughout but the customisable ambient lighting helps to soften the overall effect.

With its 2068mm width, 4709mm length and 1435mm height, the sedan makes its presence known without feeling cumbersome to manoeuvre. Urban dwellers need not fear their local car park!

The Clio is a handsome small car but nothing out of the ordinary until you apply the very cool Liquid Yellow paint. That hue really is quite something and works even better with the black alloys of the Cup chassis.

The car has some lovely surfacing and in a recent-ish refresh, the slightly odd headlights were reworked, as were the front and rear bumpers which now link to the RenaultSport Megane. Sorry, Megane RS. The RS flag signature lighting is a nice touch, acting as DRLs at the bottom corners of the front bumper.

The lovely organic shapes of the Clio's sides still look good and the rather tough rear end with the chunky diffuser leaves you in no doubt that it's the proper RS not the halfway-house, 1.2-litre GT-Line.

Inside is starting to look its age, but graceful, a bit like Jamie-Lee Curtis' or George Clooney's embrace of grey hair. There are still some of the sharp edges I didn't like. It's certainly a Renault to look at and ergonomically works pretty well. One thing that has been fixed at some point is the switch on the gear selector - it won't bite you if you curl your finger underneath when you press it. You might think that's a small thing, but when you did it, damn it hurt.

For such a sleek looking sedan, it’s generous up front with plenty of head and legroom.

You can adjust the seat to sit quite low and both front seats have extendable under-thigh supports, which should excite taller drivers. 

My 189cm (6’2”) brother has the 328i and is very comfortable but taller front passengers will encroach on back seat passenger comfort.

The front seats are quite firm on the backside, they also lack adjustable lumbar support, so expect to stretch the kinks out on a longer trip.

The amenities and tech feel well thought out and easy enough to use. The 12.3-inch touchscreen multimedia system looks great and has the best-looking graphics I’ve sampled.

The BMW system is intuitive to use once you get used to it. If you’re not interested in using the touchscreen, you can also utilise the rotary-wheel for menu selections.

There’s also Bluetooth connectivity, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto plus built-in satellite navigation.

The 12.3-inch digital instrument panel is customisable and the information displayed simply but you won’t really look at it because of the head-up display.

Front occupants enjoy a wireless charging pad for their smart phone, a USB-A and USB-C port plus a 12-volt socket. Rear passengers get a couple of USB-C ports, too.

The storage is good for this size sedan but overall passenger room takes priority, but the glove box and middle console will suffice for everyday use.

While it may not excite others, I love the big bottle holders in the doors. They’re large enough for my big 1.5L bottle and angled for easy access. These are found in the rear doors as well.

Back seat passengers enjoy climate control, directional air vents, two cupholders, netted map pockets and reading lights.

My six-year old was happy with the amenities and lower ground clearance because he felt comfortable and had his independence.

The boot offers a good capacity of 480L and the aperture isn’t too narrow, so you can comfortably access items if they roll to the back.

I had plenty of room for my little family’s needs but if you’re a larger family, you may need to get strategic with gear storage.

Being a base model, you do miss out on a powered tailgate, which is a shame but not too much of an issue given this is a sedan and the lid isn’t heavy.

There’s also no spare tyre or even a puncture repair kit but you have run-flats, so you should be able to limp to a service centre if need be.

The Clio's interior is certainly snug. Rear seat passengers do okay for legroom but headroom is a mite marginal with the falling roofline for six footers. There are no cupholders out back, that curious French habit of supplying just a couple of cup receptacles of different and weird sizes persists. The front doors have space for bottles, the rears do not.

The boot is class-competitive at 300 litres (worth knowing the Trophy loses 70 litres to the Cup) and with the seats down stretches to a claimed 1146L.

The iconic 'Liquid Yellow' ($750 option) Clio I had for the week was the Cup spec chassis. The Clio RS 200, as it is officially known, comes in two specs - Sport and Cup - and there's a Trophy 220 at the top of the range. I had the Cup, which retails at $32,490 (plus on-road costs). The RS220 Trophy, with a bit more poke and stuff, weighs in at $38,990 if you're interested.

The Cup spec is heavily based on the more affordable ($30,990) Sport, which means you get 18-inch alloy wheels (painted black, so watch those kerbs), climate control, four speaker stereo, keyless entry and start (the "key" is still that unwieldy keycard style thing), reversing camera, cruise control, front and rear parking sensors, fog lamps, LED daytime running lights, sat nav, auto LED headlights, auto wipers, launch control, leather bits and pieces and a tyre inflation kit instead of any kind of spare.

The 7.0-inch 'R-Link' touch screen software runs the four speaker stereo with DAB digital radio, Bluetooth and USB. If you get the optional RS Monitor, there is a full-on telemetry system from which you can save your, er, "track day" data and overlay in Google Maps to compare with your mates' or past efforts. You can also change the piped-in engine sound to various different sound effects which are delightfully silly.

Android Auto is part of the breathtaking $1500 'Entertainment Pack' option that includes RS Monitor (which used to be standard) and no, there's no Apple CarPlay. Leather is a further $1500.

Bottom line is that you do get a decent spec bump from the $30,990 Sport along with the more capable (and less comfortable) Cup chassis.

The 320i M Sport has the ‘baby’ engine in the 3 Series line-up but the 2.0-litre, four-cylinder turbo-petrol powertrain still delivers on power with a maximum output of 135kW/300Nm. 

This is a rear-wheel drive and has an eight-speed auto-transmission which delivers very smooth gear changes.

Despite having the smaller engine, it can still go from 0-100km/h in just 7.4 seconds.

The 200-equipped RSes pony up 147kW/260Nm, which is pretty much bang-on the obvious competition (Peugeot 208 GTI and the outgoing Fiesta ST), driving the front wheels through Renault's six-speed EDC twin-clutch. Unlike those two, there is no overboost function.

Dieppe's finest sprints from 0-100km/h in a claimed 6.7 seconds, pulling along a kerb weight of 1204kg.

In a world with rising fuel prices, the efficiency of this decently powered sedan should excite you.

The official combined fuel cycle is 6.5L/100km. Real world testing saw my figure at 7.4L/100km after a mix of open-road and urban driving this week.

I thought that was great for how hard I drove it and for the power, you won’t be wincing when you put your foot down. I would expect it to be higher in an urban setting.

The 320i has a 59L fuel tank and based on the official combined cycle figure, you should get just over 900km of driving range, which is great, especially if you do 'roadies' like me!

Renault claims 5.9L/100km on the combined cycle but, yeah, nah. My week was admittedly filled with plenty of horseplay and spirited driving, yielding 11.4L/100km. If you were careful you may fare better - but not that much better.

The fuel tank is a fairly standard 45 litres. It requires 98RON premium unleaded.

There's a lot that I like about how this performs but a highlight is how eagerly the car responds when you accelerate.

However, it’s not unbridled power. There’s no bucking at the front or shuddering through the steering wheel. It’s controlled but still very fun.

The lower centre of gravity and coupe-like height of this does mean it handles corners well and the bolstered seats hold you firmly into place, meaning you can be free to drive this a little harder than you might normally. Which I did and can confirm it handles itself well.

This has the M Sport suspension, which means it’s stiff, but you feel very connected to the road.

You do get a lot of talk-back from bumps in the road but unless you hit a big pothole, you never feel rattled by them.

But it is a harder ride than other luxury models, which doesn’t bother me as I like the handling, but if you want limo-like comfort, look elsewhere.

The cabin is very nice to spend a lot of time in and relatively quiet, even at higher speeds.

The 11.4m turning circle and sleek dimensions makes it very handy to park, even in tight car parks. The nose is long but the front and rear parking sensors take out any ‘will I make it’ moments and the super clear reversing camera is great. 

The RS has always had a belter of a chassis. The Cup chassis became a thing just over a decade ago and is lauded by the fans as The One To Have. I've not always been convinced of this as my earlier drives of the Cup-equipped machines have usually been in close proximity to the Sport chassis. 

The Cup is slightly lower than the Sport, with 15 per cent stiffer springs and dampers and perhaps more importantly it scores 18-inch wheels with Dunlop Sport Maxx RT2 tyres, which you can reasonably expect to be a bit firmer than the 17s with Goodyear F1s on the Sport. And they are.

However, in most situations, the Cup chassis is perfectly benign. You certainly feel the bumps and lumps, but you haven't bought a Cup chassis for Lexus-like isolation. It's certainly sharper than the Sport chassis and when you're really giving it a go around the bends, the comfort deficit is more than made up for by the extra grip and poise.

The RS has always had a belter of a chassis.

The chassis is aided and abetted by a torquey 1.6-turbo that cheerfully...no, gleefully spins to the redline which could do with another thousand revs, but that's forced induction for you. The aluminium shift paddles need a good positive pull to get a gear, but that gear is delivered quickly and effortlessly. The Clio is a great deal of fun in Sport and Race modes, with throttle mappings and gearshifts becoming more aggressive as you switch through the modes.

The brakes are tremendously effective and the electronic limited slip diff (*cough* brake-based torque vectoring) ensures you'll hit your apexes and the tyres spend more time gripping than spinning.

But it's not all hairpins and off-camber left-right-lefts, is it? Plenty of owners have to live with the car in traffic day to day. Driving the Cup in isolation, I've changed my mind about it. I reckon it's the best of the two chassis settings. The city ride is better than decent, with the hard edges potholes chamfered off by the dampers and decent compliance. It's not too noisy, either.

On board the Clio is four airbags (no curtain coverage for those in the rear), ABS, stability and traction controls, a reversing camera and two ISOFIX points along with three top-tether anchors.

The Clio was awarded a five-star ANCAP rating in November 2013.

The 320i comes with a five-year/unlimited km warranty, which is standard for this class.

You can choose between a three- or five-year capped-priced servicing plan. The five-year plan costs just $2150, or $430 a year, which is competitive for this class.

Like other BMWs, servicing intervals are condition-based, with the car letting you know when it needs to be serviced.

Renault says it was the first European maker to offer a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty in Australia, and who are we to argue? The package also includes up to four years of roadside assist and three years of capped-price servicing.

Renault expects to see you just once a year or every 20,000km, which gives you a bit more headroom than some similar service plans, at least on the mileage.  The first three services will cost no more than $369 unless you need a new air filter ($38) or pollen filter ($46). At 60,000km or four years you'll cop $262 for a set of spark plugs. The company's website also suggests if the Clio doesn't like the state of its oil, it will beep at you until you have that attended to.