6.7 seconds with launch control.
The bonus features apparently add no
extra weight, 1218kg. Which, peculiarly,
is 63kg lighter than the old, naturally-
aspirated, two-door Clio RS200.
This, despite being 73mm longer,
36mm wider and having two extra
doors. Reflecting the new car’s shorter
overhangs, its wheelbase is just 4mm
longer than the old RS200.
Power is the same, 147kW, but
torque is up 25Nm and made 3650rpm
further down the tacho, 240Nm at
1750rpm versus 215Nm up in the
clouds at 5400rpm.
The marginal changes on paper
don’t reflect, of course, the more
philosophical, and much discussed
digressions like no manual being
offered, a turbo fitted and 1000rpm
lopped off the redline.
Really, it’s already widely reported
the new Clio RS EDC doesn’t match
the on-the-limit excitement of the old
naturally-aspirated car. So it’s suffered
in the 10 per cent zone, a place where
you and me like to live. But if the new
Clio RS has taken one giant leap in that
other 90 per cent, we might be able to
forgive it. We’ve got six months to find
out. – DC M
Wondering something about the new
Clio RS in particular? Send us your
question: [email protected]
and we’ll answer it for you in our next
long-term update.
The new RS is an attempt to improve
performance in that 90 per cent zone
d motorofficial f motor_mag^123