Oppo Clio 2: this time it's luxury

"Clemsie McKenzie" (thestirringcolumn)
12/29/2018 at 13:06 • Filed to: None

Also got the Canon 50mm f1.8 lens for Christmas. Love it!

Christmas present from me to me: a new car! You might remember that the original Oppo Clio was !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , last summer. Well, with the insurance money and the help of me finding a job, I decided to go ahead a replace it.

From experience, I reasoned that I wouldn’t be able to find a much better car than a Clio 2 for my tiny budget of €2,000 here in France. But while the OG Oppo Clio was a Phase 1 car (pre-facelift), I wanted a Phase 2 this time. Not for style or anything, but the revised Clio is a much quieter and more refined car. A surprising bump in comfort in only a couple of years.

Alloy wheels and discs all round!

So after a couple of weeks of browsing used car ads, I found this one that seemed a little too good to be true: an Initiale Paris edition, which is the absolute top of the range, loaded with stuff. It had a leather/Alcantara interior, the bigger 1.6 16V engine, auto headlights/AC/wipers, and even stuff I had no idea existed for a Clio in 2003, like cruise control and... a GPS! Mileage wasn’t too high either, clocking in at about 166,000 km, or about 100,000 miles. I joked around with my dad that this was the Rolls-Royce of Clios. It was far from perfect but mechanically spot on and worked with my budget, so I bought it.

Last week I drove around for the usual Christmas family gatherings, racking in about 1,000km (600 miles). And the more I drive it, the happier I am about this purchase.

Fancy schmancy

So let’s start with explaining why it was cheap: it’s full of niggles and rashes, inside and out. The front-left fender has a slit in the middle, the driver seat is pretty worn out and so is the steering wheel. The cruise control doesn’t work (although it might be a simple fix), and the GPS would if the CD it uses wasn’t in such a bad shape. The headlights are also a bit faded.

Leather and real wood in a 2003 Renault Clio!

The good stuff is that it’s extremely comfortable. The seats are miles better than the ones in my old car, with better bolstering for example. It is surprisingly quiet, even with the bigger 1.6L engine. Great engine too: at 110hp it’s around 20hp more powerful than the 1.4 I had, but more importantly it’s also more torquey. All the major stuff has just been done to it, the gearbox feels about 100.000km newer than the one from the OG Clio, and all the automatic stuff is great, especially the xenon headlights.

The worn thumb inserts are an easy fix

Most of the stuff that’s broken seems to be either easily fixable (new thumbs inserts for the steering wheel are 15€ on eBay, for example) or just inconsequential. The only thing I don’t like is the steering, which if I’m not mistaken was Renault’s first attempt at electric assistance. It’s just plain terrible, feels like a rubber band and has no feedback whatsoever. But I can live with that.

My first reaction was to try to touch it. Dumb me, this is 2003, touch screens are still science fiction!

I also love that behind the boring facade hides a quite rare car, all things considered, and one loaded with things you just wouldn’t imagine for an econobox from 2003. The fully integrated GPS screen still blows my mind. I want to get it working just to see what it would be like!

Love these seats. Although you still do sit a little too high.

Overall, quite happy with this purchase. I don’t plan on keeping it 7 years like I did with the old one, seeing as I’m starting to get jobs and stuff. Ideally, there might be a Lexus LS400 down the line in a couple of years, but they are very rare here in France and seem to be climbing in value these days. We’ll see! In the meantime, I guess I’ll have to take it to the Ring to see what this monster 110hp engine can do...

DISCUSSION (22)

CompactLuxuryFan > Clemsie McKenzie
12/29/2018 at 13:21

I love it! Those Clio IIs were incredibly good looking at the time (along with the Mégane II). They sounded great and moved along just fine with the 16v 1.4 so the 1.6 must be perfect. Those wheels look like they came off a Modus but they look correct as well. Enjoy!

lone_liberal > Clemsie McKenzie
12/29/2018 at 13:23

Fancy! I’d want to get the GPS working too, just to see what it’s like. Are the CDs available anywhere?

Svend > Clemsie McKenzie
12/29/2018 at 13:24

Very nice, congratulations.

Mk2 Phase 1 and 2s used to be everywhere but now getting rarer on the road. They are a perfect car for size, practicality, economy, etc...

Happy motoring.

Clemsie McKenzie > CompactLuxuryFan
12/29/2018 at 13:30

Thanks! Yeah as far as I know the wheels are the original ones, looks like only the Initiale Paris editions got them for the Clio II. I’ve seen them on some Clio III as well!

Clemsie McKenzie > Svend
12/29/2018 at 13:32

Thank you! My previous Clio II seemed to be able to do anything: great MPG, practical and comfy, and can also lap the Ring or cruise on the Autobahn at 180kph indicated as if it was totally meant to do that. These things are pretty great, and still everywhere here in France.

Clemsie McKenzie > lone_liberal
12/29/2018 at 13:34

They seemed to be a touch hard to find, I have no hits on eBay so far. Might have to go through a few forum pages. Hopefully I can find one or a copy for not to much money. The rest of the system works perfectly too, you can navigate through it, change the options and stuff, which is why I think the old CD is the problem, it’s in pretty rough shape. Will definitely update Oppo if I can get it working!

DutchieDC2R > Clemsie McKenzie
12/29/2018 at 13:44

Man, I had no idea the OG Clio got destroyed like that. :(

On the bright side, you're getting a very nice car in return, love the new ride! OppoMeet in April? :D (theres a chance of bacon being present)

Clemsie McKenzie > DutchieDC2R
12/29/2018 at 13:51

Yeah that was pretty shit. Nothing I could do about it, somebody just ran into it while it was parked.

But yeah quite happy with this one! And I’d absolutely love to join the party in April with this beast!

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > Clemsie McKenzie
12/29/2018 at 14:18

Congrats on the new car! Once you fix the small problems it should be a really great car. Is that the GPS with the buttons on top of the dash in front of the screen? Also I can’t remember ever seeing this darker wood, most Initiales (everything from Clio to Vel Satis) of that era used to have this lighter coloured wood:

Kinja'd!!!

The Initiale Paris trim was always a bit of a weird but wonderful one, so much luxury in cars you wouldn’t expect it in . I recently saw a Twingo II Initiale which had quilted leather!! I kinda want to find such an interior to fit to mine, as that would be quite the upgrade for the interior. But of course those are super rare.

Duck Duck Grey Duck FTMFW! > Clemsie McKenzie
12/29/2018 at 15:26

Do you have DVD/Blu-Ray rental places overseas? The one I go to here in the US can resurface scratched movies and games for like $2. Might be worth looking into to get that GPS working.

Clemsie McKenzie > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer
12/29/2018 at 15:29

Yeah the GPS uses a round knob and some other buttons, it has old school graphics that look pretty cool actually! And yeah this wood trim seems pretty rare. It's pretty much the only difference from the pic you posted! Must have been pretty crazy back in the day.

Out, but with a W - has found the answer > Clemsie McKenzie
12/29/2018 at 16:22

Looks like you need to revisit a certain German toll road...

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > Clemsie McKenzie
12/29/2018 at 16:22

The wood trim you have actually reminds me of the greenish wood Audi used in the late 90s, early 00s. I remember my uncle having a very similar colour wood trim in his C5 RS6

Clemsie McKenzie > Duck Duck Grey Duck FTMFW!
12/29/2018 at 16:44

Uh, hadn't thought of that! Thanks, I'll look into it!

Clemsie McKenzie > Out, but with a W - has found the answer
12/29/2018 at 16:45

Sure sounds like that! I can't even imagine of the speeds I might get to with 110hp!

Clemsie McKenzie > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer
12/29/2018 at 16:57

It does remind me of something like that too! It has a matte finish too, although that might just be age

Out, but with a W - has found the answer > Clemsie McKenzie
12/29/2018 at 17:05

You:

Kinja'd!!!

Everyone else:

Kinja'd!!!

Clemsie McKenzie > Out, but with a W - has found the answer
12/29/2018 at 17:14

POWEEEEEEER

dtg11 - is probably on an adventure with Clifford > Clemsie McKenzie
12/29/2018 at 17:21

If it makes you feel better, they actually had touch screens in cars in 2003, my 1998 Lexus had one!

Clemsie McKenzie > dtg11 - is probably on an adventure with Clifford
12/29/2018 at 17:39

Wow that's cool. Was it any good to use?

dtg11 - is probably on an adventure with Clifford > Clemsie McKenzie
12/30/2018 at 01:32

Ish, it worked well, even with gloves on but it wasn’t exactly fast. Still, not much slower than some 2008 or even 2012 touch screens

Clemsie McKenzie > dtg11 - is probably on an adventure with Clifford
12/30/2018 at 06:33

Impressive!