• Smaller than its latest rivals
• But boot space is great for the class
• Rear seats are slightly cramped

How much space is there?

The facelifted Renault Clio is as practical as the pre-facelift model. Space inside remains unchanged meaning, up front at least, it’s one of the roomiest cars in its class. It also offers class-leading boot space, although passenger space in the rear is far less impressive than the SEAT Ibiza.

It isn’t perfect, though. Thanks to the unusual shape of the dashboard, with its protruding section for the gear lever, you can feel rather constrained at the wheel. The issue is more likely to bother tall and broad drivers, but Renault has at least tried to limit the effect by slimming down the steering column to provide more knee room for those with longer legs.

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Boot space and storage

The Clio’s boot measures 391 litres with the rear seats in place. That’s a very impressive figure, as it’s larger than some hatchbacks from the class above such as the Volkswagen Golf (380 litres) and Ford Focus (375 litres).

Renault achieved this volume by making the Clio’s boot quite deep. However, that’s produced a high lip to lift items over before you can lower them into the boot. To ease this burden, Renault also gave the Clio a variable height boot floor that can eliminate the loading lip and create a hidden storage bin. If you need even more room, you can lower the rear seats to liberate up to 1,069 litres of space.

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Oddment storage is hit and miss. There are two cupholders in the centre console, but they can’t hold anything larger than a Coke can. The door pockets are quite skinny, too, which means you can’t conveniently carry a litre-sized water bottle. And while the smartphone tray is just large to hold most devices, it’s too small to accommodate them when they’re plugged in. That means, if you don’t have the optional wireless charger, you’ll need to rotate your phone in the tray and get used to having your charging cable interfere with the gear lever.

Is it easy to park?

The Renault Clio is a classically sized supermini, so you shouldn’t find it difficult to park. That being said, rear three-quarter visibility is slightly restricted by the car’s rising beltline and the rear window is rather small. At least you get rear parking sensors as standard.

The Techno model comes with front and rear parking sensors and a rear-view camera, which helps a lot. The Clio’s mirrors are wide, too, which helps make up for the lack of visibility over your shoulder.

Safety

• Five-star Euro NCAP safety rating
• Plenty of standard safety equipment
• Optional semi-autonomous driving pack

Renault is rightly proud of its safety record. When the Clio was last crash tested in 2019, it scored some of the highest results in its class, leaving the facility with a five-star safety rating. That made the Clio the 23^rd Renault to achieve top marks in its crash tests. However, it’s worth mentioning that Euro NCAP has since tightened up its safety regulations, meaning a newer five-star superminis (such as the BYD Dolphin) will be safer in an accident.

Despite this, the Clio’s six airbags and stiff crash structure allowed it to perform well in its crash tests. You also get an arsenal of safety technology that includes autonomous emergency braking, lane-keeping assist, cruise control and traffic sign recognition.

Esprit Alpine models are fitted with adaptive cruise control and a blind spot monitoring system. Plus, ever Clio is features LED headlights as standard – and Renault claims they’ve improved visual range by 70 metres over the previous car’s halogen lamps.

Watch the Renault Clio’s Euro NCAP crash test video