Renault Clio practicality and boot space

• More compact than previous Clio
• Impressive boot
• Slightly cramped for driver and rear passengers, though

Passenger space in the Clio is up there with the roomiest models on sale - offering class-leading boot space, albeit with less rear passenger room than the Ford Fiesta and SEAT Ibiza.

It's not all good news, though. Thanks to the shape of the dashboard with its protruding section to accommodate the gearlever, the driver can feel rather hemmed-in. It's likely to bother taller and broader drivers the most, but to help negate the effect, Renault has slimmed-down the steering column to provide more knee room for those with longer legs.

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Both driver and front passenger are very well catered for with comfortable seats. These are slimmer than on the previous Clio, claiming to improve legroom for rear passengers by 26mm. Four six-foot adults will fit in here at a push, with those in the back feeling rather cosy – and while that’s a criticism that could be levelled at any supermini, the lack of legroom could soon prove irritating.

There are two cupholders up front right beside the handbrake and a tray just ahead of the gearlever to place your smartphone beside two USB ports and an aux-in socket. While this tray is large enough to accommodate most smartphones, it’s too small to fit them when they’re plugged in – meaning you’ll either have to bend the cable or rotate your phone and contend with a trailing cable as you change gear.

Impressive boot space, but high load lip

The Clio’s boot has 391 litres of space on offer with the rear seats in place. That’s a really impressive figure, offering more space than some larger hatchbacks such as the (old) Volkswagen Golf.

Thanks to the high sill the boot itself is rather deep, potentially making it awkward to lift heavy items of cargo upwards before removing them. Easing this burden, as well as given greater flexibility in the boot, there's a variable height floor that allows goods to be slid straight out. 

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For added practicality, the 60:40 split-folding rear seats can be tumbled forwards to liberate up to 1,069 litres of space, ideal for those times you need an impromptu small van - that's enough space to make the Fiesta and Polo look tight in comparison.

Safety

• Five-star Euro NCAP result
• Advanced safety tech as standard
• Semi-autonomous driving pack available as an option

Renault’s rightly very proud of its safety record, and the Clio scored some of the highest results in its class in Euro NCAP’s crash tests, with the accompanying five-star rating to boot, when it was tested in 2019. This makes the Clio the twenty third Renault to achieve a five-star Euro NCAP rating.

With six airbags and a very stiff structure, it performed well in crashes. All cars get Renault's suite of safety aids, named ADAS or Advanced Driver Assistance Systems. These include lane-keeping assist, autonomous emergency braking and traffic sign recognition, plus cruise control with a speed limiter.

Various option packs are available, with the Traffic and Motorway Assistance Pack combining advanced lane-keeping assist with adaptive cruise control to provide semi-autonomous driving under certain conditions.

Plus, it's possible to spec a 360-degree camera and automatic parking system as part of the Techno Pack. In terms of safety tech, then, this is one of the best-equipped small hatchbacks around.

LED headlights are standard on all models and claim to have improved visual range by 70 metres over the previous model's halogen set up.

Watch: Renault Clio Euro NCAP crash test video