It was dry and sunny this morning so I thought that a ride up to Brecon, around the Beacons and up a little further West and North would try out the car nicely. There are some fantastic roads up there, with a mix of fast 'A' roads, hilly 'A' and 'B' roads and a bit of motorway as well.
From Hereford onwards the roads were wet, with water running off the hills over the roads on the Beacons, which made for a bit more fun. The car genuinely amazes me as it is so tractable, and will plod up a steep mountain road in 4th or 5th quite happily, or will scream along getting noticed half a mile away! The back end got a bit twitchy on a couple of the slower hairpin turns with a bit too much throttle, but nothing scary as we weren't going that fast.
I lost count of how many cars flashed their lights and / or waved, ( more than 10, mainly Clios!) .... I've never had that reaction in any car. The last one was on the way back on the Heads Of The Valleys road, near Abergavenny, and it was a Clio V6! I only saw it for a second, but it was silver with a black bonnet and roof, covered in decals, and looked like it had just come off a race track. Must be a known car.
Another highlight was going through the Gibralter tunnels at Monmouth on the A40, luckily with little traffic around. I slowed down to 30 or so just before the tunnels, down into 2nd, opened the windows and floored it through the gears. I know, I'm an old git and should know better, but the sound was just fantastic, and Carol, my Missus, sat up from her slumbers thinking that Armageddon had arrived!
6 hours in the car and it was genuinely comfortable all that time thanks, at least in part, to the Recaros.
All up I've driven the car about 500 miles now in the last 4 weeks, and I can't think of another 'modern' car with the Jekyll and Hyde character of the Clio V6. It gives the option of a pottering shopping car or a snarling homologation special from the race track just by using the accelerator peddle. It really is such a fun car.
Mark
From Hereford onwards the roads were wet, with water running off the hills over the roads on the Beacons, which made for a bit more fun. The car genuinely amazes me as it is so tractable, and will plod up a steep mountain road in 4th or 5th quite happily, or will scream along getting noticed half a mile away! The back end got a bit twitchy on a couple of the slower hairpin turns with a bit too much throttle, but nothing scary as we weren't going that fast.
I lost count of how many cars flashed their lights and / or waved, ( more than 10, mainly Clios!) .... I've never had that reaction in any car. The last one was on the way back on the Heads Of The Valleys road, near Abergavenny, and it was a Clio V6! I only saw it for a second, but it was silver with a black bonnet and roof, covered in decals, and looked like it had just come off a race track. Must be a known car.
Another highlight was going through the Gibralter tunnels at Monmouth on the A40, luckily with little traffic around. I slowed down to 30 or so just before the tunnels, down into 2nd, opened the windows and floored it through the gears. I know, I'm an old git and should know better, but the sound was just fantastic, and Carol, my Missus, sat up from her slumbers thinking that Armageddon had arrived!
6 hours in the car and it was genuinely comfortable all that time thanks, at least in part, to the Recaros.
All up I've driven the car about 500 miles now in the last 4 weeks, and I can't think of another 'modern' car with the Jekyll and Hyde character of the Clio V6. It gives the option of a pottering shopping car or a snarling homologation special from the race track just by using the accelerator peddle. It really is such a fun car.
Mark
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