One of the more entertaining aspects of our hobby is when a car comes along that represents a point when manufacturers were far less cautious. These days, most cars are safely sanitized for consumer use, even the most hairy sports cars, which have personalities that suggest no one wanted to risk a lawsuit in building something too dangerous. This is inherently a good thing, of course, but it does make you yearn for the zany exercises like this 2001 Renault Clio V6 Sport, which is listed here on Hemmings for $92,000. This is a car that doesn’t make much sense, likely didn’t make much money, and is all-smiles when you’re driving it. Thanks to Barn Finds reader Curvette for the find.
Anytime a manufacturer says they’re building a “race car for the streets,” a wave of eye-rolls follows. After all, if you’re building it for mass consumption, it can’t be all that ridiculous since better than half the population won’t like it. True race cars are cramped, have uncomfortable suspension, and engines that don’t idle particularly well. They have to be driven as intended to get the best out of them, so if you’re sitting in a late-model 911 that soaks up road abrasions, has functional air conditioning, and doesn’t sound like it’s about to swallow a valve while sitting at the stop light, is it really that raw? I digress, but cars like this Renault are in a truly different class because they were left so unrefined. Its flaws are the reason you want one.
The other desirable trait about cars like this Clio is the story behind them. Limited production vehicles like these usually have some zany skunkworks crew working in the background to get the finished product just suitable enough to pass the sniff test with the bean counters (and even then, I’m pretty sure they present cars like this in such a way to fool the suits.) The first version of the Clio V6 Sport was built by none other than Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) in Sweden, and they promptly deleted the rear seat and stuffed in a 3.0L V6 from the larger Renault Laguna. Significantly widened bodywork was incorporated along with cooling ducts and fatter wheels and tires. A 6-speed manual was the only available transmission.
227 horsepower rode high up in the back of the tiny car, and because of the higher center of gravity of the motor, handling was best described as twitchy. Many reviewers found the car hard to drive well at the limit, and sadly, the additional weight of the new performance model caused performance to suffer. 0-60 happens in a tick over 6 seconds, so it’s not particularly fast by today’s ridiculous standards. But few modern performance cars have the story that this one does, and it exudes the wonderful excesses of the outgoing eras of motorsports and small crews of enthusiasts building the cars the people wanted – all for what was a very reasonable price at the time. When you buy a car like this, you’re not buying it because it’s the fastest – you’re buying a time machine to an era we’re never going back to.
Interesting car. One wonders why it wasn’t developed into a turbo or supercharged rally car like the R5, maybe with added AWD…and plenty of drool cups.
It’s French, that’s why it didn’t make sense or much money…but it’s a barn (chateau) burner. An older Top Gear episode, then new, did a cheeky review of the Clio.
I want it.
I recall driving these in GT3 A-Spec, haha. Nice! This car will go to a much more well off version of myself, to whom a hundred grand is pocket change.
A fast hot box car that looks like Shamoo the whales 🐳 baby. Definitely be fun to open up the ponies!
Good luck with sale!
Wow, a rolling statement if ever there was one..somewhere along the the development path, it forgot to be a car though. With its suspect handling and rather meager performance for what it claims to be, being a statement isn’t worth the asking price. Unless you have to be the only person that has one.
These are COOL!!
Exhaust reminds me of a tailgunners turret. 💥
Like your write up of this wannabe monster. May French cars never die.
Jeff, if you are trying to imply that the Renault Clio V6 is somehow raw and unrefined I have to ask: Have you driven one? They are anything but unrefined. The V6 is smooth with a fat (but boring) torque curve. It has power steering, air conditioning, cup holders and power windows. People make the mistake of comparing the Clio V6 to the iconic Renault R5 Turbo assuming that one has something in common with the other. They share nothing but engine location. The R5 Turbo is longitudinally mounted while the Clio of transverse. The R5 is peaky, turbocharged WRC levels of fun. The Clio V6 is a cruise ship by comparison. I own an 83′ R5 Turbo 2 and even though the R5T is much more analog then the street friendly Clio V6, I’d be hard pressed to claim the Renault R5 Turbo is raw as even it is a street friendly car. The Clio however is anything but a raw, analog drivers car. It’s steering rack is slow and it’s turning circle is utterly ridiculous. The car on offer here is a Phase 1 car built, as you said, by Tom Wakinshaw Racing. The Phase 1 cars were so poorly engineered that Renault had to step in and redesign much of the car, thus creating the Phase 2 Clio V6 (255hp, better suspension, better cooling…) Sadly, the Clio V6 is one of those cars that is in the car collector zeitgeist for reasons purely fictional. They do not handle well, the engine is not exciting and they were just a money grab chasing the memory of an icon… the R5 Turbo. People often ask me: “Are you going to get a Clio V6 to park next to your R5 Turbo?” Sadly, the answer is no. I know the truth about these cars. Will they continue to appreciate in value? Absolutely. Once the Phase 2 is legal for U.S. consumption, they will crest $150k in a big hurry. But there are so many other cars I’d rather have for that kind of money.