Renault Clio review

Prices start from £17,995 for the base-spec Evolution, which includes 16in alloy wheels, automatic air con, automatic LED headlights and wipers, traffic sign recognition, rear parking sensors, automatic high and low beam assistance, cruise control, lane keep assistance, plus a seven-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. And that’ll be plenty for most people to get by with.

Meanwhile Techno cars start from £19,395, with upgrades including bigger, 17in alloy wheels, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, front parking sensors, a rearview camera, an electric parking brake and ambient lighting.

The top-of-the-range Esprit Alpine commands a price tag of £20,795, which adds the 9.3in touchscreen, 10-inch driver display, adaptive cruise control, heated steering wheel and front seats, and active safety gadgetry that includes blind spot monitoring. It also gives you the poshest possible interior finish, which is now leather-free and clad in Alpine-branded flourishes that don’t really belong on a car like this. Still, it looks fancy and Renault Group has to make that Alpine F1 programme count for something.

Renault doesn’t really do options these days: if you want something, you need to pick the spec that carries it.

Those prices are all for the 1.0-litre turbo: the hybrid means investing another £3.5k across the board. A base hybrid is £700 more than a top spec TCe. We’re not convinced it’s worth the extra money. It’s not much more fuel efficient and you lose 25 per cent of your boot space. But you do get silent motoring and more speed if you want it. For us, superminis have always been at their best when the recipe is simple.

Lining up a finance plan? There are some deals to be had from Renault at the moment. It does a subscription service from £399 a month that includes all insurance, servicing, tax and breakdown cover. Basically just car hire, for £12.50 a day. If you want to lease one, the deals on hybrids are even more tempting. Renault is offering 0 per cent APR, with prices starting at just £165 a month. That, in the current climate, is a bargain.