Clio's crash-hot

Crash safety is a marketable commodity and is increasingly becoming a driving force for car manufacturers, as ALASTAIR SLOANE writes.

The mid-size Renault Laguna II was the first car to get a maximum five-star safety rating from Europe's New Car Assessment Programme.

Euro-NCAP crash-tests cars by wiring them up to monitors and sending them smashing into concrete blocks, as well as smacking them in the rear and sides with hydraulic rams. It analyses the effects the going-over has on the car and gives it a front and side impact rating and a pedestrian rating.

One star means the car's a crash-crock as far as Euro-NCAP is concerned, that you had better be in something else in a serious shunt.

Three stars mean it's above average. Four, that it's strong, that passengers' chances of survival in a crash are good but one or two things could be improved. The Citroen C5, Ford Mondeo and Volvo S60 received four stars in front and side impact tests last November.

Five stars means the car's a cracker by Euro-NCAP standards - strong, safe and well-designed.

What about one star in the pedestrian test? Jaywalkers are goners. The car doesn't have a pedestrian-friendly bone in its body. Two stars don't improve the jaywalker's odds of survival much either. Three stars? Only Honda's Civic and Stream and the Daihatsu Sirion have achieved three Euro-NCAP stars.

Most carmakers nod wisely but say they don't pay much heed to Euro-NCAP results. Carmakers prefer their own testing.

Euro-NCAP testing isn't always conclusive, they say. It doesn't reflect the effects of real-life crashes.

Mercedes-Benz has been crashing its cars into each other since the 1930s. Saab, another long-time safety leader, does the same. So does BMW.

But the top-end carmakers disagreed with NCAP's front and side impact findings on three models back in 1997. Euro-NCAP gave the C-Class Mercedes two stars and the Saab 900 and BMW 3-Series one-and-a-half. It must be said that the Saab and BMW were nearing the end of their model life and the Merc was halfway through its six-year cycle.

Interestingly, the 2000 model Mercedes C-Class got a four-star rating. So did the new Saab 9-3 and BMW. Euro-NCAP results are nothing if not influential.

A case in point is the 1997 Renault Laguna. It got 2 1/2 stars. Four years on, the Laguna II got an unprecedented five.

Renault has borrowed safety features from the Laguna II in a bid to improve the Euro-NCAP rating of its updated Clio. The previous-model Clio, launched here in August 2000, was given four stars.

The new-look Clio goes on sale this week, starting in price at $24,990. The four-model range has risen in price between $1000 and $4000.

It comes with dual front airbags, ABS anti-lock brakes and air-conditioning - standard equipment that made the previous model a class leader.

It is quieter, too, thanks partly to a vibration-damping windscreen, and has a stronger body.

About 50 per cent of the body and its panels are either new or modified. Crossmembers in the floor and roof, and the car's front pillar, are thicker. The rear pillars have been reinforced. It uses more absorbent padding in the interior.

Safety belts come with load-limiters and pre-tensioners. There is a three-point Isofix attachment for a child safety seat. Renault says widespread adoption of the Isofix system would result in a 22 per cent reduction in the number of serious injuries to children aged up to 4 years.

The four-cylinder petrol engines have largely been carried over from the previous model, except for modifications to the throttle and air intake.

The standard EX Clio is powered by a 1.4-litre unit producing 72kW and 127Nm of torque and mated to a five-speed manual ($24,990) or four-speed automatic ($26,990) gearbox. The better-equipped automatic PR Clio costs $29,990.

The fast-charging, manual-only RS Clio Sport ($37,990, up from $33,990)) uses a 2-litre engine producing 124kW at 6250 rpm and 200Nm at 5400 rpm. Changes to the engine and final drive ratio have marginally improved acceleration.

The suspension system has also been revised. Standard cars get rear-mounting bushes previously reserved for sporting models and the Sport's geometry and damper settings have been altered to improve traction.

The Clio Sport was developed by Renault Sport, the carmaker's high-performance arm. It's considerably more refined than the 110kW Clio Willams, the sporty benchmark at Renault only a few years ago.

Engineers borrowed from motorsport technology to give the car and its engine more oomph. They improved the air flow, used competition valves with variable valve timing, increased the length of the inlet manifold, changed the profile of the cylinder heads and added a tubular exhaust manifold.

The changes meant 85 per cent of the Clio Sport's torque is available between 2500 and 6500 rpm, and 95 per cent of its maximum power kicks in at 5800 rpm, with little power loss beyond 6250 rpm - 750 rpm short of the red line.

The power goes to the front wheels through a Laguna-sourced close-ratio five-speed gearbox, which is good for 110 km/h in second, 150 km/h in third, 195 km/h in fourth and 220 km/h in fifth. Best not to go there though. Not on a public road.