Personally I'd get the Civic, both cars are about the same speed, about the same size, about the same fun to drive and about as nasty inside as each other.
The only difference is the years they were made and how new . Spend a little longer looking for a good Civic Type R and although over 3 years it won't save you much it'll at least save you some money.
My opinion anyway.
PS My excess on my 1.4 Fiat is £1400, what do I win?
What sort of aged Clio and Civics are you talking about?
They are awesome, but have you seen how quickly they wear? I saw a few in the Renault dealers with only a couple of thousand miles on and all were worn on the drives seat bolster.
[TW]Fox;17619349 said:Have you driven either car Peerzy?
That post would suggest not?
Maybe in terms of stats and figures they're similar, but they are completely different to drive!
Gear stick position in the Civic is better, and the whole interior tbh. No chance of the timing belt snapping and taking the engine out with the Civic (not heard of a chain snapping where as the Clio belt snapping isn't uncommon).
Clio is easier to drive fast. You need to work the Civic harder but isn't that point of a hot hatch? There isn't a lot in it performance wise though, I think the Civic edges it.
I think you get more for your money with the Clio though. You can get an 05 182 for 4500 these days, that'd probably get you a 52/03 CTR with a fair few miles on it.
Maybe in terms of stats and figures they're similar, but they are completely different to drive!
Have to agree that the interiors aren't quite up to german standards, but IMO the Civic tops the Clio interior.I've no idea what the stats are, they were both had rubbish interiors, pretty small, the Civic obviously had Vtec and that going for it but the Clio felt quicker down low in the rev range.
Both had back numbing suspension setups (no idea if the Clio was Cup or not), Civic had a better gearbox and the pedals were much nicer.