RoadTest/Renault Clio III: Never mind Nicole or her papa; spare a thought for Thierry Henry. While he's still knocking in the goals for Arsenal, poor old Thierry was shown the door by Renault with the arrival of the new Clio. Gone are the va-va-voom and the enigmatic gallic smile.
Admittedly he'll probably scrape by without the Renault pay cheque, surviving on the simple salary of a premiership footballer (about €170,000 a week). Yet it may just signal a shift in Renault thinking: less about the celebrities and more about the metal.
No doubt the only time Henry sat in a Clio was during the filming of the adverts; his normal runaround is an Aston Martin Vanquish.
Yet you have to give it to the French manufacturer; it's advertising campaigns gave a sense of style and street-cred to what was essentially yet another small car.
And it was small. We had the pleasure of travelling from Dublin to Galway once in the back of a Clio and you can be assured that there was a complete lack of va-va-voom.
Not that the old car suffered in terms of performance. It was always fun to drive, but suffered from engine and road noise. That's all changed for the better with the new Clio. Welcome to the bigger, better Clio, hoping to return the brand to the halcyon days when the Renault 5 was the desirable small car to drive.
The first thing that strikes you about the new car is its spaciousness. This is yet another example of how car firms are seemingly putting even their small cars on a course of steroids. Not since the Olympics have you seen such rapid spurts of growth.
Renault claims this new Clio is bigger than nearly every other entry in the market - the exception being the new Fiat Punto Grande. In fact the new Clio is just 20mm shorter than the Megane.
So what to make of the Clio III? Well, in terms of design it's not a world away from the current model, though it does feature discreet styling touches, such as the more prominent front light clusters and a slight change of lines on the rear.
It's the interior that has received the most noticeable upgrading, with not only more space but a vastly improved layout and finish. Gone are the flat, drab controls that seemed to mimic the likes of the Opel Corsa (not something to be proud of) and in comes a far more stylish Gallic affair, with proper knobs and Renault's chunky control stalks that are always at hand.
The use of more soft-feel plastics, the brushed-aluminium style plastic and, in particular, the rolling ball controls for the air vents are all admirable styling touches that would not look out of place in a decent family saloon.
This is all added to by the significantly improved head and legroom.
Perhaps the greatest surprise for us was in the rear legroom. For once, we could push the driver seat back to where we like it and still fit a six-foot adult in the back without their knees sticking into our back.
The boot space is greatly improved on the previous model, but it's only on a par with what's on offer from the likes of the Citroen C3 and Peugeot 206.
The test car featured the range-topping 1.4-litre engine and for once we found ourselves in a Renault that could nip around with ease. One of our main complaints about the current Renault range, particularly the Megane, is that its cars invariably seem underpowered. While the old Clio was fun to drive, in 1.2-litre format it was not exactly tearing up the roads. The new Clio, however, can mix it up with the best of them on the motorway and zipped around the country roads without complaint.
Our opinions on its pace were borne out by the official figures, which show the Clio - at least at this engine level - significantly faster in terms of acceleration than its main competitors.
While performance may not be a key criteria for most potential drivers, engine refinement is and this Clio is a significant improvement on its predecessor in terms of noise reduction. Both road and engine noise are but a distant hum in the cabin.
The turning circle is also quite impressive, and though the steering remains anaesthetised by the electronics, you never feel like you're not in control.
Renault has centred much of its Irish marketing efforts on safety and takes great pride in earning five-star Euro-NCAP safety ratings for its range. The new Clio is no slouch in this respect and comes with ABS as standard along with a plethora of airbags.
In short, this is a good, competent performer that's packing admirable punch and offers plenty of space for its size. Yet our main qualm is one that only time can answer: reliability.
Despite its avant garde approach to styling - which has to be commended - the French marque has never managed to match its Japanese rivals in this regard. It never ranks highly in customer satisfaction surveys.
There's no way of telling how the new Clio will perform in this regard.
However, our short time spent with the car suggests it's much better built than its predecessor.
In terms of costs, the new Clio should be relatively cheap to run, particularly if it comes close to its official fuel consumption figures of 47mpg. Also, resale values for Clios have always been particularly strong.
The French have a really strong contender on their hands here. The key will be to ensure that customers are as happy after a year in the car as they will undoubtedly be when they drive off the forecourt.
