Renault Clio Dynamique MediaNav dCi 90

Car radios are a necessity, yet not so long ago they were an expensive luxury, which even required a special licence to own (rather like a television one) until the mid 1970s. Small wonder that many motorists preferred to do without and take along a portable item (perfectly legal) or just sing to themselves. When the Clio's melodic masterpiece strangely 'froze' as I was changing channel, I was instantly transported back to the good old days over the Christmas break, and hated every second of it, as did my passengers if you’ve ever heard my singing, you’d understand why!

The radio seemed to be on permanent mute, plus wouldn't change station either, which no amount of fiddling with or even restarting the car would alter. The CD player was similarly affected but, thankfully, the invaluable satellite navigation part, which I greatly relied upon over Christmas, still worked, albeit without audio instructions. With some quite lengthy journeys to tackle over the festive break, I couldn't stand the silence any longer and so dropped into my local Renault dealer, Toomey’s of Basildon, Essex. To their credit, the service department looked at our Clio immediately and within the space of 30 minutes, had Radio 2 blasting out again. I say fixed because probably due to the car being a Press vehicle and me being a journalist the technicians were coy in informing me what the problem actually was. However, I gather that they had to disconnect and reconnect the car's battery which allowed the system to reset itself. I also understand that my Clio is not the first one that the team has tackled in such a way... “See how it goes” were their departing words, and although the radio does what I want it to, I think some of the many functions the R-Link infotainment system boasts may not be working fully, but I've yet to check it out further.

While the Clio's reliability has largely been excellent, I have mixed views over a couple of faults that I’ve suffered during my ownership, the other glitch being a faulty fuel consumption readout since delivery six months ago. Yes, they have been trivial and easily fixed, but to a Luddite like me, it only reinforces my scepticism about the wonders of modern technology. Full marks to the dealer for topping up the coolant during my drop-in after I noted it was low. As our recent feature on the subject in the used car section highlighted, you can't use any old anti-freeze in a modern engine or, worse still, mix them, as both can do more harm than good. But the look of horror on the faces of the mechanics when I said I would simply use tap water as a last resort, was a picture as good as any Christmas card!