All generations and engines together · 230,216 MOT tests in the 2025 data · typical mileage at age 7: 52k
Split by first-registration year. Cars registered in a changeover year can belong to either generation.
Computed from DVSA MOT results, all of Great Britain, 2025. Nothing here is opinion.
Share of tests where each item was recorded. The dark tick is the class average across all tracked models; bars are scaled within each group.
The rows that judge the model rather than its keeper. 81,144 tests in this band.
Tyres, pads and stone chips say more about how the car was driven and maintained than about how it was built.
Owner folklore from forums and the motoring press. Most of it never shows up in an MOT, which is why this section exists at all.
Several generations of Clio throw up Braking Fault, ABS, STOP and handbrake warnings together on the dash, sometimes alongside rear brakes that feel sticky or slow to release. Forum diagnosis (fault code DF017, described as an ABS computer supply fault) points to the ABS pump or module, a wheel speed sensor, or in some cases low battery voltage confusing the system. It turns up from around 60,000 miles on both Clio 3 and Clio 4 cars. Fixes range from a cheap sensor or battery service to an ABS pump or module, which can run to several hundred pounds; no recall was found for it. Brakes are the standout fail category in the measured MOT data for this class, and the forum pattern of ABS warnings and sticking rear brakes sits on that same corner of the car, so the electronics story and the MOT story are probably two views of the same wear point.
On the 0.9 TCe three-cylinder turbo petrol fitted to Clio IV (2013-2019), Honest John reader reports and owner forums describe the timing chain tensioner failing early, sometimes taking the chain and valves with it. Cases have turned up from around 36,000 miles, and one 2014 car needed a full engine replacement at 42,000 miles; another owner reported £1,000 of damage at 64,000 miles. It hasn't been the subject of a published recall or TSB, but one owner was told by a dealer it was the fifth such case they'd seen, and the same engine family is shared with several Dacia models. A repair means an engine rebuild or replacement, well into four figures, which is a bad surprise once the warranty has run out.
Petrol Clios, TCe engines in particular, are known for ignition coil failures that cause misfires and rough running. The advice repeated by mechanics and owners is to replace all four coils together rather than just the one that's failed, because doing a single coil often just means the next one fails a few months later. It can appear any time from around 40,000 miles onward. A single coil is cheap on its own, but doing the full set pushes the bill toward £150-£250 depending on labour.
Alloy-wheeled Clio IVs have a reputation for tyre pressure sensor failures caused by corrosion at the valve rather than the electronics itself. Some owners report a sensor failing, being replaced, and another failing again within the year, in one case four times before the warranty ran out. How much of this is a Clio-specific design issue versus the ordinary problem of TPMS valves corroding on salted UK roads is genuinely disputed; several other superminis get the same complaint. A single sensor replacement runs roughly £100-£150, but repeat failures add up.
Knocks and creaks from the front end, usually traced to worn shock absorber top mounts, drop links or anti-roll bar bushes, are a recurring complaint from around 60,000-80,000 miles, most often flagged on Clio IV. It's the kind of wear any supermini racks up at that mileage, so how seriously to take a single creak varies. A drop link or bush is cheap to replace, roughly £30-£80 a side fitted; a full set of worn top mounts pushes toward £250.
On manual Clios, clutch judder pulling away and a rumbling release bearing noise with the pedal depressed have been reported on 1.2 16v Clio IV cars at higher mileages. It doesn't apply to EDC automatic or hybrid E-Tech cars, which use a different transmission entirely. A clutch and release bearing replacement typically runs £500-£800.
Built from the two sections above.
Same segment (Superminis), best MOT record first. Compare before you shortlist.
Head to head with the other popular cars in its class on reliability and common faults.