Renault Clio facelift for 2009

The facelifted Renault Clio for 2009 - Due to launch at the Geneva Motor Show in March

As with most car makers, Renault is going for the ‘Family’ look, and has grafted a new nose on the Clio to make it look like its big brother, the Megane. So it gets a new front end with new headlights, slitty grill and an air intake at the bottom.

Big play is being made of the Clio GT (which Renault says will give more people more Va Va Voom!), and these are the pictures we have here. No details yet on the spec, as Renault want a few surprises up their sleeves for Geneva, but expect an ‘Excitable’ rather than a ‘Hot’ hatch. But you can see a nice set of twin exhausts in the pictures, which should be connected to the usual list of better mpg, lower emissions and more power mantra we get with new cars.

Biggish news is that Renault has obviously decided that people are pretty fed up with manufacturers’ high-cost custom SatNav systems. So they’ve included a SatNav option on the new Clio from TomTom, which gives a built-in TomTom at a much more reasonable £500. And even though the system is integrated, owners will still be able to download TomTom updates via the web as they would with a stand-alone. Sensible move.

UK Car sales are due to start in May, and Renault are promising ‘Generous Specs’. More information when we’re at Geneva in March.

By Cars UK