Renault Clio RS16 200kW Micro-hatch

Renault has put forward a strong bid for coolest hot-hatch by squeezing the 2.0L turbocharged engine from the Megane RS into its pint-sized little brother, the Renault Clio. The special edition Clio RS16 forgoes its already hot 1.6L 162kW/280Nm engine in favour of the 201kW/368Nm 2.0L engine that makes the heavier Megane RS275 Trophy-R a big hitter in the hot hatch market.

Renault revealed its pint sized hyper hatch in front of admiring fans as F1 driver Kevin Magnussen took it through its paces. The Clio looks set to go head to with the Civic Type R to reclaim the front-wheel drive Nurburgring lap record that its big brother, The Megane, lost earlier this year.

The Clio RS 16 will ditch the dual-clutch automatic gear box in favour of a driver-centric six speed manual that will save weight and offset the heavier 2.0L engine up front. Despite losing the slick shifting automatic gearbox, the Clio RS 16 is still expected to dip below the magical 5 second barrier in the 0-100km/h sprint.

Renault is yet to confirm production of the RS 16, however, given the demand for high-powered hyper hatches, we would be very surprised if Renault didn’t make a limited production run- at least for Nurburgring bragging rights.