Shut up. I'm talking.

One particular reason I work so hard is because I have a passion for cars. Yes those things which are a complete waste of money. I can’t help it, I was quite literally wearing a helmet on my head when I was 16months old, there is petrol in my blood and it isn’t going anywhere.

Unfortunately this passion costs money and though I don’t drive a Ferrari, or even an Audi RS5, I still look for what the best car is that I can own within a reasonably affordable budget.

At the moment that car is a Renault Clio Sport RS. For it’s price it is leagues ahead of anything else in it’s class, in some cases it is better than some cars a class above it.

It is also a very very very uncool car. Clarkson would probably not even rank this car on the cool wall because it is so uncool. That being said, I don’t buy cars because they are cool or not, I buy cars because of how they drive, how they sound and how they look.

I have owned 2 Renaults in my life and I have convinced two other people to get Renaults because generally they are good cars. I’m not a Renault nut - I am in fact a die hard Audi fan (our group is 5000 strong…) for reasons which defy my own logic - but when I see a good car I will tell people about it.

Which brings me onto the point of this post.

Renault have recently brought in a 20th Anniversary Clio RS. It has everything I wanted on my car but couldn’t get. Black roof, black rims, red break calipers, pearl white paint and, most importantly, the ‘Cup Chassis’.

It costs R10,000 more than what my car cost when I bought it a year ago. It’s awesome and I want one.

So, the other day while dropping my car off for a service I decided to test drive a Megane RS (1 step above the Clio). It was a very sorry experience.

First the dealer said I couldn’t drive it (!!). I had to be a passenger while he drove me around. This was a car that cost R400,000. How in the world would I know if I wanted the car if I couldn’t drive it? I was told that “once you have placed an offer to purchase and the finance is approved you can drive it.” Uhhhh….

Second, while driving he asked me what car I drive. When I said a Clio RS (he should have known since I had just dropped my car off for a service at his dealership) he slowly came to his senses. It was only after I had to show him my racing license that he would let me drive.

Third, the car wasn’t as great as I expected which was a disappointment. It is an excellent handling car with awesome power but all-round it fails a bit. The interior is left wanting and this particular test car had a wheel bearing which was crying for help. You could get a Golf GTi for R70,000 less and have a better interior with very similar power & handling.

None the less I was still interested in the Clio RS 20th (R270,000) so I asked him to give me a value on my car for a trade in.

After hearing nothing for most of the day I decided to give them a call and after a few back and forths they eventually gave me a price… The price they gave me was 40k - 60k less than what they are being sold for 2nd hand on the floor. It was a completely unreasonable value yet they refused to budge. Bleak.

I decided to call a good friend of mine who sells second hand cars in a matter of no time he offered me a price well above what Renault did. Sometimes you cannot go by the book and in cases where the customer is loyal and continuous… you go the extra mile.

So today I decided to try another dealership in order to source a deal and a new car. Two phone calls and an email to the dealer later and I am yet to get a response. Not feeling the love Renault….

I often wonder why I continue to bang my head against a brick wall in order to own a Renault. The service has always been frustrating to say the least but I suppose I like some of their cars so much that I’m willing to be an idiot.

So Renault, if you one day stumble across this blog post please tell me why you are making it so difficult for me to get a car from you? I think I’ve been pretty loyal to your brand up to now and a bit of effort from your side would be appreciated because right now I feel like maybe it’s time for us to part our ways and ‘move on’.