Nope, sorry. You won’t find it hidden away anywhere in the following paragraphs, nor on Renault’s price lists. The Renault Sport Clio remains, and probably always will be, unavailable with a manual transmission.
Still, that faux pas aside there’s still plenty to compliment Renault’s hot hatch for, and with the advent of the new Black Edition option pack there’s a little more scope for personalisation than there has been until now, too.
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Offered on both the Clio Renault Sport 200 and the more focused Clio Renault Sport 220 Trophy, the Black Edition pack brings about eponymous changes to various exterior trim elements, contrasting with brighter paint finishes like Liquid Yellow and turning versions with Deep Black paintwork into a Clio-shaped void.
> Renault Sport Clio 220 Trophy review - Is the turbocharged Clio finally any fun?
The pack turns the door handles, side mouldings, front ‘blade’, tailgate mouldings and rear diffuser black on both models, while the Clio 200 also gets black 17-inch alloy wheels. Visual only then, but since the cost of the pack is £200 on the 220 and £350 on the 200, the outlay is relatively low.
The regular 200 can still be optioned with the Sport, Cup or Trophy chassis too, with a progressively more accomplished setup, while the 220 Trophy gets the Trophy chassis as standard (as you’d expect), with 18in alloy wheels, Michelin Pilot Super Sport tyres, a lowered ride height, firmer dampers and a quicker steering ratio.
Performance remains the same as ever, the 200 sprinting to 62mph in 6.7sec and hitting 143mph flat out, while the 220 Trophy knocks a tenth from the 0-62mph time and adds 3mph to the top speed.
Pricing sans Black Pack starts at £20,645 for the 200 and £23,195 for the 220 Trophy - more affordable than the Peugeot 208 GTi by Peugeot Sport, but there’s little doubt which of the French pair still offers the greater thrills.
