I’ve made a bit of an error with the Clio’s Trackstar tracking system. Standard fit on the Clio V6 from new, when I bought the car I casually read the Trackstar paperwork and saw that the car was covered by a lifetime subscription. ‘Great,’ I thought. ‘Won’t need to renew it.’
Note to self: never casually read something that relates to the safety and security of a car worth close to £20,000. Basically, the Trackstar subscription is only valid for lifetime ownership. So when the previous owner sold the car to me, the subscription lapsed. That means I’ve owned the car for eight months without a Trackstar subscription. Muppetry, total muppetry.
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Anyway, I’ve now renewed the subscription (UK and European cover) on the aforementioned lifetime basis at a cost of £399, which includes a three-month trial of Safe Speed, a static speed camera alert system (see www.trafficmaster.co.uk for more info).
In other news, the Clio’s new Recaro seats are quickly becoming my new favourite thing. I’ve had a month in them now – a month of enjoying clearly filtered messages from the road to my backside. There is a problem, however: the extra clarity I’m getting is making me push the Clio harder and harder, and bearing in mind the V6’s infamous knife-edge handling, that can’t be a good thing…
Running Costs
| Date acquired | May 2009 |
| Total mileage | 13,554 |
| Costs this month | £399 (Trackstar subscription) |
| Mileage this month | 528 |
| MPG this month | 22.8 |
