If car makers renew their cars every four years, just like what Japanese used to do, they will never need facelifts. Facelifts are means to refresh your products – visually and mechanically – without investing everything again. In general, facelifts cost just a fraction of the original development budget, and cost even less for retooling the assembly plants. It sounds very attractive to Le Cost Killer or Mr. Bean Counter. However, facelifts are usually difficult to succeed. New features, technologies and new corporate styling themes are not easy to merge with the old cars, because there are many constraints that you cannot alter. In fact, most facelifts result in mixed impressions as I found out during the past 12 years writing about cars.

The latest example is Renault Clio. On this facelift, Renault created two different faces – as shown in the pictures – the regular car with a square mouth, and the Renault Sport (RS) model with a black tongue. Unfortunately, neither look handsome. Both have a nose that looks uncomfortably long, and both noses do not fit well into the original body. If this is the definitive work of Patrick Le Quement, who is going to retire later this year, then we will be very disappointed.

Mechanically, there are little changes made to the chassis or cabin, at least too minor to be mentioned here. Some engines are new to the Clio, if not exactly new to Renault. The outgoing 1.4-liter 16V engine has been replaced by Twingo’s 1.2 TCE low-pressure turbo, offering the same 100hp output at lower consumption. Twingo RS contributes its high-revving 1.6-liter 16V to its bigger brother, albeit after detuning to 128hp. This engine powers Clio GT, the new “warm” model sitting under RS. Frankly, I am not so impressed with this engine as it lacks both top end punch and low-down torque. Fiat Grande Punto Abarth and Peugeot 207GT, for example, are far better choices.

The biggest changes are found in the Renault Sport model. An ugly little duck it might look like, it is still the most exciting driving machine in B-segment (superminis), especially now its high-revving 2.0-liter 16V engine has received new cylinder head and revised ECU to boost low down torque. Renault said it produces 20 percent more torque below 3000 rpm, which feels exactly the same way in reality. Acceleration is also enhanced by shorter ratios for the first 3 gears. Meanwhile, its top speed is boosted to 141 mph, thanks to the combination of 3 more horsepower at the top end and a revised nose that cuts drag by 3 percent.

As before, you can choose between a fully loaded RS or a striped-out Cup version. The latter gets rid of 36kg together with air-conditioning, high-spec audio, electric mirrors, telescopic steering wheel and soft-touch plastics on dashboard. Besides, it gets a quicker steering, 7mm lower ride height, 30 percent stiffer springs and dampers. Both versions receive double-acting dampers to improve high-speed ride and a slightly stiffer front anti-roll bar to reduce body roll. A sharp handling becomes even sharper.

Nevertheless, the Renault Sport model is unlikely to help the whole range much. This facelift fails to narrow the gap between Clio and the class leaders like Ford Fiesta, Mazda 2 and Honda Jazz. Its ugly nose certainly doesn’t help.