Our Renault 5s left us at 110K miles, with original clutches intact. Elderly neighbours got through a clutch in 15K miles on two cars. One was a Clio so a fair comparison. Both thought that the car had an infinity variable gear, aided by simulating a gas turbine before even starting to raise the left foot. Always sounded like a 747 running up against the brakes before take off clearance! Hot clutch lining has a very distinctive, unpleasant smell.
I used to tell my bus drivers that it takes eight hours to change a clutch, but only thirty seconds to ruin one!
In over 1M miles, in various vehicles from tractors to artics ("semis"
, I have never worn out a clutch. My father passed the Driving Examiners test, and taught me that a clutch was not a variable gear, so should be "in" or "out". Slip it until the vehicle begins to move and then engage it fully, was his advice, and once moving, minimise slipping.
In the early days of motoring, the advice was "The clutch should be used for departure only". Once on the move, you worked without it, Scammell drivers will agree!
When the clutch cable broke, in The Hague, our daughter drove her Renault 5 back to East Anglia, much to the surprise of the Customs officers at Dover, changing gear clutchless! (At that time Renault had only just accepted that the design of the automatic adjusting mechanism was faulty, and produced a field fix kit)
A slipping clutch is a different matter; sometimes, if you are gentle, you can nurse it home, especially when everything is hot, but once cold you may have had it! And if the centre has ripped out of the centre plate, a tow rope is the best hope.
Howard