PART 3-1983 Renault 5 GTL test drive Lecar -
Full disclosure flame wanted to see my Renault Le Car that bad, he asked me if he could and walked 3,000 miles So I am waiting for him to come back and I review myself because it's my car, what makes you think that the Volkswagen loving mother scratcher would do a better job.
Another car I love most everyone in America is hated Renault Le Car infamous I'm on my third now and one of my pride Why does everyone hate the stupid usual crap Americans complain with, small cheap cars, we'll go over some of them here and I'll explain why the car was revolutionary and wonderful and reception here was a pitcher.
The Le Car is what the world knew as the Renault 5, which has been monitoring the beloved Renault 4 huge success where they got their naming conventions is a mystery for the ages and we won t s 'to linger here Renault had been in America for years, but always had a network of dealers spotted random lots sold that imports they could get their hands on.
Thus, in the 70s, they bought a majority stake in plucky underdog American Motors to get their cars in the AMC showrooms.
5 was actually called 5 when he arrived on these shores in late 1975, but that was apparently confusing to people who I suppose thought they had bought a real 5 and were then handed over the keys a car.
To fight against this, the geniuses in the AMC's marketing department came up with Le Car meaning that the car in French the French word for the car is really car, but, again, Americans are morons and the French is all we can manage at any one time they plastered the name in large letters on the sides of cars to really hammer home what the little thingy was now that people knew it was a car that was on sale they were ready to steal the door.
Here's some background A car import scoubidous all the time was the Renault Dauphine case tangled The Dauphine was the replacement for the 4CV they continued to do anyway and built to be a killer Beetle from mid 50's he was small, cheap, rear engine, and it is sufficient power three box design was more conventional car shape than the Beetle and is as cute as a button.
In typical French style, it has a bit more flair, but none of the reliability of a VW It was stimulated screaming 32-horsepower engine 4CV, but you can get a Gordini granted 37 hp Renault spent 5 years to develop all aspects of it and thought the car was going to be hot They even said in ads and in Europe and elsewhere, it was a big seller Not quite the Beetle, but during his time life of 11 years, 1 February Dauphines million were built and sold around the world Unfortunately, in America, they were as hot as the Archbishop of Nome, Alaska balls My mother bought one back in the day and I asked him what it was and she said: Terrible the interior door handle did not take I asked if she ran well and she said it worked fine slow, but it has never crashed or anything it was so cheap The interior door handle did not take then, for lack of better ties on their doorknobs, Renault lost export silver buckets Dauphines the US Apparently everyone took for a test drive is stuck in cars, preventing them from ever being sold to anyone they were crushed with the skeletons still clenched inside door handles broken in vain in fact, they sold well at first, if Renault flooded the market with them just in time for people to discover that they didn t take all that well in driving conditions in the United States.
They corroded and that the door handles were falling from Dauphines as car part piñatas filled sales dropped Famously, in 1959, two ships carrying Dauphines were turned away en route to New York because the port there was already plenty rust He had arrived too late and was too fragile in the hands of American drivers to compete with the Volkswagen one of my personal favorites Car Talk memories turns out mid-show once and hearing, yes, the Renault Dauphine was the absolute worst car ever sold in America They then moved on to something else, but I can not imagine how these guys should have ripped this car.
Renault kept the car sent over the Atlantic and sold part s R8 and R10 s, but the Dauphine stink remained Renaults were weird things, cheap, unreliable crazy leads and that's the environment the Car was introduced only now they had added CMA s miserable reputation.
So what's the big problem with the Le Car is just another cheap shitbox people hated Didn t you say it was revolutionary Yes, look it's shaped like rabbit, Dodge Omni and a hundred other shitbox small hatchback, but you say, the Renault was the first was the shitbox all other shitboxes followed was truly a revolutionary design and very modern which was an ingenious set for Renault then had a long and proud history sell affordable cars culminating with the 4CV which helped put France back on wheels after strange and sexy Car World war II Citroën 2CV and DS like all the attention, but Renault has always done the dirty work of the French auto industry, average build cars people could really use the 5 was designed in 1967 by Michel Boue, a young assistant in the Renault design department on a lark Renault wasn t planning on developing a new small car, but they knew instantly it was something special in the beginning it was just a preview quickly pulled on a photo of a 4 Boue that would tweak in his time free Unlike the carefully developed Dauphine after some Fleshing, he went around from design to render production.
Seriously guys Renault took a look at the drawing and said, My God and a month later they couple had a normal size mockup No discussion group No meeting of the board they liked, they did, and it worked.
Now this may sound funny to you and me as it is just a small car square as we have seen a billion times, hurray, but when you look at the cheap deals people drove before, you see why it was so hitting the 4 CV was delicate and primitive.
The 4 was awkwardly utility and looks a bit like it was designed by Surrealists like an exquisite corpse.
But the 5 was clean and fresh Mechanically, it was basic, with other engines Renaults and transmission 4 But its monocoque body with, for the first time ever on a car, plastic bumper hunting was like a spaceship from the year 9000 to australopithecusses living in 1972 when it debuted.
It was exactly what everyone wanted and was an instant sensation He came in bright colors and was hip, chic, affordable and incredibly convenient The hatch is great, and when you put the seats down, it becomes like the Tardis He'll swallow almost anything.
He also released as the oil crises of the 70s started to hit, so that her time was impeccable people were downsizing and here was this beautiful, new, small car Thrifty In 1975, more than a million were sold and Renault execs drunk on its success looked great big hole in the shape of North America on their sales card and said, what do we have to lose But imitators like rabbit and Civic beat here, and the Americans were all, they are still making cars in France, I distinctly American is that we looked at something the rest of the world to be an innovative piece of economic transport and mocked and ridiculed because s what happened he was the Joke people thought it was too small, the tires were too narrow, the control layout was weird, it was a stupid name are the same people q ui continued to buy Chevettes and Pintos as they made pornography Unlike these cars, the Renault 5 was designed as a small car, it wasn ta big car narrowed down and minimize d Unfortunately, as the Dauphine, it liked salted roads as a slug, but show me a 70 car that didn t rust and I'll let you sleep with my wife, Charlize Theron It was still really cheap, they sold enough to those who shamelessly just bought the thing available as my father when he brought a video arcade Sears instead Intellivision whore I asked for the car managed lowest hanging until 1984 three years later, Renault disbursed CMA their participation and fled America never to be seen or heard from again, not that anyone really noticed as a final fuck you, they gave us the Fire.
Hey, for a cheap car that time, it is actually quite beautiful carpets were standard and the seats, although covered with flimsy vinyl, a pleasant, comfortable squishiness is like sitting on marshmallows floating on a champagne river Mmmm This sounds good bubbles tickle your toes Take marshmallow handles your friend floatie marshmallow and stuffing your face until it can no longer support them and they sink and drown a stupid friend Like I said for its size, the Car is spacious enough for the size you are sitting still alongside your cabin mate, and you are never to stuff inside a Steinway, but Sá ingenious use of space is also some fun quirks French as the contact is on the left side of the column, and I challenge you to find the exit of the bonnet too, the cup holders are square Surprisingly, however, they provided a small flat next to the steering wheel is the perfect size and shape for holding an iPhone that's a Nostradamus vel foresight there What would a taste of marshmallow dipped in champagne like.
It is an absolute joy to drive this car Not Shut It really its a longer wheelbase than other cars in its size, its independent suspension It's the shock shockiest The French know their suspension and Le Car is smooth and sweet but not sweet hilarious He is agile and darty, but with understeer suspicion engine is pushed far enough into the engine bay to make room for the spare tire to the car is well balanced enough Director easy and accurate so long as aren t sleeves worn they always re worn.
It costs 3600 in 1978, which was the same as that of a Chevette and in line with its other competitors roughly But these were the AMC dealers and these guys were desperate There was always a discount or sale and they take to anything vaguely car-shaped recovery, then, you have the value of your money and you had to put gastronomic gasoline because s what they had in Europe and kiss your course of American fuel shit people paid regardless of the sludge is cheaper so they were running right.
In summary it's subcompact full of charm that will delight charm the socks off of you if you have a heart, it is fun to drive slow in this fast car as my Subaru 360, it gets tons of foreign attention prevents you to tell you how their first car was literally all non-American owns a Renault 5 at some point in their lives, they're relatively rare because they were considered disposable so that even the coolest low size will be jealous before scoffing and tell you they'd rather have a Yugo and, although they are rare, no one wants them, so if you do find one it'll be cheap again, he gave us the most large shopping in the history of mankind.
I know people will say I'm crazy and The Cars were rotten pieces of shit shit ever, and I know that I have a bias for the crappy little cars but the Renault 5 Le Car is a real design classic Boue was visionary Sadly, he died of cancer in 1971 and never got to see the impact and influence of his scribble would he is one of the best selling cars ever made and the genesis of all hot hatches It is also down perfect Christmas.
He was the true French Beetle in my opinion In fact, it was the replacement of the Beetle in most regions of the planet and people called shit Beetle all the time but it is not really because the shit is Insert success ever that your version of Coldplay Radiohead Bieber joke Zamfir here the same for my car's shown here before I took it apart.
Renault Le Car Review The Opp lock, Renault, review, maintained doorknob.