Let's talk Renault

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We do have the Renault-Nissan vehicles. And now Renault-Mitsubishi. Being frank and having experience with a Ghosn Renault-Nissan Altima, not having Renault in the US, no loss 'imo'.
 
Originally Posted By: Claud
Renault have a below average rating for reliability and customer service in the UK. It's difficult to see how they can go head to head with the oriental makes already established in the USA. They have no infrastucture to speak of, and it's difficult to tell one modern car from another.
It used to be a short drive in most cars gave you a clue as t where it was built, German no-nonsense well built machines, French idiosyncratic oddities, italian fun to drive between breakdowns, British dignified transport that fell apart as fast as its empire, Japanese gadget laden cars that didn't go wrong, but were horrible to drive, American big lazy engined beasts that rumbled along effortlessly until required to go round a sharp curve....
If you sat in a car with its logos removed could you tell where it was built?.

Claud.


Awesome....Spoilt for choice
smile.gif
 
Citroen, Renault, Peugeot were all available in the US a while back.

But, compliance with US safety and environmental regulations is expensive. Very expensive.

Those manufacturers looked at their US sales and decided that the cost of compliance wasn't worth it.

I learned to drive on my father's Peugeot 504 diesel sedan with a manual transmission. Even took my driving test in that car. It was replaced by a 505 turbo diesel, and that was replaced by a 505 turbo gasoline car. I liked them all. Good cars.

But Peugeot didn't think it was worth staying in the US market...
 
Originally Posted By: Astro14
Citroen, Renault, Peugeot were all available in the US a while back.

But, compliance with US safety and environmental regulations is expensive. Very expensive.

Those manufacturers looked at their US sales and decided that the cost of compliance wasn't worth it.


Yes, there's some weird regs.

US had the Pinto rear end disaster, and definitely something needed to be done

When the Commodore and Monaro went to the US (as the G8 and the GTO), they had to be re-engineered to move the fuel tank to meet Pinto derived regulations. While the vehicle in Oz has zero conflagration issues.
 
Renault...they had more than their share of disastrous diesel engines, but they are so widespread here that parts are cheap and any mechanic can deal with them. Gas engine are usually decent, and most car have good handling.
As for the styling, I'm not a fan...maybe because they are so widespread they became boring?

Well to me they are like Hyundai. Very aggressive marketing, new cars available fast, cheap parts easy to get...mostly reliable, but boring. Probably the reason why they are so widespread here...

They used to produce great cars, like the Renault 25 (my Grandfather had one), or maybe the Safrane (which was plagued by electronic reliability issues but had some interesting Volvo and Hartge prepared engines). I also remember vividly a Primaquatre sport from the 30's that my uncle had as a collector...surprisingly springy for its age!

Regarding the Talisman, I rented one when it was all new. Very nice, but broke down after ~200Km. I guess French don't know how to do reliable electronics...or they launch their car too early (remember the Citroën XM/Peugeot 605) ?
 
Originally Posted By: hpb
I could never work out why the US misses out on French cars either.


Because they are unreliable.... and when they break, parts are non-existent.

When parts DO actually exist, they are EXPEN$$$$IVE!

Originally Posted By: Leo99
We had Renaults and Peugeots here back in the late 70s early 80s. They were garbage.


Yep..... Bad enough I would never own one for what they cost
 
Originally Posted By: Leo99
We had Renaults and Peugeots here back in the late 70s early 80s. They were garbage.

If late 70s early 80s automotive quality is your evaluation criteria, then please get rid of all the Fords, Chevys, and for gosh sakes the Chryslers.
(Rusty, saggy '78 Cutlass bumper anyone?!?)

The smart money would be living in a world of Toyotas and Hondas.

Oh, wait.....
 
We here in the USA get much better pricing on new cars compared to Europe. That is the first issue of many to deal with if they were serious about reentering the U.S. market.
 
The ONLY reason we might see more Renault-engineered cars in the US, if not Renault-badged cars, is the Nissan connection. Given that I wouldn't buy a Nissan or Mitsubishi on a bet, I'd likely not buy a Renault either.

Now, if VW brought Skoda in as a low-end brand I'd be all over that. Can there be a better model name than the Skoda Yeti? Think about the cross-marketing they could do with Yeti coolers.

EDIT: looks like Skoda quit building the Yeti and replaced it with the Karoq?!? Who comes up with these names? It's almost as bad as the alphabet-soup that Cadillac uses.
 
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Originally Posted By: dishdude
Why don't we have these in the states? I believe they are sold in Mexico and Canada


I'm in the Toronto area and we don't have Renault's on the road.
 
Originally Posted By: dishdude
Originally Posted By: Reddy45
Some Nissan models are rebadged Renaults right?


When I was in France I saw no Renault models that remotely resembled Nissans. I know Renault owns a pretty big chunk of Nissan.


They are closely related underneath.

They have shared engines and gearboxes for many years. Especially the diesels.

When platform sharing is done there is no real reason for the vehicle to look the same externally.

Otherwise VW would look like a Seat and a Skoda would look like an Audi.

The Honda Accord years ago was also a Rover 600.

Smaller models were also sold as Hondas, like the Concerto I think it was called.

The new Mercedes X Class is based on a Nissan Navara.

The Citan van is a Renault Kangoo.

The new A Class is based on a Renault Megane.

Loads of the smaller Mercedes have Renault engines.

And why not, there is nothing wrong with them.

Dacias are obsolete Renault designs but you can get the latest engines in them like the 0.9Turbo you get in the Smart cars.

Theres another one. The Twingo and a Smart ForFour are the same car, but apart from a few switches and the odd bit of plastic here and there they don't look the same.
 
Originally Posted By: hpb
I could never work out why the US misses out on French cars either.


Because French manufacturers are likely not overly interested in it.

Theres a big world out there.

A big developing world.

When you take a global view why would you spend Billions to enter the US market in a big way only to end up with a class action suit for something that everywhere else in the World nothing would be said or done?

European cars do seem to be historically more complicated than domestic offerings and European brands also have a larger amount of their vehicles fitted with a diesel engine.

I wonder if VAG are contemplating if they had not entered the US market?
 
My Rogue was built in the Renault-Samsung factory in South Korea. It also has a "Renault Nissan" labeled battery in it. And although they are still different companies, the CEO of Renault is also the CEO of Nissan.
 
There are so many good usable designs available in other country's that it's sad for the USA. I would love to have a Gen I Ka here to tool around and go to town in. I'm sure the engine would pass smog tests just fine, but it ain't goinna happen.

And the Toyota Hilux 4x4 diesel camper vans coming in from Canada for visits drive us crazy because we can't get them ...

The USA is not the home of the free (market). It is the controlled market of the east coast and Detroit ...
 
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I remember in the 90’s making a couple or three trips to Portland OR each year and seeing lots of Peugeot cars there. Why? I’ll never know but they were not seen much anywhere else.

Renault got a reputation for a cheap car. They didn’t last.

Citroen, now there’s a brand with timeless styling.
 
Originally Posted By: Tech819
Renault does not sell cars in Canada.


We did have them, as well as Peugeot and Lada vehicles (in the early 80s).

IIRC, the Renault cars (LeCar, Alliance etc) were offered through the AMC/Chrysler/Plymouth dealers.
 
Originally Posted By: PimTac


Citroen, now there’s a brand with timeless styling.

Heavens yeah bud. Renault, not bad but Carlos Ghosn ruins everything (including Nissan). Totally agree with the Citroen thing
 
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