Browsing through an old USB key revealed a lot of old pictures I had taken a few years ago. In these COVID-19 shutdown times, I think it is wise to unbury them.
Here is a picture of my parents’ driveway during a family meeting for my mother’s birthday, taken in February 2007.
As you can see, we were very loyal to Renault. Is it due to the fact that there was a Renault shop in our small town? That my uncle was working there for years? Maybe both…
On this picture, there is an interesting variety of popular Renaults from different ages. As you, North American readers, might not be accustomed with cars not sold in your shores, let me name them:
- 2002 Mégane Scenic (green, grandpa)
- 2005 Clio (petrol blue, cousin)
- 1994 Clio (red, aunt #1)
- 1996 Mégane Coupé (dark grey, mine !)
- 2001 Mégane (greenish grey, aunt #2)
- 1988 Renault 25 (the blue rear quarter panel in the very background, uncle)
For the purpose, here is a picture of my Mégane, showing off in front of the famous Renault shop, now closed for years:
Nowadays, only the 2005 Clio and 2001 Mégane are still driven by their owners. The other cars are gone and were replaced… by other makes. Who knows? Is it a consequence of the closure of the shop?
Renault is getting a lot of positive mention in the EV press for their electric offerings – unfortunately in Europe only.
It would have been interesting if the FCA/Renault merger hadn’t fallen through and it would have been Renault (and not PSA, i.e., Peugeot) that linked with FCA.
Sort of like going back to the AMC/Renault days of the seventies, when Chrysler was briefly together with Renault after they acquired AMC/Jeep.
Yeah, that worked out well.
At one time, ours would have a VW selection, except for my Renault 19…..
I had once had Clio like this. Same red color, but mine was 2dr an a `96 IFRC.
Tough little car, have nice memories of it
What I want to know is…..how do you pronounce “Megane”? I already know how to say Doo-shuh-vough.
In the UK we say me-gan. But not that often these days.
In French, you say “Meh-gan”
As there’s an ‘e’ on the end I pronounce it meh – gain, but partly because I think the name’s silly anyway.
What about the older models ? Can you still see a 17 Gordini on the road ? I owned a Dauphine for a while in S.F., and regularly got comments like ” I haven’t seen one of those in years !”.
I think I’ve told this story before. About 20 years ago I was driving on 18th (or whichever one it was) St in the Mission in SF. There was a place there that specialized in working on old cars. A black Dauphine pulled out of there right in front of me. Wow I thought, I haven’t seen one of those in decades. Cool. I had driven a friend’s back in the olden days and later had a R16.
As I was following along and looking at it, about 100 feet later flames shot out of the (rear) engine compartment. Dauphines had a double grille on the back with a lot of vertical slats punched into the panel. I can still see the black grill bars lit up by the orange inferno behind them.
Not to perpetuate a stereotype, but my colleague who had a Fuego learned the hard way that the name was rather apt.
My Dauphine was red. I sold it to a collector in Europe. ..but I do remember an R16 that I’d see occasionally in the Outer Sunset, near the end of Noriega. That must’ve been in the early ’90’s.
I’m 33 year-old, real car fan, and I have never seen a R17 Gordini for real. This model is very rare. Maybe you are talking about the R8 Gordini which is more common on car meetings? Before 1988 and the introduction of the R19, Renaults tended to rust badly. And keeping “youngtimers” is a rather recent trend, so no, very few old cars in France neither.
R17’s were available in the U.S. from 1972 – 79. They were quite the sports car in their day, with Bosch EFI, and 107bhp. The Gordini model was introduced in 1974, but probably sold in very small numbers . I think there’s at least one R17 still one the road in the U.S .
Oh, Seb225(Megane?), the picture gives me nostalgia and headaches equally.
I owned an ’02 Scenic just like the one prominent in the pic, and it was even green (though darker than this). As a piece of design, it was quite brilliant. To drive, it was very decent indeed, and almost old-school French: wonderful seats, excellent ride, lots of roll, lots of grip and proper steering. It was a petrol 2 litre job (all we got here) and thus was even quite adequate for go.
But oh my lord, “go” was something it often did not. I had the full service history, and it was just as nasty to the previous owner. It broke, a lot. Only the internet kept it going, because I had to give up on garages. I just couldn’t afford their rates when required so often.
So I’m tempted to make all sorts of jokes about the driveway full of Renaults, and how many years each relative ended up living with you. But the actual answer is in your post.
Your uncle, and familiarity. Like a Chev in Omaha. Or a Holden in Melbourne, Australia, where my Renault lived.
My dear Scenic, the poor old bag, was a hell of long way from home, so far that she was upside down and RHD. And she had no companions: they didn’t sell many. And that likely explains a lot of the trouble.
But boy oh boy, I have to say, damn, there was a lot of it!
It got stolen in the end. It was a bad choice for the thieves – yes, it broke down on them, and they were caught. True story.
I rented a 2018 Clio at the Toulouse airport and drove it to Montpellier on the autoroute. The clutch on the Clio engaged the gears precisely like a switch, and this was tremendously helpful to me as someone who is not used to driving a manual transmission. The materials used in the interior and the assembly of the car appeared to be of a high standard. Renault has done a commendable job with the precise steering, stable handling, noise dampening and engine performance. I am going to ask for a Clio at the Europcar counter when I go to France again. The 2020 Clio has a very appealing redesigned dashboard, if only I can get one in the U.S. 🙂
Always loved the quirky Mégane. That very well may be the perfect color, too (and I typically hate grayscale cars). The interior wasn’t my favorite, aesthetically. Then I bought a new ‘01 Focus with similar rounded HVAC vents… Put up or shut up, right?
There are a number of Renaults, mostly Lagunas, parked at a mechanic’s shop next door to my church – but all of them are out of commission! Renaults have not been sold in Barbados for decades and those which come in are usually personal imports from the UK, so when they break it’s hard to find parts for them or not economically sensible to repair them. Nice display of a family’s brand loyalty.
Renaults? Oh yeah, I know a little of those hehe-