New rear engine rear wheel drive Renault

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Fri 14 Feb 2014 08:48
New rear engine rear wheel drive Renault - Trilogy

www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/geneva-motor-show/new-r...d

Fun!

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Fri 14 Feb 2014 12:28
New rear engine rear wheel drive Renault - alan1302

I like the look of this one.

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Fri 14 Feb 2014 12:53
New rear engine rear wheel drive Renault - Trilogy

Me too. Also, I like the Ciroen Cactus.

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Fri 14 Feb 2014 22:46
New rear engine rear wheel drive Renault - daveyK_UK

could this be the car that finally tempts me back to renault?

will wait with interest ot see what honest john makes of it in his road test.

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Fri 14 Feb 2014 23:00
New rear engine rear wheel drive Renault - Avant

A nice counterbalance to the FWD BMW!

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Sat 15 Feb 2014 08:08
New rear engine rear wheel drive Renault - Trilogy

Indeed it is. I wonder which one the journalists will rave about most. The Twingo Gordini should be a hoot!

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Sat 15 Feb 2014 10:00
New rear engine rear wheel drive Renault - unthrottled

It was a very common layout for small cars at one time. If RRD is so wonderful, why did every manufacturer dump it?!

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Sat 15 Feb 2014 21:57
New rear engine rear wheel drive Renault - Avant

In the old days the handling was dangerous in the hands of inexperienced drivers (and in the case of the rear-engined Skodas, experienced ones as well). The Hillman Imp was better, but too unreliable in other ways.

The desire for hatchbacks, first popularised by the VW Golf replacing the Beetle, must also have helped to nail the rear engine's coffin.

We can reasonably hope that technology has moved on - although there isn't exactly a rush to move to rear engines. It'll be interesting to see what real-world advantages there are, if any.

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Sat 15 Feb 2014 22:04
New rear engine rear wheel drive Renault - Boroman
I had two Estelles and a 136 Rapid back in the '90's. Never found the handling to be dangerous, you had to keep 'em on the throttle through bends but never had the tail step out on me, unlike my Volvo 360 which was very tail happy.
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Sat 15 Feb 2014 23:13
New rear engine rear wheel drive Renault - artill

A rear engined car will either drive in a tail happy way, which some will enjoy, but most who buy these cars wont. Or the electronics will keep it all in check, in which case i cant see the advantage over front engined, front drive.

I also feel that space will be lost. Although a front boot will be there, it wont be big, and the usual hatch arrangement will open to nothing as it will be full of engine and gearbox.

At least we can assume a rear engined car will have fully independant suspension so it might ride better than some, and something as small as the Twingo could easily manage without power steering (but i bet it doesnt), but i cant see this being a popular formula any other manufacturer.

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Sat 15 Feb 2014 23:14
New rear engine rear wheel drive Renault - gordonbennet

It'll be interesting to see what real-world advantages there are, if any.

No worries about getting through a bit of snow when the correct wheels are driven and the engines over them.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEuoZUMd3Kg

All in Russian, i don't think there's any naughty words, enjoy.

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Sat 15 Feb 2014 23:25
New rear engine rear wheel drive Renault - Sofa Spud

There's probably a reason why nearly all small and medium cars have a front engine and front-wheel-drive these days. It could have something to do with the fact that a front-heavy vehicle being pulled along by its steerable front wheels is a lot more stable than a rear-heavy vehicle being pushed along by its non-steerable rear wheels!

I wonder if Renault will go the whole hog and include swing-axle rear suspension !!!

As I read through the article I saw that the new Twingo is based on a lengthened version of the next Smart FourTwo model, which would explain the layout. To be fair, the Smart doesn't seem to have a bad reputation apart from the gearchange - I haven't driven or ridden in one so I'm only quoting hearsay. So perhaps with lightweight engine low down and not hung way out behind the rear wheels, the car might be OK.

Edited by Sofa Spud on 15/02/2014 at 23:31

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Sun 16 Feb 2014 09:47
New rear engine rear wheel drive Renault - Collos25

I would have thought the reason why front wheel drive is so widely used by manufacturers is cost .

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Sun 16 Feb 2014 10:17
New rear engine rear wheel drive Renault - Boroman
RR cars are more susceptible to crosswinds; however one advantage is that there should be no need for power steering. All my RR Skoda's had pin-sharp steering, 2.5 turns lock to lock with lots of feedback. The semi-trailing arm setup of Rapids and the later Estelles was very well sorted indeed and was much praised by the motoring press at the time. They just need to be driven properly.
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Sun 16 Feb 2014 10:12
New rear engine rear wheel drive Renault - SlidingPillar

No worries about getting through a bit of snow when the correct wheels are driven and the engines over them.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEuoZUMd3Kg

My money is it has some form of limited slip differential. Still a good performance though and I think the driver is well versed in the right application of speed to carry one through the difficult bit.

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Sun 16 Feb 2014 10:18
New rear engine rear wheel drive Renault - gordonbennet
My money is it has some form of limited slip differential.

What like welded?..:-))

Indeed, he's done that before methinks and enjoys showing up the less 'prepped' hard core 4x4's.

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Sun 16 Feb 2014 19:14
New rear engine rear wheel drive Renault - daveyjp
We have owned two mk1 smarts. Rear engine RWD works with them as they are so short the engine is directly over the rear wheels and the passenger weight is just behind the front wheels, so no mass of weight at the rear.

That said I have seen someone do a 360 whilst doing a right hand turn on a wet adverse camber. The traction control does its job, but you can't turn it off. Find yourself on slightly inclined wet grass with lost traction and you won't go anywhere until someone pushes you free.

These cars do have a boot as the engine and gearbox are so compact they are tucked under the boot floor. It was large enough to hold all our camping gear for a weekend away.

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