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We had a whiite and later a red 16 as a family car in the 70s. DId some L plating on them. Huge comfy chairs and the column change are the abiding memory.
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Had a 2 litre tx, brilliant torquey engine, but a bit noisy, gurgled and popped on the over run. But two thing that annoyed, why did Renault put a landrover low range first gear in it. With velcro tyres it would have driven up the side of a velcro house, at idle. Pointless. Also the wretched thing if parked in the rain on a crossfall would fill up with water due to naff design of the intake plenum. Lovely and comfy though.
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My Dad too had one - gold coloured. A sad case of recapturing his childhood of pre-war MGs, but misguided of course. Actually went pretty well, and much less trouble than an XJ6 he bought next up (A "Friday afternoon car" he called it).
Renault certainly had the ability to produce cars that were bought by their home market in bucket-loads. We've always been more open minded, so have nothing left to buy...but we drive better cars as a result. The Renault 11, 4, 6, Espace were all great at their jobs and innovative for their time. Safrane was a great cruising armchair - I'd guess like the new C6.
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A small town in Algeria in the mid-80s. My friend Abdeslam had a friend called Ali who owned a very well-worn Renault 16. By then you couldn't drink in the pub any more. You had to buy your drinks at the back door, then drive off to a building site where all the town's boozers congregated.
When we got to the building site this Ali rapidly drank two whole bottles of severe Algerian red wine. I sat in the back of the car and had a couple of beers. When this Ali had a nice glow on, he turned to me and asked what my religious views were. I answered evasively, as any confession of unbelief can lead to very long and tedious arguments with drunk Algerians. It's the guilt about drinking. They want to find someone worse than they are and give them a hard time.
Just as Ali was retiring, baffled, having asked whether I believed in the one true God and been told that I certainly didn't believe in several, the car was surrounded by men who emerged from the darkness holding lengths of timber and other makeshift weapons.
People always sound as if they are quarrelling when they speak Arabic. I started to look round for a means of rapid escape and discovered to my considerable alarm that the car had no internal doorhandles. However the conversation ended without violence and we clanked off over the rubble into the night. Apparently 'the women' had been alarmed by our loud conversation in French.
I have always regarded Renault 16s with grave suspicion since that time. Fortunately there aren't many around now.
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My memory of Renault 16s is being driven across Blackheath in a bronze coloured one in 1969? on the way from Hertfordshire to Hastings (in those days a trek through London - no M25). Seeing cars drive across Blackheath was and still is weird, because the cars look like they're driving on the grass rather than the road. Because we were on our way to seem some posh friends of Mum & Dad's we had to wear new corduroys - with their distinctive aroma.
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On the subject of the Renault 16. Back in the early 70's when I was about 18, my mates mum bought a new 16 and my mate could drive it. Frankly at the time it was a revelation! Compared to the BMC 1100's Morris Minor's & Escort mark 1's I recall it was out of this World! It Was so comfortable & so fast & so quiet (or so it seemed at the time) Although it only had a 1470cc carb engine it seemed to accelerate like a rocket against the usual cars of the time. Funny how you never see any of these now but still see the Minor going strong!!
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I'm surprised that no-one has yet mentioned that Renaul Fuegos were supposedly very popular with French "ahem" ... ladies of the night. Why they were so popular, of if indeed the report was true or not, I have no idea, but that factoid has always stuck in my brain. I always thought that the bonnet joins on the side of the car were a bit strange.
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My mother had a turbo version. I would have been about 19 and we had just moved to a new town so any opportunity to borrow it turned into a cruise around showing there was someone new in town. It was up in Co Durham so a kind of American Graffiti meets Get Carter. How utterly embarrassing, even more so now I recall the 8 inch high TURBO decal down the side.
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On the subject of the Renault 16. Back in the early 70's when I was about 18, my mates mum bought a new 16 and my mate could drive it. Frankly at the time it was a revelation! Compared to the BMC 1100's Morris Minor's & Escort mark 1's I recall it was out of this World! It Was so comfortable & so fast & so quiet (or so it seemed at the time) Although it only had a 1470cc carb engine it seemed to accelerate like a rocket against the usual cars of the time. Funny how you never see any of these now but still see the Minor going strong!!
I saw an R16 banger racing about 20 years ago against the usual suspects (Morris Oxfords, Austin Cambridges, Cortinas, etc.) and it was light years ahead of them then, too.
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We had a white Fuego years ago, it was bought as an inbetween car to make do whilst we looked for something else and only cost £200, secondhand cars were more expensive then, our most recent car is an M reg Escort and cost £100.
As i remember it had a huge sunroof which folded back,had a horrible set of points, was quite nippy and economical and was the only car that we made money on when we sold it, it was part exchanged for a 2 year old Montego Estate and after much Umming the dealer said he could only offer £250.
I think it was an 1981 model which did not have the rear window wipe.
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