I truly believe everyone has one childhood car. Maybe its a tie to the car itself or the person who owned it. The first car of my dad's that I remember is his 84 Renault alliance. Same color as the one in the video. Very quirky yet unique design features such as the horn on the end of the signal stock. These were slow little buggers but my dad still got speeding tickets in his. He gave up on this lil econobox when a head gasket blew for the second time. Sometimes the coolant smell would come through the vents when the car overheated. fun times!
I owned this car back in the day, and always found it interesting. But in all my decades of reading/watching reviews of the thing, not once do I recall anyone ever saying that the fuel tank filler was too low. What a super weird thing to say...
The soft springs and long suspension travel made these cars squat when back seat riders were on board. Half of the Alliances I saw on the road as a kid were "riding low."
I was always told that it was a safety feature for kids - I grew up in the 80s. It was only 2-3 years ago that I found out the truth. And discovered my whole childhood of believing 'it was for my own good' was a lie.
Fun fact: This is practically a Bond car. 1985's A View to a Kill had that semi-famous car-chase around Paris where Bond's Renault 11 (hatchback-version of the R9) first gets "decapitated" and then cut in half. The sad bit about this one (and many other French and even Japanese cars of the era) is that you hardly ever see them any longer on the street. VWs, Mercs or BMWs of similar vintage are still around over here in Germany (albeit also pretty rarely) but French/Japanese stuff that used to be everywhere (R9/11, R5, Citroen CX/BX, Honda Civic) has probably all rusted away. And that's in an area that's not only close to the French border but also the home of Renault's German HQ - so there always were more Renaults around in my region than in other places in Germany.
I bought a new 87 base model 2-door after the sale of AMC to Chrysler. They were basically giving them away at the time. It was nice looking and comfortable, but the build quality was pretty atrocious. The 1.4L was horribly underpowered but reliable.
That small engine hurt it in US sales. You could get a Dodge Omni then with a 2.2 and automatic for cheap brand new. MPG mattered.. but there was a point of diminishing returns. Most buyers wanted better performance and 25-30mpg, not slow as molasses and 35 mpg.
I had an 86. It wasn't the worst car I've owned. It ode and handled well but durability wasn't good. Mine had the new 1.7 liter engine that didn't use the removable wet cylinder liners of the antiquated 1.4.liter. I never would have bought one with that engine.
Very nice looking car for the time. I think mush sharper styling that most Japanese and American offerings. My mom had one. Comfortable and handled well. Nicely painted and finished….However! Even with a 5 speed the 1.4 was achingly slow and absolute crap for reliability. Such a shame. I still have all the brochures that I pinched from the local Oldsmobile/Renault dealer
I truly believe everyone has one childhood car. Maybe its a tie to the car itself or the person who owned it. The first car of my dad's that I remember is his 84 Renault alliance. Same color as the one in the video. Very quirky yet unique design features such as the horn on the end of the signal stock. These were slow little buggers but my dad still got speeding tickets in his. He gave up on this lil econobox when a head gasket blew for the second time. Sometimes the coolant smell would come through the vents when the car overheated. fun times!
I owned this car back in the day, and always found it interesting.
But in all my decades of reading/watching reviews of the thing, not once do I recall anyone ever saying that the fuel tank filler was too low. What a super weird thing to say...
"Oriental standards". I'm surprised youtube didn't bleep out the O word here. Scottie also uses the word on Trek in "Space Seed".
looked like the rear suspension bottomed out 2:43 with 3 in the back seat.
The soft springs and long suspension travel made these cars squat when back seat riders were on board. Half of the Alliances I saw on the road as a kid were "riding low."
Back windows go all the way down, yet GM Ford and Chrysler couldn't figure this out til the mid 90s.
Chrysler couldn’t figure out how to add power rear windows to the Neon either
Exactly 👍🏼
I was always told that it was a safety feature for kids - I grew up in the 80s. It was only 2-3 years ago that I found out the truth. And discovered my whole childhood of believing 'it was for my own good' was a lie.
Fun fact: This is practically a Bond car. 1985's A View to a Kill had that semi-famous car-chase around Paris where Bond's Renault 11 (hatchback-version of the R9) first gets "decapitated" and then cut in half.
The sad bit about this one (and many other French and even Japanese cars of the era) is that you hardly ever see them any longer on the street. VWs, Mercs or BMWs of similar vintage are still around over here in Germany (albeit also pretty rarely) but French/Japanese stuff that used to be everywhere (R9/11, R5, Citroen CX/BX, Honda Civic) has probably all rusted away. And that's in an area that's not only close to the French border but also the home of Renault's German HQ - so there always were more Renaults around in my region than in other places in Germany.
The European Renault 9 was my first car. Without power steering and a/c. But with the same engine which produced without the catalyst 60hp.
I bought a new 87 base model 2-door after the sale of AMC to Chrysler. They were basically giving them away at the time. It was nice looking and comfortable, but the build quality was pretty atrocious. The 1.4L was horribly underpowered but reliable.
That small engine hurt it in US sales. You could get a Dodge Omni then with a 2.2 and automatic for cheap brand new. MPG mattered.. but there was a point of diminishing returns. Most buyers wanted better performance and 25-30mpg, not slow as molasses and 35 mpg.
Handsome little cars, if a bit under-powered.
When was the last time you saw one on the road? 1990s?
I've got 3. 2x1.7 and a 1 4
The car that was meant to save the American Motors Corporation soon became their albatross.
I had an 86. It wasn't the worst car I've owned. It ode and handled well but durability wasn't good. Mine had the new 1.7 liter engine that didn't use the removable wet cylinder liners of the antiquated 1.4.liter. I never would have bought one with that engine.
Very nice looking car for the time. I think mush sharper styling that most Japanese and American offerings. My mom had one. Comfortable and handled well. Nicely painted and finished….However! Even with a 5 speed the 1.4 was achingly slow and absolute crap for reliability. Such a shame. I still have all the brochures that I pinched from the local Oldsmobile/Renault dealer
Very nice this Renault Aliance 85-87 and my favorites. Confortable and good car
Those positive comments would have been regretted a couple years later...
Back when motorweek catered to the common avg pay person. I stopped watching him & his show many many yrs ago.
Good looking cars that were absolutely garbage I know a couple of people who bought new and they were done within 3 years