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  Renault 4CV (1947 - 1961) (Classics Reviews)
  The Renault 4CV is as much a french icon as the Citroen 2CV - and it's certainly as important, even if its rear-engined layout eventually proved to be an engineering dead-end. In its 14-year production run, more than one million 4CVs were built, which significantly assisted the French working
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  Renault Fregate (1951 - 1960) (Classics Reviews)
  The Renault Fregate was introduced to meet the demand for larger, prestige cars as it started to pick up in France during the early 1950s as the country started to fully recover from the effects of WW2. The Fregate was a large unitary construction car plenty
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  Renault Corale Prairie (1951 - 1955) (Classics Reviews)
  The Renault Colare Prairie might have sounded exciting, but it was actually rather mundane – it was introduced in 1951 to fill a gap in the Renault range. It was a stopgap estate car cobbled togther from components in the Renault parts bin to sit alongside
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  Renault Dauphine (1956 - 1967) (Classics Reviews)
  The 4CV may have paved the way for Renault's subsequent success, but it was the Dauphine that proved to be the real success, selling well over two million units during its 12-year production run. It was a car that grew with its owners' needs, being constantly imroved during its life
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  Renault 4 (1961 - 1992) (Classics Reviews)
  The Renault 4 was built as an answer to Citroen's 2CV, and clearly it was influenced by that car. But the 4 improved on its French rival by offering a little more room, a more conventional driving experience, and the wonderful added bonus of a wide-opening hatchback. The groundbreaking
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  Renault 8 (1962 - 1972) (Classics Reviews)
  The Renault 8 was introduced in June 1962, and was closely related to the Dauphine. It shared the older car's rear-engined layout and underpinnings - and the big giveaway to the R8's origins were that despite being longer than the Dauphine, it shared the same 2270mm wheelbase. Although it seems
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  Renault Caravelle (1962 - 1968) (Classics Reviews)
  The Renault Caravelle was an uprated and facelifted rear-engined Floride. Renault did the simple thing, and applied the name the Floride always went by in the USA. To distinguish new from old, the Floride included smaller chrome strips, and lost its trim from
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  Renault 16 (1965 - 1979) (Classics Reviews)
  The Renault 16 was an innovative and interesting middle-class family car that proved that Renault's front-wheel drive concept pioneered in the 4 could be scaled up successfully where the profits were much higher. It also could be described as being one of the fathers of the modern family car
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  Renault 12 (1969 - 1980) (Classics Reviews)
  The Renault 12 was a catch-all replacement for the company's mid-sized range of saloons; but most notably the rear engined R10 - which by the late 1960s was looking rather out of step with the opposition. AIt was designed to bridge the gap between the R8 and the R16, and compete against
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  Renault 5 (1972 - 1984) (Classics Reviews)
  The Renault 5 was designer Michel Boué’s legacy to the automotive world. Tragically, he would never see his labours bear fruit, dying mere months before the Renault 5 was launched in December 1971. The three-door hatchback was based on the utilitarian R4, sharing its longitudinal
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  Renault 15 and 17 (1972 - 1980) (Classics Reviews)
  The existence of the Renault 15 and 17 is attributable to the success of the Ford Capri. Once it became clear that Ford's Euro-sized Pony car was a substantial hit, rival manufacturers founf themselves scrambling to produce rival cars. In Renault's case, the obvious course of action was to spin
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  Renault 20 and 30 (1975 - 1984) (Classics Reviews)
  When the Renault 30TS was launched in March 1975, it was the largest engine from the French manufacturer since WW2. The 2.7-litre PRV-powered five-door hatchback was a deliberate move upmarket that proved to be spectacularly mis-timed, thanks to the after-effects of the 1973 Energy Crisis
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  Renault 14 (1976 - 1983) (Classics Reviews)
  The Renault 14 was La Regie's first attempt at a Volkswagen Golf rival, and it was something of an interesting package. Despite having been building front-wheel drive cars since 1961 (with the loveable R4), it decided to eschew that car's mechanical layout, as well as the R12's, instead
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  Renault 5 Gordini and Gordini Turbo (1976 - 1984) (Classics Reviews)
  The Renault 5 Gordini was known as the Alpine in Europe, but due to Chrysler owning the UK rights to that name, the historic tuning firm's name was applied. It worked well for us Brits, as Gordini had far more resonance anyway. The 5 Alpine went into production in 1976, but the Gordini didn't
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  Renault 18 (1978 - 1987) (Classics Reviews)
  The Renault 18 went into production late in 1977 and made its debut at the Geneva motor show the following spring. It was conceived to do battle with the Fiat Mirafiori, Ford Cortina and Vauxhall Cavalier, and to do that, its maker created easily its most conventional car in a generation - which
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  Renault Fuego (1980 - 1986) (Classics Reviews)
  The Renault Fuego was launched at the Paris motor show in 1980, and looked like an exciting addition to the Capri/Manta market. It was described by Renault as an 'open plan' coupe - a boring description for the R18 four-seater car. It was aerodynamic too, with a drag co-efficient of 0.347
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  Renault 5 Turbo and Turbo 2 (1980 - 1986) (Classics Reviews)
  The Renault 5 Turbo was the product of an exciting era of rallying - the Lancia Stratos's success had convinced other companies to create purpose built machines, and the French company decided to pull out all the stops to beat the Italians. But when making its mid-engined turbocharged challenger
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  Renault 9 and 11 (1981 - 1988) (Classics Reviews)
  The Renault 9 and 11 were an attempt by the company to build a conventional range of cars with true international appeal - hopefully banishing memories of the quirky and hard to sell 14. The four-door R9 saloon arrived first in late 1981, and promptly won the European Car of The Year award
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  Renault 25 (1983 - 1992) (Classics Reviews)
  The Renault 25 was an impressive executive car offering following on from the plain-Jane 20/30 - and it was designed to appeal in export markets as well as in its home country. The styling was an interesting mix of old and new, with a highly aerodynamic body and Fuego-style wraparound rear
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  Renault Espace (1984 - 1991) (Classics Reviews)
  The Renault Espace's conception was a tortuous affair. Back in the 1970s, Chrysler UK was working on a number of one-box MPV concepts at its design centre at Whitley. Meanwhile over in France, Matra was working on a similar concept at its Romorantin-Lenthenay base. Nothing