The Misunderstood Renault LeCar
Last month AUTOMOBILE mag mentioned the LeCar in the typical disparaging way. Why do all journalists now malign it? I almost bought one back in 1981. The long wheelbase gave it a fantastic ride-really very serene. And with the large canvas sunroof,it was really a very pleasant cruiser. Excellent interior space,too.I think it is now a whipping boy because of knee-jerk reactions. And by criticizing something,the auto press probably thinks it gives them cred.
When you consider the other econo-boxes back then,there's no reason to not like the Renault 5.
When you consider the other econo-boxes back then,there's no reason to not like the Renault 5.
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I believe the LeCar also had one rear wheel set further back than the other. I think it had something to do with the narrow stance of the car, that they couldn't get the suspension components to line up symmetrically, so they offset the wheels by an inch or so. I think this gave it an improved ride over bumps, since both rear wheels wouldn't hit the bump at the same time.
The car was charming and cute and fun to drive and awfully clever, as most French cars are. But it was a pretty substandard car. You'll still see lots of R4s in France but not many R5s...even the French couldn't keep them on the road.
Any journalist who slammed these cars and caused Renault to pack up and leave town did US drivers a great service in my opinion. Next time Renault comes here, and I hope they do, let's make sure they bring a fully developed and engineered car, and a parts and service network that doesn't leave us all screwed and tatooed by the side of the road.
Best thing I can say is if you think they're great, well, go buy one and live with it and get back to us in 6 months. If you or it survive, I'll eat my words right online here.
Of course, to anyone who wants one as a hobby, hey, have fun, but I'm not fond of revisionist history. The car's record and the public's disdain speak for itself I think, and I don't believe there is any rehabilitating its reputation at this point. You are certainly welcome to try , and post some facts or evidence or whatever to support the car. I'd be glad to listen and learn.
Someday a Delorean or a Fiero might gain a little respect, but a LeCar? I just can't imagine it.
Actually, I did think the Renault Shogun I saw once was pretty neat. It was an R5 with a Ford Taurus SHO engine stuffed in the rear. Also, Renault's factory turbo rallye car was interesting, but that of course was a purpose-built race car.
The differing wheelbase was,I think, a cheap way to have an anti-rollbar on a bottom-feeder.
I'm not saying the LeCar is a forgotten classic.
I just know that out of the box it had surperlative ride,outstanding space utilization,and interesting styling. I admit at the time I was totally into French cars( Peugeot 504 my favorite).
I'm just a little surprised at the vehemience of your reply-you didn't have Renault stock,did you?
or get rejected by a cheerleader in a Dauphine in 1962?
I don't think popularity should ever be the yardstick for judging a car-will a Camry ever be but a Camry?
And I'm just saying that any LeCar that has survived could at least be looked upon as a French Morris Minor,couldn't it?
But...this only go's to show...we are all different!
As for the R5; like most things from renault, it was a case of good design and bad execution!
I don't mean to sound vindicative or strident against the LeCar, but the facts are so totally damning and overwhelming, I don't see how the car could be defended with any sort of evidence. Sometimes you just have to point at the trash can and say "just put it in there, thanks".
But I will give you a subjective opinion that cannot probably be proven:
I think it is THE worst car ever built after World War II that came from a civilized industrial nation. Worse than Yugo, Edsel, Vega, you name it. #1 bad car for the latter part of the 20th Century.
So in that sense, it's a "champ"!
All kidding aside, the car was a disgrace to a once-proud company. Renault was not only the foremost automobile pioneer in the early 1900s, but made a very credible record for itself in racing in modern times. LeCar is not worthy of the name I don't think.
Maybe it's cute and has some charm, but other French cars did that SO much better, and ran well, too....like the Citroen 2CV or the very sturdy Peugeot 504...both cars I like and respect.
I came very close to buying one as my first car purchase in 1981-I was really taken with the large canvas sunroof. But as I recall,you had to buy a deluxe package to get the 'roof,and it began to look like serious money for such a small car.
The car's POE was a town away from me,as was what must have been one of the larger Peugeot/Renault dealers on the East Coast.So I used to see a lot of them.
It's a shame,because I do remember that it had an unbelievabley cosseting ride,and was very roomy up frint(for a six-footer).
Besides the Rabbit,what was there back then? Opel by Izuzu?
Lessee...in early 80s ( a dismal time for automakers) there weren't a whole lot of really interesting cars out there, in the "cheap and fun" category. MG was already dead. Oh, the VW GTI was a kick to drive, and the Scirocco was very nice looking.
This isn't saying much, but the best American small car around that time was probably the Plymouth Horizon/Dodge Omni. They weren't exactly cheap either, and according to an auto encyclopedia I have, actually base priced more than much larger cars like the Aspen/Volare.
That said, my cousin and her husband bought a LeCar at about that time. Almost everything that has been said about it so far here reflects my experience - both the nice clever design comments to the awful mechanics with no parts support.
I have never heard a good thing said about Le Cars. OK, they may have rode well and been comfortable cars.
There's a lot of terrible cars that I can think of that have those qualities.
Bill
The LeCar was a neat design, but poorly executed it seems.
Another car I liked from that period was the Dodge Colt with the "dual range" manual transmission. Wonder why they did away with that feature.
I suspect what kept me out of one was Fiat had lost whatever reputation they had on the reliability front at that point. Wasn't too much longer and tehy were gone from ouur shores.
There's always someeone saying "Man, the Fiats in Europe are bulletproof!" Somehow I have a difficult time believing this.
See that? Exactly what I mean. My question is what is it they are doing and why the heck couldn't they translate it into the American market?
Their products were totally unsuited to American driving conditions and American drivers. For one thing, they don't understand that the distance from Paris to Rome is what some Americans would drive to get a good taco.
I remember years ago a friend's brother-in-law had to spend some extended time in South Dakota. He was a "computer guy" before we knew about such folks. He was utterly amazed how folks there would thing nothing of driving 100 miles for a good bar. Imagine doing that in a Fiat!
I may start a World's Worst Car" contest. This is an enviable award.
If you think about it, it takes as much genius to make something totally bad as totally good, doesn't it? I mean, think of all the mistakes you have to make. You have to get everything wrong, as well as totally disregarding decades of automotive technology that was already proven to work. You even have to render the parts from your outside supplier to be made useless.
I suspect that the folks who built the LeCar could probably screw up a Duraflame log.
There is actually a coffee-table-type book called "The World's Worst Cars." It includes the Corvair, Pinto, Vega, Rabbit, Volare/Aspen, Yugo, and plenty of others (actually, I don't think the LeCar is in there).
The radio show Car Talk also did a "worst cars of the millennium" listener survey. Here are their top ten:
10) Volkswagen Bus
9) Renault Dauphine
8) Cadillac Cimarron
7) Plymouth Volare/Dodge Aspen
6) Renault LeCar
5) Chevrolet Chevette
4) AMC Gremlin
3) Ford Pinto
2) Chevrolet Vega
1) Yugo
-Andrew L
"My TR-7 has gone 3000 miles without blowing a head gasket."
"Thanks to constant practice it now takes me less than an hour to replace my Fiat 850's head gasket."
Of thos eworst cars the only one I had the misfortune to own didn't make the cartalk list - a 1980 VW Rabbit. The thing was a ball to drive when it worked. Unfortunately that didn't happen very often...
They should have a World's Worst Car Endurance Race....something like "The 24 minutes of Lemans" would be fun. Hey, fun idea for a new discussion!
As for using the phrase "head gasket in a nice way, how's about "Thank goodness that head gasket blew...now I have a reason to junk this piece of #$%!"
Fifteen years later Shifty tells me there's a special tool for this.