From the age of 13 'til 16 I cleaned cars each evening after school at a Renault garage - later became a Vauxhall garage. I have a soft spot for Renaults although I’ve never owned one myself.
I remember having to clean the Renault 30s (and 20s) in the showroom. As you say, it was full of new-fangled technology and had lots to go wrong. Our Sales Director drove one and I remember that the wheels were a bastard to keep clean.
I don’t think anyone bought one in the time I worked at the garage.
It was Gosport, mind.
Now those were proper little hot-hatches.
I had a massive poster of the rally-winning Renault 5 Turbo on my bedroom wall. And when I say massive, I mean “used to cover an entire wall in a showroom” massive.
The Gordini Turbo was a handsome car too - back in the day.
Was yours the Renault 5 Turbo or GT Turbo? The GT Turbo looked shit but was mentally quick - as @Rust-Cohle will attest. Our ex-boss had one and he nearly killed us weekly in it.
My mate had the GT Turbo. Mentally quick is the right description. Sadly the bodywork did not match the performance. I used to try to sit in the back seat to be further from any impact.
This one, in this colour. It was mind-numbingly fast, and unlike a lot of the hot hatches around then it felt incredibly stable on the road. You could steer with one finger at 120, not even a hint of moving off line.
Not as quick as @scotty’s but a very willing rever…always classy. 1989 Golf GTi Mk2 16 valve, Tornado Red…120+ on the M3 coming back from Winchester one evening…
I had a bright yellow one horrid thing but it was cheap & got me to Fordingbridge for work each day in my old job.
Upgraded to a Chrysler Sunbeam
It was worse than the Renault but had go faster stripes
I rented one last year (see pic further up thread). No way would I pay over £60k for a new one. Nice to drive and pretty decent inside but never worth that.
Next week we are renting this:
£46K new:
…or £65K (the one I spec’d up came to north of £75k) gets you 10 years of retirement wandering round Europe (on your Irish passport), stopping when you like, moving on when you like, meeting people, putting down little roots and making loads of friends and memories.
It was a beast. I remember racing against it driving a V reg Talbot horizon, along Allington Lane. I think that’s where the Fast & Furious franchise stole their film idea from.
