The Cléon Fonte was used on Renaults 6, 12, 15, 17, 18, 5, 7, Fuego, 9, 11, Super 5, 19, a few 21s, some 4s and Estafettes, early Clios and Trafics, the DAF 55 and 66, the Volvo 343, the Ford Corcel and (Brazilian) Escort, the VW Gol and nearly all Dacias made from 1971 to 2004, when its career came to an end. Subsequently, it was used in a vast array of front-engined vehicles, in over a dozen variants of displacement from 1.0 to 1.6 litres. engine, pioneered on the R8 way back in 1962, was also seen on other rear-engined Renaults, René Bonnets and Alpines of the period. Of course, all this innovation came at a price, and that price was the 55 hp 1.1 litre Cléon Fonte (a.k.a Sierra or C-engine). The car itself was caricatured to look even more ovoid than in real life, emphasizing the cheap and cheerful nature of the product.Ĭléon-powered: from FWD hatchbacks to rear-engined sports cars and everything in between #Renault twingo quickshift problems tv#I vividly remember seeing these on TV at the time – unlike other car adverts, the Twingo ones were animated and didn’t bother too much with verisimilitude. Not only that, but there were no trim levels at all and the only optional extra was a fabric sunroof.Įven the ad campaigns were different. For the first few years, those were the only available colours: Ultramarine blue (almost purple), Indian yellow, Coral red and Coriander green. In marked contrast to the sad colour schemes of most cars of the period (which was not quite as depressing as today’s sliver/white/black tones, but still rather grim), Renault picked four bright colours to make the Twingo stand out even more. The front seats could slide forward and be laid flat, turning the Twingo into a very decent twin bed, too. This car felt like a mini Espace, with a lot of headroom at the front and decent legroom at the back.Īctually, you could choose between legroom and luggage space: the rear seat could slide forward if you needed more of the latter – a cunning trick on such a small car. The clown-nose hazard lights button, the colorful seat fabric and the toy-like design of the steering wheel complete the look of the place, which is surprisingly spacious. It’s a pity I found this Twingo on a rainy day, as it marred my efforts at taking a decent interior shot, but I was confident I could find something suitable from the web. Strangely, given this kind of layout, the original Twingo was never produced in RHD form – I’m not quite sure why. The quirkiness extended to the interior, with pastel green plastic trim and a centrally-mounted digital display that was very innovative for the time (and the price range). Ford later took a similar approach with their Ka. Le Quément redesigned the face of the car and gave it its iconic smiley face with froggy eyes look that harked back to the Renault 5, but was also a genius PR move away from the boring econobox looks of the Twingo’s main rivals, such as the Peugeot 106, the VW Polo or the Fiat Panda. The Twingo went ahead, though the prototype was heavily revised by Patrick Le Quément, who infused it with a joyful spirit. The R4 was on its last legs and the Super 5 was more upmarket and expensive to manufacture than its predecessor, leaving the range dangerously underperforming at the lower end of the market. Ploué’s W60 prototype, made in 1986, was used by Le Quément as a starting point for the Twingoīy 1988, Renault saw they were running out of time. Gaston Juchet, Marcello Gandini, Jean-Pierre Ploué, the Matra folks – all tried to fashion a worthy successor, but the project kept stalling. Everybody had a shot at the “Very Small Vehicle” (sometimes called Renault 2) that the Régie Nationale wanted to create to take over from the Renault 4 and the Renault 5. Since the mid-‘70s, Renault went through several gazillion studies, clays and prototypes to get to the final product. The story of the Twingo is quite a convoluted one, for such a small car. I had forgotten how easy it was to encounter cars of the ‘80s and ‘90s in certain parts of the country. This one was obviously found in France, the Twingo’s homeland. But the first Twingo was perhaps the last Renault to be both truly innovative and an unqualified success, so it’s well worth a closer look. And on the other hand, in markets where it was sold, it’s still so ubiquitous that it might not feel CC-worthy. Perhaps it’s because it was never sold in many markets that provide much CC fodder, such as North America and RHD markets. #Renault twingo quickshift problems series#I’m not sure why we haven’t featured the first series Twingo in CC all that much.
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