My very British dad was a huge Francophone, and also fascinated by microcars. Over the years, we had a Renault 4CV, a Heinkel bubble car, a Dauphine, an R4, an R8, and finally an R16. They were all marvellous, but my favourites were the R4 and the R16…
I believe my '74 12TS used the Sierra engine, bored out to a larger capacity, with a twin choke Weber. I believe the engine was in front of the gearbox. Luved it's aubergine color, the Rostyle wheels and tan racing interior. It had been thoroughly maintained by a Renault mechanic before I purchased it second-hand. I sold it when I left the UK in '85.
Great, (relatively) balanced review. I love Citroens for their innovation, but the 4L (845cc) was the most positively memorable car I have ever owned, beautiful red, rust free bodywork, it just did everything you wanted to do and did it well. Bought at auction, because I had no money, synchro gone on 2nd and 3rd, bashed in drivers door, water ingress through windscreen so drilled a hole in the floor, plate under the floor welded on every MOT, exhaust fixed up with bean cans, wire and Gun gum, the clutch went and I changed it myself with a set of AF spanners because all my previous cars were British. True, real and stuffed full of memories motoring and far more fun than the BMW 316 which I bought when I had more cash. Give me a drive in a 4L today and I would be in heaven.
My dad had one when I was 2. This brought back such vivid memories. We have it a nickname “chaand gari” which means the moon car. Thank you for this video
Quite some time ago, I poised a question to Ian how come he, the automotive Francophile, never tested R4. Today I will rest on not-so-deserved laurels of my inquiry. Yes, they are enormous fun to drive
A 1971 R4L was my first car, secondhand in April 1973: XSN149J in pale grey. It was the only car I fancied, and it was brilliant. Classically, on my first drive away from the dealers, it ran out of petrol. Fortunately, the dealer himself came past and even he had to stop and help out from a can. By drilling out the rear seat anchor bolts (just two), we could get a two seater settee longways in the back. We took the mileage from 49,000 to 74,000 in two very happy years before trading it in for a new R4L: GWX198N from memory. In the late 1960s, the R4 was advertised full-page in The Sunday Times colour supplement showing a French family loading a sheep into the rear - those were the days!
The Renault 4, very reliable and cheap to maintain, very popular here in Argentina along with it's brother the Renault 6, last Renault 4 models received front disc brakes and some the 1.4 litre engine from the Renault 12
lovely car! a great icon like the 2CV, I would love to have both right now and use them in the countryside. When I was a child we used a 2CV van as a "jeep" on gravel roads in Patagonia, and it functioned very well because the car was so lightweight and could be "carried out of the problems" by a bunch of guys, a R4 would have performed as well for sure. Besides a Landie Series 1, a VW Beetle, a Willys jeep, and a Fiat 500, a R4 and a 2CV would certainly be part of my dream collection!!! (plus a Citroen 11 traction avant, a VW Kleinbus, a Ford F-100 pickup truck, and, and, and... my wish-list seemingly never ends)
I had several of these with 850 engines. My girlfriend lived in cornwall and i used to go every weekend for 2 yrs. cruise at 60mph 55mpg. Had a renault 6 with 1108 engine and really loved them all. V quiet and smooth. The 6 was very very comfortable. Would buy one on a second if could still have one. My dad had a16, never in all my years have i been in a more silent, comfortable, smooth riding car. Seats like armchairs. I had a 2cv too but preferred my renault 4s. All of them did comfortably over 100k but alas rot was their nemesis same as my 2cv. Love the simplicity of these gallic wagons.
An elderly work colleague / friend had a Renault 4 when I worked for Department Of The Interior in Canberra ACT in the early seventies. I was young and cheeky, I used to tease him about it looking like a garbage can on wheels. Dick had a ast model railway set glued to the inside wall of his house. Now I am just old and cheeky, but they were lovely memories.
Thanks for a inspiring video. I went back to my childhood. Lovely cars these french cars. I grew up with CV2's. My neighbour had a R4. As a child I thought they where really ugly. Now I think they are genius. We should go back more to basic again. Simplicity has it's charm. And the nuns preferred CV2's because they went down on there knees coming to a crossing. Greetings from Sweden, I watch most of your videos, Gregor.
Hi Ian My wife and I have had 3 R4s over the years and actually used one of them, with the rear seats removed, to move house. If we're talking practicality you can't beat that. I rate the R4 very, very highly. Thanks for the review. Please do try an R16 when you can, we have also had 3 of those, adore them, in my book they are the most comfortable car on the planet, and that's from someone who spent his working life in the motor trade.
I worked for a Renault dealer back in 1984 and the last job i did on my last day was a pre delivery inspection and fit number plates to a Renault 4 GTL it was one of the last the dealer sold.
The biggest difference today is the ability to still get one with a reasonable budget, the Dyane (a seasoned former owner)still edges it for me. However when it comes to character a 2CV wins, both cars are the sort that if you went down the EV route they still retain the charm. The other deciding factor maybe the support each model gets, again the Citroen has the upper hand.
Our parents didn’t have a driver’s license so we grew up without any car. But our neighbours had a Mercedes 200 Diesel and a Renault 4. The R4 was orange with this beautiful aluminium grill. Somehow, in my seventies childhood many things were orange…
I am a 2CV ehthusiast however I owned a Renault 4 in the late 80's alongside a 2CV. I found the Renaut 4 just like you found the one in your video. I had the 850 cc engine and found performance like the 602 cc 2CV and the engine quieter with less need to rev it hard. I genuinely liked my Renault 4, it was more relaxing when I was tired and its front mid engine layout felt good. Like you I found the rear leg room insufficient but liked the space in the front. A Renault 4 can rust like a 2CV they have that in common. My Renault 4 left the road because of chasis rust and the cost of fixing it. I also found the brakes spongy and relaxed in their efforts to stop the car, even a drum brake 2CV can out brake a Renault 4. My Renault 4 was light blue similar to the Blue Perol colour of the Dyane I owned the previous year. I found the Dyane and Reanault 4 very similar witht the exeptions of noise and brakes. All in all the 2CV is the most charming and engaging car to own and drive and preferable to the DYane and Renault 4.
There used to be heard of these sitting abandoned at a closed down garage near me. All gone now though. In their place is a collection of early Clio's, 106's and of all things a three door ZX!
Oh yes, the good old R4! My parents had one as a cheap mule while the family car was a lovely CX2000. It was such a practical and spacious and yet cheap to run vehicle, just really well thought out! I remember the CX broke down at the beginning of a holiday trip to the sea, just skipped the timing belt and ate its valves. So we had us picked up by a friend, stuffed two adults and two teenagers with all their stuff into the R4 and off we went! Rust finally ended the R4's life, as it did with lots of cars of that era. I think I still have the paperwork, about 30 years after the car had been scrapped.
My first car in France was the F6 Van version of the 4TL & I loved it. Yes the 2CV has more character but it's less Car like. Glad you finally had a chance to compare them.
Once more @hubnut drives the car of my childhood. We had a blue van version and a white one, almost identical to this one apart from I remember a blue interior. Ace things.
Fantastic,hands on review Ian.I have both the renault 4 and 2cv...I love my 2cv it's fun and attracts attention eveywhere we go.I tend to drive the 2cv topless all summer and the R4 (with the luxury of a modern heater) in the winter.The R4 is more conventional and dare I say more practical,comfortable and with a more modern feel, with an enormous boot and fold down back seat.But,I find it a little clautrophobic compared to the open air experience of the 2cv,and like you, nothing would drag me away from my 2cv.
There was a factory hatchback version of the 2CV available in the late models on demand. It came with the lid attached to the rear window (which was moving with the lid) and even a folding rear seat. I can remember that conversion kits were available for some time. A belgian made commercial with the same layout was already offered in the 70th.
Definitely a comparison between the Dyane and R4 would be more evenly balanced. You still can’t get away from the roll back roof though. Personally, a 2CV for fun, and an R6 for errands, would be the dream team.... but then an Ami Super would cover that base too!
My dad had one of those. It finally broke down in front of Lannock Motors in Artamon (a VW dealer in Sydney, Oz) so my dad traded it in for a new 68 Beetle
A few years ago they were a surprisingly common sight in what had been Yugoslavia, especially Serbia. But they're rapidly becoming a rare sight there too.
My yellow Renault 4 was great until one morning, approaching a T junction, the rear axle broke and took the suspension and brake pipe with it. I took the left-hand turn at quite a lick with no brakes and a lot of tyre squeal in the hope that I would eventually come to safe stop somewhere further up the hill. Luckily, it was early with no other traffic to meet me as I crossed into the wrong lane and coasted to a halt with possibly a facial expression to rival that of a freshly drained vampire victim. I've driven 2CVs ever since.
My auntie lives just outside Bordeaux and in the mid-seventies a white R4 van used to turn up obscenely early to deliver............yes that's right still warm Baguettes.
A friend of mine couldn't escape from the back of a 2cv Charleston at a motor show in '87. There was an ex-works Computer Vision 6r4 just yards from it.
My geography teacher at school bought one new in 1965, he was not the best of drivers and by the time it was 6 months old it looked like it had spent that time in Paris, all four corners having dents and scrapes. He would often allow us to drive it around the playing field, it was an hoot to see how far we could get it to roll without it falling over. The head groundsman used to go nuts as there were then furrows in the running track.
I went from Milan to Bergen with three mates in one of these, in 1992. I remember the footwell was so tight I had to drive without shoes to be comfortable over a long run.
One of the first cars I worked on as a novice car mechanic in training, internship at a Renault dealer. Very nice R4. The asking price is low for this beautiful R4 compared to here in the Netherlands.
This was a popular car in Germany aswell in the 80s. Extremly comon sight when I was a kid and tbh it was my favourite car for a long time. I think until I was arround 16 this was my dreamcar xD (Always had a soft spot for small cars). I remember very well, when we got one as a rental car on a holiday in Ex Yugoslavia. My father always was open minded towards minimalistic cars, aslong they do the job (That`s why he also liked the Yugo on another trip to that country). In the end my first car was in fact a Renault. Unfortunatly a Renault 11 which was on it`s last legs with constant carburator failings xD. But to safe Renault`s grace, after that I had a Renault 19, which to this day is the car I loved most.
9:55 If you park a Renault 4 half on the footpath then open the tailgate, you'll have a problem closing it again as the body twists. My sister had one which is how we found out.
An x gf of mine did blind navigators rally in hers a stock standard one back in the late 1990s always placed well due to high ground clearance and supple suspension, against corollas and the like.
Not to worry Ian, my daughter also says free for three. As hard as she tries and knows what to say, out slips free and shes been working at this issue for over 25 years.
I believe the 1108 cc engine had 5 main bearings, contributing to its smoothness. In 1971 I drove one full of people from Sheffield to Dundee! It was fun but slow.
I like your optimistic comment about the gear lever road which "works surprisingly well for such a Heath Robinson arrangement". Not in my experience: I once managed to disengage the same linkage on my mum's Renault 6 (same engine-gearbox arrangement, same long rod) when I was learning to drive on it. There is a rubber grommet between the "hook" attached to the long rod and the gear lever that comes out of the gearbox. I had reversed into a farm gateway to turn round and as I took it out of reverse to put it into first, the gear lever went limp and the knob dropped upside down when I left go of it. The grommet had fallen out which allowed the hook to disengage from the gearbox rod. My dad (who was supervising me while I was learning) swears blind that I uttered the super-wally words "Daaaaaaaaaaaad, is it supposed to do that?" ;-) Maybe I did...
I am in France at the moment and it seems that Renault's 4's around are often knackered with only a few looked after. 2CVs however are polished up and in good nick. There are also plenty of 2CVs offered for rent by small rental companies. Hence I think that the French see the 2CV as more special.
I knew that my Lotus Europa has a Renault 16 engine 'flipped' 180 degrees, but didn't know that the 16's front wheel-drive (mid-front engined) layout was derived from a rear engined car. Also, 1994! This '4' is a cool car, but I'd have guess production ended in the 60's!
La bonne vieille "quatrèle"... The french postman's workhorse. Yellow with the PTT logo. While the "deudeuche" was the hippies' escape-from-the-city device.
Never driven a R4 but was quite impressed by the design of this mini. I remember hearing stories in period of these cars being driven in incredibly harsh conditions and being unbreakable and unstoppable. It's a pity that we can't buy such simple rugged vehicles now - do we really need the complicated vehicles we've been told we must have. I think those that baulk at a 2CV would happily own this. Would it be impossible to reset to cars like this and the 2CV? What a pity that such a tidy example is spoilt by rubbish wipers.
Drove a council van version once, through forestry commission land, before I had driving licence. The suspension felt like it could have coped with undulations on the Moon. I quite liked the slanting to one side and the other gear lever, albeit with its springy aspect.
My mum had 1 of these for a month, 3 weeks of which it spent on the drive, after she went to put it in reverse and pulled the whole gear lever out of the dashboard.
I learnt to drive in one of these, and my first (road) car was a Renault 6. Also on offer when I went to look at it was an LHD '58 2CV in two-tone Hammerite...🤔
The postal service (An Post), An Garda síochána (the Police) as well as the phone company: P&T (Post and Telegraphs) in Ireland had large fleets of R4 vans right into the mid 90s.
Last year I bought a 9 year old white Panda, 4 doors, 4 seats and 40mpg were the requirements, I think had this been 30 years ago I'd have gone for the Renault 4 instead as it ticks all the boxes.
Nobody ever mentions carrying stuff with the roof open? I owned two 2CV's and I was a woodworker not unusual to need to carry long lengths of wood home from the company I worked for or carry a door or garden gate to a friends house. Just open the roof and have it sticking out the top roped down of couse mostly to the seat belt!
Holy Mary,you found an imported R4 with a Glasgow VRM! A school teacher had an '82/Y reg having traded down from a Fuego,she never did keep her cars long.... Just about to start watching d:-p
Got to say that the Renault 4 is an old favourite of mine very practical and robust and I just like the look of them. And the Renault 5 was just a really bodied version of the R 4 still a great car
Hey brits fellow! First of all, maybe unknown subject in UK. During WW2 Peugeot and Citroën distroyed there own factories as Renault gave them for the germans.
A red TL was the first new car my father bought. He managed to smash the windscreen within weeks of buying it when the lawnmower picked up a stone - it hit the screen dead centre behind the rear view mirror and was sitting on the roof. Was I glad I'd not been been the one cutting the grass.
Ian, the Simca Plein Air was a one off model made by Heuliez on the base of the Simca 1100 (Dodge 1100 in the UK), you also seem to conflate this model with the Simca Plein Ciel, that was the coupé version of the cabriolet Océane, the coachwork was made by Facel. The Renault 4 Plein Air was a shorter 2-seater version that came before the Rodéo, a bit like the Mini Moke or the Citroën Méhari. BTW, even if the Renault 6 had some common points with the Renault 4, its suspension was way more sloppy and body roll and overall road handling was awful. The real legacy of the Renault 4 went into the Renault 5 that kept the same wheelbase difference between right and left side to accommodate the suspension setup.
I always had the soft spot for the R4 (especially the van versions), already loved my Bburago-R4 when i was 6 or so. But never got the chance to drive or even own one.
You know on 80s R4s the horn circuit is permanently live (like on any Volvo). This was a source of much amusement for my sister and I. If we were left in the car for any period of time (which was ok in the 80s) we'd sound the horn at random un suspecting pedestrians in the car park. Of course we eventually got caught and got an 80s reprimand.
The R6 was another lovely car. Its hard to judge from my sofa and it could be the noise she makes but I reckon Myrtle would have been quicker off that roundabout
What a lovely example. One of my favourite cars I have owned in my many years of motoring is my Renault five. An age of simplicity that is lost today.
Love how Ian always manages to send me on a nostalgia trip, maybe that's why I'm such a fan of the channel ;)
+1
This guy is superb. Simple, accurate, dry humour and examines cars we have all likely seen on the roads over the years. Thank you. Keep them coming.
My very British dad was a huge Francophone, and also fascinated by microcars. Over the years, we had a Renault 4CV, a Heinkel bubble car, a Dauphine, an R4, an R8, and finally an R16. They were all marvellous, but my favourites were the R4 and the R16…
You misplaced the toot sound by a few seconds. It sounded like you were cursing the car's lack of acceleration!
I believe my '74 12TS used the Sierra engine, bored out to a larger capacity, with a twin choke Weber. I believe the engine was in front of the gearbox. Luved it's aubergine color, the Rostyle wheels and tan racing interior. It had been thoroughly maintained by a Renault mechanic before I purchased it second-hand. I sold it when I left the UK in '85.
I live in rural Spain and in my town there are about half a dozen of these still used as everyday cars.
Great, (relatively) balanced review. I love Citroens for their innovation, but the 4L (845cc) was the most positively memorable car I have ever owned, beautiful red, rust free bodywork, it just did everything you wanted to do and did it well. Bought at auction, because I had no money, synchro gone on 2nd and 3rd, bashed in drivers door, water ingress through windscreen so drilled a hole in the floor, plate under the floor welded on every MOT, exhaust fixed up with bean cans, wire and Gun gum, the clutch went and I changed it myself with a set of AF spanners because all my previous cars were British. True, real and stuffed full of memories motoring and far more fun than the BMW 316 which I bought when I had more cash. Give me a drive in a 4L today and I would be in heaven.
My dad had one when I was 2. This brought back such vivid memories. We have it a nickname “chaand gari” which means the moon car. Thank you for this video
Quite some time ago, I poised a question to Ian how come he, the automotive Francophile, never tested R4. Today I will rest on not-so-deserved laurels of my inquiry. Yes, they are enormous fun to drive
They were also made here in Colombia and they're still a common sight around Bogota.
A 1971 R4L was my first car, secondhand in April 1973: XSN149J in pale grey. It was the only car I fancied, and it was brilliant. Classically, on my first drive away from the dealers, it ran out of petrol. Fortunately, the dealer himself came past and even he had to stop and help out from a can. By drilling out the rear seat anchor bolts (just two), we could get a two seater settee longways in the back. We took the mileage from 49,000 to 74,000 in two very happy years before trading it in for a new R4L: GWX198N from memory. In the late 1960s, the R4 was advertised full-page in The Sunday Times colour supplement showing a French family loading a sheep into the rear - those were the days!
The Renault 4, very reliable and cheap to maintain, very popular here in Argentina along with it's brother the Renault 6, last Renault 4 models received front disc brakes and some the 1.4 litre engine from the Renault 12
lovely car! a great icon like the 2CV, I would love to have both right now and use them in the countryside. When I was a child we used a 2CV van as a "jeep" on gravel roads in Patagonia, and it functioned very well because the car was so lightweight and could be "carried out of the problems" by a bunch of guys, a R4 would have performed as well for sure. Besides a Landie Series 1, a VW Beetle, a Willys jeep, and a Fiat 500, a R4 and a 2CV would certainly be part of my dream collection!!! (plus a Citroen 11 traction avant, a VW Kleinbus, a Ford F-100 pickup truck, and, and, and... my wish-list seemingly never ends)
I had several of these with 850 engines. My girlfriend lived in cornwall and i used to go every weekend for 2 yrs. cruise at 60mph 55mpg. Had a renault 6 with 1108 engine and really loved them all. V quiet and smooth. The 6 was very very comfortable. Would buy one on a second if could still have one. My dad had a16, never in all my years have i been in a more silent, comfortable, smooth riding car. Seats like armchairs. I had a 2cv too but preferred my renault 4s. All of them did comfortably over 100k but alas rot was their nemesis same as my 2cv. Love the simplicity of these gallic wagons.
Mom owned one many years back. It had some really nice dark brown vinyl seats that came with a "blister guarantee"
An elderly work colleague / friend had a Renault 4 when I worked for Department Of The Interior in Canberra ACT in the early seventies. I was young and cheeky, I used to tease him about it looking like a garbage can on wheels. Dick had a ast model railway set glued to the inside wall of his house. Now I am just old and cheeky, but they were lovely memories.
@colnuttall9035 oh my days, you must have been such a wond up merchant , my sides are litterally splitting .... do you write your own stuff ?
Thanks for a inspiring video. I went back to my childhood. Lovely cars these french cars. I grew up with CV2's. My neighbour had a R4. As a child I thought they where really ugly. Now I think they are genius. We should go back more to basic again. Simplicity has it's charm.
And the nuns preferred CV2's because they went down on there knees coming to a crossing.
Greetings from Sweden, I watch most of your videos, Gregor.
HubNut youre back!!! I was in Portugal late Sep 21 and there were a few running about, great wee cars
There a lot of these things in South America. I was blown away as a Brazilian tourist back in 2004.
Hi Ian My wife and I have had 3 R4s over the years and actually used one of them, with the rear seats removed, to move house. If we're talking practicality you can't beat that. I rate the R4 very, very highly. Thanks for the review. Please do try an R16 when you can, we have also had 3 of those, adore them, in my book they are the most comfortable car on the planet, and that's from someone who spent his working life in the motor trade.
I worked for a Renault dealer back in 1984 and the last job i did on my last day was a pre delivery inspection and fit number plates to a Renault 4 GTL it was one of the last the dealer sold.
The biggest difference today is the ability to still get one with a reasonable budget, the Dyane (a seasoned former owner)still edges it for me. However when it comes to character a 2CV wins, both cars are the sort that if you went down the EV route they still retain the charm. The other deciding factor maybe the support each model gets, again the Citroen has the upper hand.
when you compair the small van models 2CV AK versus the R4 F the choice becomes difficult .
Always liked the shape of the 4 and the 6 too. They really appealed to me as a kid in the 70s.
Our parents didn’t have a driver’s license so we grew up without any car. But our neighbours had a Mercedes 200 Diesel and a Renault 4. The R4 was orange with this beautiful aluminium grill. Somehow, in my seventies childhood many things were orange…
I am a 2CV ehthusiast however I owned a Renault 4 in the late 80's alongside a 2CV. I found the Renaut 4 just like you found the one in your video. I had the 850 cc engine and found performance like the 602 cc 2CV and the engine quieter with less need to rev it hard. I genuinely liked my Renault 4, it was more relaxing when I was tired and its front mid engine layout felt good. Like you I found the rear leg room insufficient but liked the space in the front. A Renault 4 can rust like a 2CV they have that in common. My Renault 4 left the road because of chasis rust and the cost of fixing it. I also found the brakes spongy and relaxed in their efforts to stop the car, even a drum brake 2CV can out brake a Renault 4. My Renault 4 was light blue similar to the Blue Perol colour of the Dyane I owned the previous year. I found the Dyane and Reanault 4 very similar witht the exeptions of noise and brakes. All in all the 2CV is the most charming and engaging car to own and drive and preferable to the DYane and Renault 4.
There used to be heard of these sitting abandoned at a closed down garage near me. All gone now though. In their place is a collection of early Clio's, 106's and of all things a three door ZX!
Oh yes, the good old R4!
My parents had one as a cheap mule while the family car was a lovely CX2000.
It was such a practical and spacious and yet cheap to run vehicle, just really well thought out!
I remember the CX broke down at the beginning of a holiday trip to the sea, just skipped the timing belt and ate its valves. So we had us picked up by a friend, stuffed two adults and two teenagers with all their stuff into the R4 and off we went!
Rust finally ended the R4's life, as it did with lots of cars of that era. I think I still have the paperwork, about 30 years after the car had been scrapped.
My first car in France was the F6 Van version of the 4TL & I loved it.
Yes the 2CV has more character but it's less Car like.
Glad you finally had a chance to compare them.
Once more @hubnut drives the car of my childhood. We had a blue van version and a white one, almost identical to this one apart from I remember a blue interior. Ace things.
I've got one here, imported from Croatia two years ago. Got a 1.4 engine going in on Sunday, should double the bhp!!!
Love the hood wire retainers, the passenger side being shorter taking all the strain.
Io la mia R4 850cc del 1985 la uso tutti i giorni ed è sempre un piacere guidarla, la trovo fantastica!
I had one of these. Great fun to drive, suspension on biro springs and very comfortable.
Fantastic,hands on review Ian.I have both the renault 4 and 2cv...I love my 2cv it's fun and attracts attention eveywhere we go.I tend to drive the 2cv topless all summer and the R4 (with the luxury of a modern heater) in the winter.The R4 is more conventional and dare I say more practical,comfortable and with a more modern feel, with an enormous boot and fold down back seat.But,I find it a little clautrophobic compared to the open air experience of the 2cv,and like you, nothing would drag me away from my 2cv.
There was a factory hatchback version of the 2CV available in the late models on demand. It came with the lid attached to the rear window (which was moving with the lid) and even a folding rear seat. I can remember that conversion kits were available for some time.
A belgian made commercial with the same layout was already offered in the 70th.
Definitely a comparison between the Dyane and R4 would be more evenly balanced. You still can’t get away from the roll back roof though.
Personally, a 2CV for fun, and an R6 for errands, would be the dream team.... but then an Ami Super would cover that base too!
2cv with Hatchback door like on the Renault 4 was optional between 1980 and 1990, but was available as kit ENAC sinze 1963...
My dad had one of those. It finally broke down in front of Lannock Motors in Artamon (a VW dealer in Sydney, Oz) so my dad traded it in for a new 68 Beetle
A few years ago they were a surprisingly common sight in what had been Yugoslavia, especially Serbia. But they're rapidly becoming a rare sight there too.
My yellow Renault 4 was great until one morning, approaching a T junction, the rear axle broke and took the suspension and brake pipe with it. I took the left-hand turn at quite a lick with no brakes and a lot of tyre squeal in the hope that I would eventually come to safe stop somewhere further up the hill. Luckily, it was early with no other traffic to meet me as I crossed into the wrong lane and coasted to a halt with possibly a facial expression to rival that of a freshly drained vampire victim. I've driven 2CVs ever since.
Had a bright yellow 4, loved it, so practical.
These are one of my favourite cars. I just love the deliberately unstylish stylishness of them
My auntie lives just outside Bordeaux and in the mid-seventies a white R4 van used to
turn up obscenely early to deliver............yes that's right still warm Baguettes.
I may be wrong, but I think the Austin A40 Farina was launched in 1958 as a booted car. The hatch didn't come until a few years later.
A friend of mine couldn't escape from the back of a 2cv Charleston at a motor show in '87. There was an ex-works Computer Vision 6r4 just yards from it.
My geography teacher at school bought one new in 1965, he was not the best of drivers and by the time it was 6 months old it looked like it had spent that time in Paris, all four corners having dents and scrapes. He would often allow us to drive it around the playing field, it was an hoot to see how far we could get it to roll without it falling over. The head groundsman used to go nuts as there were then furrows in the running track.
I went from Milan to Bergen with three mates in one of these, in 1992. I remember the footwell was so tight I had to drive without shoes to be comfortable over a long run.
One of the first cars I worked on as a novice car mechanic in training, internship at a Renault dealer. Very nice R4. The asking price is low for this beautiful R4 compared to here in the Netherlands.
This was a popular car in Germany aswell in the 80s. Extremly comon sight when I was a kid and tbh it was my favourite car for a long time. I think until I was arround 16 this was my dreamcar xD (Always had a soft spot for small cars). I remember very well, when we got one as a rental car on a holiday in Ex Yugoslavia. My father always was open minded towards minimalistic cars, aslong they do the job (That`s why he also liked the Yugo on another trip to that country). In the end my first car was in fact a Renault. Unfortunatly a Renault 11 which was on it`s last legs with constant carburator failings xD. But to safe Renault`s grace, after that I had a Renault 19, which to this day is the car I loved most.
My first car was a 4 back in the 80s - loved it!
As the name said the Renault has a 4 cylinder engine. A smooth and quite engine that was pretty relieable.
9:55 If you park a Renault 4 half on the footpath then open the tailgate, you'll have a problem closing it again as the body twists. My sister had one which is how we found out.
An x gf of mine did blind navigators rally in hers a stock standard one back in the late 1990s always placed well due to high ground clearance and supple suspension, against corollas and the like.
Not to worry Ian, my daughter also says free for three. As hard as she tries and knows what to say, out slips free and shes been working at this issue for over 25 years.
I believe the 1108 cc engine had 5 main bearings, contributing to its smoothness. In 1971 I drove one full of people from Sheffield to Dundee! It was fun but slow.
I read this week - it’s May 2024 now - that there’s just 84 registered in the UK at this time.
I don't think I've seen a R4 on the road for about thirty years. But back then, and before, in the UK memory tells me they were fairly prolific.
I like your optimistic comment about the gear lever road which "works surprisingly well for such a Heath Robinson arrangement". Not in my experience: I once managed to disengage the same linkage on my mum's Renault 6 (same engine-gearbox arrangement, same long rod) when I was learning to drive on it. There is a rubber grommet between the "hook" attached to the long rod and the gear lever that comes out of the gearbox. I had reversed into a farm gateway to turn round and as I took it out of reverse to put it into first, the gear lever went limp and the knob dropped upside down when I left go of it. The grommet had fallen out which allowed the hook to disengage from the gearbox rod.
My dad (who was supervising me while I was learning) swears blind that I uttered the super-wally words "Daaaaaaaaaaaad, is it supposed to do that?" ;-) Maybe I did...
I am in France at the moment and it seems that Renault's 4's around are often knackered with only a few looked after. 2CVs however are polished up and in good nick. There are also plenty of 2CVs offered for rent by small rental companies. Hence I think that the French see the 2CV as more special.
I have visions of you and miss hubnut recreating the car chase in " romancing the stone" but without the waterfall!
never driven a 4 - we owned an 8 and a 16ts - loved them both - the 16ts is probably my fav car ever
Had one in early 80's, loved it. GTL I think. Liked the handling & roll. Never stepped out.
I knew that my Lotus Europa has a Renault 16 engine 'flipped' 180 degrees, but didn't know that the 16's front wheel-drive (mid-front engined) layout was derived from a rear engined car. Also, 1994! This '4' is a cool car, but I'd have guess production ended in the 60's!
La bonne vieille "quatrèle"... The french postman's workhorse. Yellow with the PTT logo.
While the "deudeuche" was the hippies' escape-from-the-city device.
You meant "La bonne vieille "4L or quatre ailes"
many cam chain done with my Renault mechanic dad doing jobs on the side, he did it by spinning it on the drive shafts instead of engine out.
Never driven a R4 but was quite impressed by the design of this mini. I remember hearing stories in period of these cars being driven in incredibly harsh conditions and being unbreakable and unstoppable. It's a pity that we can't buy such simple rugged vehicles now - do we really need the complicated vehicles we've been told we must have. I think those that baulk at a 2CV would happily own this. Would it be impossible to reset to cars like this and the 2CV? What a pity that such a tidy example is spoilt by rubbish wipers.
Drove a council van version once, through forestry commission land, before I had driving licence. The suspension felt like it could have coped with undulations on the Moon. I quite liked the slanting to one side and the other gear lever, albeit with its springy aspect.
I'd love one of these!! And fancy yiur videos being made in Letchworth!
That H-reg Renault is from 1990, and is newer than an MX-5 I once owned!
Good to see the Citroen issued Vaccine works and you were able to handle a Renault safely.
My mum had 1 of these for a month, 3 weeks of which it spent on the drive, after she went to put it in reverse and pulled the whole gear lever out of the dashboard.
Drove Renault 4's and 2cv's on a number of occasions. Renualt 4 won hands down every time. Pity you don't many about in UK
I learnt to drive in one of these, and my first (road) car was a Renault 6. Also on offer when I went to look at it was an LHD '58 2CV in two-tone Hammerite...🤔
A family friend owned a 4. He then had 2 12's & then a 16. He loved Renaults there was also a Renault dealer in town
My first car, mine had bench seat in the front as well as the rear.
I really like that car. Now after your test drive, I really really like that car.
The postal service (An Post), An Garda síochána (the Police) as well as the phone company: P&T (Post and Telegraphs) in Ireland had large fleets of R4 vans right into the mid 90s.
Last year I bought a 9 year old white Panda, 4 doors, 4 seats and 40mpg were the requirements, I think had this been 30 years ago I'd have gone for the Renault 4 instead as it ticks all the boxes.
We need to see a road test of the Renault 14!
Lots of Renault R8 in that car.The 4CV yes had weird handling but was a fantastic car once you learnt the drive it .
FINALLY, the video we've all been waiting for, yaay!
Nobody ever mentions carrying stuff with the roof open? I owned two 2CV's and I was a woodworker not unusual to need to carry long lengths of wood home from the company I worked for or carry a door or garden gate to a friends house. Just open the roof and have it sticking out the top roped down of couse mostly to the seat belt!
Holy Mary,you found an imported R4 with a Glasgow VRM! A school teacher had an '82/Y reg having traded down from a Fuego,she never did keep her cars long.... Just about to start watching d:-p
Import plates tend to get issued rather randomly, regardless of geography.
@@HubNut Understood. I got the impression it was only the pre 1963 plates that was issued like that.
Got to say that the Renault 4 is an old favourite of mine very practical and robust and I just like the look of them. And the Renault 5 was just a really bodied version of the R 4 still a great car
I genuinly love this one, also Renault 16 , I would have a whole fleet of cars if money and place to store them where not an issue.
This dashboard is the new phase 2 4L not the old one. This is the same dashboard I had on my Renault Express.
Hey brits fellow! First of all, maybe unknown subject in UK. During WW2 Peugeot and Citroën distroyed there own factories as Renault gave them for the germans.
Now you really HAVE to find a 16 to road test!
A red TL was the first new car my father bought. He managed to smash the windscreen within weeks of buying it when the lawnmower picked up a stone - it hit the screen dead centre behind the rear view mirror and was sitting on the roof. Was I glad I'd not been been the one cutting the grass.
I loved my R14TL (WJG46T). If you get the chance Ian test one, although there are probably rarer.
I don't know what a Heath Robinson Arrangement is, but it's a great expression.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Heath_Robinson
@@JohnSmith-yv6eq better than I imagined. The u.s. has a similar expression.
Ian, the Simca Plein Air was a one off model made by Heuliez on the base of the Simca 1100 (Dodge 1100 in the UK), you also seem to conflate this model with the Simca Plein Ciel, that was the coupé version of the cabriolet Océane, the coachwork was made by Facel.
The Renault 4 Plein Air was a shorter 2-seater version that came before the Rodéo, a bit like the Mini Moke or the Citroën Méhari.
BTW, even if the Renault 6 had some common points with the Renault 4, its suspension was way more sloppy and body roll and overall road handling was awful. The real legacy of the Renault 4 went into the Renault 5 that kept the same wheelbase difference between right and left side to accommodate the suspension setup.
I always had the soft spot for the R4 (especially the van versions), already loved my Bburago-R4 when i was 6 or so. But never got the chance to drive or even own one.
Great video love both cars but the gear change issue and snow conditions would move me to the 2 CV.
FETCHED A VESPA 90 FROM FRANCE IN ONE OF THESE BUT A VAN VERSION GOOD LITTLE MOTOR'S
You know on 80s R4s the horn circuit is permanently live (like on any Volvo). This was a source of much amusement for my sister and I. If we were left in the car for any period of time (which was ok in the 80s) we'd sound the horn at random un suspecting pedestrians in the car park. Of course we eventually got caught and got an 80s reprimand.
The one in the movie is a lot more "advanced" than the one I had.
I cannot remember so many lights behind the steering wheel.
..I remember having a lift in one of these back in the early 90s..it was a R4 furgonette though..cool rides👍
The R6 was another lovely car.
Its hard to judge from my sofa and it could be the noise she makes but I reckon Myrtle would have been quicker off that roundabout
Fabulously informative film Ian. Didn't they usually have some crash bars/handles sticking out next to the headlights ?