Any love for french cars ?

vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) said:

Ever try to replace an oil filter on a 505 where you have to move the alternator out of the way to get to it? That's enough for me. Yes they drive nicely, but working on them was never a joy. Even the 405 had it's issues.

Sometimes, I think the French make it a matter of national pride to figure out how the Germans would do something, and do the opposite. Strangely, this can lead either French or Germans to build Rube Goldberg contraptions that would leave American, Japanese, or even British engineers shaking their heads.

 Sometimes that produces great results, though, like the DS. From it hydropneumatic suspension to the Maserati V6 behind the front axle driving the front wheels, the whole car is one glorious absurdity. Not sure how much I'd want to handle its care and feeding, but I'm glad someone does.

In reply to flat4_5spd :

I had a 2000 TC.  It was a delightful car. Not at all dependable but a joy when it was not broken.  I sort of envy you.

In reply to MadScientistMatt :

Yes.

I had to look it up, because it was so long ago I can't remember... There is no German standard for bicycle bottom brackets, but the Swiss standard is M35x1 with right hand threads on the left and left hand threads on the right, which keeps the cups from loosening due to precession.  French is the same thread pitch, except right hand thread on both sides...

Crushed, finding out now that this is not a Hispanio Suiza build thread....

@vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) 
I had a 505, felt like a tank, drove like one and was sturdy like one too lol although everything on it was like mechanical and every work felt like working on a industrial machine but other than that it was a great car, still regret selling it :/

@Pete. (l33t FS) 
Ill format my replies like this lol. Whichever 106 one picks its kind of a joy to drive for whatever purpose its bought, to me at least, looks nice for a hatch too.

@ShawnG 
Not even the XM? :D

@M2Pilot 
Dauphine seems like a nice looking car but i havent had the chance to drive one yet. How was it anyway?

@frenchyd 
Bugatti is supposed to be french but being owned by vag group i would put it on the german side, other than the name and origin its pretty much a german made car imo.

@acheron64 
That was a nice story to read, my personal fav was the 505 of the oldies, had it for about 10 years, it was a great car.

@flat4_5spd 
The 505 turbo that i had was a diesel though but it was fun to drive, felt indestructible to time and conditions, had a really good time with it.

@MadScientistMatt 
The DS and the bunch to me are okayish cars to maintain, you have to respect the balls on themf or always trying something different until today when all cars are virtually the same in a sense.

@Agent98 
Isn't that a bit too advanced for us simple folk lol?

In reply to Adam911 :

Being my first car, I didn't have much to go on regarding how the Dauphine was to drive.  When I owned it, I had no idea of what "good handling",etc. was.   The girls liked it because it was a cute little ferrin car & the guys were impressed because it had 3 on the floor.  It was slow, really really slow.   It was also horribly unreliable. I did stuff like stopping & not restarting while crossing railroad tracks.

In reply to M2Pilot :

Okay thats really dangerous in all honesty, stopping on a railroad crossing is like the top of horror scenarios lol

BTW, i havent heard a peep from mods so ill just go ahead and say that ive made a a discord server about AND for french car enthusiasts that just wanna talk about those cars, no selling or buying or anything bad going on, just good fun. Here's the invite link for anyone interested https://discord.gg/7r2shy8abq

Still a big WANT in my life even if a new Honda Civic would drive rings around it

And if you have not experienced the weirdness of a 2CV you are missing out on all the fun of an extraterrestrial experiences sans the probe.

In reply to NOHOME :

I need to build that r5 one day for myself, i just really really need it lol
That 2cv version is what i have parked at my place, it is an abosulte joy to drive hands down!

The PSA alloy 4cyl is a bit of an underated gem. In the fuego it would pull 9k on a twin barrel weber and had no major issues considering the lack of modern coolants. The block architecture continued into the Citroen WRC cars Loeb competed in. Also rather liked the XN engine in TI form, kugelfischer mechanical injection, reliable and dead simple to tune and maintain. My old bosses favourite was the R8 he built as an apprentice with an R16TS engine in it, 800kg and north of 160km/h what could go wrong :)

Javelin said:

I have owned cars from every major manufacturing country except France. 

Same.  Not that Im necessarily opposed to owning one.  At this point it would mostly be to round out the collection as you say.  I keep promising to make "the french mistake" some day but each time I've come close I sobered up for a few days ;)  Seriously though, never been right place, right time, right car.

There is some debate on this topic as I have owned a Smart.  Manufactured in France by a German company so it maybe sorta counts?

In reply to NOHOME :

I assume, the red car started out as a "Le Car" (by whatever name) not knowing French cars much. I've never seen one I liked the styling of. 
With the mods, I really like the red one. 

03Panther said:

In reply to NOHOME :

I assume, the red car started out as a "Le Car" (by whatever name) not knowing French cars much. I've never seen one I liked the styling of. 
With the mods, I really like the red one. 

R5 which as you note was known as a LeCar in the US market.  That would be an R5 turbo which is sorta like the Shogun in that the body is similar to the pedestrian model but everything else is changed, mid engine turbo goodness

In reply to 03Panther :

That is a factory built mid engine voiture.  Stock,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_5_Turbo

If you want something more modern, Renault committed the same crime twice. Might not have heard about the Clio V6 Sport  because I am fairly certain all the owners were killed in horrible oversteer induced crashes. Another car I really want.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clio_V6_Renault_Sport

Wanna know why Peugeots have such great seats? So you're comfortable while waiting for the tow truck operator to arrive! 

I worked for the former service manager who had been the manager of the number one rated service and sales dealer in the US at one time (Imported Car Center in Vermont). He had nothing nice to say about the French and their cars. Especially when it came to dealing with the factory and their engineers back in France. He was often told Americans don't understand our cars. We often said, "Peugeot, French for junque!"

If you prefer the less well known on the menu, there was the Monica for two years. 

In reply to NOHOME :

The mid engine boxes are kinda cool. The last one gos back to the "acquired tastes". And mine ain't there. 

In reply to vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) :

I've now worked at two different French owned companies. Neither gave be better feelings for the French, as a whole, than I already had... not good experiences. 
I can tell ya Michelin does build a better quality tire, than other tire production facilities. Including factory's they acquired buying Goodyear.  

At the Museum, we have a saying that goes "Nobody copies the French, and the French copy nobody"

Also, they make a killer hot hatch:

acheron64 
That is some real oldie stuff with carb magic right there lol

JThw8 
When in doubt, get a 206, anything with 1.6 and above will work great!

NOHOME 
Clio v6 is hands down the best widow maker of them all :D
That monica is a nice citro/pug blend of weird and renault sprinkled on top when it comes to sporty look lol

vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) 
As a workhorse they were kinda nice, but i cant think of much else, on rare occasions when you get a kitted one with some nice stuff you get to experience something more but usually its just okayish. Could say the same thing for anything else really.

red_stapler 
I swear, meganes and clios are like the best bang for a buck these days. Mostly design wise but some even performance wise, not sure about their reliability but i see nobody complaining, the laguna guys do hate their laguna ngl.