- Location
- Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
I suppose a Dacia Duster is the modern equivalent ?
Renault 4 - an original utility country car
- Thread starter JP1
- Start date
I suppose a Dacia Duster is the modern equivalent ?
- Location
- Hampshire
Great little cars, would almost go anywhere a Land-Rover would. Tin worm killed them though.
Wellytrack
Member
2CV were the original ‘transport peasants and goods to market’ type of vehicle.
A lot to be said for light weight, front wheel drive and skinny tyres…
A lot to be said for light weight, front wheel drive and skinny tyres…
- Location
- Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
To be fair they'd both get more out of one than I might manageShould issue Hamilton & Verstappen these. If all they want is a one lap sprint then they may as well do it with some panache, and on equal terms ...
- Location
- Lincolnshire
My little Kia picanto has hoicked more farm stuff down more bumpy tracks and over fields than good for it.
Bogweevil
Member
R4, finest car ever made for its size and cost, got mine up to 80 once down a long steep straight hill, could virtually stand inside the engine compartment to service it, everything easy to work on, needed the separate chassis to be welded where the suspension met it though - rust, and a passion wagon too with its front bench seat.
Wellytrack
Member
French hatchbacks have generally been very good for rural use. My folks had three 205’s and latterly one 306 in the ‘90s.
- Location
- North Wiltshire
As a lad, I was ferried about in R5 and R6.
I assume the R4 had the same hockey stick gearstick, with reverse where first should be and first where second should be?
I assume the R4 had the same hockey stick gearstick, with reverse where first should be and first where second should be?
- Location
- Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
borderterribles
Member
- Location
- South Shropshire
Yes, that's right. My first car was a Renault 4 and it was the first of six that I owned, including a couple of vans.They carried everything from livestock to tractor parts . They had fabulous traction off-road, were cheap and simple to maintain and very reliable. I always thought that the gearbox was a logical arrangement. It was on the front of the engine and the gear stick/hockey stick went through the bulkhead, over the top of the engine, connecting to the gearbox itself, with the drive to the front wheels coming out of the sides of the box. If I remember correctly, anyway. It is almost forty years since I had one. Great little cars.
Dave6170
Member
- Location
- Watten, caithness
My brother still has a E reg 1.4 Peugeot 205 in the shed
The manager on the estate I did my sandwich year had a few of these one after the other and he used to appear all over the place in them. He never really gave much thought to where he was driving mind you but rarely had to be "rescued". It was quite a sight to see a bright red Renault 4 entering a field where the combines were working and be driven across the rows of straw, used to drive the baler man potty, the resulting moving straw heap would be a thing of beauty.
All that changed when it caught fire one day with all the straw that was bundled up underneath! That was back in the days of strawburning so we were a little more geared up to deal with straw fires with kit already on tractors to make firebreaks at the drop of a hat.
Rallying round the farms in them was a bit of fun for us as students but the umbrella handle handbrake was a tricky one for handbrake turns and the hockey stick gearlever didn't take a lot of abuse and would look quite forlorn when it detached itself from the rest of the linkage, just dangling from the dashboard.
All that changed when it caught fire one day with all the straw that was bundled up underneath! That was back in the days of strawburning so we were a little more geared up to deal with straw fires with kit already on tractors to make firebreaks at the drop of a hat.
Rallying round the farms in them was a bit of fun for us as students but the umbrella handle handbrake was a tricky one for handbrake turns and the hockey stick gearlever didn't take a lot of abuse and would look quite forlorn when it detached itself from the rest of the linkage, just dangling from the dashboard.
- Location
- N.Lincs
Much preferred the Renault 5...........
"Oohh, Nicole".........
"Oohh, Nicole".........
- Location
- Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
At a time when French car designers had real panache even if the manufacturing and commercial integrity wasn't quite there; Citroen Mehari, DS, SM even the Acadienne (Dyane van)
- Location
- Scottish Highlands
A local farmer used to use R4s but cut the body off to make a R4 pickup. A VERY useful vehicle I would think. Why do they always 'improve' stuff out of existence?
Timbo
Member
- Location
- Gods County
Must've towed it through the river, there's no way the breaker points n feeble ignition would've coped with that dunking!
Steevo
Member
- Location
- Gloucestershire
…..and nobody has mentioned The Grand Tour yet! 
