Renault’s sweet Sixteen beats the Maxi
I bought the November 2019 issue of Practical Classics and have to tell you, I wasn’t sure whether to laugh, cry or be really mad. I don’t agree the Austin Maxi created the modern lifestyle car that came to be known as the hatchback. The Maxi was BMC’S attempt to take on the car that proceeded it by half a decade: the Renault 16.
This design icon was, in 1966, conceptually and stylistically the grand-daddy of the modern aerodynamic five-door front -wheel drive hatch, with lots of advanced engineering and features. While the Maxi was a noble effort from a troubled company and in some respects better than the R16, the Renault outsold the
Maxi by over four to one.
The Renault engine was a masterpiece with its high pressure diecast aluminium block and chromium steel wet liners, with the coolant able to circulate all around every cylinder unlike the heavy all iron E-series engine.
I think the Maxi styling was unremarkable and old fashioned, whereas the 16 was bold, dynamic and avant-garde
– with the entire body side pressed in one piece and joined to the roof panel by a gutterless seam – like most modern cars. The all torsion bar, double wishbone front and trailing arm rear set-up was engineered from day one around Michelin and Dunlop radial tyres.
Sorry, but the Maxi just cannot compare to the Renault 16! Richard Allen, Kettering.
We celebrate all classics at PC. Loving the Maxi implies no negativity towards the R16.