Classic Car Weekly (UK)

Five Classic Trials Renault 4

The Renault 4 was as much a people’s car as the Citroën 2CV, BMC Mini or VW Beetle, but never seemed to attain quite the same level of iconic fame. Will an extended drive reveal why?

- WORDS Charlie Calderwood PHOTOGRAPH­Y Richard Gunn

It’s probably fair to say that the world has done the Renault 4 something of a disservice. When people think of an iconic post-war people’s cars, they typically picture the Volkswagen Beetle, Citroën 2CV or BMC Mini.

And yet, of that illustriou­s line-up, only the Beetle outsold the 4. Even more impressive­ly, the Renault racked up its 8.1 million sales in just 33 years – a ridiculous amount of time for a car to stay in production by modern standards, for sure, but a far shorter production run than the aforementi­oned iconic trio.

So why has the Renault 4 always been denied the same lofty status as its rivals? Part of the reason must surely be that it was rather late to the party, only arriving in 1961 when the other three were products of the 1950s or earlier. And while its details were innovative, it just wasn’t as pioneering as the Big Three.

And yet – it stood on the shoulders of those (figurative) giants – and made the most of the view, too. Being French, of course, it quite obviously took its inspiratio­n from the 2CV, something that becomes immediatel­y obvious when you step up on to a flat floor that’s very reminiscen­t of the Citroën as you climb aboard. It’s altogether more spacious than a 2CV, though; there’s ample headroom, but also plenty of elbow room, especially in the front (the cabin tapers slightly towards the rear).

This is what Renault was talking about when it said that it had designed a car for the ‘ bluejeans’ era. People still needed cheap transport in 1961, but they were increasing­ly fed up with the cramped interiors that often characteri­sed cars of the 1950s, not to mention how miserly they began to look to even the most pennypinch­ing motorist as Europe’s ‘economic miracle’ began to take hold.

Today, the Renault’s cabin is a genuinely pleasant a place to be because the flat floor and dash-mounted gear stick really do make it feel like a big box on wheels, with driver and passenger able to move around more freely than you can in even many modern cars.

Clearly, French roads hadn’t improved much since the 2CV debuted in 1948, however, because the Renault sports similar soft, long travel suspension that constantly re-settles as you transfer your weight inside the car. It’s all the better for it, though, because it’s a key component to the car’s inherently jovial character. The rocking and creaking with every change of direction make it feel constantly alive and once you get up to speed via the idiosyncra­tic gearshift, you can provoke the car to lean at the sort of angles that would scare an Olympic skier.

This may not be a particular­ly fast or efficient way of cornering, but the Renault grips the road well enough – even if you’re a bit stuffed if you’re suddenly faced with a quick succession of left-right-left corners – and is simply enormous fun as you bounce, rock and lean your way down the road.

The lack of power encourages you to take corners with a bit of verve, of course, though it shouldn’t be ignored what a step up the Renault 4’s water-cooled four-cylinder engine is from the powerplant­s in the 2CV and Beetle. It’s quite a refined and revvy little engine, offering almost identical output to a BMC A-series of the same capacity and the car’s light ( just 700kg) weight means that it can deliver a 0-60mph time that a 2CV can only dream of, that a Beetle would use a third more fuel to achieve and that a Mini can beat only because it’s that much smaller.

Add in the fact the Renault gives you a true, one-piece hatchback – a first in an economy car – and you really do start to wonder why everyone walks around wearing T-shirts emblazoned with VW Beetles and Morris Minors, rather than the fantastic Renault 4.

It’s a crying shame that there aren’t enough of them left for us to redress that.

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