French cars in North America/Australia etc?

[oldborn]

Ok, why you guys do not like French cars, Peugeout, Renault, Citroen. Is there any issue with them, too cheap, too bad or what? They are so cool, you know French cars.

P.S. I am driving Renault Megane, but it has nothing to do with thread

 

[mewmewmew13]

Hi Oldborn.
I would be happy to drive a French car! They are few and far between in the US...not really any dealers around that I have ever seen...
I think they have panache!

 

[krebs303]

my dad owned a Peugeot in the late 50's.Who doesn't love the 2CV? I'd love to own a Renault R5 Turbo.

The biggest problems with them was parts and service. Same with Fiat.

 

[oldborn]

Hi Oldborn.
I would be happy to drive a French car! They are few and far between in the US...not really any dealers around that I have ever seen...
I think they have panache!

Now we are talking about you have a style, how about this one?

Renault Laguna Grandtour


Or C6 Citroen



I thought so about dealers thing. But it would be relatively cheap (here Megane is 15 000euros) but in NA it should not be so expensive.

 

[oldborn]

my dad owned a Peugeot in the late 50's.Who doesn't love the 2CV? I'd love to own a Renault R5 Turbo.

The biggest problems with them was parts and service. Same with Fiat.

Funny I saw just today 2CV, although made in Slovenia in late 80 i think, red&black. Uhh Fiat sucks IMHO

 

[mewmewmew13]

Those are amazing looking! In my mind I was picturing those little Mr Hulot-type---which I love!
the little Citroens are cool.

I remember many years ago we had quite a few Renaults...
now seem to have disappeared.

Big news here this year for me is the arrival of the little Fiat 500s...I'd love one. I own a little Volvo C30 which is a lot of fun and just big enough for my bike in the back!

 

[oldborn]

Big news here this year for me is the arrival of the little Fiat 500s...I'd love one.

Real Fiat 600s was great Fiat car (one of the best) I do not know about 500s. We had those 600s although named Zastava 750 even issued for Police You can only imagine the car chase scene

Police muscle car

 

[krebs303]

My first car was a Fiat 600D. I also owned a Fiat 128

I am looking at new cars and the Fiat 500 is on the list but I want the Abarth model which they are not importing to the US yet.

 

[mewmewmew13]

Was in Italy a couple of years ago and saw Fiat Pandas as polizia!
I would like that too.

 

[Thomsena]

I thought it was the korean ones we avoided.

 

[L'arriviste]

Had nothing but bad experiences with French cars. They all seemed to fall apart after three years. Idler valve problems used to be common among Peugeot and Citroen alike. Not sure now - I swore off them!

Will always love those enormous old CXs though:

 

[Maxiton]

Hi Oldborn.
I would be happy to drive a French car! They are few and far between in the US...not really any dealers around that I have ever seen...
I think they have panache!

my dad owned a Peugeot in the late 50's.Who doesn't love the 2CV? I'd love to own a Renault R5 Turbo.

The biggest problems with them was parts and service. Same with Fiat.

Ditto. If French cars had the reliability of the Toyotas of a few years back, they'd take over the world (and my heart!).

 

[stefank]

I had a Renault 10 (very) many years ago. Loved it.

 

[craig1985]

I cycle with a guy who is a Renault dealer and did so well he got an all expenses paid trip by Renault and had a yarn to Matty Goss in Monte Carlo (who FTR thought Scott > Specialized).

 

[fatandfast]

the price points of Spanish, Italian and French cars will keep them out of the US market. I am continually amazed at VW groups use of different brand names from country to country with financial ruin. In the US we had French and Italian cars with dismal results because of the lack of sales support of the brands. Even in our biggest cities a French car dealer was really rare. Italian fewer still. Fiat hpes to use all the Chrysler backbone to relaunch it's product. We love 6's and V8's so even w Jenny Lopez it's going to be uphill. I have driven cars from all over and I see something good in most designs.even Lada.

 

[rickshaw]

question is why?

Wine: yes. Cheese: yes. Pouty starlets: yes. Pointless movies: yes.... but cars?

If you want Euro go German, otherwise stick with Japanese like a good part of the rest of the world. That's the old Simca wounds showing.

 

[BroDeal]

Ok, why you guys do not like French cars, Peugeout, Renault, Citroen. Is there any issue with them, too cheap, too bad or what? They are so cool, you know French cars.

P.S. I am driving Renault Megane, but it has nothing to do with thread

The build quality of french cars was so bad that the companies pulled out of the U.S. market. They were not bad compared to what the Honda made. They were bad compared to what Chrysler made. And that says a lot.

The italians pulled out for the same reason, and are just now attempting to reenter the U.S. market.

 

[Amsterhammer]

Like with any other product, you've just got to be lucky. I drove a Megane for seven years with no major complaints. It didn't fall apart, it didn't rust, and it was reliable.

 

[Black-Balled]

Fiat is pursuing US sales now. There is a new dealership about 1km from my office.

I wouldn't buy what they have on display...but I wouldn't buy a Smart car either. Wonder if there are plans to bring more models to US?

 

[oldborn]

Well guys, V8/5000HP era is gone, so you better get familiar with manual and this kind of car

Citroen C1 3,5l/100km


I am just saying

 

[Le breton]

Like with any other product, you've just got to be lucky. I drove a Megane for seven years with no major complaints. It didn't fall apart, it didn't rust, and it was reliable.

My Megane Scenic (Renault) is well over 11 years old and has over 160 000km on it. It's not the best car in the world but has been relatively trouble free. My main complaints have been with the electrical system in general, programmed by morons, I can only assume they graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique.

Before that I owned a Laguna (Renault) for 5 or 6 years, absolutely perfect, nothing went wrong with it ever.

My first car had been a Dauphine (Renault), a miserable car. Then I had a 2CV (Citroën), old and tired, 63 km/h max on a flat road, no wind.

Later I owned some Volswagen, forgot the name, great car, engine in the back again, like the Dauphine.

After that, in the US, I owned an old Mercedes 220S, at a time when people in the US didn't know about Mercedes, so that it was cheap as a used car. Parts were too expensive for my buget, but it lasted 8 or 9 years with a leak here and a leak there.

I was then foolish enough to buy a Renault5 in the US at a time when Renault was trying to re(?)-establish itself in North America with low prices. They didn't follow through with dealerships. But in the meantime I had gone back to Europe with my Renault 5 (Found a really good price on a cargo from Baltimore to Southampton). The engine died when the car was only like 5 years old because of a modification they had made to the engine to abide by some US emission rule! Other than that fateful end it had worked fine, except that the brakes were somehow "underdimensionned" for mountain roads.

I then owned a friday afternoon Golf (Volkswagen), I don't know what was wrong with it but it sure scared me once on a hairpin in the Alps. I never trusted it after that. It also had more than its fair share of mishaps.

I exchanged it for a Polo (VW also), great little car, before going back to Renault and the Laguna.

I have also driven Toyotas. One of them, a 4WD drive, was the worst car I ever drove, so scary, aquaplaning several times, had to go much slower than everybody else under some types of rainy conditions, and this with new tires. The ratios in the transmission made it a nightmare in the mountains. But, sure enough, never any mechanical problem.

I also now drive a Toyota quite often, a Verso. No real complaint except the Scenic is so much more pleasant to drive.

 

[krebs303]

Well guys, V8/5000HP era is gone, so you better get familiar with manual and this kind of car

not quite yet.
I'm looking at V8 Mustang GT 412hp 12.6sec 1/4 mile and 27 mpg
The V6 is 305hp 13.5 1/4 mile and 31 mpg.

 

[rickshaw]

manuel can keep is

Well guys, V8/5000HP era is gone, so you better get familiar with manual and this kind of car

Citroen C1 3,5l/100km


I am just saying

After us americans have used up all the oil we'll think about alternatives. Why bother sooner?

 

[daveinzambia]

I drive a citroen (c4) in Australia and have had no issues.

Cost is the main issue here though. They are considerably more expensive than the Holden, Mazda, toyota equivalents.

cost is not just buying the car but running it. Looking for a place to service the car and find myself at garages that do Lexus and citroen or Rolls Royce, range rover, jag and citroen. A C4 just does not belong in that league.

replacing a windscreen recently and the lady says, ooh this is going to be expensive, we usually confirm prices up front with BMW, Mercedes and Citroen.

other euro cars (VW, Fiat, Alfa) are also very overpriced.

Also in Sydney the largest Citroen retailer just went out of business.

Have to say I love my car, and after driving mine here my parents have just bought a C5 in Uk