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Renault 16
The Renault 16 (R16) is a large family car which was manufactured and marketed over a single generation by French automaker Renault between 1965 and 1980 in Le Havre, France. A five-door hatchback, the 16 was the first French car to win of the European Car of the Year award.
In the early 1960s Renault was building a series of small cars, including the hatchback Renault 4 and rear engine Renault Dauphine and aimed to replace its larger family car, the Renault Frégate model (1951–1960) which had managed a modest production total of 163,383 units.
The R16 was a great success, with 1,845,959 R16s manufactured during a production run of 15 years. The car sold well in most of Europe, winning praise for its spacious and comfortable interior as well as the practicality offered by its effectively unique hatchback bodystyle. It was marketed in the United States, with only a small number sold. It met with considerably more success in Canada, where SOMA-Renault manufactured the 16 from knock-down kits until 1974.
The mechanical layout of the R16 is similar to the Citroën Traction Avant – front-wheel drive, engine mounted inline behind the transmission, torsion bar suspension, and column mounted shift. In addition the car had an aluminium engine and an electric cooling fan, both technical innovations.
The 16 successfully introduced the hatchback bodystyle to the mid-size family segment, allowing the interior to be configured in seven different ways. This body style is between a saloon and an estate, and, before the term hatchback was coined, journalists struggled to describe it. A review in the English Motoring Illustrated in May 1965 (several months before the car was officially launched there) stated: "The Renault Sixteen can thus be described as a large family car but one that is neither a four door saloon and nor is it quite an estate. But, importantly, it is a little different."
The R16 is likewise noted for its unequal wheelbase, left to right, as with the earlier Renault 4 and later Renault 5. The two rear wheel axle shafts are not in-line; rather the left wheelbase is 70 mm (2.76 in) longer than the right wheelbase, to accommodate the transverse torsion bar suspension. This and the soft front seats gives the car a particularly smooth ride even over big bumps.
The engine was mounted longitudinally in the front, behind the gearbox/transaxle, contributing to the handling balance by keeping the weight closer to the centre of the car. Front drive layouts typically have transversely (sometimes longitudinally) mounted engines, with the engine in front of the transmission. While the R16's north-south/forward gearbox layout gave excellent handling, servicing access to the engine was so difficult that its successor, the Renault 20, kept the north-south layout but placed the engine ahead of the gearbox.
A column-mounted gear change lever allowed a more spacious front cabin. The column-mounted gear change (required by the position of the transmission in front of the engine) was rare in West European markets.
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Renault 16
The Renault 16 (R16) is a large family car which was manufactured and marketed over a single generation by French automaker Renault between 1965 and 1980 in Le Havre, France. A five-door hatchback, the 16 was the first French car to win of the European Car of the Year award.
In the early 1960s Renault was building a series of small cars, including the hatchback Renault 4 and rear engine Renault Dauphine and aimed to replace its larger family car, the Renault Frégate model (1951–1960) which had managed a modest production total of 163,383 units.
The R16 was a great success, with 1,845,959 R16s manufactured during a production run of 15 years. The car sold well in most of Europe, winning praise for its spacious and comfortable interior as well as the practicality offered by its effectively unique hatchback bodystyle. It was marketed in the United States, with only a small number sold. It met with considerably more success in Canada, where SOMA-Renault manufactured the 16 from knock-down kits until 1974.
The mechanical layout of the R16 is similar to the Citroën Traction Avant – front-wheel drive, engine mounted inline behind the transmission, torsion bar suspension, and column mounted shift. In addition the car had an aluminium engine and an electric cooling fan, both technical innovations.
The 16 successfully introduced the hatchback bodystyle to the mid-size family segment, allowing the interior to be configured in seven different ways. This body style is between a saloon and an estate, and, before the term hatchback was coined, journalists struggled to describe it. A review in the English Motoring Illustrated in May 1965 (several months before the car was officially launched there) stated: "The Renault Sixteen can thus be described as a large family car but one that is neither a four door saloon and nor is it quite an estate. But, importantly, it is a little different."
The R16 is likewise noted for its unequal wheelbase, left to right, as with the earlier Renault 4 and later Renault 5. The two rear wheel axle shafts are not in-line; rather the left wheelbase is 70 mm (2.76 in) longer than the right wheelbase, to accommodate the transverse torsion bar suspension. This and the soft front seats gives the car a particularly smooth ride even over big bumps.
The engine was mounted longitudinally in the front, behind the gearbox/transaxle, contributing to the handling balance by keeping the weight closer to the centre of the car. Front drive layouts typically have transversely (sometimes longitudinally) mounted engines, with the engine in front of the transmission. While the R16's north-south/forward gearbox layout gave excellent handling, servicing access to the engine was so difficult that its successor, the Renault 20, kept the north-south layout but placed the engine ahead of the gearbox.
A column-mounted gear change lever allowed a more spacious front cabin. The column-mounted gear change (required by the position of the transmission in front of the engine) was rare in West European markets.