renault spider
Discussion
why did these never take off like the elise?, they look pretty cool with the lambo doors ! http://pistonheads.com/sales/272613.htm
crackthatoff said:
why did these never take off like the elise?, they look pretty cool with the lambo doors ! http://pistonheads.com/sales/272613.htm
Have to agree with you. I think the styling looks the business.What year were these first produced as there is a certain look of S1 about them or there is a certain Renault Spider look about the S1 depending on the year of manufacture
alvington89 said:
The main reason it didn't do too well (apart from it being French) is that the 340R came out at the same time which was lighter, more powerful and better in every respect. The Renault is a bit of a barge in comparrison.
The Spider came out at the same time as the original S1 Elise. Unfortunately for Renault, the Elise did more or less everything better (also applies to the Caterham 21) and so it was a sales flop. Consequently they're very rare and nowadays, still worth a pretty penny and they do look stunning.Yep, same time as the original Elise, if not slightly before.
If I remember rightly, it was the 'other' car that made the breakthrough of using an aluminium chassis - except it's chassis was welded where the Elise's was glued. The original cars made no concession to being road cars - a little airfoil rather than a proper windscreen meant the driver had to wear a helmet. That made it seem rather niche like the Ariel Atom, except the alu chassis made it very expensive. At the same time I can't remember anyone getting very excited about the handling.
If I remember rightly, it was the 'other' car that made the breakthrough of using an aluminium chassis - except it's chassis was welded where the Elise's was glued. The original cars made no concession to being road cars - a little airfoil rather than a proper windscreen meant the driver had to wear a helmet. That made it seem rather niche like the Ariel Atom, except the alu chassis made it very expensive. At the same time I can't remember anyone getting very excited about the handling.
Drove one back in 2000. Had been out in an S1 Elise the previous month so was expecting good things. Looked the dogs bollox, but unfortunately the weight killed the acceleration. The nearest thing I could compare it to at the time acceleration wise was the 2.0 16v Astra GTE (fun!). Cornered well too, but was just way too heavy for the Williams engine that powered it 
S Works said:
Big fat underpowered shed.
Thats a little harsh, not least because it had a more powerful (and better) engine than the original S1. It wasn't a bad car, it just arrived at completely the wrong time. It was exactly the same reason the Caterham 21 failed. Good car, but the competition was doing it better with less compromise and cheaper.
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