RE: Renault Sport Spider | Spotted
Discussion
I really like these, despite this sort of car not really being my "thing". I've often thought about getting one, it'd sit well amongst my modest Renault collection of the Clio V6, Clio 200, and Megane 225.
The Williams engine in these is an F4R, so the Mégane's F4RT (snigger) engine should be a fairly easy fit. Always wondered how these would be with one installed, I'd imagine quite impressive, and bringing it into the pace of some of the hotter cars like this. No idea how they handle in comparison with the Lotus and Vauxhall, though.
My mate keeps telling me I should get one, or he will. It is very tempting!
I liked it when Renault did things for fun and because they just wanted to make a thing. We haven't really seen them do anything (intentionally) low volume for a long time.
The Williams engine in these is an F4R, so the Mégane's F4RT (snigger) engine should be a fairly easy fit. Always wondered how these would be with one installed, I'd imagine quite impressive, and bringing it into the pace of some of the hotter cars like this. No idea how they handle in comparison with the Lotus and Vauxhall, though.
My mate keeps telling me I should get one, or he will. It is very tempting!
I liked it when Renault did things for fun and because they just wanted to make a thing. We haven't really seen them do anything (intentionally) low volume for a long time.
I honestly don't think that there are many cars that seem as unaffected by age as this. Given that that is a three decade-old design it still looks fantastic and properly 'special' today. It's easy to wander off down the path of 'what if the Elise hadn't existed' and start thinking about a harder-edged, Exige-like version with the 2.0 lump from the Clio RS. I would 100% have one of these in my big imaginary money-no-object shed. Or maybe in my south of France overflow shed.
They are rare cars and pretty good to drive by all accounts. Sure, you can buy a better driving car for the money but a lot of that will be subjective. Not everyone wants to exploit the potential of a hobby car.
A lot of the pleasure may come from having something that not everyone else can own whilst driving at 7/10ths.
A lot of the pleasure may come from having something that not everyone else can own whilst driving at 7/10ths.
kambites said:
PRO5T said:
Rather than the Elise, I think it's more of a competitor of the 340R.
Well that's the problem isn't it? It has the practicality of a 340R yet it weighs nearly a quarter of a tonne more than an Elise and drives nowhere near as well as either. Had the Elise (and variants like the 340R and VX220) never existed, the Renault would have been rightly lauded as one of the great sports cars of its era... sadly they do exist.
Scott-R said:
JW95 said:
965kg... How did they make it so heavy? Extremely light by todays standards of course - but to think that a modern Alpine A110 is only ~150kg heavier (and meets todays crash regulations, not to mention has a roof & double the power) it strikes me as quite portly. Particularly as an Elise of the same period was so much lighter.
Cool car though, would love a go.
The Spider, although also made from extruded Aluminium like the Elise, is welded together, rather than bonded. The bonding itself is lighter, whilst also being stronger than a weld, which let various bits of extrusions themselves be lighter. The A110 is also bonded. I learnt that from this Cool car though, would love a go.
at about 5:40 in the bonding and the Renault Sport Spider are directly referenced
Both chassis were made in Denmark before the Elise chassis production was moved to the uk in 1999 ( by me lol )
JW95 said:
...a modern Alpine A110 is only ~150kg heavier (and meets todays crash regulations...
I don't think the A110 has been crash tested. It's something I tend to put to the back of my mind when driving mine; Alpine's blurb talks about it avoiding accidents by being light and nimble...There's no point comparing Spyder and Elise, they were designed with different parameters. That doesn't detract from the fact Elise substantially under-priced and outsold the Spyder. And had a roof.
In the real world it certainly helps bring in the punters if the car has a viable roof of some kind. The likes of Ariel and KTM have IMO always been held back by their "4-wheeled motorcycle" existence. (IIRC there was also a Citroen Pluriel which had a convertible roof you had to leave it at home - and it suffered a similar fate.)
As for the Renault Wind - nice theory, poor reality. I think at one stage Ferrari offered a similar flip-over roof on its "Superamerica" but I can't remember how that worked out. Probably very expensive and not many sold.
In the real world it certainly helps bring in the punters if the car has a viable roof of some kind. The likes of Ariel and KTM have IMO always been held back by their "4-wheeled motorcycle" existence. (IIRC there was also a Citroen Pluriel which had a convertible roof you had to leave it at home - and it suffered a similar fate.)
As for the Renault Wind - nice theory, poor reality. I think at one stage Ferrari offered a similar flip-over roof on its "Superamerica" but I can't remember how that worked out. Probably very expensive and not many sold.
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