Has anyone owned or driven one of these rarites? What are they like?

They were pretty quick cars at the time but I'd be surprised if there are any that still work

Plus I doubt they'd handle well at today's standards. I had a standard R21 with the 90bhp engine and it was a fine car for driving fast on motorways etc, very comfortable etc but not too great during corners.

I'd imagine the turbo would have much better handling but it's likely to suffer from problems with the cooling system (all Renault turbos did/do) and have some kinda serious failure with the heater matrix that will take out the whole engine...

Pretty quick for it's day with a good chassis. Never a Cosworth beater, but great fun for a lot less cash.

They have some odd quirks like you're only allowed a small difference in tyre wear levels to prevent wear on the transmission, so a puncture can often mean 4 new tyres. :eek:

As Dr Z says, I think you'll be lucky to find one that still functions, but if you do it'll be good fun. Overall a great frog box, but breath-takingly fragile.

Fast when tweaked but very fragile. A mate bought one over 10 yrs ago, tuned it then blew it up (when I was in it). The used car buyer advice for the 21 at the time said it all - avoid high milers and turbos. Don't think anything else will be available now.

My mate had a renault fuego turbo ages ago. If its anything like that, its pretty darn quick, but also 99% will have gone to scrapyard heaven already. A good example must be worth a fair bit

Good fun but fragile.

I had a little "play" with a gaggle of them on the M18 coming back from 10 ot the Best. They were quite surprised that their modded 21s weren't as quick as the 1.4 16v black Skoda

Stopped and had a chat with them at Woodhall services, they needed to fill up with coolant and stuff. One of them even pointed out to me that my car probably had the wrong badge on it - I did promise to get my dealer to check it out

One of them even pointed out to me that my car probably had the wrong badge on it - I did promise to get my dealer to check it out

:rofl: :rofl:

:rofl: :rofl:

i concur.

giggle giggle

but also 99% will have gone to scrapyard heaven already.

i agree , boy did the 21 and fuego rot , they dissolved away in front of your eyes you always had an orange drive with them cars :rofl: :rofl:

I had a ride in one ages ago, when I was looking for that type of car, it was great! fast, and handled well... but I settled on a Lancia Thema Turbo in the end, and wasn't dissapointed. nothing mechanical on the lancia ever broke (I ran it for 50k upto 130,000 miles! ) but the electrics never worked, and the roof leaked! lol....

My dad had a bog standard 1.7 renault 21 and it was a pretty decent car.

No rust at all , but once it was getting on a bit every time something broke it happened to be behind the dashboard which needed to be removed to fix it.

Lots of expense every time

I had a look at Lancia themas but there quite alot for such an old car.

Not bothered about the 21's interior, or rattles and stuff as im looking to use it as a track day car.

I also like the R5 gt turbo however most of them are modded with bad taste.

I like the 21's boxy old skool look.

My mate used to have one of these, as said (despite the owners claims) they never were cosworth beaters, but the 4wd (quadra) could get away quicker than a 2wd cossie. against a 4wd cossie though theres no comparison.

Head gaskets are notoriously fragile, so they dont like overheating which is a shame as most like to overheat a lot!

They are good fun though, pretty quick, and different these days, just make sure you get a good one, as they are fragile!

I had a look at Lancia themas but there quite alot for such an old car.

Not bothered about the 21's interior' date=' or rattles and stuff as im looking to use it as a track day car.

I also like the R5 gt turbo however most of them are modded with bad taste.

I like the 21's boxy old skool look.[/quote']

Thema Turbo would be a significantly better buy (but I would say that cos I love Italian cars) or you could go for a Thema 8.32 if you have the money. not as quick as the turbo but it has got the V8 from a Ferrari 308QV, so it sounds great!!

Thema Turbo would be a significantly better buy (but I would say that cos I love Italian cars) or you could go for a Thema 8.32 if you have the money. not as quick as the turbo but it has got the V8 from a Ferrari 308QV, so it sounds great!!

I agree, I loved my thema, 220 bhp as standard! sweet.... I saw an 8.32 on ebay not long ago, was in MINT condition, but he wanted ten grand for it :( but honestly, if I had a spare ten grand I would have bought it, just to show off that ferrari engine!

I agree, I loved my thema, 220 bhp as standard! sweet.... I saw an 8.32 on ebay not long ago, was in MINT condition, but he wanted ten grand for it :( but honestly, if I had a spare ten grand I would have bought it, just to show off that ferrari engine!

Most of the 8.32's seem to get sold through classic car auction houses these days (southeby's etc) so to find one on E-Bay was rare, they generally seem to fetch around 6-7k so unless it was a real minter it was a bit overpriced.

Having said that, If I had a spare 10k I might have been tempted too!