What about Americans and French cars? (buying, live, costs)

[MJay]

What Americans think about French cars?? It's a pitty that they aren't in your market... I heard that Americans want Renault back, is it true??

[Samrai309]

Originally Posted by MJay

What Americans think about French cars?? It's a pitty that they aren't in your market... I heard that Americans want Renault back, is it true??

I for one, would not want one. I remember those junkboxes when they were here years ago. Peugeot was another junk box. I am sure things have changed and a lot though. A lot of the cars look nice today so who knows. I do not come across much press about these cars and the American market. The most recent one I remember is Alfa Romeo attempting to gauge interest in the American market again. I think Renault has made its presence known in some of the Nissan cars (ie. engine design) if I am not mistaken as I beleive they have a 20% stake give or take.

[DannyBanany]

French cars are great on gas and they aren't too bad as far as room goes. I would love to see them back in our markets. Nearly every car was a junkbox 15 years ago!

[recycled]

Americans buy and drive lots of French cars, they are called Nissan. The Renault owns about 45 percent of Nissan. Some new Nissan models are almost twins of Renault models, such as the Nissan Versa (Renault Megane). The Versa does not have the wierd looking rear end like the Megane does, some things just would not sell here in the US.

It's not fair to bash all French cars, it's been about 20 years since Peugeot and Renault disappeared from the US market. 20 years ago, a lot of US cars that were rolling off the assembly line were not mechanical wonders of the world either, we had (and still have) our own fair share of junk on wheels. Thanks to global competition, the cars made in France have gotten a lot better. If I lived in France, I would gladly own one, but I don't know if it would be a Renault or Peugeot / Citroen (they combined into one auto company).

Citroen is the icon of French cars, most famous for two of the most radically different cars ever built. On the low end, they made millions of the 2CV (abbreviation for deux chevaux or two horses) from 1948 to 1990. The 2CV was nicknamed the duck in English. The 2CV had a noisy lawn mower sized engine with the gear shift coming out of the middle of the dash board.
On the high end, Citroen built one of the most unique and comfortable passenger cars ever made, the DS Pallas. I drove one in the early 1970s, it was incredible. It had hydraulic self leveling suspension that would adjust the car higher or lower while going along the road. Extremely aerodynamic, fast, quiet and comfortable.

[jsfountain]

The SMART car is coming to the States. I don't know who owns SMART but they are very popular here in France. You'll know it when you see one (2 seater but in a box). I think they are scheduled for delivery to the States in mid to late 2008.

The new cars made here now by Citroen and Peugeot are incredible. Comfort and driving is amazing. By the way, i drive a Ford Mondeo (what can i say, i'm american).

[BlueWillowPlate]

Originally Posted by jsfountain

By the way, i drive a Ford Mondeo (what can i say, i'm american).

lol JS.
Is it possible that I've already seen a SMART car (German,made by Daimler-Benz) in the States? I used to see one regularly in Denver, and have seen a couple here. 33 miles to the gallon sounds good to me; as long as a person is not in a hurry. For city driving it would be fine.
This is what SMART cars look like, correct?

[Mooseketeer]

We had a Renault 5 in our younger, financially leaner days ( 200 000 miles on the clock and nothing wrong ever with it , we only had to change the tyres ad some spark plugs) and we are now on our 5th Peugeot ( 3 Peugeot 306 and 2 Peugeot 307) and once again nothing had ever gone wrong with either models.

They are extremely reliable, I like the look of them, very comfortable, excellent boot capacity ( trunk) and our current mileage consumption is 46 miles to the gallon ( Diesel model) and we will be using bio-diesel from next year too which should decrease our costs .

Apart from Audi and Saab I wouldn't really want any other type of car ( well OK I would like a Vintage car but that's just for "style") . Our friends tend to have Japanese cars and constantly complain about niggling problems and expensive parts and labour. Same with people who have VWs. They love it but always moan something is going wrong and tell us how expensive it is to repair. ( And I don't find them that comfortable either).

[Mach50]

Out here in California Peugeot's have made quite a come back. I see many people driving old an Peugeot around town, much of the time it is for the style factor but still.

There is a stigma attached to French Cars going back to the 80's, but Hyundai's also had a stigma and they are very popular now.

Also I think Californians are driving smaller and more practical cars, like a wagon instead of an SUV, something like this would sell very well here IMO:



I know I would consider buying this.

[Yeledaf]

Originally Posted by BlueWillowPlate

lol JS.
Is it possible that I've already seen a SMART car (German,made by Daimler-Benz) in the States? I used to see one regularly in Denver, and have seen a couple here. 33 miles to the gallon sounds good to me; as long as a person is not in a hurry. For city driving it would be fine.
This is what SMART cars look like, correct?

Looks like it was just in the pool and suffered some shrinkage.

[Wallaroo]

Originally Posted by DannyBanany

French cars are great on gas and they aren't too bad as far as room goes. I would love to see them back in our markets. Nearly every car was a junkbox 15 years ago!

That is so true - my brother in law used to have a Citroën CX from the late 80s, and it costed him around $40.000 in repairs for the two years he owned it.

The replacer for the CX model (XM) were even more expensive in repairs, since it was packed with sophisticated and highly unreliable combuters. It is still one of my favorite car designs, and without those quality problems it could probably have sold well in the U.S. Btw, I dont understand why American carmakers dont make 5 door liftback cars - a combination between a sedan and a stationwagon like below.

Citroën XM. Notice the beautiful and timeless design both in and outside.