Renault 16

Renault 16
Renault 16 TL
Overview
Manufacturer	Renault
Also called	Renault R16 [1]
Production	1965–1980
Assembly	Sandouville, France[2] Flins, France[2] West Heidelberg, Australia[3]
Designer	Gaston Juchet[4][5][6]
Body and chassis
Class	Large family car (D)
Body style	5-door hatchback
Layout	MF layout
Powertrain
Engine	A-Type 1.4 L I4 A-Type 1.5 L I4 A-Type 1.6 L I4
Transmission	4-speed manual 5-speed manual 3-speed automatic
Dimensions
Wheelbase	Left: 2,720 mm (107.1 in) Right: 2,650 mm (104.3 in)
Length	4,240 mm (166.9 in)
Width	1,628 mm (64.1 in)
Height	1,450 mm (57.1 in)
Curb weight	980 kg (2,160 lb)-1,060 kg (2,340 lb)
Chronology
Predecessor	Renault Frégate
Successor	Renault 20/30

1968–1970 Renault 16 TS

Post-1975 Renault 16, featuring the black plastic grille

The Renault 16 (R16) is a large family hatchback produced by French automaker Renault between 1965 and 1980 in Le Havre, France.

Market Placement

In the early 1960s Renault was building a series of small cars, like the hatchback Renault 4 and rear engine Renault Dauphine ^[7] 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.^[8]

The R16 was a great success, with 1,845,959 R16s produced during a production run of 15 years. The car sold well in most of Europe, winning praise for its spacious and comfortable interior. It was marketed in the United States, but was not successful and only a few were sold.^[9]

Interestingly, Citroën was designing an extremely similar car in the early 1960s (Projet F), to bridge their own enormous market gap between the tiny 2CV and luxury DS models. When Citroën realized that Renault was introducing the R16, they took the unusual step of canceling Projet F.^[10] Due to the similarity of construction, rumours of Renault conducting industrial espionage abounded, but were never proven.

Design

Under the skin, the 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.^[11][12] In addition the car had an aluminum engine and an electric cooling fan, both technical innovations.^[13]

The big innovation was the modern, practical body style – introducing the hatchback to the mid-size family segment. This allowed the interior to be immensely flexible, and could be configured in seven different ways.^[14] This body style is halfway 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 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."^[15]

One peculiarity of the R16, and later Renault 5, design is that the two back wheel axle shafts are not in-line. The left wheelbase is 70 mm (2.76 in) longer than the right wheelbase, to accommodate the torsion bar suspension. This and the soft front seats gives the car a particularly smooth ride even over big bumps.^[16] The suspension has the longest travel on a car of this size; if the handbrake is applied and reverse gear engaged, the rear bumper will raise about one foot.

The engine was mounted north-south in the front, behind the gearbox/transaxle. This contributed to the handling and balance of this car by keeping the weight closer to the centre of the car. Traditional front drive layouts are either east-west or in some cases north-south but with the engine in front of the transmission.^[17] Although this north-south/forward gearbox layout gave excellent handling, servicing access to the engine was so difficult that the R16's successor, the Renault 20, kept the north-south layout but put the engine ahead of the gearbox.

Gear changing was performed by means of a column-mounted lever which allowed for a more spacious front cabin,.^[18] The column-mounted gear change (required by the position of the transmission in front of the engine) was rare in West European markets.

Model history

Series production started in March 1965 at the company's recently completed Sandouville plant, a few kilometers to the east of Le Havre.^[19] The car had its formal launch in March 1965 at the Geneva Motor Show, and was made available for sale to the public during June 1965.^[20]

Equipment levels were high for the price. Initially, Renault sold the R16 with just a 1.4 L gasoline engine in GL specification for which 55 PS (40 kW; 54 hp) was claimed;^[19] in March 1968 there appeared at the Geneva Motor Show the 1.6 L I4 TS^[19] which could top 100 mph (160 km/h). An automatic transmission version, designated the Renault 16 TA, was introduced at the Geneva Motor Show early in 1969.^[21] The top-line model was the TX, launched at the Paris Motor Show in October 1973, featuring a 5-speed manual transmission.^[19] Equipment included power windows for the front doors and central door locking, one of the first family cars in Europe to feature such equipment.

Production of the R16 continued until 1980, five years after the arrival of its successor, the larger Renault 20, with the Renault 18 saloon and estates continuing as Renault's only offering of this size in Europe. By the time the R16 ceased production most other European manufacturers had at least one hatchback on sale, although most cars of the R16's size were still sold as saloons or estates; the exceptions were the Austin Maxi, Talbot Alpine (previously sold as a Chrysler or Simca) and Volkswagen Passat. Renault did not build a hatchback of this size until the hatchback version of the Renault 21 was launched in 1989.

The 16 had no major competitors until the arrival of the Alec Issigonis designed Austin Maxi in 1969, but the Austin Maxi was almost unknown outside of the UK.^[22]

Commentary

In 1970, racing driver Stirling Moss exclaimed: "There is no doubt that the Renault 16 is the most intelligently engineered automobile I have ever encountered and I think that each British motorcar manufacturer would do well to purchase one just to see how it is put together".^[23]

Retired Renault styling chief Patrick le Quément made no secret of his admiration for the R16 — and incorporated a subtle tribute to its "bird-beak" grille in the corporate look he devised for models such as the Laguna, Mégane and Scénic that the company launched in the 1990s.

Pre-launch publicity was extensive, with semi-authorized media leaks.^[20] L'Auto-Journal reported details of the car, at this stage in an exclusive report, towards the end of 1963.^[20] During October 1964, timed to coincide with the Paris Motor Show, Renault distributed photographs of its innovative new family car, still at this stage described simply as the forthcoming "Renault 1500", for publication as "scoop" pictures in various magazines.^[20] It was only two months later that the car, now officially named a "Renault 16", was approved for sale by the French homologation authorities.^[20]

Legacy

The Renault 16 was voted European Car of the Year by a board of European motoring journalists in 1966. It was the third year of the accolade's existence, and the Renault 16 was the first French winner of the award.^[24]

By 1976, Renault had six hatchbacks in production; the R4, R5, R6, R14, R20 and R30.

Timeline

• August 1964 – First official pictures of the R16 are released to the media.
• December 2, 1964 – The first R16 is completed at the factory in Sandouville, near Le Havre, a facility purpose-built for the R16.
• January 5, 1965 – The Renault 16 is introduced to the world and the press in a presentation on the Côte-d'Azur.
• April 1965 – The R16 is made available to the public, in two specifications: Grand Luxe and Super, both powered by a 1470cc engine
• 1967 – Ventilation and heating are both improved, and the dashboard is redesigned. An automatically operated choke is also made available.
• 1968 – The R16 TS is introduced. It features a new 1565cc engine, an all-new instrument panel that includes a tachometer and water temperature gauge, and many other new features including two-speed windscreen wipers, rear defroster, passenger reading light, and optional powered windows.
• June 1968 - Australian assembly commences ^[25]
• 1969 – The other R16 models get the same wheels and brakes as the TS. The TS gets reversing lights (mounted beneath the taillights). The other models are available with reversing lights as an optional extra.
• 1969 – The R16 TA, with an automatic transmission, is introduced. The TA is effectively a R16 Super with some features from the TS.
• 1970 – Front seatbelts are installed on all R16s.
• 1971 – The R16 undergoes a mild revamp. Among the most obvious changes are new rectangular taillights. The Grand Luxe and Super are replaced by the L and TL specifications, both of which gain the same 1565cc engine as the TS (but with the cylinder head from the 1470cc). The TA is discontinued and an automatic transmission is made available as an option across the whole R16 range.
• 1973 – An upmarket R16 TX model is introduced at the Paris Motor Show, equipped with a 1647cc engine (an enlarged version of the TS engine) and a five-speed manual transmission. The TX was distinguishable from other R16s on the exterior by its four rectangular headlights with large turn signal lights underneath. Among the other features available on the TX were Gordini wheels, a rear spoiler, a rear windscreen wiper, a laminated windscreen, automatic seatbelts, power windows, central locking and optional air conditioning.
• 1974 – The aluminium grille on L, TL and TS is replaced by a black plastic grille.
• 1976 – The automatic transmission ceased to be available as an option on the L, TL and TS; however, a TL Automatic model was launched.
• 1977 – The L and TS are discontinued.
• 1978 – All models now have reversing lights fitted as standard.
• 1979 – Rear three-point seatbelts are made standard on all models. The TL Automatic is discontinued.
• January 1980 – R16 production ends.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Renault 16.

• Archie Vicar, "Motoring Illustrated" May 1965 in Car Magazine On-line^[26]