One was very successful, although or because one did not occupy the middle and upper class. The collaboration with the American Motors Corporation, their beginning coincided with the appearance of the R8, is not considered in this statement because the sale of Rambler Renault kept well within limits.

Only in principle, the R8 was a firther development of the highly successful Dauphine. Instead of steering knuckles we find here ball heads on the front axle, the but still has six grease nipples. The VW Beetle had four with its introduction.

The engine was changed significantly, with reduced stroke and increased bore, now five-bearing crankshaft, alloy cylinder head and therein modified valve assembly. Thus their chances for tuning were increased significantly (somewhat later by Alpine).

The R8 had four disc brakes with brake pressure limitation for the rear axle like Fiat had also at that time. The drive and the brakes we can actually only praise, if there were not a certain tendency to roar at higher speeds.

Looking at the chassis, you should actually really issue it a rather bad report. The weight distribution was almost catastrophic with 37.5 to 62.5, because only the front battery contributed significantly to the weight. Everything else including tank was located in the rear, the cooler even the very back.

Of course, the interior space moved in addition to the front in this way and for the pedals it was tight between the middle and wheel arches. And yet, almost no one complained about skidding driving characteristics rear. Neither one spoke of pitching vibrations or unpleasant spring stiffness. Even the damping was found to be balanced.

Although Renault had a long tradition of building even much larger cars, but with the exception of the R4 only rear engines were built after the war to date. It seems that one got out the maximum of the concept just before its end with the R10 as the last.

Of course, for example, despite the shift of the tank to the rear, the luggage compartment was rather limited. The R10 with extended front forward showed that this was likewise also seen from the manufacturer. Rear has been lost much space by the line engine. The VW Beetle was able to make it a little better.

Inside was an astonishing amount of space for a yet quite small car with a wheelbase of 2.27 m. Of course, people sitting up front had to pay attention to those sitting rear. Also, there are only sliding windows on the rear doors, but the Opel Kadett, appearing at the same time had only two doors despite a larger wheelbase.

This was also true for the VW Beetle, which still both exceeded with 2.4 m in the wheelbase. The in turn exceeded the R8 despite less displacement in the driving performances. However, it is available only with 3 and with four gears only for DM 110 additional charge. Probably due to the American influences mentioned above was the key operation of the automatic version.

A little pricey it was, particularly in relation to the price-cutter Kadett. Renault has subsequently lowered the prices. And an almost internal rival we have almost forgotten in all the considerations, the Simca 1000. But read for yourself ... 01/15