Users' comments
 
Are you in love with your R14 or 18 ? Did you owe one some time ago ? I'm interested in your comments. Just send me a mail
Already 48 nations here !
Algeria Argentina Australia Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cameroon Canada Chile Colombia Croatia Czech Rep.
Egypt Estonia Finland France Germany Hungary Indonesia Ireland Israel Italy Kenya Lebanon
Malta Mexico Netherlands New Zealand Norway Poland Portugal Romania Scotland Serbia- 
Montenegro
Slovenia Spain
Sri Lanka Sweden Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom United States of America Uruguay Venezuela Wales Zimbabwe

08/15/05
Daniel from Norway just bought a '77 R14
Hi! My name is Daniel and I just bought a 1977 Renault 14 TL in exelent condition! The car is something as rear as almoust rust free, and the engine wich has just run 130000 KM is running perfectly. It was sold to me by a woman who had owned the car since new.
The car first caught my eye while searching the web for a cheap car on the norwegian used car sites. I was immedietly impressed by the clean modern design for it's age, and had to find out more about it. Seaching the web on sites like yours, I learned that the biggest problem whit this car was the rust issue. Afther calling the seller of the car I came to see it, and I could not belive that the car I was looking at was what I had read about. This car had only a couple of paint "bubbles" under the back windows where there was an unisolated part under the bar betwen the two window pieces. On the underside of the car it had been threated whit Tectyl in
the mid nineties and there was no sign of any holes or loose metal anywhere. I tryed not to act suprised and asked to take it for a test driwe.
The seats had seen better days and was worn and pale, but the rest of the interiour was nice and black and in almoust "as new" condition. I pulled the choke, tuned the key and the attraction was complete. I had to have this car!
I have owned the car for a week now, and I just can't stop looking at it. My plans for it is mounting a Kamei front spoiler that I have ordered from germany, put some new rims on it and use too much money on a pounding stereo system.
09/06/04
Ivan (Birmingham, England) is fond of his... sixth R18
Hiya,
First I will introduce myself my name is Ivan short for Irfan, I live in Birmingham in England. I am fund of the Reno 18 from an early (24 now), as my dad had a Reno 18 Turbo since then i always have loved them I have had around 5 18's which i bought and sold my very last one was a 1986 D reg Reno 18 GTD which I had for years and did every thing to, it end up looking like a real head turner turbo replica with full turbo leathers, blade alloys etc....
Anyway I lost touch of 18 for a couple of years but just bought a Mint 18 last week, this is a Reno 18 GTS its a B reg (1981) in silver and has two family owners
since new (father & daughter) and has only covered 26,000 miles, yes its hards to believe but its true.
It is solid all round and does'nt just look like a new car but drives & feels like one too.
The previous owner had always kept it in a heated temperature controlled garage and it has come with full service history. I will send you pictures of this very soon (a couple of days). I am looking forward to put on some 17" alloys full turbo leather interior and the list goes on.
Hear from you soon.

Ivan. 



04/14/04
The first car of Adrian Alford (Wales) was a 14
I had a 14 as my first "own" car in in 1990 it was a white one with blue cloth seats.It was like driving in an armchair the reg. was JPG 30V and cost me £500 with 12 months MOT and TAX. I never had to spend a penny on it and did 35mpg.......it led to me buying several other Renaults since but you never forget your first love!.

01/02/04
Eric Mwenda (Kenya) completely revamped his 18 TS (see pics in the French "restaurations" page)
Hi, my name is Eric from Kenya. I'm in the process of rebuilding my 1979 R18 TS. Attached are some pictures of how it was looking afew months ago and on the next mail progress made.
Thanks for this website. 
12/31/03
Renault 14 from the cold: Yuriy drives a Renault 14 in Ukraine
Hello, I live in Ukraine. I maintained a Renault 14 from 1980. Here it's a very rare automobile. For 15 years of operation, I have not met more than five of these cars. I bought this automobile in Rotterdam (Netherlands) in 1987. Probably because it spent some time in a country with a sea climate, its body was completely rust. My attempts to prolong "life" have a little helped. But the engine works perfectly.
Cheers
Yuriy 
11/06/03
Mike is fond of his R18 Turbo... in Sri Lanka!
Hello, I'm Mike Zinmann.. I live in Sri Lanka and I drive a red Renault 18 Turbo, this car is amazing and too fast and has an excellent fuel consumption..I hope that Renault's company release a new one... Thanks for this website... 
09/14/03
Walid from Egypt drives a 350.000+ km 18 TL
I happen to own a Renault 18 TL, 1981 model (1397 cc), pistachio color. I am so glad to find someone as crazy as I am with this specimen. Isn't it a great car to own?!
I had this car since 1985, when I was 19, it was my first and I bought it at 35,000 km of mileage and now it is 296,000 km and the odometer had broke and stopped counting since seven years ago, so my 18 is probably 350,000 km (the reason I couldn't fix the odometer is that I couldn't find one, not because I am not taking care of my 18). The engine crank shaft broke at 250,000 km, and I bought an imported used engine, and it is still running in excellent condition.
I used this vehicle from 1985 to 1991 as a way of living, driving tourists all over Egypt, and this was when I did most of the mileage. Afterwards I worked in an Embassy... and eventually bought a new Opel Astra only last year, but believe it or not, I enjoy and love driving my old 18 every day, almost more than the brand new car, I drive to work (my work trip is only 30 km/day all together, and besides traffic in Cairo is terrible, so I prefer keeping my new Astra for outside Cairo-long trips).
Last year prior to buying my new car, I was about to sell the 18, to pay for a new car but my wife cried with tears, saying that this car had always brought us good luck, (we are married since 11 years). however I changed my mind on sell it, so yes I still own it. Even my two boys, nine and five, tend to ask me to give them a ride with the 18, as most of the time I take them with the new car... If you ever saw the old movie "Herby", the VW that the owner believed that there is a lively relationship between a person and his car.. I just believe the same, I believe that if you love your car, you establish a communication means with her.
I call the Renault 18 "a Jewel of it's age".

Walid Osman, Egypt 



09/14/03
Lukas from Prague owns an uncommon R18
Greetings from Prague, Czech republic.
I've just bought a very special R18 and I'm trying to find out what model exactly is it. According to the papers it is R18 TX Break, year 1986, and it has 2.2 engine. I suspect the car to have something in common with the argentinian-made R18s and I wonder how did it get here to CZ.
Anyway I'm just going to read the stuff on your website to find out more, this is just a quick note to let you know that I've been here :-)
Lukas 
03/29/03
Jeremy Konopka's touching memories of a Canadian 18
Hi,
Your site is a great resource for people who appreciate interesting and unusual cars.  Even though I no longer have my 18, it's nice to take a look at a page dedicated to this car.
I used to have an R18, the Canadian model which was the 1647cc engine with Weber DARA 32 carburetor (the US models were 18i, which meant they had the
1647 with fuel injection).  The Canadian version had a lot of extra vacuum lines for the emission controls.  These were a real pain to keep going because as the rubber got brittle it would split and cause air leaks! I drove it for around 15 years and put over 200000 km on it.  The North American car market is primitive beyond belief (even today you can't find most of the more interesting models from Japan or Europe) and therefore a car that had something as unusual as front wheel drive was regarded as bad here.  It didn't help that the service persons are as stupid as the consumers, and so would actually cause more problems than they would solve, and then blame it all on the car. I think we all know the bad side to 80's Renault products - cheap plastics (all the window winder handles broke on my car), lots of small things going wrong, but excellently thought out design.  If you look at most other cars of that time (especially the american junk) you will find that they were still using ugly looking screws inside the car that you could see all over the place, and also to attach tailights etc.
The engine was excellent - after so many years, I would never add oil between changes. The car would degrade nicely, in that even when something was going wrong I could typically drive it home and then sort it out.
Here were things that I had problems with, and some of my solutions:
- front struts - these would wear out every 50000 km.  To save time when compressing the springs, put the compressor on before raising the car, or even better have someone sit on the hood while you put the compressor on. It makes the job much easier
- replacing the axle boot.  I would always remove the track rod ends before doing anything else.  In theory this wasn't necessary but otherwise it was impossible to get the splines out of the bearing.  The same held for the upper ball joint - I would always pop it out before doing any other work
- my car had a leak with the rubber gasket on the cam side of the cylinder head.  I never found a solution (the head and engine were both true), and my workaround was an ugly looking silicone seal on the outside. It looked bad but worked
- both the North American and French models didn't seem to use the large central tailight lens.  Since this is socketed, I put in a bulb and wiring, so that I had very big and bright brakelights independent of the other bulb.
Since I drive fast and brake hard, this was a good thing!
Regards,
Jeremy 
03/29/03
Luca Guabello is maybe one of the last 14 drivers in Italy!
My Renault 14 is a TL from 1978. It ran 138.000 kms, with its original engine. I drive it daily, with no problems! I'm Italian from Piemonte. Ciao! Luca Guabello 
12/08/02
Andrei Dumitrescu's Romanian adventures aboard a Renault 14
Hi there,
I am a proud owner of a 1987 R 11, but that is another story...
A year ago me and 3 of my frainds decided to take a one day trip to the mountains, the only car we had avalable in that day was my friend's 1980 Renault 14 1.2L (?). We left Bucharest (Romania) at 8:00 in the morning and headed to a nice mountain town named Bran (Transilvania, "Dracula contry"). It's a nice 200 Km drive (400 Km total). My fraind the driver is quite a car killer, he drove us at speeds of 120 Kmh and some times even 140. It was quite a scary ride. The litle engine had no probem pulling the 4 of us up the mountain roads. In no time we reached our destination, had lunch, sat around for a few howers. At 6:00 in the afternoon we decided to go back home, it was winter, -10 degrees C, the litle car kept us worm and comfterble till we reached the motorway (110 Km from home) it was dark outside.
The final blow
It was around 9:00 in the evening as we got up on the motorway, we were cruising at a saine speed 90 Kmh, and then it came, our driver saw an Oltcit (Romanian made Citroen Visa) up the road, he hates those cars and decided to show that driver what a real car is, he slamed the pedal to the metal and took us up to 150 Kmh, we flyed pass the Oltcit and then it came, a loud tacking sound from the engine, my fraind kept speeding saying it will pass. It did'nt, we were now 60 Km from home and decided to stop and look under the bonet, nothing really to see in the dark. We got back in the car, but it refused to start, after a few tries tthe battery ran out, so we got out and pushed, finaly we got it started and got going, the noise got louder and louder. The rest of the 50 Km we drove at 40 Kmh. Finaly we arived home.
A few days after my friend took the car to a mechanic. The verdict was a broken crankshaft. He fixed the car, and drove it for another month then he bought a Dacia (Romanian made Renault 12). The 14 ended up with  "FOR SALE" written on it. The asking price is 400$ with spare engine and a ton of body parts. Tow years had passed and the little Renault is still sitting there, in the same posture, and a little more rust.
The end
Andrei Dumitrescu
Bucharest, Romania 

09/27/02
Richard Newall (UK) used to cultivate a mushroom in his former 14 whose sunroof was a bit leaky!
I once owned a 14 GTL on a T plate, I always thought it was a nice car to drive, but did suffer with rust badly.It also had a full length fabric sunroof, and was prone to leak into the passenger side footwell, resulting in a large puddle, the comic side of this was that I regularly got a small mushroom growing out of the carpet, I would get rid of one, and next day another had appeared.
Regards Richard 
06/14/02
Alexei Pace drives a 18 GTL in Malta (see his car's pic here)
I drive a Renault 18 GTL. It consumes a lot of petrol, I'm saving to buy another car, who knows, maybe a Renault!
Best wishes from sunny Malta

06/14/02
Päblo Ruiz from Valdivia (Chile) remembers his mother's 18
HI! I'm Pablo, from Valdivia, Chile and here is my R18 quote:
I never owned a Renault 18 myself, but my mother owned a 1980 R18 GTS, that she bought new. I have to say that I never liked the "fat" look of the front
of the car, but, it all changed one night when I was 13 years old and took the car for a ride when parents where out of town. That was my very first
driving expierence, and boy, I have to say that I'll never forget the tires screeching against the street, the silent it was, and the way cops siren
sounds because my grandma called the police thinking the car was stolen. As a result, I got grounded "for life" by my mother, my father still laughs
when he reminds about the incident, and now I drive my own 1992 Renault 19 GTS. (boy it is pretty)
I liked the R18 for it many features, like central door locking, powered windows, front lights wiper/washer, tail fog lights, that where NOT that common in a 1980 car. I still recall that the mechanism to open the doors from the outside was funny: you didn't pull anything, you had to squeeze the thing and the door opened. For a 5 year old kid in 1980 it looked that the doors opened magically when you sticked the hand in them.
About the car, I have to say that it never went to the shop but for oil changes, brake pad change, sparks replacement, tire replacement and wheel alignement, once in 12 years and more than 200.000 kilometers for clutch disc replacement, and the only place where it rusted was in the trunk because mom hit something going backwards.
In conclusion, it was a great and reliable car that never left us on the road, my family travelled a lot by car before my parents divorced and we used the R18, by all kind of weather, from high mountain and snow to hot desert sands, and the car never, really never failed.
The only "no no" about the car was:  the steering wheel was so big (not powered steering). Also, I never ever liked the RENAULT 18 "reminder" over
the glove compartment.

06/13/02
Gristo Joesaar (Estonia) drives daily a 18 TL
Hi! I'm from Estonia and I have a Renault 18 TL 1.4 (1981). Up until January 1999, I had a Renault 18 GTL Nevada 1.6 (1982) too, but I sold it.
I got my Renault from my brother, who purchased another car. The Renault was in a sad state then. It's engine was worn out, the front left wing was smashed up and the gearbox was also worn out. At the start, I wanted to sell it to the junk yard, but they offered me 800 EEK (almost 50 dollars) but I didn't agreed with that. So I thought that l'd fix it. I changed the engine - it came from a Volvo 343 (the Volvo 343 uses the Renault 1.4 engine). Then I fixed the wing, changed the gearbox and the car drove again.
In 1999, I purchased a R18 GTL Nevada 1.6 (a 1982 model, which had 2 electric front windows, 5-speed gearbox and central locking) for spare parts (It didn't drive then), but then I fixed it. So I bought a new engine for that car by newspaper. The man who sold the engine said that I could take the whole car for the same money. Of course I took it. This car was a R18 GTS 1.9 (1980). That car had aluminium rims with three nuts. I put these on my 18 TL to make the car look more beautiful. I put the 1.9 engine from that car into the Nevada. So, for a while I had three Renault 18s. I sold the Nevada, but I've still got the GTS and TL. The GTS is for spare parts. I want to say that these cars are very comfortable especially their seats when compared with other very  old cars.
Gristo Joesaar from Estonia. 
06/13/02
Sella Yoffe (Israel) needs help for her '85 Renault 18
Hi,
I have Renault 18 – 1985 model type 2 with 2000 cc engine that I want to repair (its in the garage for about 4 years without using). I need a good source for parts and parts catalog for making parts orders. If you have an idea how can I get it I’ll appreciate any help
Thanks.
Sella 

06/13/02
Valeri Roussinov's parents still drive a 18 in Bulgaria
Hello!
My parents own a 18 TS of November 1981, already very old, 230.000 km, but is still running. I know the 18 and love it, that's the reason why I was very pleased to read your site about 18s.


04/22/02
David (Spain) is kind of enthusiastic for Renault 14.
Firstly, I request to you perdon for my bad english, I´m am spanish, and my level of english isn´t very good.
I have a Renault 14, since 1984, as for as I´m concerned, the 14´s cars are a very good machines, I´m am very happy with my car, because  he never broke down. Today my 14 have 193.000 km, I have lived in 3 countris, 2 of this 3, are in coast cities. Yes, it´s OK, in 1984, in the same year when I bought the car, I heard that 14 cars are  bad cars, but, today I ´know the true: When 14 went out to the shops, there was a terrible adversarie, peugeot, than saw in 14 cars something who must died, because the r14 engine´s  was designed for peugeot. and, peugeot invented this law. In contrast today we can see the really 14s problems, it isn´t  his sheet, rather it was the one which painting let of wishing.
David 
04/16/02
Marc Hanson (UK) thought he was the only one who liked R 14's!
My first car was a R 14 TL (1979) - it cost me next to nothing and was very reliable even though I never serviced it once. I had it for 4 years but the rust finallt got it when it was 12 years old. I couldn't bear to watch when the scrapmen came and took it away.
Whenever I see one nowadays (pretty rare in the UK) I bore my wife about how great they were. At the moment I have a BMW and a MGF but I'd love to have my old R14 back. Now I can afford to retore one I'd even buy a wreck. If anyone knows of a car going in the UK or perhaps pas de Calais let me know (see classifieds for my details).
Those of you who still have one, keep up the good work! 
03/26/02
Jaime Forero's 18i just turned 200.000 miles in Houston (Texas, US)
Hi.  My R18i just turned 200000 miles with the same engine.  It is a 1982 model and I love it. The reliability and performance are great and the gas milage even better.  We still use it as a daily rider and I expect to haver it around for a while longer.   The parts are hard to find and that frustrates me but with some patience I am able to find what I need.  Over the years I have accumulated quite a bit of parts from other cars so I have some reserves  but as usual when something breaks it is usualy something I don't have.

12/04/01
Sharamila Jadeja is owning a 18 GTS in Leicester (UK)
Hello, I've just been reading the comments on your website and its good to see all these peoples coments from around the world about the Renault14/18.  I have a my Renault 18 now since 1997. My dad had brought it for himself but when my work place re-located he gave the car to me. It is a 1985 Renault 18 GTS and burgundy in colour which I love to bits.  For people like me who are lacking in the height department it is ideal as I have no need to put 10 million pillows on the seat!!!. Most of my family members all have others models of Renault and find their seats to be the best all round for comfort, able to change to your requirements and various other features which were ahead of their time.
The mileage on my car is 95,000 and compared to other cars of its age it is very low.  I have put an alarm on my car, decent car stero and also new seat covers.  It has been very well looked after and has NO rust at all.  The car is the only one here in Leicester of that colour and in such a good condition.  It gets many comments and have had numerous people that have approached my dad asking if he wishes to sell it.  I would never get rid of it and will keep it running for as long as it does.

10/10/01
Pedro has been driving an 18 GTS in Spain
Hello. I am a Spanish speaker so please forgive my mistakes in English. I was the owner of a R 18 GTS,  1.600 cc,  96 HP,  year 1982, manual transmission, air conditioned, power steering. It was a wonderful car, I drove it for 13 years and reached near 350.000 Km, and the engine was perfect, only had to change the valves.  The stability, the comfort, the design and the power of its engine, made the R18 a hard contendor for the similar cars, I think the car was excellent,  I liked it very much, I feel very sad the time when I sold it, to be replaced  for a R 19.
Best regards  Pedro San Miguel 
09/27/01
Sašo drives a Renault 14 in Maribor (Slovenia) see his photos.
Hello!
My name is Sašo and I come from Maribor (Slovenia). My car is from year 1979 and it has only 95000 km. I must say, that this car is something special and this is the most forgotten car of Renault. I have this car for two years now and only in this week I have done 500 km without any problems. If you have any questions just send me a mail on saso_slo@hotmail.com. I would be very happy to be in contact with fans of this car!
Kindest regards from Slovenia! Saso. 
09/24/01
The first known Irish Renault 18 driver!
Hi Tangi and all Renault drivers !
I'm Joseph and I'm from Ireland. I like old cars, especially the Renault 18. It's somehow a rarity here because of rust problems - it's a pity, they were very good cars. I have a late 1982 18 TD sedan which I'm fixing up. I'll send you pictures of it when it's finished (hopefully by Christmas or slightly after it), and I'll include the full history of the Renault 18s sold in the UK and Ireland. If anyone has any questions, please mail me on josephmullin10@hotmail.com.
Bye
Joseph 

09/19/01
Paul Taylor, yet another British enthusiast
My wife and I had 1977 Renault 14 from 1982 to 1984 in England and thoroughly enjoyed the experience despite the rolling around bends and the rather vague gear change. As a home mechanic I found the car very easy to work on except for the recessed spark plugs. Our particular model was a 1200cc TL that had a full length fabric sunroof which was brilliant on sunny days. Unfortunately we don't have any photo's of the car just fond memories. Regards Paul. 
08/31/01
And now a 18 from Zimbabwe...
Hi There,
I was delighted to find your website on the Renaults, and hopefully I'll be next and give you a new flag ! I'm Graham Conibear from Zimbabwe and I have an elderly R 18 which is still in daily use. Its only done 120 000 km. small by comparison to some of the users, and does need a bit of attention on the suspension but the engine has never been opened. I bought it in 1981 as a second hand car, it was new ( first registered ) in 1980. There were a great number of R 4, R 12, R14 and R18 's sold in Zwe in the ' 80's.
I'm keen to know of any site or enthusiast who has info on spares, spares ref. numbers, contacts etc as these are difficult to get in Zwe as the Renault vehicles are no longer marketed in Zwe. and there is not a great deal of interest from suppliers when seeking old model spares.
Best Regards,  Graham Conibear 
08/29/01
A Renault 14 is actually running in Cameroon!
I own a R14 TS model 1980. I bought it last year with no conviction, but now I'm literaly in love with this car. It runs 202 354 km with original engine! More story later. I need help to find spare parts and original ideas.
Paul NGOMBA from Douala
Cameroon

08/04/01
Another 18 lover from Austria
Hello from Austria!
I owned two Renault 18, one yellow GTS from 1978 (this must have been one of first here in Austria), and a silver GTL from 1982. The GTS was a really good car, with which I were happy for more then four years. I bought it heavily damaged in 1988 with ten years, did a lot of renovation work on it ( especially, because my father had a base Break with the 1.4 liter engine, and he bought one day another R18 Sedan for spare parts, so I was able to get nearly all the parts which were damaged, e.g. headlights, bumper, hood etc.) I had it four years, and it was the most interesting R18 in Vienna, I think. I mounted 175/70R13 Michelin tyres, on 3-hole steel rims from a R20GTL, a sunroof and two pairs of additional headlights. As well, a rpm-meter and a good stereo was fitted. at last my father painted it yellow again, but not in the original colour, with a black stripe on the sides and over the boot (look at the photos!). There were a lot of faults, too in this four years. Corrosion at the underwork was serious, my mechanic had to repair a lot there. Also, the power lock didn´t work properly. That means, it opened all doors, but it closed just the two front doors. I hat to close them by hand. As well, the front windows didn´t close well, they went up not in the right way, so you had to "help" with your hand. On the other hand, I had no major defect with the engine or gearbox, only a few minor things that can happen on a 14 year old car. At last, I lost this fine car in an heavy accident, I didn´t receive a scratch, but my baby was dead. After this, I bought the silver GTL from 1982 (which was equipped also with the 1647cc engine, but 70 hp instead of 79. But it wasn´t the same again. I had to comprare it every time with the yellow one, and it always was just the second choice (nevertheless, if I could find it again in a good condition... who knows?) Finally, I changed it for a R9 TSE of the same year. But as my wife comes from Colombia, we visit this country from time to time, and there are still A LOT OF them on the streets...
My respect and best wishes to all who love these fine cars and especially to tehm who care about them (remeber, in a couple of years it´ll be a classic!

Andreas Tresky 


07/31/01
A Renault 14 driver from Turkey!
Hi, I am writing you from Izmir, Turkey. I am a lucky Renault 14 TL (1982) driver, and have been ever pleased to catch your web site. My daddy's old love, which I am driving now, is at 168.000 kms, and still running. I also would like to ask for your help. Here in Turkey it is allmost impossible to find anything about the model: no knowledge, no spare parts.
I need your kind advice for finding the brake light cover and oil pump spares...
Thanx in advance.
Halil Huseyin Kesiktas 
04/26/01
Howard Brisland (UK) has got a very rare 18 Deauville
Hi,

I wrote to you ages ago about my 1986 Renault 18 GTS Deauville and I thought I would update you.  My 18 is still going strong although it began to cost me a lot
of money to have it repaired as most of the parts for it now have to come from France.  (last time it needed a new steering rack, thermostat and front wheel
swivel). I am going to get a new car but I am still keeping the 18. As an English limited edition it is very rare now so I am hoping to be able to restore it
over the next few years.  It still leaves many other cars its size behind! 


04/06/01
George Dumitru (Romania) drives a 18 GTL Break
Hi all,
First of all sorry for my bad English!
I own an old R18 GTL , engine 1647 cmc/gasoile.Altough the counter indicate 240000 the engine still work (and the entire car) in good condition.
The maximum speed (on the highway) was 147 km/h . The oil consumption is acceptable 700g/1000 km.  The car is still used almost daily. I had in the last 4 years only a problem concerning  a rusted plug of the cylinder head. Of course I lose al the antefreeze but finally I succed to go
home. In fact the only problem of this car is the rust. This year I began the restauration and I hope to have again satisfactions with this beautiful machine.

04/03/01
Jordi Portell (Catalonia, Spain) is fond of his 14 GTS
Hello everybody!
First of all, thanks to the webmaster for creating a place for our loved cars, and also thanks to everybody who has write his/her experience with a Renault 14 or 18.
I have a Renault 14 GTS. Yeah! I think it only exists here in Spain, and I can promise you that almost everyday (well, every two days ;-)) I see a Renault 14 (one model or another) in the streets (I live mainly in Barcelona), so IT IS NOT DEAD ANYWAY :-))) I've got this really fantastic car from about march'1999, when my loved sister gave it to me (yes, this is really a present and the rest are nonsenses!). She bought it second-hand, so I've got a third-hand R14! The car was bought firstly in november'1981, and this week it has reached the 180.000 Km with the original motor! Moreover, I use it a lot: twice a week I go from Barcelona to Torelló (my town) or viceversa, which means about 200 Km per week. Also, I use to go twice a week to my girlfriend's town through a difficult (almost rally-like ;-)) road, and the car works really fine! Its motor works much better than some modern cars I have tried: it is really nervous, and in short gears (2nd or 3rd) the experience is really nice. When I drive in very good roads or in highways, I like to maintain the speed at 130 kph: at this speed the motor works at par (3000
RPMs) and there are almost NO vibrations... On the other hand, the fastest speed I've ever reach (in highway) is about 150 kph (and the motor keeps
working fine).
Also, I love its capacity to work at very low RPMs: in town, I like to maintain the motor between 1000 and 2000 RPMs (!!!), obtaining a very smooth driving and good restoring [sorry, I don't know if  "recuperación" in spanish is translated as "restoring"]. Now I have to change the four tires and I'll take profit of this to use
again the original 165/70 SR13 (now I use a 145/80 R13...), and maybe I will also change some suspension... However, I've had almost no problem
with this car during these two years (and I've made about 25.000 km!). Moreover, now I know a very good mechanical (he worked with Zanini), so I'll surely keep my R14 working really fine for years! (well, I hope so... ;-))
In a few days I would like to make some photos to my R14 and send them to you.
Best regards,
Jordi Portell 

02/01/01
Celalettim Irdem (Turkey) drives a 18 automatic and needs help
Hello
Before all else , thanks for you to prepare this web-page and club. I have got a Renault 18 which is automatic and has got a gearbox. I have got a big problem. My car's gearbox broke down. And I need a new or secondhand gearbox. Could you please help me to find adresses or knowledge for new or secondhand gear box.
sincerely yours.
My adresess : Cumhuriyet bulv. no : 144 postal code : 35210 Alsancak / IZMIR  TURKEY
Telephone       : +90 232 4985681
Pocket Phone : +90 535 9452321

01/09/01
Saso (Slovenia) wants to get messages from other 14 lovers
Hallo!
I must write you a few letters, than I am a great fan of R 14! I am sorry that I can not speak english wery well, but enyway. The love for these cars is in all languages the same! My name is Saso and I come frome Slovenia (Maribor). I am a pride owner of R 14 TL. My father was buying it in 1985 and we had a lot of great moments with this car. It has only 94000 km (!) and for one year I have driving leacens. So I am doing everything for this car. Are there some fan clubs of R 14 in Europe? I would be very happy, if any drivers of R 14 write to me. My E - Mail: saso_slo@hotmail.com. Please write in german or english. I am looking forward to hearing from YOU!

01/05/01
Jarle (Norway) tells us more about Renault in Norway
My mothers first car was an 1970 Renault 12 TL. (Technical very similar to R 18 TL)
This car was bought in 1976 after my mother pass the driving test. This car ran over 380.000 Km. with a untouched engine. It was not always droven as an easy loaded passenger car. It was often used with a trailer with a NSU Rally car on. This was a hevy load but the little R12 never gave up on this hilly roads . This is very well done a with this litle 1289 ccm engine in this climate. It was an fantastic car that always started.
Everyday starting down to -38 ° celsius, it started with no pre heatet engine and no synthetic oil. This car was often used to help other people to take a pull when their car don't want to start.
Other people when my mother or I telling them this, they don't belive us. That car !! NO WAY.
We have owned totally 3 Renault12 TL.
4 years ago I bought me a 1980 Renault 18 TS Automatic. It was in a very bad shape and I had to do a lot of work on it. It have now ran about 280.000 Km. almost without problems. This cars engine is very similar to eg. R 16 and 20 TL engines, except cylinder heads and have shown me reliability and starts ok down to -25° celsius. ( The lowest temp so far.)
Some broken suspension springs and shockasorbers, worn driveshafts, a blown out seal at the valve cover and a heater fan motor. This has been the major problems and can not be to bad for an almost 21 year old car. The engine is still untouched
I have owned a 1976 Renault 20 too.

Renault in Norway
Sure, we have newer Renaults in Norway too but it looked bad for a while.
In the beginning of 1980 the Volvo company tok over the sales of Renault cars. Why ?. I don't now. Volvo took thoroughly care of the necessary arrangements to skip all the sales of these cars up here and let Volvo people to take care of all Renault customers.
This was the worst thing could happend. Customers complained over the unskilled service repairs on their cars and the total lack of experience Volvo had to service Renaults with. Almost over the night it suddenly seems to became problems with spare parts. The one and only to blame is… Yes, you now. Volvo. I knew there was plenty of parts in stock just waiting to be sold, it was just to find the right part number in the catalog, but Volvo did not care a bit. It was easier to blame on Renault then do their job. Customers with noe experience to repair their own car had to trust others.
I took the problems in my own hands and almost demanded to find the spareparts number in Renaults spareparts catalog myself. They gladly let me do this if I took the blame if the wrong part showed up. Yes of course. This was a good deal. In this way I could help lot of other people with their problems, but not all unfortunately.
As you can see in this way Renault cars was now become unpopular in Norway and got a bad rumour.
Even today (2000) this can be a problem with some dealers.
Later, Volvo startet to import Renaults again in 1985 but only the smallest car with the smallest engine. "Renault cars should not compete with Volvo's own cars".
Volvos flagship at this time was the already "almost out of fashion" 240 series, and I am convinced Renault had a more up-to-date cars in their program. I understand Volvo perfectly why they held back Renaults as Renault 18, 20 and 30 and later Renault 25.
In early 1990 showed Renault 19 up in Norway. This car sold good but R19 mk2 sold much better. Later showed Laguna and Megane up. These cars have sold better than Volvo the last 2 years. Volvo have lost over 40 % of sales total, so far I know. I belive the "new import" forced it self through.
This is bad to Volvo as now is become more a Ford.
This is a little strange: Dealers around in Norway have seldom new Renault cars in their showrooms. Only Volvos. Anyway, customer know what they want and buy.

Experience
I was lucky because i did know how to do simple repairs and service on cars. In 1980 I was only 14 years old and had already enough experience with cars, thanks to a neighbour who was an car mechanic He had a lot of fun to teach me how to do things already from I was 9 years old. I was an easy learner and he learned me a lot. Suddenly he dies after a brainstroke. Books helped me to go on with my interest and have learned a lot here. Today I'am a advanced hobby mechanic and like to do some Renaults repairs and engine building
I just love this cars
Jarle (Norway) 



12/20/00
Elmar Werkman (The Netherlands) kept his 18 'in a dry place' and restored it (see his pics).
Hi, very nice site about the R14 and R18, keep up the good work!
This is my 1981 Renault 18 GTS. My father bought this car new in early 1981 and after about six years I bought it with 120.000 km's. I used it for three years, albeit not that extensively because I was a student at the time and I just had a proper bike to go to college (and bikes do not run on petrol but on pedal power!).
In 1990 I started working and got a company car, so I put my R18 to sleep in a dry and dark place. About 5 years later, I bought a house with a garage and I decided to start driving my first own car again. It was restored to an excellent condition (the basis was not bad after 9 years and 145k of service and the sleeping period of 5 years). The major overhaul comprised only of getting the brakes to work properly and some welding especially inner mudguards and the well known pieces of metal between the front window and the bonnet. All the work was carried out by a Renault dealer who liked to work on this 15 year old car, it took about half a year but only a fraction of the time spent was calculated.After that  I removed the interior for a very thorough cleanup and bought some new bumpers and some windowrubbers and strips which make the car look like new.From 1996 I have been using the car at least once a week and now with almost 180k on the clock it is still running beautifully and it remains a pleasure to drive. The color is original Black and as a high spec model it has bronze colored windows, the headlamp wash and wipers and of course electric windows, central door locking and a 5 speed gearbox. My daily use of transport is a 1999 Laguna 2.016v RXI which really is a wolf in sheep clothing but driving my R18 still remains a special experience. In the Netherlands R18 are very rare nowadays, especially the ones with metal bumpers from the first series. Only a few 18 Breaks are around, nearly all of them a bit tired and rusty but still running.
I hope you will ad some of my pictures to your gallery. The photo's are from 1996 and 1997 but now the car is in the same excellent condition. I tend to drive it with no rainy weather.
Regards, 
11/15/00
Richard Potter from Scotland updates his 18 data
Dear fellow R18 luvers,
I hope the lot of you are doing grand. Richard Andrew Potter here from Scotland reporting on my auld R18 diesel estate.
GOOD NEWS
The good news - another annual MOT in the bag! Year 17 here I come. The main problem this year was welding - and that was my fault. During the spring of 2000 I grounded her while reversing into a T-junction in a town called Broughton (quite well know for it's ale and John Buchan fame). I didn't notice that in the corner of the junction was a large rock and the road fell away sharply.
Apart from that it was straightforward replacement of the steering gaiters, both front bushes and a little brake pipe replacement. Before the brakes were good, now they are REALLY good. The mechanic sees no problems with the car doing a few more years.
SHOCKED
Most of my friends are still shocked that I drive such a car. My attitude seems to resemble what I read in various R18 internet sites around the world. It is comfortable and reliable. It has never not started (apart from when I leave the lights on all weekend...). There is also a very sad culture in Scotland which dictates that you MUST buy a new car to look good (and get yourself into a lot of financial debt). It is quite sad.
R18 SPARES
I still have a local contact who has two (YES TWO) R18's in his driveway awaiting the scrapmerchant to arrive and... you know what. He lives just south of Edinburgh so if you know of anyone needing parts please get on to me say soon as.
PROBLEMS
You may remember that I had a heating problem last year - I seem to have it again. The problem is a lack of heating. I am in the midst of taking the dashboard apart so see if any of those pipes are blocked in anyway. Thank you Mr.Pflug my friend for those helpful diagrams on your internet page. I will also be using your diagrams for my odometer. It is currently showing 842,792 miles! (about 1.45M kilometres?) The true mileage is around 145,000 miles.
PHOTO'S
I intend to take some photographs of the R18 and post them round the internet - I am just waiting to have car, camera, daylight and background scenery all together at the same time. I must warn you now that I have sprayed the rear bumper illuminous yellow and have never thought too much about waxing cars. So no shocked replies when I post them:-)
Yours aye,
Richard Andrew Potter
Peebles
Scotland 
10/06/00
Bill Hawley (USA) has owned four Renault 18
Hello! My name is Bill Hawley and I live in Buffalo, NY (USA). I've owned 4 Renault 18i automobiles (my lastest and current one is a 1986 model 18i Sportwagon). It has a 2.2L engine with 5 speed manual transmission. It presently has about 90,000 miles (roughly 140,000 km). My last one (a 1984 model) had over twice that when I sold it. It took me a year to realize my mistake, and find this one to replace it! I have recently made some repairs that have been needed for a while, that should easily see it through another 5 years of driving (at least). My daughter is planning on using it for driving to and from college. I enjoyed visiting your site. It's difficult to maintain this car in the USA, since Renault has not sold cars here since 1988, and parts are becoming extremely rare. However, I've driven nothing but Renault automobiles since my first one (a 1983 Renault R5, known as "LeCar" here - which I sold about 5 years ago with over 230,000 miles/ 372,000km on it!). They are wonderful automobiles, and solidly reliable. Too bad they're no longer sold here.
Best Regards,
Bill Hawley 
10/10/00
Juann Lupion (Spain) drives a rust-free 14!
Hello! Nice web page! I am a proud owner of a 80' sky blue Renault14 GTL here in Spain. This little beast has been sturdy as a rock, after 20 years of service and 96000 kms run (BTW, I think I've beaten Mr. Magnier's 5th position in your table) , only now is showing its ages.
The car is not rusty at all (strange as it may seem) but the engine has been falling to a slow death the last two years; I live in Madrid and the car is parked in Malaga (South of Spain) for weeks without use... as I am not able to do anything but the most basic maintenance duties you can imagine the engine is not in the best of its shapes. But hey, it still reaches
140 km/h without blowing up and the engine hasn't ever had to be repaired!!  (I've had repaired the gear box twice, the brakes system, the alternator (what's the word in english?) though)  The rest of the car should be in pretty good shape as it passed its last mandatory Technical Inspection without more hassles than a broken rear light bulb.
Here in Spain you can see some 14s and 18s (a friend of mine has a diesel 18 which has passed 400000 km!) and I found with delight that your page is going to keep them alive in the net forever!!  Well done! I am surprised to see what other people have done to their 14's. 
October 4, 2000
Blaz Berce (Slovenia) shares a story with the 14
Hi! It will be almost two years, since i became a happy Twingo owner. In my family Renault is almost "tradition".My father bought  used R4 in 1985. But this is not so important...
 In autmun 1979 a beautiful white R14TL was bought by my grandmother.I was seven years old and i can remember how was i surrrised when i saw those "plastic"bumpers!..To tell by the truth,my grandmother eas a lousy driver.So she drove R14 only when it was realy necesser.About four times a year!!!In 1987 she finally realised,that she is not driving safely any more at all.She drove BACKWARDS on highway!!!!...
She gave her car to my mother and she drove it till she died in 1996. At that time I already have my driving licence for  four years. What is to say about R14-as I said-it was and still is beautiful car,easy to drive and very comfortable.
In winter 1997 me and my father drove this car on its`s last ride.When i was driving my father`s škoda behind my father(he drove R14), the rust was falling off R14. Even now,when I remember it, it was a sad sight for me...
I miss those cars. By my opinion there are maybe two or three R 14 still driving in Slovenija, I sure would be more happy if I see more of them... Somwhere in house i still have R 14 manual book .It was issued by IMV Novo Mesto,the factory which was cooperating with renault in that times. R4,R5 were assembled there and now Clio is assembled there.

September 9, 2000
Jim Stafford (Australia) is fond of his new 18 GTS and needs help
I have just got a Renault 18 GTS SPECIAL,1980,5-speed Fuego box,X-flow(16ts) big valve head, 44/70 cam, 2x Webber DCOE, 4-2-1 exhaust system with numerous other modifications. Including a respray with (white with blue trim).
It was offerd to me with 3 months rego and it had just been certified by the motor registration department. This i thought was a nice bargain with a nice car withe the out come. I am very intrested in learning how to tune the 2 x DCOE Webbers.
If you have some idea where i could find the information about them please let me know. The car is brilliant to drive and is my first Renault. I normally buy older holdens. Now i will stick with Renaults for ever. 
August 20, 2000
Damir Padavic (Croatia) just bought an American 2 and needs help
Hi !  I'm a new owner of 1984 American 2 model and I'm very satisfied with it. Only malfunction is on central lock system. Can somobody help me with some schematic of it and where can I find its electronics inside the car. I will send you some pictures as soon I can. Best regards from Croatia! 

August 16, 2000
Hendrik Stolz 's got ambitious plans for his 14!
Hello,
I'm Hendrik From Belguim and I am restauring my R 14 TS.  I have been driving it for several years but like every old French car the carosserie wasn't good anymore.
Now it's almost ready after 5 years of work.  To have an engine with more horsepower, I bought a "culasse" with 2 double carburators from the Talbot Samba Rally (1218cc wtih 90HP, so I hope to have little more with my 1360 cc).  Since I am a wholesaler in leather, I am making a whole new leather-interior (dashboard included).
I hope to show you some pictures when all the work is done. 
July 10, 2000
Gonçalo José Coelho Mourato's father drove a 18 GTS.
Hi. Well, I must say that I got very happy when I realized that there is a site dedicated to the magnificent Renault 18 GTS, one of my father's cars and my personal favourite. It was the first car that I drove and I shall remember it forever - it had a some electrical problems and the door opening system was ridiculous but it was, nevertheless, a fantastic car to drive. They say that there is no love like the first one, and I think that "they" are right.
Unfortunately, my sister managed to smash it against a wall and I've never seen it again. It was a pleasure to see some pictures of metallic grey GTS's, just as mine. Congratulations, and thanks.
PS - will see if there is anything about the car around the house - my father still has loads of things about all sorts of cars. 
July 3, 2000
Omar Dennaoui lives in Lebanon and drives a 18 from time to time
My name is Omar from Lebanon,i'm a renault's fan, and specially the 18 series, in fact i own one of these cars in a perfect condition, it was my mom's property in a long time, she bought it in 1982, but nowadays i drive it from time to time, i think it's too reliable and fast regarding to its old tech, and its old chassie...I have another car which is a range rover, i consider myself satisfied with this car but when i drive the renault, i feel that i'm back to the true car  which i hope that it could be released again, i'll be the first to buy it...
thanx a lot for this site... 
June 9, 2000
Dale Courtney is a British 14/18 enthusiast.
Well, I thought I was the world's only R14/R18 lover - thankfully it seems I was wrong!!
My first car was a 1981 R14TS which belonged to my Dad for 9 years previously. I loved that car, it even had a name, 'Felix'!!
I was devastated when I eventually had to scrap the car, the engine, still original and showing 126,000 miles was faultless, however the bodywork finally let my trusty old 'Felix' down. My next car was a 1982 R18 Turbo. Well, that certainly helped me get over my mourning for my R14.
What a fantastic car, silver grey, and the bodywork still looked good on the outside. When the Turbo System developed a fault, I disconnected it permanently so it ran as a normal 1.6L, but still I was in love with  my car - only 18 years old at the time (me!)
but I felt like royalty with those stylish markings, electric windows, central locking, power steering...
Whenever I went out with friends, they always made me drive 'coz of my nice car, enough inflate to my ego a bit!!!!!
I even named my R18, 'Harry' (don't ask!!!) and my best memory with 'Harry' was taking him to Sweden to see some friends of mine. Eventually though, poor old Harry rusted away from the inside out, the outward appearance was good but he
started rusting in vital and somewhat dangerous areas! The original engine (minus its Turbo kit!) finished on 134,000 miles with a few hiccups but nothing major. Even when I bought my next car (1984 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.3L) I still kept old Harry on the drive for a year with the full intention of a restoration project, but alas, time and of course money was short and my trusty old R18 Turbo went to join Felix. Needless to say, I made shore I was out both times when the scrappers truck arrived!! Today, 8 years after 'Harry's' demise, I drive a 1990 V'hall Cavalier 2.0i, which I also adore, but there is nothing quite like your first car...
Finally, I was very pleased to see a 1981 R14 TS only last month, and in fantastic condition, almost showroom. No doubt a rare find, it goes to show that, with a bit of care, they can still look good, despite their age.

Dale A Courtney 


June 3, 2000
Cesar Grau (Venezuela) knows a lot about 18, Fuegos and 14.
Hi,
Wonderful web page. The R18 is certainly an underrated car and deserved more attention on the web. I am from Venezuela, although I'm currently in the USA. In Venezuela we didn't have the R14 but we did have the R18 for a long time. The last R18s from 1982-88 carried the aluminum 2 litre engines with a carburetor and producing some 99CH. Around 1987-88 there was a
racing category called Formula Fuego which consisted of race-prepared 2 litre Fuego GTX. This racing became popular so Renault de Venezuela decided to produce a limited edition Fuego Formula which had sports suspension, low-profile 185/60R14 tires on alloy wheels and a high compression 110CH version of the 2 litre engine. It was also well equipped, with air conditioning, power locks and windows, stereo and leather seats.
Soon after they decided to do exactly the same with the R18, even calling it R18 Formula and had the lower side-stripes of the R18 Turbo and its rubber spoilers too. Needless to say the two cars became legendary among Renault lovers, although regular (sane???) people didn't care too much for them because they were already old designs. Sadly they were both limited edition
and within the same year were phased out to give way to the brand new R21 which carried ground effects styling and a rear spoiler and a fully equipped interior with leather seats. The engine was a Venezuela-only 2.2 litre version of the 2 litre. Well, the rest is maybe for another discussion.
This is the story I was told about the R14 by a Renault Engineer:
The R14 was to be a joint version with Peugeot, but because that company was in economical trouble at that time, it could not stand up to its part of the deal. I think Peugeot was dealing then with Chrysler Europe which was in bad shape. Anyway, the Regie was left with no choice but to buy out the entire project or lose all its investment. So the R14 became something
of an orphan or unwanted child. Notice that technically it had very little in common with the Renaults of the time. The engines are not used in any other model and they were transverse instead of longitudinal like all the other Renault engines. The suspension was not shared anywhere in the range either. The Regie accountants didn't like this situation because they could
not save money by sharing components across the Renault range, so to them it wasn't a good deal. The R14 was obviously an odd member of the Renault family so you can see why Renault didn't care too much about expanding the
range.
To me the R14 is something of an oddity. I first learned about its existence in the early 90s when I saw it in some old official "Livre de Products" (sorry about the spelling) as an intern in Renault de Venezuela. I consider myself a Renault fan, so I thought I knew all the Renaults from the R4 on. I was surprised about the R14 so I ran to my boss with the book and asked "what is this car?", "where did it come from?". I finally saw an R14 in the metal only in the summer of 1998 when I visited Spain/Portugal/France. I don't consider the R14 to be stylistically exciting, but I find its design sweet. I can see some shades of R18 and Fuego in its design... or maybe it's the other way around!
Please keep updating you page.
Regards from Venezuela and the USA,
Cesar Grau 
May 30, 2000
A 18 driver from Romania!
Hi!  My name is Bogdan Muscalu and I'm from Romania. I was very happy when I found your site. I have a Renault 18 GTS black  81 model. The engine is a 1595cmc one, 5 speeds gear box, and is in a very good condition. I'm still runnig at 150km/h  and drivers with new cars as Skoda, Daewoo, Fiat are going crazy. My big problem is to getting parts for him, even used , but my love for him is big and I please you to send me a replay if you can help me, I pay of course. Send me an answer because I hope to talk with you!
Best regards!
Bogdan Muscalu 

May 14, 2000
Another former Scottish 18 owner!
Hello - I've just visited your site and what an impressive one it is. A fine tribute to two fabulous " automobiles francaises".
I was once the proud owner of a ten year old R18 which was the best car I've ever owned. I liveed in Scotland then and my Renault was a right hand drive and she went all over that land without the word of a complaint. In fact I do still have a picture of her on our fridge (that is 10 years later).
It makes me feel so much better knowing that thanks to sites such as your own these two cars will live on through the WWW ! And that admirers such as I have the chance once more to drool at the sight of these FANTASTIC cars.
Forbes Gordon. 
May 10, 2000
Jean-François is missing his former 14
Jean-François,  previous owner of a 1979 R 14 TS, 4 speed version, 1.200 cm3 engine, metallic grey with red interior. A great car, very well equipped (electric windows, central locking, ...), with a lot of space inside. But launched too early by Renault. Present Golf, Peugeot 306, Megane... are more or less copies of the 14! 
May 7, 2000
Ian Aspinall drove a 1977 (?) 18 in Brittany
Hi Tangi,
Great site - good to see that other people still remember the R14/R18!  I lived in Brittany, France, in 1991-92, and bought an R18TL as a cheap runabout while I was there.  It had only done 100 000km, had no serious rust, and gave me very little trouble.  When I left France, I sold it for the same price as I paid for it, so it was cheap to own too!
But I'm sure it was a 1977 model according to the "carte grise" (French registration document), although you say the R18 wasn't introduced until  1978.  Also, I still have photos of it, and they show that the dashboard and steering wheel were different from the picture of those on your website.  Is it possible that this was a pre-production version??
The registration number was 1545QZ22, and it was a dark blue saloon with blue interior.  If it still exists, and anyone reading this knows where it is, I'd love to hear from you!
Keep up the good work!
Ian. 
April 28, 2000
Thanakorn Naprom needs help for his 18 GTS in Thailand
I am Thai people. I cannot understand your language. I have an Renault 18 gts and have been using it for 6 years. But the gearbox is now broken. No spare parts in Thailand. Please help me to find the spare parts! 

April 27, 2000
Miguel Martin family's 18 GTX II is still running well
My name is Miguel, I´m from Argentina. I have a 1986 Renault 18 GTX II. It came (like since 1982) with a 1995cc electronic ignition aluminum-block engine. This same engine was later stretched to 2165cc in argentine production cars. Was this engine ever made in french R-18s?  The dashboard is like the 1984-85 Turbo.It has A/C, power steering and front power windows.
It did more than 200.000 km. and still running pretty well. The paint has faded but the body is OK. 
April 24, 2000
Bart Lathouwers drives an LPG-equipped 18 Turbo in Belgium
Hello, I see Belgium is missing in your quotes index. It doesn't surprise me, you don't see many R18's around here anymore.
Anyway, I bought my 18 Turbo (Nov '83) almost 12 years ago from my brother in law with 100.000km. I installed an LPG system myself soon after as it is so much cheaper to run (slightly less powerfull though). The car survived sitting in a garage for 4 years while I was working in the USA and now I still drive it every day with 275.000km so far. Other things I modified over the years were the installation of powersteering (there is no way back!), of outside rearview mirrors from an Opel Astra (electrically adjustable and heated) because the original vibrate too much at higher speeds, and a sunroof.
I'm not looking forward to replacing the differential bearings in the gearbox, as I hear them better every week now. I plan to replace the original clutch at the same time. Looking for another gearbox to replace mine entirely I bought a R18 TX break (type 135B Nov '85) in Germany. To my surprise it has a 2.2L engine with a catalic converter, didn't know it was ever sold like that in Europe. So instead of "stealing" the gearbox I'm hesitating now. A lot of body-work though (rust) and the breaks need to be replaced entirely due to adding the wrong breakfluid (that's why it was for sale).
Sometimes I wish I wouldn't get so attached to a car....
Good luck with the nice website, what a pity the "R18 Turbo club site" appears to be dead.
Bart Lathouwers, Antwerpen België. 
March 6, 2000
Jos Wassing drove lots of French cars, including an R18
Hello Tangi,
I'm Jos Wassing from Holland and I'm sending you the only picture I've left of my beautiful R18. I've owned it for 2 years about 1990 and had much joy of it. When I had to join military service (I didn't like that), I sold my "bijou" to an former Romanian opera-singer, which visited friends in Holland at that time. He actually made it to Romania, but he never send me a bottle of Slibovitsch (a traditional Romanian liquor) that he promised me, if he would reach his home-town without any problems.
I admire your beautiful site, because I'm a big fan of French cars. Except one car (a Mini), I'd drove only french cars like an R4, R11, R18 , Citroen GSA and BX.
Keep on the good work and greetings from Jos 
March 22, 2000
The first Renault 18 Deauville (English ltd. edition) in these pages!
Just saw your excellent site on the Renault models 14 and 18.  I thought that I would let you know that I am the owner of a 1986 Renault 18GTS Deauville in Ipswich, England.  It was the last one sold by my local dealer before they got the Renault 21 models in. I love the car, especially as I leave a lot of other, more modern cars behind in it!
Howard Brisland. 
March 7, 2000
Denis Zec (Croatia) owes a '79 blue Renault 18
I have a R18 from 1979. It has 147 638 kilometers, and I am very pleased with it. The colour of the car is blue (kapri). Maybe I'll send some pictures of it.
Denis Zec, Aljmas, Croatia 
March 6, 2000
Andrzej Kotwicki (Poland) drives a 18 diesel and needs help.
I drive an R 18 since June 1998, a 81 year model, with a diesel engine, central locking and electric windows. I drove it through 60.000 kms, and only had one problem: the distribution belt broke. I also repaired the brakes, the blower and the door closing mechanism. My brakes are weak again, and it burns a lot of petrol,  from 7, 5 to 8, 5 for 100 kms. It runs at 150 km/h, and that's a tough car, which can pull even 2000 kg. 

February 7, 2000
Mikael Lundgren from Sweden is refitting its 18 TS.
Hi there! Just found your pages and enjoying them a lot. I´m living in the north of Sweden and I have got a R 18 Break TS 1980. It´s not running at the moment but I´m working on It. Keep up the good work with the page.


Hello dear R14 & R18 enthousiasts,
Here an email from a Dutch R14-'lover'. I want to say to you that I really like the fact that there's finally somebody who likes the Renault 14 (and 18). Why is that, you probably want to know. The reason is that the first time I drove a car, it was in a R14.
My father's third car (and third Renault) was a light green March 1980 R14 TL 1218cc (5-doors version of course). It was 1986 and I was only 8 years old.
Ten years later I got my driver's licence and I drove my deadies sixth Renault, a 1995 Laguna 1.8 RT hatchback. As a big Renaultfan I recognized that the R14 died an honourless death. It's a shame to this world! And now I know the R14 is still alive; I'm very happy with that!
So my conclusion: Congratulations and lots of honour to the person who made this site.
With Greetings from somebody with Renault-how,
Justus van der Hoeven, Leiden, Holland
P.S.: Excuse me for my bad English. 

January 4, 2000
Ben Anderson (New Zealand) drives a 18 Turbo and needs help.
Hi there,
Greetings from New Zealand.  I am the owner of a r18turbo, 1981 model, and a restored 1972 Renault 17Tl.  I was wondering if you could give me some advice on modifying my 18 turbo. I have had very little luck with the website links from 'Katrinas' i am after information regarding suspensions modifications as well as engine mods too. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks very much.
Ben Anderson


December 29, 1999
Andres Morgensztern (Colombia) made himself a 18 GTX Turbo !
Hi there are pictures of my old renault 18 GTX Turbo. I made all the turbo adaptating work by myself.

December 8, 1999
Roland Freistätter drives a tuned 18 GTL (see the pics in the photos section)
Hello
My name is Roland and I am from Vienna in Austria. This is my second car with div. tunings. It's a R 18 GTL with BBS wheels, Remus exhaust and spec. springs and shocks from Fuego. I made the dashboard myself. The frontspoiler is from R 18 Turbo. Bye Roland. 
December 2, 1999
Richard Andrew Potter's 18 has a heating problem in Scotland (see the help section).
Hello from Scotland.
I thought to give you an update on my Renault 18 TD estate (2.1 diesel) 1984 model as well as asking you for some advice.
First the update: as at today 130444 miles / 209929.2 kilometers
It passed its MOT (cars in Scotland have to pass this every year) last month. The only major cause for concern was a wheel bearing replacement (passenger side, front - remember our passengers sit on the OTHER side of the car!!!) and an electrical problem with the lights (I hear that is a problem with all older Renaults)
ADVICE:
When I bought the car in the spring the heating was set on FULL BLAST. It was really hot. The dashboard controls did not work so I managed to disengage the heating by opening the heating system at the rear of the engine compartment and closing the shutter.
I found that the shutter control cable had rusted in its sleave.
Now Scotland is a cold, cold place in winter. Already the frost is hard on the ground in the borders.
And I cannot seem to turn the heating back on !!!
I went back into the heating compartment and closed the flap - so the heat should still flow - but no heat!
I flushed the water system with about 40 litres of water to see if the system had air in it - but no heat!
When I say no it heat - I really mean a very, very little trickle of heat. The problem I guess is that the engine does not warm up very much!!!
"A very efficent engine these French people build" I said to myself.
I have logically found out that the seating compartment heating runs directly off the engine heating system. Once the engine is on and running, the engine doesn't run at all much.
I know that the heat sensors are working because about eight weeks ago I lost all the water from the radiator and the heat gauge on the dashboard went throught the roof !!!
Also all the obvious water cooling pipes around the engine (including those going to/from the seating compartment heating) are only warm to the touch.
So Tangi, what else can I do to warm up my fingers and toes in the morning?
I have heard that the engine may need a new valve - if so where do I locate it? I have also heard that it may need a separate 'winter' valve to regulate the cooling system at this time of year - is this true?
Also I can only find one bleeding valve for the water system - up by the seating compartment heater. Are there any more? As I said I ran about 40 litres through the system so there should not be any more air locks in it.
Anything you can think of will be greatly appreciated Tangi.
Yours aye,
Richard Andrew Potter
Peebles
Scotland (NOT U.K.!!!)

November 12, 1999
Robert Green is a British 18 owner.
Hello there!
I think your website is brilliant as it is hard to find anyone these days who is interested in the R14 / R18.
We have an R18 TS, 1647cc, 1983.  It has done 162000 miles (approx 260K kilometres) and is completely original.  The engine burns no oil and cruises happily at 80mph (130kph)!  We bought it from the original owner in 1993 and
have called it Rudolph!
I wonder if you or anyone reading could advise me on the situation regarding what petrol to use now.  In Britain, leaded petrol is being banned from January 1 2000.  I have always used this but now there is a variety of options:
Lead free petrol (95 RON)
lead replacement petrol ?
Various additives are for sale to increase the octane or to be used instead of lead to protect the valves.
Has anyone any advice on what I should use now?
The other option is to replace the valve seats which would obviously mean dimantling the engine which I do not want to do yet as it should last for many more miles / kilometres before needing any other work! I would be grateful if anyone has anything to say on this either through the site or email me on robnjogreen@hotmail.com.
Many thanks
Robert Green 
November 10, 1999
Jose Antonio (Mexico) drives a '83 Renault 18.
Hi!
My Name is Jose Antonio Lopez, I have a R-18 model 1983 with 1600cc. engine, is a beautiful car in black, I still looking for a scanner and then I can send you two pics of the car. A good news for the Renault lover's Renault buy 32% of the stocks of Nissan, the good news is in Year 2000 in the place Renault disappears but have a Nissan offices Renault going to sale this
cars. I live in Mexico City, you kwon in 86 Renault leaves Aztecan´s country, the reason bad administration, because is a goberment industry, but I think meaby 50 or 100 thounsand renault cars stell runnig in Mexico 
November 9, 1999
Alejandro (Venezuela) tells us shortly about the 18 in his country.
Hi Tangi. Yes, there's still many R-18 on the streets here, in fact I have a friend that has one. I think it was one of the best models that Renault made. The R-21 and R-11 are the ones that you see more in my country. 
November 9, 1999
Sasa (Yugoslavia) has TWO 14s!
I am so proud to have R14 TS, so I bougt another one to my wife (few years ago). Now I have some problems with both. I can't service them in Yugoslavia. HELP ME! Where to find SOLEX 32 SHA, orange glases for direction lights near
front lights, service manual on English? In Yugoslavia...NO WAY! Thank You and Long Live R14
PS Sory for my English, specialy technical part 
November 2, 1999
Phil Martin drives maybe the only 18 in Australia !
Hello, I was excited to see a site just for renault 18 9 and 14) of course. I have owned my r18T for about 7 years now and i believe it is the only one in australia. it is an english model as it has a dual speedometer showing both miles and kilometres. the car has now travelled over 300,000 kilometres and has been used from time to time incar club events such as hill climb speed trials. The car was imported to australia in 1981? 1982? by what was then Renault Australia, for evaluation purposes and was dispalyed at the Melbourne Motor Show in 1982. I love. It has been very reliable even though driven sometimes very hard and fast on some of our very open country roads. do you know anyone who could help with a few spare parts, in particular i need and original type distributor and the elctronic ignition. before i bought the car this had been burnt out and replaced with a standards points type distributor and an ignition coil. Anyway congratulations on your web page, it was fantastic to see other r18 s from around the world. The standard R18 did not sell many in australia as it was very expensive (as much as a small BMW) Bye for now, will be great to hear from you and i will try and take photo of my car and send to you via email.
Philip Martin, Ballina, New South Wales, Australia. 
November 1, 1999
Ulrich Schauenberg (Germany) used to drive a rusted 18!
Hi Tangi,
I found your site via link from the Renault Mailing List and took a look on the german site.
On one hand I can tell you that R14 sold very bad in Germany, so there have never been many of them. And the most of these few rusted away (from inside to outside, you could do nothing if you had not protected your new car with wax inside the chassis) in the early 80's. In 1985, when I got my driving licence, R14 already was a very exotic car. (I never had one).
R18 sold better, but not good. And the way R18 rusted I know from my own one. I had a '78er bought in '87 and crashed in '88. In this one year the front rusted that worse, that you could look through the car above the front wheels - four holes, one behind each other... You could see some R18 on german roads until the early 90ies, then they started to die out...
In '99 I drove about 30.000 km on german road until today and I saw 5-10 R18 (only Limousines!) and not even one R14!
So far the actual R14/R18-situation in Germany!
Bye
Uli

October 1, 1999
Colin Williamson (UK) still owns a 14 TS.
Hi,
I've got a 1981 Renault 14TS and I love it. I dont think there were many of them here in the UK - I've never seen another. Mine is off the road now and has no road tax so I cant drive it. I was going to scrap it but I haven't had the heart to do it. My friends laugh at it, but it used to drive like a dream on the motorway - it would still do 100mph when it was 18 years old (I'm not sure what that is in kilometres). I'm glad to see it has a web site.
Cheers
Colin Williamson 
September 30, 1999
Martyn Werner (UK) encountered a sad day some time ago.
Hello from the UK (again,  I have written previously). Unfortunately, my Renault 14 TS (1980) story has come to a sad end.
The other day I noticed that the back of the car was leaning to one side slightly.  Originally I thought that one of the rubber bushes that hold the torsion bar for the rear suspension had gone.  This would have been a bit tricky to replace but reasonably cheap (and possible by myself). Unfortunately, upon closer inspection I found out that the rear wheel trailing arm has broken away from its mountings due to corrosion.  I have just had a quote to get it repaired, and it is going to cost more than I can
afford and what the car is worth. Basically, I am going to have to scrap the car, unless I can find someone
who will buy it or its parts. Mechanically it is in good condition,  the engine having only done 36000 miles (about 57600km).  This mileage is genuine as I have the paperwork to prove it. The interior is also in good condition and has the most comfortable seats I have ever sat on.
So if anyone out there wants a new R14 (1360cc) engine or any other parts, please contact me on martyn@mwerner.free-online.co.uk .
Unfortunately, I won't be able to keep hold of it for long. Today is a sad day.
Martyn Werner 
September 28, 1999
Michiel Matzinger (Netherlands) drives a rare 18 GTD Automatic.
Hello, there,
I visited your very complete site and I have a R18 myself. It is a R18 GTD Automatic ( R134402 ) and I think it's a rare one because I have never seen a GTD Automatic before. According to Renault Holland only three of them were imported somewhere in 1983. The car is still in very good shape, with very little rust and not that many kilometers ( 195.000 ).
I am very happy with it ! When I bought it in March 1999 it had 174.000 km. The only problem the car is getting is that the automatic gearbox has troubles getting in reverse when the gearbox is warm. People say that that happens to Renault automatic transmissions. So I think soon I will have to fix it. So if there is anybody out there who has a good ( automatic) gearbox for a diesel,  let me know !! I will send you a picture soon...
In the last ten years i owned a few R18's. First a 18GTS from 1978, then a R18 GTL from 1983, then three R18 GTX breaks from 1983 and a R18 Turbo from 1984. And now I have the R18 GTD Automatic and also a R18 GTL break but that one is only for parts.
I am still looking for a R18 break 4x4. Bye from Holland,
M. Matzinger 
September 10, 1999
A short message by Nick Davies (Australia), who owes two Renault 14.
Hi Tangi. I have 2 R14's and hope to rebuild at least 1 of them.
(See Nick's cars in the pics section). 

September 7, 1999
Eduardo Ahumada (Chile) was rather upset by his 18 GTX.
Hello Tangi,
I visited your site, really nice and complete, you have done an outstanding job with your choosen subject. I wonder how did you find the small paragraph that I wrote about my old Renault  :) Anyway, if you could read my spanish you would have noticed that I don't really refer to my Renaults in particularly good terms ... these cars were chosen by my wife because it was the biggest wagon that my budget would allow.
I purchased first an 18TS - 1982, this had a french engine and was very reliable but a bit underpowered for my taste. I sold it a couple of years later and then purchased the 18 GTX - 1986. This one had an Argentinian engine and was notoriously unreliable with constant electrical problems.
Even tough it had a bigger engine than the 18TS it could barely reach 160 km/h and fuel consumption was quite high. I sold it a year later to purchase my current Plymouth Grand Voyager, which has a 50% larger engine which consumes about the same amout of fuel as the much smaller R18 engine. It isn't particularly fast but has great aceleration and is very reliable. I purchased it on 1994 and still own it. I will search my photo albums and if I find a better picture of the R18 I will send it to you.
I have added a link to your site. Check http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/3131/autos.htm
Kind regards, Eduardo 
September 7, 1999
Rajko Sabo (Slovenia) is happy with his white 18.
Hi, Tangi!
The car you have seen on my site <http://come.to/rajko.sabo.si/> is mine. The car was fabricated in 1981 in France, I believe, although a year or so later Renault 18 was produced also in Slovenia. I am not the first owner, I had bought the car in 1986 (or 1987) with cca. 45.000 km. Now it has 178.000 km. It has 1,4 l engine (1397 ccm) delivering 46 kW (64 HP). The engine is original, no general rebuilding yet. In 1991 I got the 4-gear gearbox replaced with newer 5-gear, which has raised cruising
speed from 130 km/h at much noise to 140-150 km/h at quite bearable sound. Factory speed is 158 km/h. It is quite difficult to achieve it but in favourable conditions it is possible. I have achieved top speed almost 170 km/h downhill.
Car body has suffered rust, especially above the wheels and in the pillars of the front doors. I got car body renewed and re-painted in 1993 for the first time and two months ago, in july 1999 for the second time. A week or two ago I got it protection covered (chassis from below and hollow areas). I also switched from original 155/80 R13 tyres (Michelin Classic) to wider ones that were put on this model of the cars in later years, i.e. 175/70 R 13 (Pirelli P 3000). It is great car, in terms of reliabilty, convenience and price/performance. In whole dozen years I had engine problem only once (in Austria) and even than it coughed to service station where in-take carburator was cleared. I have done quite some cruising around Europe, for instance to Florence (IT), to Monte Carlo (MO), Zurich, Bern (CH), Den Bosch (NL), Muenschengladbach, Karslruhe (D), Salzburg, Wienna (AT), Prague (CZ), Bratislava (SK), Budapest, Miskolc (HU), Belgrade (YU), Split (HR), to mention only a few, all journeys starting and ending in Ljubljana, and distances travelled above 1000 km (from 1000 to 3000 km two way).
Here all appreciation goes to Renault for, first, making excellent car and, second, for not neglecting older models of the cars (like R 18) in terms of spare parts supply - by building wide-spread network of car shops with service stations and by educating servicemen to perform repairs with competence.
I go regularly to prescribed service once a year and, imagine, it happens quite often that the cars passes the technical examination necessary to prolong car's operating licence smoothly half a year or even whole year after the service being done!
I can only hope that Renault will, despite all tasks it is involved in, like producing, selling and servicing current models, F 1 and other racing, and development for the future, continue taking care for older out-of-production cars, like Renault 18, for which I as an owner am very thankful and praise Renault for.
I believe that Renault for its knowledge and attitude deserves a place among top ten world car manufacturers in ongoing "Car of the century elections" (www.cotc.com <http://www.cotc.com> ). Renault is represented, regrettedly, not by Renault 18, but by Renault 4CV, Renault 16 and Renault Espace.
Regards,
Rajko 
August 22nd, 1999
Another guy from the Netherlands !
Hello
We have a r14 from 81 se has run 158.000 and stil running good. I have some pics and folders and info about the r14 but no scanner. We try to keep the r14 running along with our r17, both in very good condition. It's fun to drive these cars and they are very rare in the Netherlands because of the salty air and the salt on the roads in winter. We also have some adresses for spare parts for r14 and all other renault models.
m v/d putten
Alkmaar the Netherlands 
August 1st, 1999
Richard Pflug (Netherlands) is fond of his 18 GTL.
Dear Tangi,
I was rather surprised to find a web site exclusively dedicated to the Renault 18 and 14. Great !!! Keep up this good work!
I own a Renault 18 GTL from March 1982. My mum bought this car second hand in February 1987 for family use. However I have driven most kilometres with it and also did a lot of work on it to keep the car in good shape (which is hard, considering our climate). It has a 1.647 cc engine and has colour R161, which I think is officially called 'bronze', but in my family we refer to it as 'Sahara metalic' :-)
I'm very fond of my old Renault 18 and I had a lot of fun with it. At it's old age however it wasn't spared from a small tragedy: one dark day about a year ago a sand truck ran into my left front wing. However I managed to fix this reasonably well.
Up until the end of April of this year I used the old Renault every day, but because I got a new job in 1998 I had to travel a much longer distance to work each day. At it's age the 3.000 kilometres a month I now drive became a bit too much. For that reason I bought a new Renault Clio for daily use. I'm looking for a place to store the Renault 18 and when I have the time and funds I might overhaul it completly one day. In the mean time I just treasure it, work on it (I recently sanded and repainted it's rims) and drive it every now and than on a sunny day.
With this e-mail I send you some pictures of my Renault 18 through the years (see them on the pictures section).
You can also find the car in a small corner on my own web site (which is mainly on Dutch (pirate) radio in the eighties). The page my Renault is on is at:
http://www.euronet.nl/users/repflug/Renault.htm
Kind regards from the Netherlands.
Richard Pflug 
July 17, 1999
Ingemar Bernljung (Sweden) drives a "collector".
Hi Tangi !
My name is Ingemar Bernljung and I am from Hultsfred Sweden. I just want to tell you that I got myself an R18 GTD Wagon-81 last Saturday. It has run 292000 km and is in reasonable good shape. I paid around 650 EURO and I think it,s
a fair price. The car is nearly a collector because very few R18 Diesels were imported to Sweden.
Thanks for a good sight .
Ingemar


June 17, 1999
József Süveg (Hungary) purchased a 14 six years ago.
Hello!
Sorry, I little speak english! (Me too! :o) )
I'm 28 year-old Hungarian man. My car is a red Renault 14 TL, produced 1978. I bought the car in 1992. Car very well, later on send picture and technical data.You site coooooool!
Jozsef


June 1, 1999
Federico Ragni (Uruguay) knows a lot about south-american 18s.
I visited your 18 Website, and I think I can tell you more about this vehicle. My name is Federico Ragni, from Uruguay (not to be mistaken for Paraguay), a south-american country located between Argentina and Brazil, on the Atlantic shore. The Renault 18 is very well-known here and was sold by Renault from the early eighties to the early nineties. The production began in 1981 in Cordoba (Argentina), and the first version was the 2.0 liter TX, which remained unknown in France at that time. The main differences between it and its french sister was a reinforced steel body, more solid suspensions, and the 18 Turbo dashboard, different bumpers, and of course the 2.0 liter engine, first an import from France, then later made in Argentina, and even exported to France ! The TX had a 4-speed gearbox. In 1982, the GTL version arrived, with a 1.4 liter engine, also with the Turbo dashboard. Later on, came the 5-speed gearbox and some new models (GTX sedan and break, with enriched equipement). In 1985, the 18 LX 4x4 and the Automatic version appeared.
In 1987, a new face-lift and a new dashboard occured, and the equipment was improved in the full equipped version (GTX II), which was given a mini-computer. In fact, these versions were more ambitious than the ones sold in France.
More refinements were sold with the 1988 18 TXE 2.0. At the same time, the GTL 1.4 was replaced by the GTS 1.6, basic or full equipped. In 1989, the first Renault 21 2.2 was produced in Argentina, and the 18 TXE disappeared, replaced by the GXE 2.0, less equipped.
For 1992, the 18 was renewed a little, with new bumpers and a more modern layout.
This is the range :
R18 TX 2.0 full (Sedan and break)
R18 TS 1,6 base or full (Sedan and break)
R18 GTD full (Sedan)
In 1993, the 2.0 liter engine was replaced by a 2.2 liter, with a power of 110 HP. At the end of that year, the production of the 18 in Argentina stopped.
In Uruguay, the 18 was built roughly alike in Argentina, but with some differences, as far as the versions and engines are concerned. In 1982, the 18 GTL came with a 5-speed gearbox. In 1984-85 began the production of the TD, Diesel version with a French engine and an Argentinian body. The 18 Turbo-Diesel wasn't produced in Argentina, but was in Uruguay (from 1987 to 1990) with the full equipment. There were some differences of equipment and denominations in the range. The production ended in 1994.
We owe a 18 TS 1.6 liter, made at the end of 1992, y/model 1993. It has only 75.000 km and it works very well, but some details have to be fixed at this time. It is no modern car, but this is an excellent one, with a good engine, economic and comfortable. Its price was in 1992 16.000 dollars for the basic TS version, and 26.000 dollars for the GTD (Diesel) full version. The cars here are more expensive than in Europe. I send you with this a sum-up of the history and the technical specicifations of the Uruguayan 18. Bye, I hope this information interested you, and I'll send you photos of my 18 of 1992 soon.
By the way, I'm interested about the technical info of the 18s made in Yugoslavia, and also the years they were built.
Federico


May 23, 1999
Obviously, this site was made for Johan De Zwaan (Netherlands).
Hello,
I've seen this page several times. I'm looking for people with the same obsession. The Renault. Specially R14 / R18. I've had 5 Renaults 18: GTS, TS, TL, the American, Avenue type. The all were at the end of their lives and I changed them for a beautiful R14 TL 1981. There are not many R 14 to find. I'm looking for more R14 owners or who knows parts and technical books about this car. I'm trying to save it because its a nice model.
greetings from Holland
Johan

May 22, 1999
Martyn Werner is our third 14 owner from the UK.
Hello,
I have just been looking at your Renault 14 and 18 Website. I am very impressed ! I am the recent proud owner of a 1979/80 Renault 14 TS (1360cc) which I bought in March '99 for £300 and have been looking for a website about the '14 ever since.
My car is metalic green (slightly faded) and has only done 31000 miles, therefore, mechanically it is in very good condition apart from a slight oil leek which I have not yet found.  When I bought it there was also a problem with the cooling system which I solved by flushing out the radiator and replacing the thermostatic valve on the cooling circuit.
On the subject of the radiator,  was this borrowed from another vehicle and mounted on its side, as it seems very strange that the bottom hose is located half-way up the side of the radiator ?
My only other problem that I have is that the boot lid seems prone to letting in water when it rains which I have also not yet managed to solve. I am very pleased to be driving such a unique/stylish car of which I have still not yet seen another in England and so far I have had no problems in obtaining mechanical parts.  I just hope that I am going to have no problems in converting it to running on un-leaded petrol as leaded petrol will no longer exist in Britain from the year 2000.
Nice to know that there are still some 14's out there...somewhere.
Thank you
Martyn Werner 

March 21, 1999
Charles Pedersen (United States) broke the reliability record !
I have two 18's a wagon (wife's) with 126,000 miles and nothing but an alternator,starter and fuel pump relay changed.My sedan has over 300,000 miles and the engine has never been touched.It runs like new.I  have had the auto trans rebuilt at 140,000 miles and had to replace the trans computer twice since. I expect to get 500,000 out of the engine.
Regards,
Charles Pedersen


March 1st, 1999
Stephane Ouimet (Quebec, Canada) doesn't like the 18...
Hello! I am quite glad to see a site dedicated to Renault 18, this dear problematic car especially in Canada. My grandfather and myself which are enthusiasts of Renault (our family were one of the rare families to have all of Renault in Canada... imagine the family gatherings!) and which had R18 1981 wagon, this car was particularly disregarded by the Canadian and American drivers. The commands badly designed and badly placed, plastic and fragile design, the American chose rather an American car without problems especially mechanical ones,  which made Renault owners gromp each week at the Renault dealer!. It is not for nothing either that Renault decided to stop its importation of the Sedan in 1983 and only left  us SportWagon (R18 wagon 2.2L). The arrival of Renault Alliance and Encorel (R9 and R11) in Quebec almost stopped the almost rare sales of SportWagon except that it has been saved by the companies and trade which found its small side practical to transport large cases. I was myself owner of SportWagon and I liked it. On the other hand it broke downn in a traffic jam in the downtown area of Montreal (Quebec) or the brakes straightforwardly stuck by an overheating and an overpressure of the brake. On the other hand, today there is still some family R18 which rolls on our roads though a little eaten by salt and calcium our hard climate. It is not for only I set up my Club Renault Quebec to help the Renault owners has to preserve these Renault vehicles which stopped being imported in Quebec at the time of the sale of Renault with Chrysler in 1988. The Renault last with being imported was Medallion (R21) of 1988 to 1989.
Stephane


February 17, 1999
T. F. (Finland) owes a 334 000 km-18 TL !
Well, for some reason I seem to have an exceptionally good individual. It has virtually no rust on it even though all the other same aged R18s seem to be in really bad shape. In winters we have really much salt on the roads and that destroys the cars very effectively especially if  they aren't washed regularly. My fathers friend was the first owner of the car and he sold it to my father at 1986 and since 1989 it has been mine so I know its whole history very well and what has and what hasn't been done to it. It's my first car and couple of times I have thought about changing to 25 or 21, but just don't have the heart to give this one up since it is still in very good condition. Gearbox has been changed because it started to make strange noises. Maybe
it could had been fixed, but I found a cheap working Fuego gearbox from a scrapyard so it wasn't worth trouble. Driveshafts and balljoints seem to break pretty regularly. Couple of alternators and starter motors have gone bad and just snapped a rear spring a month ago, but all in all I'm very happy with it. It has never left me on the road and just a couple of times refused to start, but it has always been because of a dead battery or starter motor.


February 15, 1999
Andrew Cleal (UK) has some more to say... :o)
Hi Tangi,
I have been looking at the R14 ads on your site (which is looking really good by the way!)
I have not seen those before, but what a terrible idea! You may be interested to know that in this part of England (around London) we have a saying..'It has all gone pear shaped' which basically means everything has gone wrong and turned out really horrible. Even worse, I understand the phrase has it's origins in the description of a woman as 'Pear Shaped' ! Need I say more.
By the way...I say my first R14 'on the road' for a long time yesterday. An 'x' reg, which makes it one of the last to get to the UK. It was just about still moving!!
All the best.
Andrew Cleal


January 16, 1999
Roes Harman Prasetyo (Jakarta, Indonesia), just bought a 18. Cheers !
Hi! My name is Roes Harman Prasetyo, from Jakarta Indonesia. I am a new owner of '82 1,6 l R 18 TL, deep blue metallic. I bought it just yesterday ..first because it's a very cheap car in my country, only about 700 US Dollar, in a mostly good-all-stock condition, except it has some electrical problems at her power locking system, lamps, and at right-front power windows.. But, after I drive it suddenly I think it's a quite good handling one, good acceleration and speed for such age. And the most I like about French cars, especially Renault, are their comfortable suspension systems.
For your information, I have never driven a R18 before...and my only intention buying the car was only for a daily mode of transportation. But...the only negative point of the car I think it doesn't have power steering system that it really kind of a bit difficult to park.
I'm very glad too that finally I found a website for R18, after long hours of surfing in the net shortly after I paid and park the R18 in my house. I really don't know why too why such a great car like R18 seems abandoned, even in Renault official site!!
So, thanks for creating this site. I would send you more e-mails about R18 in my country..and photographs of mine later. Greetings to all Renault fans worldwide!
Roes HP, proud owner of R18

January 14, 1999
Dave Vrijaldenhoven (Holland) owes a 18 automatic. See its photograph in the pictures section. And the link to his site in the links section.
Bonjour,
My name is Dave Vrijaldenhoven, I am from Holland and i am a great Renault enthusiast. Some additional information about the R14 and R18.
*In Holland there has been a limited edition of the Renault 14 in 1978. It was the R14 Safrane (!), It was painted brown metallic with brown and grey striping, Dunlop wheels also painted brown, 3-spoke steering wheel and some other extra's. If i can find a picture of it I will send it to you.
*There are less then 50 Renault 14 left in Holland !!
*From 1983 the R18 automatic had a 2 Litres engine (at least in Holland), you don't mention this version on your page. (That's true, I will fix it soon, TQ.)
(...)
Greetings Dave

January 12, 1999
Jaime Forero (Houston, Texas, US) drove his 18i through 283.000 kilometers... it's still running !
I can't say enough about the 18i.  It has served us very well since we bought it new in 1982 in Denver, Colorado.  Then we moved to Houston, weather wise the opposite from Denver, and it never skipped a beat.  Over the years I have replaced the alternator, A/C compressor and evaporator ( just last year!!!), drive axels, ball joints and a few interior components but the engine and transmission have been bullet proof.  I want to keep it on the road, it is my wife's daily means of transportation, but it has been a real battle especially in the last 2 years.  The parts houses and the Chrysler dealers simply do not carry any parts for Renault anymore.
Jaime

January 7, 1999
Mark (UK) is a new R18 owner. Welcome aboard !
Hi my name is Mark,I live in Birmingham (England,not Alabama!!). I am new to Renault,and to the web for that matter I have Had my r18 since January 3, it has 96000 miles on the clock and is mechanically in excellent condition. In Britain part of our M.O.T., that is the safety test for vehicles over 3 year of age,is a emissions test.
The maximum amount of unburned fuel passing out of the exhaust pipe for a non catalytic car is 1200 ppm(parts per million). My R18 reads 243 !!! not bad.
The body work is fair but, as on all "normal" cars of it age (1982) the wings are not very good.neither is the panel below the windscreen.So far I am really happy with my purchase, it only cost £250 with 10 months M.O.T. It is good to see a web site for my car.I will send you a picture of her as soon as I get some,plus an update of what I think of it after a bit more time with it.

January 7, 1999
Mitja Jaksa (Slovenia) found two missing models in the 18 range !
Hello!
Finally! After two years of searching the net I've found something about R18. How can a car of such class and commercial success be so overlooked? Well, your page is so great words can't describe it. I will try to contribute to this site as much as I can. So here's some info about me : I drive a R18TL 1979 (obviously...) and I bought it nearly two years ago for 60.000 SIT (2.100 franks). It is my first car (I'm 21 years old university student). Since then I am in love with 18's ...better to say - I'm obssessed with them. If you don't mind I would like to contribute something to this site : In your section "Ranges" there are two 18's missing - R18 TLJ and R18 TLS. I suspect they were made in former Jugoslavija since I haven't noticed those two attributes in any foreign source. The other fact is that also Volkswagen used J to designate Jugoslavian models. TLJ's are in fact TL's with some cosmetical and technical corrections (I'll send you some pictures when I'm able to). As an optional equipment to TLJ's you could order (to my knowledge) :
-power steering (I haven't noticed this option before)
-electrical windows (front)
-central locking
-sun roof
-tinted windows
-radio
The production began in 1984 (I'm 95% sure) and those were equipped with 1.4 L engine
and (5 speed gearbox...I think), later versions with 1.6L and 5 speed gearbox. Dashboard was resembling of early Turbo models, but without rev counter. TLS's came serially equipped with electrical windows, central locking, rev counter, tinted windows and better upholstery to name just a few. Sorry for being so long, but that's how it is if a R18 addict cannot talk to about it for two
years. Best wishes.
Mitja Jaksa

December 22, 1998
Eduardo Orozco (Mexico) owes a 18 GTX.
Hi:
I have visited your site, I can see you are a realy entusiast of Renaults, these are the first pictures I know of R18 in the net. I began to belive that it was alredy dead. great that is not. I own one R18 GTX 1994, recently buy it needs paint and a litle repair of the seats,everything else is OK, I'm a renault fan since 1990, I have also own one encore, other GTX and one R12, here in Mexico there are a punch of people that like renaults it has been a missunderstud car, renault leave Mexico in 1986, there is a rumor that will be back next year, I realy like to know if that is true. do you know something about that? or know someone that knows? Please let me know.
Eduardo.

November 26, 1998
Nahuel Garavaglia (Argentina) spotted a 190 hp 18 !
Hi,
Here there are tons and tons of r18 since 1982 up to 1995 it have been in production here in the Santa
Isabel factory, here it comes equiped with a 2000cc engine (Later model) and later with a 2200cc and a 2100cc diesel engine, it comes in a lot of diferents versions depending on the equipment, and also, since today, it is fully used in ralling, its avery sport car and it have been racing in touring car championship up today, i have spot prototype equiped with a r18 2000cc engine and a gearbox (non stock) from a r18 gearbox case, it have 190hp,
Well i'm going to send you some pictures and other info  later... bye

November 5, 1998
Harri Vallius, from Finland, talks about his 18 GTX.
Thanks for creating site of "forgotten" renault models ! I dont understand why R18 is so ...dumped model. It is maybe such a "people car", that no one likes it specially. I started my driving carrier with R12  L break. It was -73. Same time I bought a project, R17 TL  -73.  After 12 Break I had another 12 TL break. Then 12 TL saloon at winters, and 17 TL at summers. Then I got some Family, and i needed bigger car. It was clear, I wanted R18. I found one, white R 18 TS break, and that car I had 4 years, over 100 000 kms. I drove with it.  It was driven about 176000km then. Engine was original 1,64L 81 hp and carburettor was 1-throttle solex. Soon i heard about -83 GTL smashed by its body, so I go and buy its technic. It had 73 hp 1,64L engine with 2-throttle carburettor, driven about 100 000 km, and 5-speed gearbox. Me and my dad changed that engine in car. Well, gearbox was better, engine, I dont know...  After a year I was tired to the engine, it was so powerless for that heavy car. My car stereos and other stuff was so heavy, and I always wanted faster car. So we made a new engine, same kind that R 20 TL had, 96 hp. That engine it still got. Though, that engine doesnt have very much torque at low rpm, but after 4000 RPM it goes well. It took 180 km/h at maximum...great ! Well, I still wanted to change car, 2 litres, and 4-bolt wheels (better aluminium wheels on market), and electric glasses and central lock intrested me. Who would guess, soon I found R 18 GTX Break -84 ! It was quite a cheap so I bought it ! It had it all... YES ! Nice car, great engine. Car was driven about 260 000 km:s, and was bad shape. I repaired it few months, and same time we changed the engine, cause we heard about R 20 TS engine, driven by 90 000 km:s. (but still the old engine was good too) We got the engine cheap, it is same 1995 cc than original J6R (104hp) But this was type 847. (110hp) The difference between hp causes the exhaust manifold and mixture, nothing else. It is now in car at 104 hp. I change the exhaust manifold later, maybe next spring. It gives then 6 hp more in higher RPM because of better breathing. Well... Twin carburettors or fuel injection would be great too... hih! See later what I do with it. Now I just drive it and beat other cars in traffic...! Best model they did from R 18. My dad bought just samekind of GTX himselves, except it was crashed in front. Great spareparts, I would say. (…).

November 3, 1998
M. Zell from France (Bas-Rhin, Alsace), describes his former 18 Turbo wagon 1983.
First, it was purchased due to its magnificent dashboard, (the Turbo type was the only one in 83 to have it), but this dashboard was later put in the 2-type range. So, it was the turbo type, with lots of power. Last year, it still could beat a 92-HP 19, even if a problem with the air filter made the 130 kph barrier unreachable...
The seats were red with little white and black squares? Very comfortable, but a little too soft.
Some problems occured (whining rear brakes, deficient front wheel. By the way, the alloy wheels were really cool. Its color was grey, and this fitted the wagon body well.

November 1st, 1998
A tribute to old Renaults from southern hemisphere by Guillermo E. Weyland, Argentina.
Good day to you,
I'm a Renault fan since 1979. save for an elderly mercedes benz 220seb and an Argentine built roadster, I've always
owned french cars, mostly built in Argentina, of which may quote peugeot 404, Citroën 2cv, 2cv furgonette, 3cv
(2cv6), 2 x r12 break, 2x r5, 1x r6, 2x fuego and 3 x r18. I still keep my last car, a 2 liter engined R18 with
automatic gearbox. At its time it was the second most luxurious car you could buy here. Her mileage is about
90000km and marketwise worthless, so it is a keeper.
The problem is that the governmet is set on eliminating all older cars, in order to favour the importers. Renault used to be the largest/proudest carbuilder here but, as far as i know, they are sadly falling behind. The only interesting car they have is the Twingo (imported) but they apparently only bring the old model, and at over 12000 USD apiece.
Back to the good cars, you surely know that the R18 was a revolutionary car here during the 80's and was built for
some ten years, mostly using the alloy 2 liter engine, later on enlarged to 2.2 l and a smaller one powered by the
1400 cc and later 1600cc iron block.
 The 21 was not a success here, probably due to poor marketing (the car is marvelous), and the 18 was replaced
by the incomprehensible 19 (...).

October 28, 1998
A message by Thomas Forsman, Falkenberg, Sweden.
Hi,
I am very glad to see that you have started a site about two of  Renaults most forgotten models, at least the Renault 14 seems to be all gone i have not seen an R14 for several years. We owned an R14TS -81 in the beginning of the eighties it was a very nice car to ride, but we had some problems with our.
I have also owned an R18TL -80 in later years, these cars can still be seen in Sweden.
You can read more about my cars on my site.

October 26, 1998
A testimony sent by Andrew Cleal, from the UK.
I acquired my metallic gold, 'S registration (1976/77) R14 in 1990. (for those who don't know, UK cars have a letter on their number plate that indicates when the car was first registered. This letter changes every August, leading to a mad rush of people wanting to buy 'new' cars in that month!-Madness! This year it is 'S' again, but at the start of the plate.) I think My R14 it was an early version as the front direction indicators were in the bumper, not alongside the headlights. At the time I was living in London and working as a photographer, so I needed something with a lot of space to take an assortment of equipment. My Datsun  estate had finally given up and died, and I wanted something a bit more stylish- but still very cheap!
I think the car had  only done about 37k when I got it from a small Renault dealer in North-West England. There was nothing obviously wrong with it and thanks to underbody treatment, not a patch of rust. The 14 really did look ahead of its time and I think still stands up against a lot current cars. (...) I used to spend a lot of my time at Rock Festivals photographing bands and spent many nights sleeping in the car, thanks to those fold down front seats! I finally sold the car when I needed something even bigger, I often wonder what became of it.

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