Australian Modern Motor- August 1973
BAD PRICING judgement can have many adverse effects on a new car. If the manufacturer aims too high, slow sales may force him to reduce his original price and face the wrath of early high price buyers. If he aims too low, he leaves himself very little safety margin for competitive dealing against others and he also needs to sell in high volume to maintain profit figures. The price structure problem is nothing new to Renault Australia. Which has been involved in some rather extraordinary maneuvers in recent years, particularly with more expensive models like the Peugeot 504 and the Renault 16 TS.
The R15/R17 coupes are Renault's latest venture on the Australian market and because they are shipped in fully imported form into the country, they suffer the worst of the difficulties imposed by governmental restrictions. Based on the volume-selling R12, the coupes start at a rather steep $4898. Which places them right into some pretty classy company.
Judged in the context that they are based on the R12 sedan, which sells in Australia for under $3000, the coupes seem alarmingly over-priced - until you look at the specifications.
These reveal that they are mechanically very similar to the R12 Gordini, using a tweaked 102-bhp version of the 16TS power plant. Plus power-assisted ventilated disc brakes up front. The top of-the tine 17TS, which will be available later this year goes to four-wheel discs, five-speed gearbox and Bosch fuel-injected engine.
Trim and standard equipment fittings are pretty much in keeping with a $5000 price tag, the R17 being slightly more lavish than the somewhat spartan - looking R15.
To clear up any confusion about what model is fitted with what, the R15 TS and the R17 TL share the same mechanicals, but the latter's exterior styling and upgraded trim items justify the slightly increased price.
Our test car was an Rl5 fitted with a radio (of rather indifferent quality) and the optional stripe kit, which jacked the price up to just over $5000 - with registration, insurance and delivery charges still to go. Actually, the R15 is one of the few cars, which actually gains something from stripes. With its accentuated long, lean shape, the car looked better to us than the louvred, fussy-looking R17.
The first impression of the R15 is one of cushy luxury and an unusual amount of interior space - although a long-legged driver will severely curtail rear seat legroom if he insists on setting his seat for optimum comfort. The seats are trimmed in a rather plainly patterned vinyl but are shaped and softly cushioned to hold their occupants securely. Floors have a sensible combination of rubber and carpet to combat wear and tear - typically French and practical.
The instrument panel looks a lot cleaner than the original ''opera house'' hooded layout and although the gauges are deeply buried under the new one-piece padded hood, they are easy enough to read. Nonsensically, Renault has not seen fit to equip the R15 with a tachometer - although the mechanically-identical Rl7 has one. So does the R16 TS and the R12GL. Driving position in the coupes is a low straight-arm setup, but the steering wheel rim (unpadded in the 15TS) brushes the driver's thighs when he is operating the floor pedals. Control placement is generally good. With piano-key switches operating wipers/washers, rear screen demister and heater fan. Light controls and directional indicators are operated by steering column stalks. All-round visibility in the R15 is of a very high order, especially as far as the rear three-quarter view is concerned. Roof pillars are slim and unobtrusive and the amount of glass area is a pleasant contrast to some local manufacturers' ideas on two-door coupe styling. The Renault's flip up rear hatch and fold down rear seating arrangement wins the car many points in practicality (an overworked, but relevant) term. The coupe is capable of accommodating more luggage and holiday paraphernalia than any other car with similar pretensions that we can think of. In many ways it is a sort of scaled-down 16TS. Road performance offers a similar balance between the characteristics of a high-performance sporting car and a comfortable, soft-riding highway cruiser. The suspension works very effectively to absorb and iron out the worst back-road stuff, yet roll movement is controlled well enough to minimise lean under cornering.
The car's handling is characterised by heavy steering and very definite understeer when pushed hard into a tight corner- what else could you expect with a big 1600 cc engine hanging out well ahead of the front wheels. Response at mid-corner back off is, however, gentle and predictable, enabling the driver to control his line accurately without muscling into the reluctant steering. Straight-line stability is, naturally, superb. Crosswind deflections seem less noticeable than in other Renaults, an advantage of the coupes� low-profile styling, as compared to the upright R12 and R16 models.
The biggest disappointment with the test R15 was its unexpectedly high
noise level at speeds over 60 mph. The 1565 cc engine is not exactly whisper
quiet at the best of times but exhaust resonance in the coupe is loud enough
to make cruising in certain speed zones decidedly uncomfortable. Fortunately,
the car doesn't seem to get much noisier as speed rises and at 40 mph the
level is more acceptable. The coupe justifies some of this noise with its
strong performance. Standing quarter miles come up in the low eighteens
and the long-legged 3.55:1 final drive allows the car to reach 100-plus
mph with relative ease. Working the engine out through the lower ratios
produces 33, 51 and 82 mph. Which translates to well over 6000 rpm and makes
the lack of a tachometer even more ridiculous. Even top gear will run out
to the maximum power rpm figures of 5800-so It is a pretty free-spinning
unit, the R16 gearbox allows quick changes - occasionally at the expense
of the synchromesh and despite the front-wheel drive layout the action is
reasonably precise. It's a matter of grabbing the lever and pushing it through
positively in the required direction, forgetting about the gate entirely.
An interesting facet of the coupe is the standard of finish, compared to
the locally assembled products. As we mentioned in our preview story in
the April issue, the imported car provides testimony as to how much the
Heidelberg factory has upgraded its quality control. Side-by-side with any
of the ckd cars, the R15 had no apparent lead in terms of paint quality,
panel fit, or neatness of trim. Renault has the basis of a worthwhile challenger
to the prestige coupe market in the R15. It's not exactly the strongest
performer in it's class, but its got function and combos aplenty on its
side, and it's one of the few good-looking status cars that can be pointed
confidently into the rough stuff without fear of damaging delicate suspensions
or destroying expensive finned alloy underwear. Measure all that up against
its price and you begin to see that Renault has read the situation accurately
after all.
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