Whatever happened to...........the Renault 21 Savanna???

[bramz7]

My new years resolution is to own a 21 Savannah in 2018.

[Talbot]

Without the 405, Peugeot at its finest hour, they'd have had much more prominence - everything about the 405 was just that bit better, except ride. For me there was the ghost if the 9/11 in there but flippineck they were comfy, tough and simple and the turbo very much a Q car.

This.

 

On the second-hand market, unless you needed a 7-seat car, the 405 was always the preferred choice.  Meant that 21's were cheap, unloved, and more likely to get binned than an equivalent-age 405.  I think the 405 looked better too.

 

It's no surprise that I've had 5 Pug 405s and not a single R21.

[D Spares & Tyres]

I've had both and I preferred the Renault

 

Anyway here is one that has been parked up in my small town as long as I can remember

Its actually in quite good condition. Its a GTD.now I want to leave a note on it...

[somewhatfoolish]

WCPGW?

[bramz7]

Do it. Sercks and GTD, what could go wrong?

 

But it did fail an MOT reasonably well in 2008, which I assume is the reason it's laid up....

[richbraith]

There was a Savannah for sale earlier this year near Ipswich. It had been driven into a scrapyard from memory, then promptly driven out again and sold for about £750.

 

I thought about it as it’d be nice have more of a Car based 7 seater for shorter journeys, but the boss was dead against it.

That one belongs to a member of the Renault Owners Club.  She had a nightmare getting the COD reversed on it.

[lesapandre]

In use in France in the summer...not by me...in a supermarket car park Normandy.

[adw1977]

I saw this late example on the M27 yesterday:

 

[lesapandre]

They are a handsome bus. Very few about even in France .

[Wingz123]

.......but LOADS in Bulgaria!!!!

[Broadsword]

I’m fairly certain N770 GLE was the one for sale on eBay a few months ago. It was in London and they guy wanted £950 for it. I was due to go down there the following week so I left it till then, but alas it sold. Damn.

[Rod/b]

When i drove to Romania through Hungary about 8 years ago there were transporterload after transporterload of 90’s Eurochod being sent east, so I imagine that’s where a lot of stuff like these ended up.

[Slartibartfast]

My grandmother had an L reg 21 Savannah. I drove it quite frequently on my learner license, with my grandmother in the passenger seat. Given she had eyesight problems I'm not sure how kosher that arrangement was, but anyway. I really liked it. It had a lovely kickdown.

[Slartibartfast]

Not a Savannah, but I'd quite like to own this https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C869826

[adw1977]

I’m fairly certain N770 GLE was the one for sale on eBay a few months ago. It was in London and they guy wanted £950 for it. I was due to go down there the following week so I left it till then, but alas it sold. Damn.

It changed hands in October 2017, so it could well be.

[PiperCub]

To me, this is a bit typical of popular/numerous French cars generally, they are everywhere at one time to the extent you don't really notice them. Then, seemingly in the space of a year or so, they just all but vanish, you see one and think, 'Haven't seen one of those for ages'. I guess they kind of reach a state/age where they become uneconomical and get sacked off. You can also say the same applies to Italian cars. 

 

See also Peugeot 405 & 406 - esp the estates. Same thing, were common, now rare (round here at least).

[Datsuncog]

To me, this is a bit typical of popular/numerous French cars generally, they are everywhere at one time to the extent you don't really notice them. Then, seemingly in the space of a year or so, they just all but vanish, you see one and think, 'Haven't seen one of those for ages'. I guess they kind of reach a state/age where they become uneconomical and get sacked off. You can also say the same applies to Italian cars. 

 

See also Peugeot 405 & 406 - esp the estates. Same thing, were common, now rare (round here at least).

 

Seemingly true for Series 1 Lagunas as well - up until about last year, I knew of four or five knocking about locally that I would see daily. Now the only ones I've seen for months are my own.

[SierraMikeHotel]

Mrs Hotel speaks very fondly of the Savannah her family had when she was a kid - she has two siblings and they used to help neighbours with the school run as well, I imagine a proper little party bus!

 

They replaced it - of course - with a Galaxy when its time came.

I'd far rather own an estate car than a Sharalaxy type thing so it's a shame this style of car has gone out of fashion.

[PiperCub]

Early Gooners are a good example too and (albeit some years ago) the Ren 5, every street had at least one or two, now all but gone, same recently with the 205. 

[twosmoke300]

All the 205’s are in cornwall - fuckers are everywhere

[schnappi]

My parents had a Renault 21 Savanna.  They bought it new in 1988 and scrapped it in 2010 as a runner with MOT still on it.  It was a good car, took as all around Europe as kids and proved a reliable workhorse in later life.  My dad retired and my parents decided they didn't need the expense of running 2 cars so the Savanna got scrapped (nice way to treat a car that's been good to you for 22 years!).

 

Anyway, the biggest problem I remember was the usual one of thin French steel rusting here there and everywhere underneath.  You could always patch it up and get it an MOT but next year you knew you'd be doing more of the same.  Whatever you did, you could never halt the corrosion so ultimately it was only going to end one way.

 

Being the type of car the Renault 21 Savanna is, they're never going to be treated to a full restoration and live a cosseted existence which is a pity.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

When i drove to Romania through Hungary about 8 years ago there were transporterload after transporterload of 90’s Eurochod being sent east, so I imagine that’s where a lot of stuff like these ended up.

 

That wouldn't have been the only destination for a Savanna. They were at one stage quite sought after in West Africa, to the extent that a fair few were stolen and spirited down to the docks before resurfacing in Nigeria or wherever.

[D Spares & Tyres]

 

Being the type of car the Renault 21 Savanna is, someone on here will probably treat one to a full restoration and live a cosseted existence.

EFA

[wuvvum]

I actually had a Savanna about 14 years ago, briefly - it's one of those cars that I often forget I owned.  It was a metallic blue GTS on an E or F plate - only a 5 seater sadly, and it had no PAS so was rather heavy to park.  Clutch was tired too.

 

I also had a 21 hatchback (non-turbo Quadra) and a 21 saloon (non-Quadra turbo).

[SherpaMog]

My old man had the hatchback 21, with the 1.7. Petrifyingly fast when driven by an aggro alcoholic. Probably petrifying anyway, that engine gave far more than the 1721cc should have, it was genuinely powerful.

[flat4alfa]

Boing!

 

 

Starting price £50

 

Eastbourne

 

Starter motor needs a clout

 

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Renault-21-Savanna-GTS-Estate/332525803672

[Slartibartfast]

and it had no PAS so was rather heavy to park

You've just twinged something in my memory. My grandmother's one had dodgy power steering. It was only intermittent, but it would be extremely heavy and then give suddenly. Exciting when going round tight corners.

[bramz7]

Cor that eBay 21 is lush.

 

Still haven't put a note on the local 21....

[Broadsword]

That is a perfect Autoshite project right there. Looks very solid.

[flat4alfa]

My new years resolution is to own a 21 Savannah in 2018.

 

Update?