Roffle Camembert flavoured Safrane - £6 a ticket - updated list page 7

[25v6turbo]

Well done Rob,another Safrane owner,this car has been doing the rounds for a while being on various sites and was purchased by the chap you bought it from who owned it for about 10 mins...

Any questions ask away and if you need any parts let me know,i have tons of them and I actually know what I have now!

Most are for the V6 RXE though as that's what I own(only one on the road according to How many left)yours is an early example on a K reg and if much older it would of been an 8V not a 12v engine which is painful.At launch in Feb 93 you could only get an RT or RXE V6 version.

Good luck with it and I,am here to help....

[chaseracer]

6, 10 & 28, please.

 

[RobT]

Thanks, I may pick your brains via PM on the few little foibles it has.  I was tempted when it appeared on C&C last month but didn't need another car at that point.  Want factor was high obviously but funds weren't!

 

[25v6turbo]

No probs at all and remember to have a look at the U.K Safrane forum when you get a minute,small but a helpful read on the threads page.

[beko1987]

I think these look bloody sexy! Was an abandoned one by Amys mums for ages (Conkerman - as you drive down your road but towards kingsey way, into the one way road that brings you out onto the corner of the main road, was on the right on a driveway just by the really old tiny house). Always looked lovely, but was fucked. Vanished one day sadly

 

Top winterage. I may have a random when/if you sell it next year, these look nicer than a Mk1 lagune

[D Spares & Tyres]

Very nice!

 

I have seeing one driving about locally for years. L reg 2.0. Finally saw it parked up and put a note under the wiper saying to give me a call if he ever wanted to sell it.

 

He called me later that day and told me that it isn`t really for sale but he would let it go for £3000 as that is what he has spent on it in the last couple of years....

 

I have his number if anybody wants it.....No squabbling please....

 

I didn`t really want the car, I just thought it would be a shame if I saw it in the local scrappie

[RustyNuts]

He asked what was I doing buying a Safrane, so I was expecting some monologue about shit old cars, but he was a Renault perv himself having a phase 1 Espace Quadra. Who've thought it!

 

Renaults take a heavy slating from many folk but they still have a secretive cult following from those who love buttons, comfort and of course flaps. Not many people like owning up to having an older Renault but I think the retros are totally awesome. BMW and Audi are way too overrated and frankly it just shows people have too much debt at their disposal these days. The safranes are massively underrated and you get a lot of car for the money. I've known many safrane owners and all of them are addicted!

 

We got our first safrane in 2008 i think. The missus was dead set against such a big thirsty car.. but the moment we got it she was into everything - buttons, switches, radio, seats.. she was proper luvin it. Until i took it to bits and fucked it up lol. Now she hates it and has been on the border of demanding i trash it for several years.

 

It's due to go for an MOT in January or Feb and if it passes it'll win her over again. If not i'll have a list of things to be cracking on with which will wind her up again lol (you'll notice many safranians are crazy about their cars).

 

Anyhow.. great find, enjoy it as it looks like a nice car. I would say treat it like a lady though as its getting harder to find parts for the phase 2 (96 onwards) so the ph1 will be even harder. 25v6turbo is a great guy for spares and knowledge - I've known him years so he's always your first port of call for advice and he pretty much knows every safrane owner across the country and ireland too.

[RobT]

We got our first safrane in 2008 i think. 

 

Be good to see some pics of yours to get the collective juices flowing.

 

I think my one needs better trims.  I'll see if I can get some cheap placca ones similar to these

 

 

The wheels on this one look great.  Check out the mental trim addition to the rear arch!  I can see why he's tacked on another door mirror though, they are tiny on these so you get a massive blind spot on the motorway.  I check over my shoulder anyway but some kind of peripheral vision would be nice.

 

[RustyNuts]

You should head over to the uk safrane forum over at www.safrane.info and make yourself known there. The previous owner of your car was there for a short while before he decided to sell up again - it slipped under my radar but 25v6turbo never misses a beat with safrane activity (in the safrane world he is literally MI5 and GCHQ combined lol).

 

I must warn you though, if you're like the rest of us you may become very attached to your car and end up wanting to keep it forever.. so you may end up using it very little and then driving some other old wreck in order to keep your safrane nice. It's a common OCD among the safrane owners lol.

[forddeliveryboy]

Renaults take a heavy slating from many folk but they still have a secretive cult following from those who love buttons, comfort and of course flaps.

Usually far better chassis for than anything German, too. The Renaults I've owned have been strong things.

[nigel bickle]

I fitted a set of 17inch Silverstones to mine Rob.

 

Took a bit out of the acceleration, but as mine spends most of its time on autoroutes, it made it a little more relaxing.

Round town, probably too big.

[Steve79]

So, in passing on my admittedly limited safrane wisdom, my ungrateful barsteward of a safane has decided to lunch its headgasket and now won't start (not overheated), even more annoyingly its still got 11mths MOT (no advisories)

 

I'm left with two choices, repair it or break it.

 

I've not bonded with it since I've owned it as I found that I preferred the 2.5td that I had. So I'm reluctant to have it fixed as I don't think its now really me as I now got a hankering for another Jag XJ6 (x300).

 

Sorry for thread hijacking but if anyone is interested in any bits or wants the whole car details are as follows

 

1996N 2.2Vi Auto in Black, towbar, Full Service History including all folders and books, 11mths mot, full black leather interior which is pretty much mint, full set of mint alloys and tyres with loads of tread left. Drove perfectly until I was out in it today and blew loads of white steam out of exhaust.

 

I'm looking for around £150 ish. I'd prefer to sell the car as a whole but will sell bits if necessary.

 

Again, sorry for the thread hijack

[DVee8]

User1979 were are you in the UK?

[EssDeeWon]

Well bought Rob.

 

[Steve79]

Dvee8 i'm in Bristol

[trigger]

Well done Rob, i really like those Safranes, they are real comfy cruisers.

[RustyNuts]

Usually far better chassis for than anything German, too. The Renaults I've owned have been strong things.

 

I had to wire brush quite a bit of rust away but the car had been sat 5 years at the time instead of getting a daily amount of airflow to blow the damp away. With that said, there were areas i was convinced would become holes with the brish spinning away but it seemed very intact and strong which was rather pleasing.

 

Shame the bloody shock absorbers and wishbones didn't go aswell. I wire brushed all of those and repainted them and there's little bits of rust coming up again... bloody things lol.

[RobT]

Mine has had welding done in the past according to the history, so I'll have a look underneath at some point to see how crusty it is. There's zero rot on the panels as far as I can see though.

 

I'll be doing about 500 miles in it this week, so fingers crossed for no FTPs!

[RustyNuts]

The panels last well with the exception of the boot for some odd reason. The theory there is that because its so big (literally one of the biggest tailgates known) and heavy, where most people lift it via the handle, the handle then gently rubs against the metal that its fitted in. It's usually the top left of the handle that starts bubbling up.

 

With that said, ours didn't. Instead it chose to randomly bubble up in the middle of nowhere several inches away from the handle.. and all around the rear wiper arm. As a consequence I'm on the lookout for another tailgate.

 

The rear wheel arches need an eye keeping on them but thats very slow deterioration there. The underneath is where you need to keep an eye but again for their age, they hold out pretty well.

[PhilA]

Unfortunately I read the title as cambelt flavored Safrane.

 

I was trying to figure out what that meant for a while.

 

Phil

[carlo]

This was a good period for car design and construction, I know the 25/Safrane Renaults were fairly complex for their day but surely not as hopelessly built as the later 2000 on Renaults?  I seem to remember them pulling out all the stops on this one, although Autocar seemed singularly unimpressed when they tested one.  Probably not German enough.  I should have most Autocar tests/info on these Rob if you fancy some reading matter.

[Skizzer]

Great choice as usual Mr T. I can almost forgive you for selling the Senator now

 

Also great to see once again that no matter how rare (and dare I say unfashionable) the car you buy, there are at least three people on here who know all about them, offer you books and help and can put their hands on a stash of unobtainable parts. Gold.

[Pete-M]

I had a Safrane 20v Exec about 12 years ago. It had a habit of eating cv joints, which were about £175 each and Renault only.

[RobT]

Great choice as usual Mr T. I can almost forgive you for selling the Senator now

 

Oh god, the angst I went through making that decision! But for the record G580 XMM should live on hopefully as it's gone to someone who can weld, as it needed a fair bit doing. The sill covers hid some very crumbly ex-metal. If I can get my arse in gear and save rather than spend in 2017 I would love another, as of all the barges I've owned that's been my favourite.

[25v6turbo]

I,am better at Phase 1 cars as this is what I have owned,my V6 RXE I,ve had for 10 years now and I worked for Renault for 24 years,i remember them brand new and how people rapidly decided they didn,t like them and they cost to much to repair when out of warranty,Renault only sold 700 odd top of the range models in the U.K,they are sturdy and seem to resist rust very well,in some ways the Phase 2 is actually worse for rust issues.

Renault got there hands burnt with all the complex toys they fitted such as computer controlled suspension,electric seats both front and rear,electric steering column,flash climate control etc etc,then it would all pack up and the owners got the hump...

I have broken about 6 Safranes over the years but that was when they were cheap and still about..

As I said if you need any help with parts,brochures etc give me a shout I,am more than happy to help if you plan to keep it,i have the Renault XR25 machines and still connections with Renault so can look parts up at home,here to help Rob

Rusty Nuts is your Phase 2 man if anyone needs any help there give him a shout.Great guy and very helpful when it comes to the Phase 2(96 on)cars.

[RobT]

Renault got there hands burnt with all the complex toys they fitted such as computer controlled suspension,electric seats both front and rear,electric steering column,flash climate control etc etc,then it would all pack up and the owners got the hump...

 

I must say this one scares me less as it doesn't have any of those electrical gubbins bar the dual climate control.

 

Thanks for the offer of help, it's much appreciated. I'll have a tinker with it over the next few days to see if there's anything worrying to deal with. The rear exhaust silencer has a loose baffle so is a bit rattly when cold, but after checking prices of those I think I'll leave it...when warmed up and on the move it's not too noticeable.

[nigel bickle]

 

Here's mine, previously known to a forum member here...

 

Sitting quietly out of use, on Silverstones alloys.

Not currently needed but it will probably come back out in the Spring... perhaps.

 

Oh, & yes , the bonnet is ajar, because the battery is disconnected till its next needed, when it's simpler to pop the lead on a press the plip , rather than manually unlock & then sort out the confused door locks.

[RobT]

That looks lovely Nige, and a better colour than my boring silver!

 

Gave it a quick wash earlier, checked the fluids and had a general nose around at all the little details.

 

The NS wing has a giffer style parking dent, but otherwise the rest is good.

 

 

Loads of rear leg room, even with the passenger seat set right back.

 

 

And the boot is flippin' massive. Loaded it up with the weekly food shop last night and there was too much space, stuff was strewn everywhere by time I had got home!

 

Check this out. Rear passengers have somewhere to plug their Walkman headphones, so I presume it mutes the stereo when plugged in so the driver can waft in peace. I'll have to try that out at some point. Yet more flap action - behind the one below the ciggy lighter is a power socket. Ahead of its time or what...

 

 

Clues to giffer ownership are the wing dent, some badly applied tint to the rear window, and the best bit is the rev counter has some of the lines and numbers filled in with tippex. At some point it looks like the gauges have been affected by damp or whatever and peeled, so some nutter has bothered to take the dials apart and fill them in. Quality bit of giffering!

 

Saying that credit to them for keeping it going, and everything looks tidy enough under the bonnet.

 

 

My only slight issues with it so far are the rubbish headlights and the steering that's slow to self centre. Not an issue on the open road but it can be a tad annoying when driving in town.

[25v6turbo]

Looks lovely Rob,under bonnet is nice and clean,the rear headphones work as you say plug in and they work for rear passengers only,the boot is vaste,fold the seats down and its even better,UK did get an RN spec which is proper pov spec.Cant work out what the rear spoiler is from,maybe post a clear pic and get asking on here,its not a genuine Safrane item or a Renault Boutique one so not sure,the wheeltrims are Laguna 2 pov spec I think.

What are your future plans for it,just run it about and see or do some jobs on it?

[RobT]

What are your future plans for it,just run it about and see or do some jobs on it?

It was one of my 'try it for a bit' purchases, so I'll probably move it on after a few months. Hopefully it has the potential to become another AS bike, assuming nothing big goes wrong whilst I'm using it. The only concern is the auto box warning light coming on intermittently, but when it does there's no difference in how it drives i.e. doesn't lock in gear or enter safe mode or anything.