Buy A Piece of Another Failed Merger: The Renault AMC Alliance Coupe
Published: October 29th, 2008
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The fine folks at Quinn Automotive in Worcester, Massachusetts (that’s pronounced Woostuh) are offering a nearly new 1986 Renault Alliance Coupe 1.7 for a song – only $2500 (cough, cough, choke). For your money you get the finest in French engineering circa 1986, a 1.7 liter 8-valve engine, 78 raging horsepower routed to the front wheels, and a 3-speed automatic transmission. This particular example has only 39,322 miles on it, and it’ll look great parked next to your Chrysler Cobalt and HumJeep.
Immensely bored law student. I've also got 3 dogs.
More by Justin Berkowitz
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scrubnick: 1.7L is fine. My Aussie Ford wagon is a rebadged Mazda 323 with a 1.6L 4-banger automatic that runs great, plenty fast, and gets good fuel economy. I have no problems attracting heaps of speeding tickets, or keeping up with the fastest of traffic. Probably what kills it is everything you hang off a 1.6L motor... such as a crappy tranny, excess weight, and too many bells and whistles. My old Mercedes-Benz (W124) sedan ran fantastic with only a 2.6 liter fuel-injected motor clamped on to a 5-speed automatic tranny. It still blows me away when I am in the US at all the 3.x to 4.x liter motors I see on mid sized cars. I can't help but ask "Why? What deficiency are they making up for?"
One thing I liked about the R9/R11 (as the Alliance and its hatchback version were called in Europe) was how the front seats were mounted on a single, middle rail. Thus, the rear passengers could placce their feets way under the front seats. Why didn't any other car maker adopt this? With elevated front seats, it seems like a fine way to increase rear legroom.