Espace and Safrane again for Simon

deja vu 25

deja vu 25

Active member
Fellow Frogger
Joined
Jan 22, 2002
Messages
657
Location
Canberra
Hi Simon,

I see you are very knowledgable on what sort of Renaults have been imported into Aus.

Do you know if there are any Espaces or Safranes in the country?

Surely there must be - especially since both types are available in NZ.

I know I asked this question a while ago, but I must know!!!

Thanks in advance

Luke
 
I'm sure Simon will confirm this, but I know of at least one Espace in Adelaide, which seems to be a "daily driver" - I think maybe it was an English import. I think that one is about 4-5 years old.

I also have vague recollections of seeing an early model Espace a few years ago, all getting hazy now.

Never seen a Safrane in Australia. Doesn't mean there aren't any though!
 
I think you'll find that someone in the Qld Renault Car Club has an early Espace, it was at the last french car day in Brisbane.
 
Well, there we go, at least three Espaces in AUS. Europa has seen the same one I have, presumably the nice maroon one. There is also supposed to be a very scruffy series one Espace in Victoria and the one seen by 17G in Brisbane.

As for Safranes, not seen any yet. But as pointed out that doesn't mean none have been brought in. There seem to be plenty of 9's and 11's out there.

Private imports that would be interesting to find would be the Dauphine 1093 imported by the Geoghegen Bros., and raced a couple of times. Also there were stories of a LHD R8 Gordini I've heard about too, both are probably housing products from John West by now!
 
Hi Guys

Thankyou for the input, much appreciated.

I have seen a R21 Nevada in Canberra, but aside from my V6R25, that was about the rarest thing I have seen here (not including the centenery a few years ago ie Alpines, 5's 4's etc).

Regards

Luke
 
Simon

Any idea if their were any 8S's privatly imported to OZ?
Also be interesting to know if one of those 1.8 16v motors that were in the last R17 rally cars were ever brought in. from what ive read they sound pretty impressive

jensen
 
I've heard that Colin Stark at Alpine Affaire in Melbourne had one. It was sold and has now joined the ranks of those cars known about but hardly ever seen.
 
I love the espace. Plenty of tghem in europe everywhere. I still like the older ones that are about over there. I think they had Renault 25 running gear in the old espaces?
The safrane should have been brought out to Australia when Renault sold the 19 thru volvo. They would have sold lots I think. Would have been a very cheap, very luxurious large car like Australians love for some reason.
 
The old Espaces just used the mechanicals from the Fuego/21/25. basically just family motors and gearboxes.

As for the Safrane being a big seller and cheap in AUS I beg to differ. The Laguna sold at the same time was priced up to $55K, and relatively few cars were sold. The Safrane would have been at least $70K. Given the poor promotion by Volvo and lack of interest by Renault in the AUS market at that time, it would have ended up as another poor selling orphan just like the $70K 25 Baccara of 1989/90. All the unsold 25 Monaco's and Baccarra's (I still wonder if any 4 cyl Versailles were sold in AUS)were exported to NZ and passed on to unsuspecting new owners.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top