Renault 16

Renault 16 at a glance

The 16 sits in the Renault catalogue with the rest of the range, and the wider company story is in our history of Renault.

A big Renault built around a tailgate

Renault had left the large-car market when the Frégate ended in 1960 after 163,383 cars, and the company needed something to sit above the Dauphine and the new Renault 4. Development of what became the 16 began in 1958. An earlier large-car study, Projet 114, ran to 14 prototypes before it was cancelled in 1961, and from 1963 a fleet of 32 prototypes of the new car was tested around the world.

The concept borrowed from the Renault 4 of 1961, which already had a rear door and a flat load floor, and moved it up a class. The journalist Jean-Francis Held called the result "a synthesis of a station wagon with a saloon". Renault built a new plant at Sandouville, near Le Havre, for the car. Pre-series production started on 2 December 1964, the press saw the car on the Côte d'Azur in the first days of January 1965, and the public debut followed at the Geneva Motor Show in March. Before sales opened in summer 1965, about 500 pre-series cars were handed out to selected drivers.

The jury of European Car of the Year voted for the 16 at the end of 1965 with 98 points. It was the award's third winner and the first car from outside Britain to take it; the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow finished second.

Torsion bars, an uneven wheelbase and seven seat positions

Under the body the 16 was laid out for space. The engine sat lengthways behind the front axle with the gearbox ahead of it, which pushed the front wheels forward and kept the cabin long. Suspension was by torsion bars all round. Because the rear transverse bars ran one behind the other, the wheelbase measured 2,720 mm on the left side and 2,650 mm on the right.

The cabin used the same thinking. The rear seat could be set in seven positions, folded, tipped forward or removed, and the load space grew from 346 litres to 1,600 litres according to German sources (Classic and Sports Car gives 1,200 litres as the maximum). Suspension travel of 200 mm at the front and 300 mm at the rear gave a soft ride on poor roads. It also had a column-mounted gear change and an electric cooling fan.

Right-hand-drive cars reached Britain in autumn 1965. In 1970 Stirling Moss called the 16 "the most intelligently engineered automobile I have ever encountered".

Cléon-Alu engines from GL to TX

All 16s used the Cléon-Alu four, an aluminium-block engine built at Renault's Cléon plant near Rouen, which had opened in 1958. The same engine family also powered the Renault 12 Gordini and the Alpine A110 rally car. Power grew in three steps.

With the TS of 1968, Renault claimed a top speed above 160 km/h for the first time. The TA of 1969 brought a three-speed automatic. The TX arrived in autumn 1973 with 1,647 cc, a five-speed manual gearbox and electric front windows. Figures for the TS vary between sources from 61 to 63 kW (83 to 85 PS), which is why the table gives a range.

Selling a French hatchback abroad

Peak output came in 1970 with 196,253 cars. The same year brought the first revision, with larger tail lights, and in 1974 the grille changed to black plastic on all versions except the TX. Assembly outside France took place in Australia (Heidelberg, Victoria), Canada (SOMA in Quebec, until 1974), Morocco and Yugoslavia, where IMV in Novo Mesto built 342 cars between 1974 and 1976.

Exports to the United States began in 1968. American rules did not allow rectangular headlamps, so US cars wore two round lamps per side, and the US engine was rated at 46 kW (62 PS DIN). Sales stayed small: in those years Renault rarely sold more than 20,000 cars of all types in the US in a year. Canada took the car more readily.

In Europe the 16 had no direct rival at first. The British Austin Maxi of 1969 copied the five-door idea but did not sell strongly outside the UK. Larger French rivals such as the Citroën DS were saloons with conventional boots.

Replaced twice: Renault 20, 30 and 18

Renault did not replace the 16 with a single model. In 1975 it launched the Renault 20 and Renault 30, larger five-door hatchbacks, and the 16 carried on below them. The automatic and utility versions were dropped in 1975 and the L and TS in 1976, leaving the TL and TX. The Renault 18 saloon of 1978 then took over the middle of the range, and the last 16s were built in January 1980.

Renault 16 today: what to check when buying

Rust is the main problem. Buying guides in Classic Cars (UK) and Auto Zeitung point to the inner wings in the engine bay, the inner and outer sills, the A-posts and jacking points, the base of the front wings, door bottoms, valances and the tailgate. Look closely at the rear suspension mounts and rear inner arches, because the torsion-bar mountings carry the load. Auto Zeitung also warns that the scuttle drains tend to clog.

The Cléon-Alu engines are durable, and many cars covered 200,000 miles (about 320,000 km) without major work. A failed thermostatic switch for the electric fan can lead to overheating and a blown head gasket, so check for oil in the coolant. Crunching gear changes suggest worn synchromesh. Sensitivity to side winds can come from a worn universal joint in the steering column, a part shared with the Renault 5.

Renault dealers supply very little now, but clubs and specialists in France, Germany and the UK remake trim, bumpers and bushes. Cloth seats and small interior parts are harder to find than mechanical items.

Values: the Classic Trader market overview for 2022 to March 2026 puts most German and Dutch listings at about EUR 12,000-19,900 in 2026, with TS and TX cars around EUR 16,000 in 2022. The 16 appears among the cars in our list of the best classic cars of the 1960s, and more French and European classics are in the classic cars section.

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