I still remember the first time a red car caught my eye on road trips as a kid, and it turned out to be a R Fuego. This is not the kind of car you read about on sites like austin-rover.co.uk because of some racing pedigree; it earns its splendid reputation simply by looking the part.
Back in 1980, this four-seater coupe rolled out with a striking shape and a genuine showroom appeal that few rivals could match, and by 1982 the 1982 Renault Fuego had already built a name for itself across Europe as the best-selling coupe of its class.
R Fuego
Car enthusiasts like Ian Brooks still talk about the 1980s design language of the Fuego, a car built on French avant-garde design principles rather than following the crowd.
Picture it parked next to a Rover 75 or cruising past on-screen in a low-speed chase scene worthy of Bergerac, outshining even a Triumph Roadster and playing the hero rather than the villain of the story.
Even someone under 35 today can appreciate why a sensible car with a sporting family car soul, offered in GTS Automatic trim and later in turbo form, still feels relevant.
Designer Roy Axe never touched this particular coupe, yet the Fuego carved its own chapter in British and European history long before arriving on UK roads. Today it is genuinely rare, with barely 29 cars of its kind believed to survive, each one wearing its slippery shape like a badge of honour.
Design, History & Development
Renault handed the styling job to Robert Opron, the same designer behind the Citroen SM and Citroen CX, and the result was a car with a genuinely aerodynamic body rather than just a pretty face. Renault called it an open-plan saloon instead of a plain coupe, and while that phrase sounds odd today, testing inside the St Cyr wind tunnel proved the claim with a drag coefficient of just 0.347, only a whisker behind the Lotus Esprit at 0.341.
That number mattered because it beat rivals like the Ford Capri and Opel Manta, giving the car a sleek car profile with four seats and a reasonable economy that families genuinely wanted, all without leaning on the funny styling jokes people once aimed at French cars, since clever styling was clearly the point here, and a comfortable cabin backed it up.
Work on the car began back in January 1976, when Renault set out to replace the ageing Renault 15 and Renault 17, building the new model around the floorpan and running gear of the upcoming 18 saloon.
The car finally debuted at the 1980 Geneva motor show, badged as an Open Plan Saloon and named using the Spanish for fire, which gave it a fitting Fuego identity from day one. Journalists loved it too, with CAR magazine praising its striking streamlined body, and calling it a winner simply because it looked like one, a line that stuck through December 1980 and beyond.
By August 1980, the car already claimed 3 per cent of the entire French car market, and Renault had bigger ambitions still, eyeing US sales through glowing words from Car and Driver magazine calling it Renault’s newest offering worth watching, with early targets of 1200 sales by year end and 12000 more the following year.
Small styling touches like the yellow front fog lights, the all-glass tailgate, and the front seats gave it a sci-fi spacecraft feel that reminded people of the Porsche 924, and this blend of substance and practical merits helped it win over customers across the continent as UK sales got underway.
Model Range & Pricing
When the Fuego reached British showrooms, buyers could choose from six models, starting with the entry-level TL 1397cc at £4,489 and rising to the flagship GTX priced at £6,867 in later years.
In between sat the TS, TX, and GTS, all offered with manual transmission or automatic transmission, while the range shared its drivetrain and floorpan with the Renault 18 despite sitting three inches lower on the road.
The 1650cc TS, the larger 1995cc unit borrowed from the Renault 20TS and Renault 20 TS, and the Douvrin engine gave shoppers real choice depending on how much punch they wanted.
Renault GB made sure the car came loaded, with options like leather upholstery, a multi-function trip computer, cruise control, air conditioning, and a Webasto electric fabric sunroof available across the lineup.
Several genuine firsts belong to this car too: it was among the earliest mass-produced four-seat sports model designs shaped inside a wind tunnel, the first with a remote keyless system offering remote locking, and the first Renault fitted with steering wheel controls for the stereo system.
It also carried the first UK-market Renault name since Dauphine and Caravelle left showrooms back in 1968, with electric front windows and adjustable steering on the GTS.
Pricing told its own story against Ford Capri, priced at £6,867 for the Capri Mk3 in 2.0S Automatic form, and rivals like the Volkswagen Scirocco GL Automatic at £6,801, the Honda Prelude Executive at £6,800, and the 1400TL entry point keeping things accessible.
Shoppers browsing front-wheel-drive alternatives could also weigh the Mazda 2000 SDX at £6,399, the Opel Manta Berlinetta SR 3-Door Automatic at £6,452, or the Toyota Celica 2.0 Liftback at £7,324, though Motor magazine still saw the Fuego as the main competitor to the aging Ford rival.
A Telegraph journalist even argued the Capri, with its 1978 launch, its blue-collar image, and roots stretching to the 1974 Mk2, felt stuck in twilight next to the Fuego’s fresh Euro-chic identity, even as the Mk3 lineup and rear-wheel-drive engineering still carried a loyal following across the UK sales charts among other mass-market coupés.
The GTS Automatic itself carried a price tag of £7,027, its 0.347 drag coefficient and 2.0-litre engine options underlining just how far Renault had pushed the format forward.
Renault Fuego Turbo
Renault had already proven itself with the 18 Turbo back in 1981, yet it took three more years before that same supercharging know-how reached the sportier coupe, since the R5 Gordini Turbo and Renault 5 Turbo got the treatment first.
When the wait finally ended, the Fuego Turbo borrowed a 1565cc engine and dropped the compression ratio from 8.6:1 to 8.0:1, letting the boost pressure climb to 11psi, well above the 9psi used in the saloon.
Combined with a reworked single-choke Solex carb and electronic ignition, output jumped to 132bhp at 5,500rpm, with torque reaching 147.5lb ft at 3,000rpm, up from the earlier 125bhp and 134lb ft at 2,500rpm, all from under 1600cc.
Spotting this face-lifted Fuego was easy thanks to fresh Turbo logos, a deeper chin spoiler, sharp BBS alloy wheels, a new front grille with horizontal slats, and grey bumpers hiding fog lamps, and pulling away in second gear felt effortless too.
Underneath, larger vented discs and plain discs handled the extra stopping power, while the cabin gained striped velour upholstery, electric windows, door mirrors, headlamp wash/wipe, front fog lamps, power steering, and central locking, justifying the steep £8,700 price tag over the Capri 2.8i, Manta GTE, and Scirocco GTi.
On the road, the Garrett turbo started delivering boost from under 2,000rpm, with full boost landing by 3,000rpm for strong mid-range punch and genuinely flexible engine manners without constant gear changes.
Renault’s 1984 update pushed top speed to 124mph, cruised comfortably past 60mph, and cut the 0-60 sprint to 8.4 seconds with genuinely brisk acceleration, beaten only by the thirstier Capri 2.8i, and the car stayed refined at cruising speed though it turned raucous when pushed hard, a trait Motor magazine called the most fun to drive in Renault’s lineup, discounting the rare homologation special, hand-built Alpine 310, and calling it the marque’s fastest production car at the time.
What Car? magazine tested the Fuego Turbo in October 1984 against the Nissan Silvia Turbo and VW Scirocco Storm, and still called it a capable grand tourer even if it felt less at home playing racer, admitting most owners would never notice the rough edges.
The engine’s balance of fuel economy and emissions against genuine pace made it a smart illustration of downsizing done right, and Renault kept developing the range with the GTA Max in 1990, fitted with a 2.2-litre engine tuned by Berta Motorsport producing 121bhp before the badge finally retired. French production wound down after 226,583 units, though an Argentine-built version soldiered on until 1992.
Production End & Legacy
French production in France halted in 1985, but the story did not end there since assembly continued in Spain for another year and later moved to Argentina with a larger 2165cc engine, plus a run in Venezuela that lasted until 1992.
In total, Renault manufactured an impressive 265,367 units, a number that reflects genuine demand even if the car never quite lived up to its early promise.
The marketplace eventually shifted, and a declining demand for sports coupés meant the Fuego was never replaced, yet it still looks surprisingly modern looking today, standing as proof of its unfulfilled promise.
First Drive Impressions
Nothing beats the memory of a Fuego dancing across a desert scene to a Vangelis soundtrack, all black and shiny paint, chunky alloy wheels, and a distinctive wraparound rear window borrowed straight from Porsche 924 thinking, finished off with those charming yellow foglamps.
Seen on TV as a kid, it looked impressed-worthy for about five minutes before slipping into motoring anonymity, and getting behind the wheel aged ten only fed that early excitement. Reality hit harder later, when those tiny 13-inch wheels made the car look like an amorphous blob, proof that being under-wheeled does no car any favours.
Driving it changes the picture completely, because the front wheel drive setup rides and handles with real confidence, and the steering loads up nicely once you’re past parking speed.
The brakes feel firm and progressive and the damping still impresses even riding on original shock absorbers, and out on the B-road or grinding through motorway traffic, the 1647cc engine never feels short of breath even without a turbo helping it along.
What it lacks, oddly, is soul; despite being styled by the same hand behind the Citroen SM, the driving experience stays likeable yet somehow forgettable, leaving me wondering whether character is really just romantic tosh dreamed up by motoring hacks.
Petrolheads will understand that feeling instantly, the same way some people find MGBs too throbby, too archaic, and simply too dull to love.
Early Impressions of the Fuego GTX
At launch, the flagship R Fuego GTX delivered 110bhp at 5,500rpm and 120lb ft torque at 3,000rpm, enough for a claimed 118mph top speed and a 0-60 run of 10 seconds, numbers that gave real sporting character to a car built as much for comfort as speed.
Autocar tested one in December 1980 and flagged too much cabin noise for what was meant to double as a crossover family car, though it praised accurate steering and genuinely excellent handling in the same breath, calling out the refinement gap in an otherwise likeable sporting car.
Rivals were tough, spanning the Manta, the Capri, the Volkswagen Scirocco, the Cavalier GLS Sports, plus entries from Alfa Romeo and Audi, yet Autocar still rated the Fuego a desirable machine for anyone chasing the punch of two litres without giving up economy.
CAR magazine went further, nicknaming it the flowing Fuego and insisting it offered far more than Renault 18s wearing a fancy costume, praising its penetratingly smooth snout, its high tail styled in Porsche 924 fashion, and cabin trim that felt genuinely luxuriously trimmed.
Reviewers agreed it was no soggy Froggy, calling it brisk and reasonably frugal, even though driveline refinement still suffered from excessive noise under hard acceleration.
Compared with the sportier Volkswagen Scirocco, the Fuego gave up a little in sporting looks and outright polish, yet it clawed it back through genuine open-plan car thinking, real flair, proper saloon-like habitability, generous luggage space, true four seater practicality, superior equipment, better visibility, everyday comfort, and respectable fuel economy that made it an easy car to live with.
FAQs of R Fuego
What is the Renault Fuego?
The Renault Fuego is a 1980s four-seater coupe from France, known for its sleek, aerodynamic shape and turbo performance.
How rare is the Renault Fuego today?
It’s genuinely rare, with only a handful surviving in the UK, making every Fuego sighting a nostalgic treat for petrolheads.
Was the Renault Fuego fast?
Yes, the Fuego Turbo hit 124mph with a 0-60 time of 8.4 seconds, making it Renault’s fastest production car of its era.
Who designed the Renault Fuego?
Robert Opron, the designer behind the Citroen SM, gave the Fuego its distinctive, striking shape and 1980s design flair.
Why did the Renault Fuego disappear?
Despite being a best-selling coupe, declining demand for sports coupés led Renault to end production, leaving behind a truly unforgettable legacy.
