3 Reasons Not to Hate the French Cars.
3 Reasons not to hate French cars.
I spend a lot of time reading comments on the internet that express the hate that some people have against French cars. So I think I need to clarify some things about them, to show you that they deserve some love.
I’m not writing this as a propaganda for the French brands nor because I’m a pro-French things, but because I’m a true car lover, and as a car guy, you may understand me when I say that hating a car brand just because you don’t like the car’s design or nationality is plain stupidity, we all have our own tastes. So here are some things you should know about me: first of all, yes, I’m French. Secondly, I love cars in general: I drive a 2005 Citroën Xsara Break (diesel, 90hp, 100k miles), and my two dream cars are a 1970 Dodge Charger R/T and a 1995 Nissan Skyline R33 GT-R. And Finally, this is my first article, and English isn’t my native language (obviously), so please, be kind.
But let’s not make you wait any longer, here are my pros :
1. The place of France in the Automotive History
Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, a French inventor, is widely credited with building the first full-scale, self-propelled mechanical vehicle or automobile in about 1769; he created a steam-powered tricycle called "Le Fardier de Cugnot". Father Ferdinand Verbiest, a Belgian Flemish Jesuit missioner, may have been the first to design and most likely to build, around 1672, "a steam-powered vehicle" but that was too small to carry a driver or passengers.
In November 1881, French inventor Gustave Trouvé demonstrated a working three-wheeled car powered by electricity at the International Exposition of Electricity, Paris.
The first car to pass the 100km/h bar was the French electric car "La Jamais contente" (literally translated as "the never satisfied").
The outlines of the current car as we know it are plotted in 1922 with Lancia Lambda and the self-supporting body and independent front suspension, in 1934 with Chrysler Airflow which introduced the aerodynamics, Citroen and the development of the Traction Avant (FWD) in 1934, and the introduction of disc brakes on the DS in 1955, or by Porsche and the box bevel gear synchronizers of the 356 and finally in 1959 with the Mini Morris with the first engine in transverse position.
2. They are great cars
This is one of the most untrue stereotype about the French Brands: "They aren’t reliable". My very first car was a 1997 Citroën ZX Break. Not very beautiful, but it had its charm. I sold it a few months ago for 250€, with +330k kms (more than 206k miles) and some bumps and scrathes (was involved in 4 small crashes, not by me and never in fault). Electric windows? Still working! Anti-start code device? Tired but working too! The lights on the dashboard were a bit too feeble, but she was still ready to eat the road for a long time.
And that’s what all French cars are, cars. by this, I mean that they are great cars that won’t fail you. Of course there are some that are worse than the others, but it’s the same for every car brand.
Indeed, I won’t deny that at some point of their own History, some French brands had a bad time. It happens, but sadly as we say "Il faut plusieurs générations pour bâtir une réputation, mais il n’en faut qu’une pour la détruire", which means "you need several generations to build a reputation, but only one to destroy it".
Nowadays French car brands are way better than you could think, so good that other brands uses engines, bodies or entire cars for their own product range (for example, Mercedes uses DCI engines from Renault for their A, B and C classes or the body of the Renault Kangoo for their compact utility vehicle Citane).
And indeed, don’t mix Quality and Reliability.
3. Their Racing Gene.
A little quote of Forza Motorsport 3, during the loading screen, once said "Peugeot is the only manufacturer that can brag about having victory records in three different centuries". That is actually true. Not only as a car maker of course, but that sentence still says something.
You know them : Bugatti, Alpine, Renault, Citroën, Peugeot, Matra,… Rally, Formula One, LeMans Endurance series, BTCC, WTCC, Pikes Peak,…
Every French Car Brand has won in Racing. And every french sports car has it in its genes. They even said in right here, on CT! "If you’re a keen driver, you need to get the RCZ R. Trust me. Every aspect of the way it drives when you’re kicking its head in is leaps and bounds ahead of the TT, and I guarantee after a hoon in both, the Peugeot’s the one that’ll put the bigger smile on your face. Badge snobs be damned." Want to know more about that? It’s here : link text .
Ever drove a 205 1.9 GTI? A test driver once said "You’ll need racing skills to master this monster". 130hp only? Yup, but power never ment performance. You know what someone said : "If you’re not fast with 90hp, 900 won’t help you". That’s what is all about French sports car, power isn’t necessary if you have the right chassis.
That is all I can say for now, without making an extra-long article that would be too consistent to be readable. So if you’ve reached this point, thank you for the time you spent reading this and I hope that you’re more likely to not spread the hate, for our Frenchies and for all cars in general, because after all, it’s just a matter of opinion.
Little bonus : I want to clarify something that seems to be a good starting point of hate about French cars : the Volvo vs Modus Crash test. Yes, old Volvo’s are known for being Tanks. No, the engine hasn’t been removed for the crash test, it’s just that it is not in a transversal position but in a longitudinal position, so when the two car went on a 3/4 front collision, the engine was moved on left-side of the engine bay. No, the Volvo isn’t safer than a Modus. Why? Because the Volvo was engineered during an era when Euro N-CAP wasn’t there to rule the safety of the cars. So yes it was a tank back then, but now it isn’t anymore. Sorry guys.
And for the video where you can see a red Volvo wagon hit some old cars on a scrapyard, you can clearly see that they are using things as ramps to avoid the high strength parts of the cars that are normally collided during a crash, this resulting on a heavier car crashing with it’s own strengthened body parts on cars-parts where it’s not supposed to crash. So it may appear that the Volvo is a true tank, but it’s just tricks and lies. Sorry again guys…
Internet traditions must be respected, Sorry for the long post so here is a potato-car :
Comments
Well those are valid points but only apply for cars made before the well known meeting in Paris when french car makers decided to produce cars "tres horrible" and fired all chefs d’suspensions!
Not to mention with interiors laden with ‘spit n kleenex’
I just can’t agree. Peugeot and Citroen are not good cars! Their Diesel engines are pretty well made, and if looked after will go on for a long time. But that’s where the positives end.
The electricals and build quality are horrific.
Let’s start with out 2004 407 1.6 HDi.
ALL 4 windows broke, and by broke I mean were wound down and wouldn’t come back up. Something had to be replaced in all four (this didn’t happen all at once). As if that weren’t enough, the two tears failed again.
The opening glass hatch was crap, and wouldn’t open sometimes, and then wouldn’t close. The car was always throwing DPF warning even though the car was always serviced to schedule and taken on long runs. the switch for the rear lights had to be replaced twice.
And several bits of interior trim spontaneously fell off.
Roll on the 2005 Citroen C4 VTS 2.0 HDi.
Turbo failure at 64,000 miles. Then DPF issues at 70,000.
The fancy adaptive Xenons stopped working, as did the headlight washers, which made it too expensive to get it through an MOT as fixing them was going to cost ££££s.
The parking sensors front and rear broke. The speakers blew. Again trim spontaneously fell off including the glove box handle making it almost impossible to get into the glove box.
The seat broke so it wouldn’t fix into position and slid everywhere.
Roll on our 2012 5008 1.6 HDi.
Well at just 500 miles the compartments in the floor for storage fell through. We were told by Peugeot they wouldn’t replace them as we shouldn’t have stood on them. They’re on the f*cking floor. How do you get into the car then?!
The controls for the rear vents on both sides fell into the B pillar. The Bluetooth was almost impossiple to use. The boot mechanism broke so we couldn’t get into the boot. Some of the mechanisms for folding the seats flat broke.
Generally poor built cars and will never ever buy one again.
In contrast, we had a 2003 Skoda Fabia VRS and a 2002 Superb 1.9 TDI 130 until early this year with 190,000 and 155,000 on respectively. EVERYTHING worked even at 13 and 12 years old.
Never heard that much problem happening to one person. I’m sad you only had bad experience with French cars. I guess luck has something to do with it. Of you have found better in something else, good for you ! :)
Never had a single problem with all the French cars we had in the family. Karma at work maybe.
But for the floor compartment on the 5008, this is unacceptable that they refused to replace it !
"That’s what is all about French sports car, power isn’t necessary if you have the right chassis."
So, if we look at Formula 1, we can say that the engines form Renault are good, but the chassis from RedBull isn’t that good? Or am I wrong to say this?
Later Renault F1 work isn’t good in my opinion. They were better before. Is it from the chassis, the engine or the overall build of the car ? I don’t know.
"Il faut plusieurs générations pour bâtir une réputation, mais il n’en faut qu’une pour la détruire", which means "you need several generations to build a reputation, but only one to destroy it".
Yeah,Renault did it with the 2nd gen of their cars.. And still gives them a bad reputation today.
Maintain a French car good and they will keep driving.
And thanks for the post,now it’s easier to explain to the VAG fans who think French is rubbish.. #BelgianYouth
You’re god damn right !
I own a Citroën Berlingo, love it! It’s a great car for work, lot’s of space in the back and quite a bit comfort in thr front. I especially like the durabillity in the car, they used very durable materials in the cabin.
But that’s also the thing I hate about the french cars… The interior of a top citroën looks like it’s staight out of a utility van…
Not only citroën, also peugeot, my sister owns one, it drives ok en all that, but the interior is dull, the comfort is crap. And personally, I don’t like the styling of the new peugeots.
Also, the french diesel engines, the noise they produce makes me want to drive giant needles through my eardrums…
All my daylies have allways been german because of these reasons…
I have been around French cars all my life, parents have had various Peugeot’s (205, 309, 306,307,207 & 308) so I am probably somewhat biased but I love them, always found them better looking and more interesting than their counterparts, maybe they are not ‘better’ but imo this is what makes a French car, its charm and plus points are in its ‘quirkyness’ and trying to differentiate from the norm and I guess some people won’t get that :) . I currently own a Renaultsport Clio 182, having owned a Peugeot 206 before and a Renault Clio before that and have loved them, the 182 is a Hot Hatch all time great, unbelievable fun to drive. Plus the French have created some legends in their time, like the Citroen DS & 205 GTI being the most widely recognised, anyway, sorry for my rambling haha!
French and Proud yo!! Shout out from Malaysia
208 GTI ? Handsome !
They don’t rust mine has never been undersealed and is rarely cleaned and it’s mint underneath not to mention it’s a 98.
"Let’s make terrible cars!"
Love the article man it was a good read and I learned something new, I always get banter off my mates for driving a Frenchie but honestly it’s the best car I’ve ever owned and after almost 3 years still love it :)