ALL THE CARS I’VE EVER BOUGHT
Used car addict Keith looks back at his best – and worst – classic buys. This week, a rare heritage fleet minter bought from Renault itself… so why did he sell it on again so soon?
WHY DID I WANT ONE?
I have a bit of a weird relationship with Renaults. I’ve had a few over the years and often love the way they look and drive but they inevitably end up disappointing me. I wish I could put my finger on why that is the case but I guess La Régie was always going to come off second best to a Citroën man. That said I’m never going to turn my back on an interesting car so who was I to say no when Renault’s head of PR offered me the firm’s heritage collection 21 saloon over drinks at the launch of the Alpine A110 in 2017? The car in question was a special edition 1988 21 Symphony with a mere 10,000 miles on the clock and as is (nearly) always the case with these heritage cars it looked, felt and smelled factory-fresh. Lovely. A deal was done at the dinner table, and before I knew it I was arranging to collect this lovely Eighties repmobile from Renault’s secret heritage bunker somewhere in middle England.
WAS IT A JOY – OR A NIGHTMARE – TO LIVE WITH?
I was amused when I went to collect the car to learn that the last journalist to use it was… me. Turns out I’d borrowed it for a week some five years earlier, written a review on it and handed it back. And it had been sitting there untouched ever since. Its 1721cc engine burst into life eagerly and it was hard not to be impressed by how comfortable the seats were, how compliant the ride was and how pleasant it felt mixing it with the moderns as I eased it into the cut and thrust of rush hour traffic. It had been serviced just before I collected it so there wasn’t much for me to do other than enjoy it – and so I did just that over the course of several months. It even proved to be absolutely faultless once I’d figured out how to live with its rather pernickety immobiliser. So why did I sell it on again after less than a year of ownership? Well, let me explain…
WHAT’S YOUR ABIDING MEMORY OF IT?
I thought it was a handsome beast – and a well-equipped one at that with remote central locking and electric windows – but somehow it didn’t quite win me over. It had a habit of merging into the background despite probably being the best surviving non-turbo Renault 21 out there, finished as it was in an eye-catching shade of maroon metallic and with some very natty stainless steel wheel trims. No-one ever looked longingly at it, commented that ‘their dad had one of those’ or even shouted ‘nice car, mate’ at me. To be honest I couldn’t escape the fact that I found myself wishing that it w
