Thanks for reviewing my little Encore Zack!! She's my plucky little hatchback!

I just realized this by the license plate, but fun fact: this is the exact car that RCR reviewed 4 years ago! Glad to see that it’s still alive and well.

The American market versions of the Renault R 9 and R 11 (Alliance and Encore) were even built at the AMC factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin. I did a tour there as a kid ;-) Upon it's introduction in 1983, the Alliance also got the "Car of the Year" Award. The hatchback version, the Encore, followed one year later.

This car is kind of special to me. In Spain, back in the 80s, Renault was one of the few brands that were sold as "national" because it was built inside the country, in the Valladolid FASA factory (which still exists). That means it was quite a popular model in here, since it didn't have to pay any import tariffs and therefore was cheaper than the competition. My uncle had one, and he crashed it being my dad a copilot (luckily they weren't injured, but the car got wrecked). As a curiosity, that 1.4 engine that you mentioned was quite the little beast. It was the base of the R11 Turbo model, which officially declared 105 hp (but some journals of the time recorded up to 130 when tested), and it met its highest point with the R5 Turbo, where it got to reach 160 hp (and it rose to the status of legend in countries like Spain and France). It's a shame that French car builders never got it right in the US, their cars are quirky and, often, unreliable, but some of them are fantastic and different proposals.

I had one with the 1.7L and 5spd. Drove it over 100,000 miles with few problems. Rust finally killed it but it was still running fine. Thanks to the excellent ride and comfortable seats it made several 800-mile trips with little to no fatigue.

Renaults were also sold in the US in the 50s,60s & early 70s...but not in huge numbers,their dealer network wasn't great,mostly only in big cities,I think....until they partnered with AMC in the mid 70s.

Renault 9 and 11 are very rare now, as a french, i have have seen just two of them during my life. It's very strange since Renault produced 5 millions of them in the world. As usual the video was great !

Love how you review a super wide range of cars and touch on topics that are important to us!!

Back in the 1980's there was a racing series that used only the Alliance and the Encore, racing on road course tracks like Lime Rock and Road America. AMC hired two brothers to modify and drive the cars. Their names were Tomy and Bobby Archer. They were very successful, and when it was on TV, I always watched it.

I learned to drive on an Alliance. It was my older sister's car. I do recall the ride being very smooth for a small car. The French always did suspension systems well.

Okay...I need a video loop of you swiveling back and forth in the driver's seat. That made me spit good whisky out my nose. HILARIOUS! And for what it's worth, the Renault model was pronounced "doh-FEEN."

The only reason why Chrysler bought AMC because all they wanted was Jeep. They wanted nothing to do with renault but by that time, they already spent money developing the premier. That's why Chrysler created the Eagle brand named after their AMC Eagle wagon. They even made a Dodge version called the Monaco. And also the murder of their CEO Georges Besse pretty much soured things for Renault.

Dad bought me an '85 Alliance/R9 (Janesville WI-built) which I drove through high school years. It was miles better than the VW Rabbits that he bought for my older sisters (Westmoreland PA-built). The Alliance was 1.7 liter, 5-speed, and had an amazing comfortable ride, coupled with terrific handling. I'm sure that it would have not been a long-lived car, but as a new car for a couple of years, it was absolutely terrific. I was conferring with my brother (10 yrs older) just a few months ago, and he also remembered it as a great car.

what a beautiful and unique car! notice the metal door handles real quality stuff back then.. still more leg room on passenger side....

The Alliance/Encore were more than an import, they were manufactured in Kenosha, Wisconsin at the AMC factory there and they managed to sell more than a half-million of them between 1983-1987.

I see this at Radwood Philly every year and I never get tired of seeing it. Great review.

These AMC-ized Renaults weren't that bad. They were fairly-well designed and fun to drive. It's a shame that Renault never got much of a foothold in the US as they were the least quirky of the French trio. Not many of these have survived. AMC may have survived if they didn't have to spin off their government/commercial division as AM General. The US government forced the spin off because laws forbid foreign ownership of companies with defense contracts. AM General made military trucks and was about to come out with the Humvee.

I've owned a few French cars & all of them have told me the oil level when I started the engine. I'm in the UK, some people here bash french cars & never had a problem. My Grandfather had the sedan version but known as the Renault 9, it was so comfortable, it had the 1.4 ohv cleon fonte engine, he really loved it. I've owned a mk1 Peugeot 308, Mk 2 Renault Clio which is the grandchild of the lecar (Renault 5) and a Renault Twingo which is a four seat car using the same chassis all be it stretched, running gear and engine as the 3rd gen smart fortwo and all have been good and comfy cars.

"The One to Watch! The One to Watch!"

Loved this. I had an '83 Alliance back in the day, and it was nice to see the dashboard details close up again (as the two cars share the same dash). My car had the 1.4L four which wasn't very powerful. But it got 40 mpg routinely!

I'm so glad you got to have a go in Steven's Encore!! Slowly but surely you're making your way to all us Corinthian Cowboys of the Corinthian Cowboys podcast! ^_^

When it ran, it was fantastic, peppy, economical, comfortable seats. Tremendous ride as well. I just wish the dealers had stood behind them.

Este modelo se llamaba en Europa Renault 11 y era mas atractivo por dentro que este modelo sobre todo la instrumentacion y el cuadro de mandos con una gran visera y que es distinto y el interior Ameeicano es parecido aqui al del Renault 9

I had an 85 Alliance. The hood opened from the windshield and lifted up toward the front end. The front seats were on center pedestals as opposed to four posts so back seat passengers had more foot space. Lastly the horn operated by pushing the blinker stalk in. No horn on the steering wheel hub. It was a good car overall. I drove it everywhere.

Steve’s back! Yay!

I loved my ‘83 Alliance!!!

A friend of my dad's had a LA car, actually a pretty nice car, they took it to south Carolina several times!

I still have the brochures that were shown in the trunk of your test car. I pinched them from the local Renault dealer when my mom bought a clean, low mileage 2 year old ‘83 Alliance DL. 11:30 Her car had the 1.4 with a 5 spd. It was slooow….like 240D Mercedes slow! It was nice looking and comfortable riding with a large enough trunk to fit her rolling clothes rack. She was a traveling clothing rep. and brought the rack with her when test driving cars to gauge the trunk space. Unfortunately It was also shockingly unreliable and seemed to always be broken in some way. She only kept it a year before throwing in the towel and trading it for a VW Quantum that she kept for several years

3:11 My Peugeot has that tooooo... though only with the Key in "On" before cranking it over...

This car in Spain is Renault 11 is very cool

Bonjour et merci de France ! Pour la phonétique de la Dauphine Renault, je vous propose : Doe ( just like John Doe ) et Fin ( just like tailfin ) Je me rappelle très bien de la Renault 11 chez nous, version à hayon de la Renault 9. Le constructeur au losange communiquait sur le fait qu'elles avaient été dessinées par ordinateur et 😂 justement ça se voyait, on les trouvait ni moches ni jolies mais fades, même si c'était une bonne voiture et il y avait aussi en France à cette époque RENAULT AMC des moteurs diesel poussifs dans des Jeep Cherokee 😅😅 Merci de votre attention 🙏

Love how you review basic forgotten cars. Classic cars. and Normal cars, not one of those EVERY CAR HAS TO BE SUPER CAR rubbish. ( rather see a rare forgotten car then a super car am odd :P ) Greetings from the down under ( Aussie ) was awseome to see that aussie Ford telstart and Morris minor.

The Dauphine is pronounced "dofyn" which means crown princess .

In 1979 we had a LeCar(Renault R5) it was junk! But my grandfather had an affinity for cheap cars and in 85 wanted The Encore but couldn't get one because of some issues with dealer supply

Blaupunkt cassette radios were The SCHIZNIT back in the 80's!!!!! RIGHT Up there with Pioneer and whoever the other High-End radios were!! No One in My 'Hood could afford a Blaupunkt radio.

The Euro Renault 11 was quite dull compared to those US specs Alliance. More grey plastic, less refinement in middle-range versions, and even available with the 1100 cc and later 1200 cc litre engine for Southern European heavily taxed markets. The one in the video was even fitted with the 11 Turbo steering wheel. In Europe the better specs were the TSE and the Electronic with a space age cluster and even voice synthesiser 😊

4:48 Uh...what're you doing to the steering wheel, Zack? lol

Parts of it were used in the "Supercinq", funny to see them in the states in a Renault "11". The Supercinq had these 2 keys up to the 90's, so it was a french thing too. Again, funny to see those keys in a video here, I drove my last 1989 Supercinq a long time ago. This later R5 was so much better than the "Le Car" you know 🙂

I had one of those and loved it. Fun.

I remember these.

These where everywhere in Ireland growing up in the late 80’s

This Encore has an Alliance grille.

You should see it broken in half in the 1984 Bond's film "A view to a kill" which was shot near the Eifell tower in Paris. Other than that it was a hit in EU back in those days. In EU it was called Renault 11 and it was based on the Alliance (the sedan version of it) which here it was called Renault 9. Weird if i may say all the versions for the States of a lot of imported cars at that era. The US versions were ugliest to the fullest doe to the mandate for bumbers and the sealed beam lights. No even one US spec car (and not only a US, but form around the globe) could reach its suspension operation and handling. Their build quality was critisized at the time but its sibling (9/Alliance) was voted EU car of the year in 1982.

Consumer Reports hated these cars, so I did too. But they actually were really good cars. Better than the domestic dreck of the early-mid 80s.

Shame they don’t make hatches this small in the US.

Maybe get a smaller bottle that will fit in all cup holders.

My parents bought a brand new 1985 Renault Encore 5 speed but it was the 2 door version and about 3 yrs later they bought a used 1985 Encore also 2 door automatic (this is the one I took my driving test on in 1987). The new one had very few issues. The used one was just pure junk, so many issues with it. I was not a fan of these.

Either from mechanical issues or rust the alliance and encore and Fuego would disintegrate in front of your eyes.

I've seen this one in the flesh. If I recall, the owner said the steering wheel is from a Fuego, or maybe it was an option? Anyhow, where I grew up there were a few Alliances and even fewer Encores. I always thought they were interesting, especially the GTAs and convertibles. By the end off the 80's though, most of these had disappeared.

The other big issue with these cars is if you buy one that was never repaired, their heater cores had defects and were prone to exploding on the passenger just so you know!!!!

Give me a Renault 11 GTX against any Toyota Corolla of the time... in France, there is. It will be way much more easier to maintain due to the availability of spare parts and dealers network. And on European countryside roads it will be way more composed and secure.

my parents bought one of these when i was little after the frame cracked on their chevy malibu. it wasn't a hatchback tho. same color. my dad HATED this car. he couldn't work on it like you could with a chevy back then.

Apart from the bumper, I think the burgundy interior is very American. I doubt that that was available in Europe, I've only ever seen 80s burgundy interiors on American cars.

Une Renault 11 comme on dit chez nous en France.

Years ago I got a chance to drive an Renault Alliance convertible. I have never since driven a car with such shakes and crashes from a weakened body structure.

Wanted to hear how many times the word ‘weird’ or ‘strange’ was said in this video.

Nice!

haha first! Love supporting your channel Zach

Wow u ran a Stop Sign! Failure

ZAC DO THE JEEP SAHARA FROM 89 PLS YOULL LOVE THE HISTORY PLSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

@5:14 - TWSS! 😄🤣

My sister bought a new one in 1987. Big lemon, it went through 5 alternators in just over 2 years. She traded it in for a Subaru

I don't really care for the looks. Don't get me wrong; I can see why someone would like them, but I think from the front doors back it just looks weird.

Back then, spend 20% more and get a Toyota that is 400% more reliable. Too bad, since these were so nice on a test drive.

traction avant

And because they merged with Nissan that is why Nissan is junk now 😅

A NOTE: We get the Nissan, yes... But, NO RENAULT TECHNOLOGY, for a long while, the Áltima was the "Renault Symbol", the decline of Nissan started when the started using [French 💩💩💩💩💩💩💩 don't know how]

Your facts are all mixed up.

Maybe one day the frenchies will make a car that doesn't suck and completely unreliable, this was called Renault 11, was the base for the Fuego, I owned the worse possible Renault, the 30TS, what a piece of junk.