Back in the day, our neighbors brought a new one of these. It was a very nice riding car and it look very nice. The interior fabric looked like towels. I remember our neighbor showing my dad that horrible hood prop rod. Him and my dad rigged up something safer and stronger. They had the car for like 10 years and really had no problems with it.

These retro reviews are enjoyable. They’re a reminder of how things were, which may be very different than what we think we remember, and what might have been.

I was driving behind an Eagle Medallion last weekend. I have not seen one in 20+ years. I never knew it was a badge engineered Renault.

This is one car I rarely saw growing up back in the day.

One of the weirdest things about the Renault 21 upon which the Medallion was based is that the smaller displacement models (1.7L and under) had transverse engines, while 21s with larger powerplants (and all Medallions) had longitudinal engines. This was because Renault didn't have a transverse gearbox beefy enough to handle a larger engine's torque, and instead of designing a new transmission that was strong enough, they just designed the front clip of the car so an inline-four powertrain could be installed in either orientation!

I had one of these, 88 LX sedan with the manual transmission. Maroon with a matching interior. I loved this car and only had one issue once it got around 40K miles. It got great mileage too.

4:13 Did just John just give a pass to that cluster *without* an oil pressure gauge or voltmeter? 😲

That wagon is pretty sweet - wish they'd shown more of it! As French cars in the US go, I don't think I've ever seen a Renault. I've seen a few Citroëns, and even a handful of Peugeots, but never any Renaults.

It’s the woman discussing The FWD Probe replacing The RWD Mustang for Me😂

This is Renault 21, a lot of them are still on market in our country ))

I remember seeing these for a short time here in the United States, this would be Renaults last car to ever be sold here.

I would consider the 1989 Eagle Medallion wagon with an automatic and 3 rows of seats. Perfect first car to me.

Man, what Beth was talking about in the beginning. I remember that FWD Mustang controversy. Imagine what Mustang fans from the ‘80s would have said about an all electric Mustang that looks like a Prius on steroids! 😂

I wonder if Car Shield provides extended warranties for these

Comes with a standard Guillotine hood. Merci🤣

This was my family vehicle back in the 1990s! A Medallion LX. Had one of the most comfortable seats of any vehicle I ever sat in, but a bad radiator finished it off... Parts for this thing was impossible to procedure...

It’s funny to hear the R21 being compared to a VW Jetta; in Europe they’re in a different size class. There’s a reason why you say it has more room…

And that closing remark... it never materialised. Peugeot pulled out, so did Renault. America now has a total of zero French cars roaming. Many rumors surface that it's about to change, but I doubt it. It seems everyone I discuss Renaults (specifically) with, dismisses them as an unreliable mess.

Wow, a good road test on the former Renault now turned Eagle car. It did came along into Dodge dealerships only as the Monaco.

Another Renault car that was well liked by consumers overseas was the little Twingo. The older ones are still popular in France 🇫🇷 most commonly with a manual shift and lasted for years.

En France, on avait la Renault 21 qui allait jusqu'à 175 ch en version Turbo. L'aventure américaine avec AMC a fait beaucoup de mal Renault, qui avait pour actionnaire majoritaire le gouvernement français dans les années 1980.

Its impressive how much worse the Medallion looks compared to the 21 over at Europe

And when Eagle Medallion died, the K cars kept going.

I like the looks, simple lines, still looks fresh. I liked it then but knew Renault’s reputation... it’s so dinky

Chrysler wanted AMC strictly for Jeep, I believe the Grand Cherokee was already in the works at AMC.

I am french and in France, fan cars (especially Renault) love this kind of model which are atypical or "exotical" as we can say here. I always heard problems of these US Renault are the reliability and the after sales service for retail parts which were catastrophics. At this period, Chrysler was the winner when they bought AMC-Renault in the late 80's because their factories had new machines... A very good deal !

I was 20 when this car came out. I loved the way it looked. Seemed roomy and comfortable to drive. A poor man's Audi, for sure!

This is the first time ive EVER seen them destroy a pair of wiper blades. This car was so terrible that it broke before they even got it on a test track. Im so glad these never stuck around. They didnt even make it out of the 90s.

I worked with a lady who bought a new wagon. Nice car but after the 7 yr warranty was up Chrysler dropped all the parts.

Ooh, John liked this one, he let them get away with no oil pressure or voltmeter! Saucy minx

Sweet Renault Medallion. long may you rule the streets!

Only if these were reliable. The handling and ride were very good for its size.

Barely noticed when it came out, it was even less known than the Premier which didn't sell every well either. They effectively replaced the Spirit and Concord, but Chrysler ended up cancelling the Alliance and Medallion and reworked the Premier into the LH cars to compete with Taurus and effectively replace the K-cars as their largest cars. I bought a 1987 Acura Legend which was $22,000 almost twice what these cost with 150 hp v6

There were tons of these cars in Europe until recent years. Most of them were reliable. I still see some of them sometimes

How did that prop rod get past final approval in the company? Like know one questioned this?

I wonder how many of these made it 100000 miles.

The Renault Medallion is an underrated car but it does have some fit & finish issues including the cheap looking windshield wiper blade attachments at 1:49 and the horrible design of the pop rod for the hood at 1:57 which is extremely dangerous.

I think so much damage was done to Renault's reputation, deserved or not, that any vehicle they introduced was dead on arrival. Both the Medallion and the Premier seemed decent for the era in quality and performance.

The wardrobe worn by the Motor Week staff is about 15 years out of date: this 1988 review has guys dressing like they were living in 1975.

I don't think I've ever seen one of these in person. Also, they were waaaay off on the Mustang. This was probably when they were reporting about the car that became the Probe.

What I recall from back in the day, most Renault vehicles had ongoing mechanical problems.

I can barely even remember a day when French cars were an option in the U.S.

i misread: renault meltdown...

Things got complicated with this car after Chrysler bought AMC, including the shares Renault owned. Chrysler was well aware of the poor reulation Renault had here in the states, and its only real reason for buying AMC was the Jeep brand. By 1989 this car was called the Eagle Medallion, marketed by former AMC dealers in the seperate Jeep/Eagle dealer network. By 1990 this car was gone, as too many domestic made Chrysler products competed with it, as well as the fact that this and the new Renault-based Eagle Premier/Dodge Monaco always sold poorly, as the buying public was well aware of the fact that they were just rebadged Renaults, a nameplate with a poor reputation as well as the cars themselves having numerous mechanical issues, that far surpassed the problems of even the often derided domestic Chrysler products at the time.

FIRMLY on my Automotive Bucket List!!!!!!! When was the last time you saw one of THESE?!!

I have never seen that wagon! It might be shit but I want one!

Being from around the Kenosha Wisconsin area my parents worked for AMC as well as my grandparents so of course we had AMC's and Renaults I remember we had hornet 4x4 wagon and an alliance GL or something sedan and another alliance and this medallion that I know wasn't made in Kenosha but since it was Renault they bought it anyway and I don't remember them being particularly reliable but they were proud of them and everybody drove them in my neighborhood until the Ford Taurus came around lol

That Medallion was a good looking car; say what you want, but it had style. It deserved more recognition and respect; I’d want an automatic transmission in this car; having a manual transmission is a waste. There’s some folks that don’t want a car that everyone else owns.

1:58 John: WE ALSO WONDER ABOUT THE FLIMSY HOOD PROP ROD. IT SEEMS INADEQUATE AND COULD BE DANGEROUS!

This Renault deal resulted in AMC having to spin off AM General before the Chrysler merger, otherwise the Hummer would have been a Ram product eventually.

I haven’t seen this car since I been real little that was in the 90’s

Thanks Beth

rare front facing 3rd row seat in wagon, now common in suv's

Can't remember even seeing one of these BITD. You've found the unicorn.

Haven't seen one of these since the mid 90's

What a pretty springer spaniel!

The wagon must be one of the rarest cars in the US

I think the wagon would sell pretty well now when the mini van came out no one wanted a wagon,

That Jeep deal has been immensely profitable for Chrysler!!

I can imagine that weird steering arrangement wearing and being unreplaceable causing a scrapped car...while the oftenly derided k car lives on to today...

I see shades of a 1983-86 Toyota Camry on this car

My parents had one. Not bad but not great. Worse thing was the welding on two of the door hinges that starting coming apart and they had to have them rewelding to the frame of the car.

Here's what I can say, I recall this car. Thats where it ends.

The test car was already falling apart, I can only imagine this car at 100k miles

You were better off buying a Taurus or Sable from Ford or the the GM A-body cars from Chevy, Pontiac, Olds, or Buick!

A friend of mine in high school his mom had one. It had no rev counter it’s underpowered and the gas gauge almost never worked from what I remember 😂

Mustang before probe.

This and the Taurus were out together but good ol' Lee iacocca just couldn't stop with his beloved box on wheels k-cars tho.... Smh

The se cars never rusted! It was hard for them to rust. You'd see them 10 years later in the junk yard with zero rust while all the other cars from 1988 were rusted out badly

What a joke.. It blows my mind the stuff auto makers were able to get away with not so long ago. Cars like this make the Saab 9000 look timeless. I'm curious if these cars were accepted by consumers in there day, or if they were even a stretch for 1988.

Does anyone know of one for sale here in the states? I want one

This looks like a Walmart GreatValue Haudi Five Thousand.

Did the wipers just break off with a small lift in the test car?

Have to wonder what could have been here. They seemed to be available for such a short time. Were they that bad, or just ignored much like their bigger cousin the Premiere?

Renault 21

The foirst new car I ever bought. Pretty good until about 68000 miles when the GM built computer system died.

The way it looks like a real Renault 18 two point 0

The only thing that could make a K car seem reliable

I would never buy one, but I really wish that there was some french cars for sale in America today.

I’m glad a front wheel drive Mustang never happened!! That would have been suicide for Ford!

1988 seems like just around the corner from the mid 80's look 🤨

I have never seen one

Only if these were reliable.

Looks very similar to the very 1989 Hyundai Sonata!

Probably almost none left to this day?

Reno, Citro, or Puzho, nothing French caught on in the US.

Looks like a 323 and a Camray had a kid. Only a 2 year run.

Oh man those cars were junk lol, We worked on a few aa well as those Le Cars at the shop I worked at back in the 8os and early 90s

It’s the Chargers grandma

How does a brake pad warning light work, is it just a mileage based idiot lite?

A tempo with a blown head gasket was more reliable.

Join Beth the robot fan club!

Lolz....I love motor week but damn did they get stuff wrong a lot! How many medallions sold here in the US? 14? And by this time Chrysler was still deep into using the K platform. The LeBaron GTS and Lancer were clearly much better than the Renault. As were their replacements, the spirit and Acclaim. Just funny!

What. A. Piece. Of. Junk. These used to rust on the lots here in Canada. Batteries that came with them weren't even strong enough to crank over in our winters.

“It seems inadequate and could be dangerous…” sounds like my girlfriend in high school. 2:01

Now Peugeot owns Chrysler now

The Eagle Premier and Dodge Monaco have a lot of styling cues from this car

Renault 1988

This I think is way before a Chrysler made Renault! And I mean Chrysler made because Chrysler brand Eagle renamed the car the Premier (Premiere)!

Only the Americans could make a Renault 21 look that hideous