Here’s to the Renault Safrane Biturbo

"BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo" (bluemazda2)
06/10/2019 at 19:00 • Filed to: Renault Safrane Biturbo, Hon Hon, Le Oppo, Merci Safrane

In life, you sometimes learn about obscure and relatively forgotten niche cars that captivate your heart and make you fall in love with them. This is no exception.

In the early 90s, if you wanted a fast and comfortable executive car, odds are you’d end up with something along the lines of a BMW M5 or Mercedes 500E.

If you wanted something less expensive, you could swing for a 535i or a 400E. Either way, the normally accepted answer to the midsize executive car question was limited to the darlings of the two most important German luxury manufacturers.

In 1993, some French company called Renault started making an adorable future meme called the Twingo, but that’s another story for another day. In the shadow of the Twingo, a new fast executive car was born from what was their normal midsize sedan, the Safrane.

Dubbed the Safrane Biturbo, it had been sent to Hartge in 3.0 V6 guise for tuning and modification. The result was two KKK turbochargers slapped onto the PRV V6 and a very nice bodykit with new wheels. The Biturbo produced a then-impressive 262 hp and 270 lb-ft of torque, which were numbers that put it in the same league as the aforementioned Teutonic sedans. It hit 60 in just 6.8 seconds and pulled hard all the way to a top speed of 155 mph.

Unfortunately, buyers of cars in this segment seemed to have preferred the more powerful 535i, 540i, 400E, and E420 over the Safrane Biturbo. After a year in production, the plug was pulled after only 806 units were ever made. One of them was even modified by Heuliez into a wagon bodystyle dubbed the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

I understand that we all have penchants for weird French cars around here, so I figured I’d share mine. As much as everyone here associates me with the Twingo, this is the one French car I’ll take over a Twong in a heartbeat. It oozes some sort of presence that draws me to it and permanently left a lasting impression in my heart and mind. I look forward to importing one in the next few years whenever I start working after college. It’s something that makes me want to work harder to have the satisfaction of seeing my very own Safrane Biturbo parked in my driveway next to the inevitable F150.

Here’s to liking cars just as niche and obscure as yourself. I know the Safrane isn’t for everyone, but it’s something so close and dear to my own heart that I can’t help but love it with every fiber of my being. I would have one over a Twingo. There. I said it.

DISCUSSION (14)

Nibby > BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo
06/10/2019 at 12:03

more curves on the rear than your mother

BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo > Nibby
06/10/2019 at 12:06

Don’t you have Tempos to look at?

FSI > BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo
06/10/2019 at 12:17

Kinja'd!!!

I'd tap

Nibby > BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo
06/10/2019 at 12:23

it is our Civic duty

someassemblyrequired > BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo
06/10/2019 at 13:26

When Heuliez hit the wall a few years ago - the Long Cours was put up for sale along with a bunch of their other concept cars. It went for well under $30K.

https://www.artcurial.com/en/lot-1994-renault-safrane-v6-turbo-ie-long-cours-no-reserve-2138-235

There were a bunch of other cool Heuliez concept cars in that same auction, shockingly many went for next to nothing.

BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo > someassemblyrequired
06/10/2019 at 13:31

Mon dieu. I need that.

AuthiCooper1300 > BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo
06/10/2019 at 14:24

Also : four wheel drive ( I i m a g i n e t h e s a m e “ Q u a d r a ” s ystem fitted to the E s p a c e a n d t h e 2 1 Turbo)

I f I r e c a l l c o r r e c t l y , H a r t g e w a s i n c h a r g e o f d e v e l o p i n g t h e e n g i n e i m p r o v e m e n t s. Irms c h e r ( ! ) w a s r e s p o n s i b l e for the rest of the changes and a l so f i nal assembly. Which means that the p r o d u ction of the B i turbo i n v o l v e d the bodies - in - white c r ossing the border to Germany and coming back to F r a n c e a f t e r w a r d s .

SpeedSix > BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo
06/10/2019 at 14:39

Well, it’s no Opel Lotus Omega, but it costs 1/6th as much now.

As an aside, I had no idea Lotus-tuned Omegas or Carltons cost this much now.

Svend > BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo
06/10/2019 at 15:47

In Europe was also had the Vauxhall/Opel Omega, Senator and Lotus C arlton and Vectra VXR . Ford gave us the Mondeo ST220, 3.0 V6 223bhp. Rover had the Rover 827 powered by a Honda 2.7 V6 (in coupe, saloon and fastback bodystyle).

For large saloon cars with large engines.

BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo > Svend
06/10/2019 at 15:50

The Mondeo ST220 post would easily be twice as long as this. Boy do I want one.

someassemblyrequired > BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo
06/10/2019 at 19:11

I kicked myself quite badly when I saw the sale results, though I really liked this one - a 4 door retractable roof convertible Peugeot:

https://www.artcurial.com/en/lot-2006-peugeot-407-phaeton-macarena-no-reserve-sans-carte-grisechassis-ndeg-hz2006-1-sans-reserve#popin-active