Slide launch the door – any door – of the 1988 Renault Megane concept car and you were bound to feel you were about to step into someone ’s small but elegantly appoint living way .
First of all , those wide-cut doors slid all the manner aside , traverse correctly in front of the fenders . As the doors separated , they bring out a pillarless entry with four armchair - like seats beckoning you into the 1988 Renault Megane construct car .
May as well sit down . After all , as soon as the remote control request the door to open , the seat swivel to the side in greeting . To resist this invitation seemed almost impolite .
How about trying out the back compartment ? slew of infinite in there – but if it still was n’t enough , you could just involve the driver to touch the correct button . Then catch as the frameless back window moved itself rearward more than a animal foot on hide track , transforming the basic notchback saloon into an even roomier hatchback with an all - new silhouette .
If you dead felt the urge to nap after sinking deep into that plush seat , the back lean down and , for your weary pes , recliners extended outwards . After a restful nap , maybe you were ready to glance inside the refrigerated miniskirt - cake , insert handily into the rear centre console .
If you were in the climate for subdued conversation , the front rider could swivel that fundament all the room around , to confront rearward . Easy enough ; the seat belt move the right way along with it .
Meanwhile , the number one wood of this Renault Megane concept car was enjoying his or her own brand of solace and convenience . Of course , the engine would n’t even get down until the distant - control whole had been plugged into the slot to the left of the dash .
hop on in the front console was an Atlas speck - filmdom , which took the shoes of many average buttons and switches . get over a five - yr period by Renault and TDF ( Television Diffusion de France , a Gallic television - broadcast medium company ) , it offered navigational assistance as well as status check .
Not bad for a Renault . But there were more pleasure on the way for the conception car partizan – pick up about them on the next page .
For more on concept cars and the production models they forecast, check out:
1988 Renault Megane Concept Car Design
The 1988 Renault Megane concept car design brief took into account not only the car ’s style , but also its intelligence service .
An Atlas reckoner cabinet instal in the dash provided all the information you could ever desire . You could confer an on - filmdom variant of the owner ’s manual of arms , check on hotel vacancies ahead , get tourist data on the nearby area , or meditate parking regulations in the next town – whatever datum could be programmed onto acompact disc .
In the consequence splashboard admonition lights come on to signalize trouble , the Mégane would never give you run aground – the Atlas screen could offer advice on the proper procedure to surveil .
Also in the front compartment was an audio / television system featuring a wireless controlled from thesteering cycle . Messages received via radio set signal could be seen on the Atlas filmdom , rather than hear .
Two fold - down colorLCDscreens were built into the roof , aimed at rear - seat passengers . These lucky traveler could get image either from the Atlas system or from ordinary boob tube stations . A no - handstelephonewaited in the front section , while rearward passengers had to make do with a conventional helping hand - held fashion model .
The mirrors , however , did not have power adjustment . In fact , they did n’t have to be adjusted at all . All rear - watch is accomplished by video , which gave full , all - around visibility . A dashboard switch selected the effigy from either the rearward or right-hand - side photographic camera .
The Renault Megane concept car ’s soundbox lack not only mirror , but protrusions of any sort . No threshold address , no node , no trimness , no antennas – just placid , continuous surfaces .
If you wanted a little smart air along the route , you were out of portion . There was no button or crank to roll down the window because all the window were pay off in topographic point . The only openings were a dyad of small , electrically mesh panel in the front window , which could be opened for give toll and standardised irregular duties .
aviation conditioning was controlled by the Atlas touch - screen . On those wintry mornings , a transparent conductive layer in the windshield delivered quick de - misting and de - icing the puck . Only a small amount of information appeared on the dashboard , within round needle - style gauges . Everything else was part of the Atlas system .
The 1988 Renault Megane construct railcar was fashionable and smart , but how did it do ? see out next .
1988 Renault Megane Concept Car Performance
The 1989 Renault Megane concept railcar performance was as influenced by futuristic technology as was the rest of the elevator car .
The gearshift for the robotlike / manualtransmissionwas just to the right field of the steerage wheel , in the form of a miniature lever . Even though there was noclutchpedal , the transmitting could be shifted manually , by simply moving the selector .
The clutch disengaged as soon as the lever make a motion . The clutchless system , according to Renault , lease number one wood acquire the " sporting " style of shifting power train , using the left over foot to operate thebrakepedal . robotlike duty period could also be made via the Valeo electronic control system of rules .
Arriving at your name and address , you would n’t have to filter your back to reach all the luggage stuffed into the Mégane ’s rear compartment . A slide platform pulled out like a draftsman , for easy access from the sides as well as the back . One section of the compartment was also reachable from inside .
Pretty heady material . And we have n’t even begun to talk about the unusually long look of the car , with wheels positioned far asunder on a 122.5 - inch wheelbase . Nor have we flipped up the lens hood to glimpse the powertrain . This was a running prototype sedan , not an dead mockup .
A transverse - mounted , Garrettturbo - charge , 3.0 - l V-6 produced 250 H.P. , eager to hale the two - ton Mégane all the way past 160 mile an hour . From a standing start , the automobile could reach 100 kilometers per hr ( about 62 miles per hour ) in 8.3 mo .
The 1989 Renault Megane concept cable car carrying out was raise by the fact that all four wheels channel power to the paving material . As if that were not enough , all four wheel also guide – the back I were moved byhydraulicjacks , and steered either in the same centering as the fronts ( at high stop number ) or paired ( dispirited speed ) .
An electronically assure adaptivesuspensionstarted with one of three setting : soft , normal , or hard . Variable - rate impact absorbers then alter their stiffness automatically accord to the road surface and car focal ratio . If you tried to steer around an obstruction at high speed the shocks shift immediately into " hard . "
Michelin running play - flat ATStirescould be drive for up to 60 miles at main road speeds follow a puncture . froth blow up to fill the tire ’s interior almost completely . A Michelin organisation also kept track of tyre pressure sensation .
All of these features of the Renault Megane conception car were part of the designers grand programme for an levelheaded fomite for the next century . See how they put their design into action on the next page .
1988 Renault Megane Concept Car Development
The 1988 Renault Megane concept elevator car ontogenesis did n’t have to take into account American tastes . The French automotive colossus was almost nameless in the United States .
After Chrysler took over American Motors in 1987 and abandoned the Renault - styled ( but Wisconsin - built ) Alliance and Encore , Renault most go away from the American motoring mind .
Yet 1988 Renault Megane conception car development certainly was n’t harm by a Euro - centrical focal point . First seen at the Paris Auto Salon in autumn 1988 , the 1988 Renault Megane construct car demonstrated Renault was still very much alive on the Continent .
Not only had profits hit book levels in the aftermath of financial weakness during the mid eighties , but the revived company , which is own by the French politics , was eager to flex its machine muscle and show what it could do in futuristic style and engineering science .
The 1988 Renault Megane concept car development was meant to demonstrate that Renault think of " business in the unmanageable upper end of the market . " Rather than turn to a super sports car conception on the order of Ferrari ’s F40 , the company chose instead to make a shape never seen before , " plump yet not appearing so , a completely newfangled mannequin . "
In addition to esthetic appeal , the Renault Megane construct railcar ’s unique aerodynamic shape sliced neatly through the airwave , with a drag coefficient as depressed as 0.21 . That was close to aircraft levels .
Renault discover its first actual concept auto as " a supercar for go . " Most awing of all , the Mégane last from idea to drivable construct in just eight month . Patrick le Quement , formerly with Ford and Volkswagen before becoming design conductor for Renault , toldAutomobilemagazine that he had three antecedence in nous : an " attractive embodiment , a convincing concept , and … tug pleasance . "
Not many multitude would have an chance to experience the latter , but on the first two tally , at the very least , Renault had bump off a bull’s - centre .
Keep study to see 1988 Renault Megane concept elevator car specifications .
1988 Renault Megane Concept Car Specifications
Though Renault had become an afterthought in the mind of American consumer , the company was still at the forefront of the European automotive industry . A look at the 1988 Renault Megane construct railway car specifications that follow indicate why .
manufacturing business : Regie Nationale des Usines Renault , Bourlogne - Billancourt , France
dead body design:4 - rider , 4 - doorway sedan chair ; steel monocoque
Powertrain layout : front - locomotive engine , 4 - wheel effort
Wheelbase:122.5 inch
Overall length:195.0 column inch
Overall width:74.8 column inch
Overall height:55.9 inch
Track , front:62.2 inches
Track , rear:59.8 column inch
Weight:3,968 pounds
close together terms : not uncommitted
Engine type : turbocharged sohc V-6
Displacement ( liters / cubic inches):3.0/181
Horsepower @ rpm:250 ( DIN ) @ 6000
Torque ( lbs./ft . ) @ rpm:257 @ 2000 - 4000
Fuel delivery : multipoint fuel injectant
Transmission:5 - speed manual
Suspension , front : MacPherson struts , lower wishbone , anti - roll bar ; electronically - check
Suspension , rear : modified MacPherson struts , anti - roll bar ; electronically - controlled
Brakes : front / rearward ventilated phonograph recording
Top speed:161.5 mph
0 - 60 mph : less than 8.3 second
Quarter - mile:16 second
mph @ fourth - mile : not available
