torture him with three million kilometers

Are cars now more or less robust than in the 60s? Are they less reliable or do we have a distorted perception of reality because they were simpler to repair?

When we buy a car we want it to be practical, that we like visually … and that it is reliable. Although the price is probably the most decisive criteria, reliability rivals (and much) with any other search criteria for our next vehicle.

A few days ago I read in L’Automobile Magazine The reasons that had taken a French journalist to buy the car with “The worst engine in history”. He explained that he had bought a Mazda RX-8 and that he had done it from the heart. Beyond that There is controversy about the bad reputation of the carthere are times when We do not always buy our heads.

But when a car is, purely, for day to day and we do not want to run any risk, reliability is one of the most important points. That is why as much attention is paid to studies as those of Consumer Reports and other specialized associations in clouds to Japanese brands collect customer experience.

Under this premise brands like Toyota or Honda have built an entire empire. That fame of “unbreakable car” It is a classic of the Japanese and, perhaps, one of the reasons why they are being overcome (at least in the short term) For Chinese electric cars.

That obsession to get a car that does not break is much less new. In fact, as we said and Perhaps due to an increase in electronics In our cars, the feeling is that cars break more. Or maybe it is because brands do not put so much effort to move the work they do so that their cars last hundreds and hundreds of thousands of kilometers.

Before that exercise was done. And when a brand was obliged to demonstrate to what extent things like Renault 4 gave importance to reliability.

Three million kilometers

In the 50s, Renault did not go through his best moment. Citroën’s compatriots were dominating the market with the Citroën 2 hp. The formula was very simple: a simple and affordable car but to which all kinds of dogs could be done.

The fame of the car that I endured everything and of go through any place He has taken the car to be called by some as the first SUV. But it has also resulted in absolute follies as Take it to Paris-Dakar or at the birth of the Sillieth Pop Cross with a practically drearted car competition.

To recover land, Pierre Dreyfus, then General Director of Renault, gave a clear order: a rival of the 2 hp had to be launched. The challenge was capital because they had to square the circle. The car had to be affordable but also very reliable. So much that it was a reason for purchase. And the development of an extremely reliable car has never got along too well with cost savings.

Guillermo García Alfonsín Explain in your Mercedes 300E W124 test Why extremely reliable cars were so expensive to develop and produce. The client received an authentic tank that could resist more than one million kilometers but the company spent four years to do all its tests (the development went eight years). In fact, 14 million kilometers were made. Mercedes won the reputation of having the best car in the world with this car but also discovered that perhaps it was not the most interesting for its bank accounts.

Renault, two decades before I had tried something similar. Without computers that simulate the fatigue of the components to subsequently make a few hundred thousand kilometers of test as it happens now, there was no other to try the car. And the car was not approved until it covered a total of three million kilometers.

They explain in Hermetic garage that those three million kilometers of testing put a new ribbon in the industry. The message was clear: this car has been tested more than any other. He wanted reliability and Renault was responsible for letting them know that they had put more effort than anyone in creating the most experienced car in history. At least until then.

The rest of the history of Renault 4 we already know it. The car has been one of the best selling models of the brand and its commercial life extended for 31 years, which gives an idea of ​​the confidence that the client deposited in the car.

And if you think it is not enough, you just have to see the story of this driver who brought his Renault 4 to a million kilometers.

Photo | Dogs.barking.duster.roling

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