The Renault 21 is a large family car produced by French automaker Renault between 1986 and 1994. It was also sold in North America initially through American Motors dealers as the Renault Medallion and later through Jeep-Eagle dealers as the Eagle Medallion. A total of 2,096,000 units were produced.
The Renault 21 saloon was launched in the beginning of 1986, as the successor to the successful Renault 18, and this was followed a few months later by the seven seater station wagon, the R21 Nevada, marketed as the Savanna in the United Kingdom. In 1987, What Car? awarded the Renault 21 GTS Best Family Saloon. The Renault 21 Savanna was awarded Car of the Year, as well as Best Family Estate.
Design
thumb|left|1993 Renault 21 GTX Nevada
thumb|Rear view of Renault 21 (pre-facelift)
Unusually, the Renault 21 was offered with disparate engine configurations. The 1.7 litre version featured a transverse engine and transmission, but Renault had no gearbox suitable for a more powerful transverse engine: accordingly, faster versions featured longitudinally mounted engines. The two versions featured (barely perceptibly) different wheel bases: the engines were all relatively compact four-cylinder units and the engine bay was large enough to accept either configuration without reducing passenger space.
However, at a time when production technologies were relatively inflexible, the need to assemble differently configured engine bays on a single production line, along with the supplementary inventory requirements imposed both on Renault and on the dealership network, did compromise the Renault 21's profitability.
The Nevada/Savanna station wagon/estate version was slightly longer than the saloon, and was available configured with seven seats, two of those a forward-facing foldable bench seat for children (up to about age 10) that used up much of the luggage space when up. It had roof rack side rails as standard.
History
First unveiled on 20 November 1985 and officially launched in February 1986, the R21 gave Renault a new competitor in this sector after eight years of the R18, which was declining in popularity after a very strong start to its commercial life. It had a razor like design, which was different from contemporary cars of the era, e.g. the Ford Sierra (with its "jelly mould" design) and the Opel Ascona.
It was sold in right hand drive for the United Kingdom from June 1986.
The car was revamped considerably in May 1989, both technically and aesthetically – the new sleeker outward appearance was similar to the also recently revamped Renault 25, and a liftback body style was also added to the range (which soon became more popular than the saloon in France) along with a sporty 2.0 L Turbo version. Of the saloons, the TXi 2.0 12v and 2.0 turbo were also available with the four-wheel-drive Quadra transmission. The Nevada wagons received four-wheel-drive in the eight-valve 2.0 and in the naturally aspirated 2.1 Diesel, as the 12-valve and the turbo were not available with this body style. The front-wheel-drive 21 Turbo was capable of . At the 1989 Frankfurt Motor Show the fuel injected 2.2i model was introduced, originally reserved for the German market (being a different model than the earlier 2.2s built for the US) where insurance and tax regulations suited larger engines with less peak power. Injected engines were equipped by Renix engine control unit, developed by a joint venture by Renault and Bendix. This car was also available with four-wheel-drive, exclusively as a Nevada. However, the car was only on sale for a few months in 1987 before Renault sold its investment in American Motors Corporation (AMC) to Chrysler. AMC dealers were now under the newly formed Jeep-Eagle Division of Chrysler, and now as Jeep-Eagle dealers, they continued to sell the car as the Eagle Medallion until 1989. The North American version had somewhat different styling to comply with front and rear impact regulations and different lighting standards.
Colombia
The 21 was launched in Colombia in 1987. Initially, it was only available with the four-door saloon body with the 2.0 L longitudinal engine. In October of the same year, the Renault 21 Nevada was launched, with the same engine as the saloon. in 1989 Sociedad de Fabricación de Automotores S.A. (SOFASA) launched a version called RS with the 1.6-liter C2L engine, also used in the TXE version of the Renault 9. In 1990, the name was replaced by the Étoile. This was the first car with electronic fuel injection assembled in Colombia. The three available versions available were:
- TS Saloon, Break, Penta (hatchback body) Engine 1.6 L , manufactured until 1994
- TX with engine 2.0 L
- TXi after called Bravo: engine 2.2 L .
Engines
- 1.4 L (1397 cc) petrol OHV 8 valve I4; ; top speed: (Turkish development from C series block, called C2J, also available in Portugal and Yugoslavia)
- 1.4 L (1397 cc) petrol OHV 8 valve I4; ; top speed:
- 1.6 L (1565 cc) petrol OHV 8 valve I4; ; top speed: ; 0–100 km/h: 12.0 s (Argentinian development from C-series block, called C2L, available in Argentina and Colombia)
- 1.7 L (1721 cc) petrol SOHC 8 valve I4 carb.; ; top speed: ; 0–100 km/h: 12.0 s (Available in TL and TLE models)
- 1.7 L (1721 cc) petrol SOHC 8 valve I4 SPI; ; top speed: ; 0–100 km/h: 12.5 s
- 1.7 L (1721 cc) petrol SOHC 8 valve I4 carb.; ; top speed: ; 0–100 km/h: 10.7 s (Available in TS, RS, GTS and TSE models)
- 1.7 L (1721 cc) petrol SOHC 8 valve I4 carb.; ; top speed:
- 1.7 L (1721 cc) petrol SOHC 8 valve I4 MPI; ; top speed: ; 0–100 km/h: 10.7 s
- 2.0 L (1995 cc) petrol SOHC 8 valve I4 MPI; ; top speed: ; 0–100 km/h: 10.9 s (Available in GTX and TXE models)
- 2.0 L (1995 cc) petrol SOHC 12 valve I4; ; top speed: ; 0–100 km/h: 9.2 s (available in the TXi and TXi Quadra models)
- 2.0 L (1995 cc) petrol SOHC 8 valve I4 MPI turbo; ; top speed: ; 0–100 km/h: 7.4 s (available in Turbo and Turbo Quadra models).
- 2.0 L (1995 cc) petrol SOHC 8 valve I4 MPI turbo; ; top speed: ; 0–100 km/h: 7.8 s
- 2.2 L (2165 cc) petrol SOHC 8 valve I4 MPI; ; top speed: ; 0–100 km/h: 9.9 s
- 1.9 L (1870 cc) diesel SOHC 8 valve I4; ; top speed: ; 0–100 km/h: 16.0 s (available in SD and GSD models)
- 2.1 L (2068 cc) diesel SOHC 8 valve I4; ; top speed: ; 0–100 km/h: 15.6 s (available in TD and GTD models)
- 2.1 L (2068 cc) diesel SOHC 8 valve I4; ; top speed: ; 0–100 km/h: 15.1 s
- 2.1 L (2068 cc) diesel SOHC 8 valve I4 turbo; ; top speed: ; 0–100 km/h: 11.8 s