The Safrane.Info Forum!

The gold one's back again; not on Ebay this time but on Gumtree for £450:
http://www.gumtree.com/p/cars-vans-moto ... /112613718

(and on the last Ebay listing he did say he'd drive it down south for all us Sassenachs )

Hello 610, long time!

I disagree! I'd struggle to get 30MPG at 70. Maybe at 60 I can but I could never get 36MPG at 70. I've had 3 of these cars and done long distance in all of them and only once managed to get up to 33MPG for a short while (about a minute) and that was hitting the reset button so I could see the figures adjust in real time. They soon dropped! I also live right next to a major motorway so i should have a fair amount of experience!

The car is on gumtree now (as detheridge pointed out) and now has even less pictures! He doesn't want to show the inside of the car for some reason which is odd.

The gumtree ad at least lists a contact phone number. Maybe you might want to ring him and ask about the interior and the supposedly amazing MPG?

Nope! Why would I?

I am curious though detheridge, You don't post about anything else safrane related on this forum but keep finding this car for sale and posting the appropriate url! Now you're suggesting I ring up about it?

Are you the seller? If you are, feel free to post a link / photos / description in the for sale forum - thats what its there for. The only people who can't post there are new members - i remove them from the newly registered group / give them posting rights when they post a couple of posts that are safrane related / not spam.

I already have two safranes I certainly don't want another!

No I'm not the seller -I live in Worcestershire. I'm interested in acquiring a Safrane myself, and that's why I'm here (for starters :-)
I only suggested it so that you could post back here for others. You -being one of the expert folks here -could ask all the right questions. I wouldn't know what to look for!

Ah ok.

To be honest there isn't much of a market for them these days. They're getting old, unfashionable, expensive to maintain etc. Petrol is so expensive that lots of people are a bit put off by that too. Don't get me wrong, they're lovely cars to drive but they've basically had their day. The only reason I still have mine is for two reasons:
1) I spent too much money on one to get rid of it
2) It's the only car I have access to

In all honesty though, they're good reliable cars but they can be a bit 'quirky' especially when it comes to finding tech info or getting them serviced / repaired. Other than that, they're reliable and it takes a lot to kill one. I'm not trying to put you off acquiring one as they're well built (by renault standards) but you'd need to find a really good one and they're rarer than rocking horse teeth. I used to have a checklist of things to look for but its been so long since I've looked for a safrane I don't even know what I'd ask now anyway.

I'm not interested in ringing up random safrane sellers and asking questions I'm afraid. I didn't even ask the owner of the last safrane I bought any questions other than "Will you take £550, take it off ebay and let me collect it tomorrow?" - I was desperate for a cheap car! I bought it completely blind and despite being a knackered old dog it's still going now. It's also (weirdly) been the cheapest car to maintain that we've had.

Interesting comments!
As Saffles says finding a good example is getting very difficult,i know someone who is after a top example but he can,t find one(well mine is there,but not for sale!)
I think they are out there but you need to keep looking,what are you after,phase 1 or 2? 2.0/2.2/2.5 /V6???
let us know on a new thread and we can suggest a few things and maybe what to look out for.

Many thanks for the helpful answers guys.
In fact (and this is not to tell you how to do it) might I suggest that between you a sticky on 'what to look out for when buying a Saf' might be invaluable?
I know that the V6 would be way out of my league, but the 2.5 seems highly interesting -for the past few decades I've driven Citroen CXs and XMs, so the Saf would be a suitable equivalent.
I did have a happy time over a decade ago with a Renault 25 -fab, apart from the fact that the auto box had only 2 settings, drive and reverse and would go up hills at 5mph with my foot to the floor... With the original dodgy Renault box no-one could work out how to get it to kick down!
Has anyone tried a 2.5 swap to a diesel engine -I'm speculating wildly that the Volvo 2.5 TD might be a possible donor?
How much further down in performance are the 2.0 and 2.2? I've read disparaging stories about the 2.2, though the 2.0 seems to have a better rep.
Or is this completely wrong?

So there you have the gist of a FAQ for buyers section.
Over to you guys.

Will post on there shortly...
Best get in there before Saffles,why is a V6 out of you reach?

2.2 is a phase 1 safrane. Phase 1 uses ren-oh engines and boxes. The 2.0 comes as phase 1 or phase 2. If you get a ph2 2 or 2.5 it will be volvo powered (engine and box) so it's almost indestructible, very reliable and will soldier on far longer than other engines and boxes. The 3L comes in two variants.. ph1 and ph2. Both use renault engines / boxes and both are known for having gearboxes that are like chocolate teapots. A friend in the Netherlands sold his 3L safrane ph2 as the box blew twice. He got so fed up with the repair bills he bought a ford transit bus and sold the safrane.

The 2.2 might be available as a ph2 in europe but here in the uk the phases were (afaik) as follows:
Phase 1:
2L, 2.2L, 2.5TD, 3L

Phase 2:
2L, 2.5L, (3L Europe)
The 2L was available as auto and manual but the 2.5 was only automatic in the UK. There was a rare 2.5TD phase 1 but they are rare. There was also another (not sure if it was the 2.5TD or a 3L) that had 4x4. One of our members here has this as an import though he rarely posts.

No idea about putting a diesel 2.5TD engine in a safrane but I will say that the engine mounts in the safrane are completely different to the volvo engine mounts so you'd need some specialist work done to fit one in. Then you'd need other stuff to be sorted out like speed sensors, ecu's etc. I wouldn't know where to start!

There is a bloke out in the Czech republic who recently bought a 2.3 petrol turbo engine and was going to fit it into his 2.5 safrane but I've no idea on his progress at all. The 2.4 non turbo engine apparently can't handle turbo pressure as the cylinder walls are too thin and the gasket not strong enough - thats what I was told anyway.