The Safrane.Info Forum!

Thought i would start a list of what items the Safrane had as a first or in some cases last time for Renault.
Some items have never been on any other Renault since the Safrane,maybe Renault got there fingers burn,t with the cost of warrenty claims?
It was the first Renault to have digital climate control
First to have a heated front screen
Only Renault to have an electric adjustable steering column
Only Renault to have an electric rear seat(25 limo wasn,t Renault built)
First to have heated front seats
Computer controlled suspension as standard(Early V6 only)
First to have fake wood inserts(i think!)
One of the first to have a drivers airbag
First to have memory mirror glasses
Dipping n/s mirror glass when R selected
Underbonnet light
First new Renault model to have the current Renault logo(it was on the Feb 92 foreign launch cars)
Last Renault to have Yellow foglights
First Renault to have Sat-nav...
There must be a few more,but so many of these are common on modern Renaults they have a lot to thank to the Safrane?

old 70's renaults had fake wood in them. 30's etc iirc. They may have been real wood right enough.

When did the heated screen come in?

Only one from the 90'sd I can recall with a heated screen was some 2l 16v megane cabrios.

But yeah a lot of stuff Safrane only.

hydraulic bonnet struts as well. Can't think of another renault of that time with them.

I think the Safrane wood is real?,i seem to remember breaking a strip on the dash of a car once and it was real wood,not fake,but not 100% sure.
The Safrane had a heated screen from launch in Europe 1992,i don,t remember any Meganes having heated screens,hydraulic struts where on the 25.
Safrane was the first and last to have a CD player AND a tape player in one unit,its got a double DIN setup,CD was option but i also think it was the first(maybe the Espace aswell)to offer a CD player in a Renault as an option
The V6 had blue tinted mirror glasses,repeated on the Laguna 2.
First to have retractable headlamp washers
Viable PAS was a first,again i think...
Anymore?

safrane wood is plastic. very cheap and nasty plastic at that

It's possible the ph1 had real wood. With the ph2, it's no secret Renault wanted it out the door and sold ASAP for as cheaply as possible so perhaps they switched to plastic for it.

@Chris: I *think* the safrane was the first renault to have the heated screen licensed from Ford. I couldn't swear to that though. All I do know is that I've got very lucky somehow as all 3 of our safranes have had it - and it was only an optional accessory even on the Questor (there are a few Questors without it!). Pain for replacement though.. make sure your insurance covers it as they're about £5-600 new. When I scrapped #2 a couple of years back I kept the windscreen as it was brand new 6 months before and never even had the heated element used once! Also a pain to remove them from the car too - took me 3 hours of careful and gentle persuasion to get through the bond and that was with the cheesewire tools.

They clearly never thought of the cup holder though did they! My partners little 1.3 ford has cup holders yet the safrane has none!

I think Saffles is right,got an idea that Phase 1 wood is real and Phase 2 was fake,i know the Safrane Baccara had highly polished wood and this was real.
My V6 has cupholders,they are inside the glovebox lid,later Phase 1 and Phase 2 didn,t have a glovebox.

Admin Note: Real name replaced with username.

The Phase 2 in europe does! The UK version doesn't because the frogs reckoned that they couldn't fit it in with the motor blower assembly etc.

it was just laziness.

They managed in the meganes and lagunas just fine.

Chris, is that really you? You're back? Sheesh, I wish I never moved those topics to the tech forum now! The day I move them back here and you're back again hehe