...what's with the Renault hatred?

All car companies have their detractors. You can never move far from stereotypes in the auto industry. Saab drivers wear roll-neck sweaters. Citroens are quirky. Audi drivers are cocks. Alfa Romeos are passionate. Porsches are yuppie cars.

So what are Renaults?

If it's anything like general consensus would have you believe, awful, is the answer. Inexplicably, Renault seems to be on the receiving end of an inordinate amount of hatred and bile, and as a fan of Renaults I feel I have to at least attempt to stand up and defend their corner.

The press seem to be fairly impartial, though it is their job. Renault's current range isn't brilliant unless you concentrate on their hot hatchbacks. The non-RenaultSport Clio certainly isn't a class leader, the Megane has confusing styling, the Laguna is neither attractive nor interesting in a very competitive class, and the rest of the range is fairly forgettable. A few gems do of course shine, such as the aforementioned RenaultSport models, and the Laguna Sport Tourer GT and Laguna Coupe are both attractive and capable cars, but again, not class leaders. Perhaps that's part of why Renaults seem to be largely unpopular - they have no current stand-out car.

It's certainly not always been like that. Renault have had so many pioneering and class-leading cars that it's hard to keep track of them. R4. R5 (below). R19. Espace. The first Clio. The first Twingo. Scenic. It's not just trend-setters either, but styling pioneers and genuinely clever design. The 5 was a case in point, being so much more modern and practical than anything else at the time. Inevitably, other companies have always had to play catch-up. They've had some brilliant, brilliant cars, and many magazines generally accept that cars like the Williams, 182 Cup and 200 Cup Clios are the best hot hatches ever.

So why the ire? Maybe it's how Renault compete. Their best models, the hot hatchbacks, are competing in an incredibly competitive market where brand loyalty is fierce. There are VW GTI people, there are Fast Ford people, MINI Cooper people and Renault people. Thus, even the best Renaults suffer from the fans of their rivals. The more mundane models just don't offer anything special enough to stand out, so they are also inevitably snubbed in favour of other cars. The dealers are pretty woeful too, in all honesty. Reliability isn't great, which results in you spending more time at the woeful dealers.

Perhaps the cars are just too "French" for the UK market to understand. A battered and scruffy Clio looks perfect in the sunny climes of a French coastal town, but even a tidy Dynamique seems ungainly in a dingy UK suburb. There can be no better explanation for this than a car feeling more at home in one place than another.

And now, Renault have committed themselves to electric cars, which are like the Anti-Christ to "petrolheads" who assume them to be the sharpened sceptre that awaits the petrol engine, rather than the more likely saviour of the petrol engine for more recreational purposes.

Renault need a class leader. They need a car that competes entirely on it's own merit, and can beat everything else in the class by a convincing margin, just like Ford seems to achieve with regularity. Only with a car that's irrefutably better than it's competitors or with a strong enough USP (handling, styling, comfort) will be enough to make the haters eat their words. Step to it, Renault.