Rank the French auto brands

[trinacriabob]

In renting small cars overseas, it seems that the French have more mainstream automakers than many European countries.

At any rate, the 3 brands I see in rental fleets tend to be Renault, Peugeot, and Citroen.

I have driven the Peugeot 107 or 108 (about a decade ago) and, more recently, the Citroen C3.  I have a cousin who had a Renault Twingo about 15 to 20 years ago and they still exist, although they've been updated with time.

Is there a pecking order as to which French auto brand is better than the other?

[balthazar]

Nope; they're all tied... for last place.

[ykX]

I think Citroen DS line is more luxurious and prestigious than the rest.  I kind of like Citroen, they always have been quirky and funky brand, making different cars than the rest.   I think Renault and Peugeot are more mainstream.  In the 90s Peugeot 205 GTi was a great hot hatch, not sure how good are the current versions are.

[trinacriabob]

12 hours ago, balthazar said:

Nope; they're all tied... for last place.

I'm not talking within Europe.

I'm talking among themselves.  I think Citroen might be making a comeback with their C# series.  They're popular.

I'm thinking the French cars are probably more reliable than FIAT or SEAT.

Citroen C3 - WITH air bump - can be had without

 

[ykX]

Found this JD Powers Germany Brand reliability ranking.  Kind of interesting

[Robert Hall]

Odd...I would have expected Mitsubishi near the bottom rather than the top...

[trinacriabob]

6 hours ago, ykX said:

Found this JD Powers Germany Brand reliability ranking.  Kind of interesting

Thanks for this table.  Various expected and unexpected things:

Hyundai, Opel (Germany's "GM"), and Toyota do well and Nissan is the lowest ranked Japanese brand (ok)

Fiat and Mini are toward the bottom of the heap (ok)

The French brands are below average but, overall, better than the expensive German brands (the latter are complicated)

Smart and Ford fare better than average (strange)

SEAT (Spanish subsidiary of FIAT or similar relationship) is highly ranked while FIAT is not (strange)

According to this, the slightly more reliable French brand is Peugeot

[trinacriabob]

I thought I'd pass this along.  I learned something and here's the correction.  Someone told me SEAT was somehow linked to FIAT.  Maybe it once was.  However, it is seemingly a part of the VW family of products.  One can see this across the bottom of the SEAT web pages. That might explain why the reliability ratings for SEAT are closer to those of VW and far better than those of FIAT.  I was recently looking at the website for the SEAT Ibiza sedan.  It has a good deal of overlap with the VW Polo sedan.  The other thing is that the available automatic gearbox is an odd 7 speed DSG, which is what is offered in the VW Golf and Polo. This really stood out. It's probably the same unit.

[ocnblu]

BMW, Benz and Audi, wow, such a stellar performance by the poshest German brands in their home country... much amusement here.

[ocnblu]

I like Citroen products, from afar, so that is based purely on surface design aesthetics .  Personal experience with French cars is limited to my mom's '81 Renault Le Car (purchased from Nolt AMC/Jeep/Renault in Lancaster, PA brand new).  She loved that thing and it was reliable for her over the 100k miles she put on it.  Back then, there was not so much homogenization in mechanical engineering as there is today across brands, with more conglomerates and fewer individual car companies left.  An old French car with long travel mechanical or air suspension is the best riding car you will ever know.  Comical on corners, but level and so perfectly smooth on straights.

Edited February 15, 2020 by ocnblu

[ocnblu]

Renault 4, Citroen Ami.

[Robert Hall]

Of the modern era French cars, I like the Renault Avantime and Vel Satis for their weirdness, along the with the Citroen XM and C6.  The Peugeot 607 was a good looking, albeit conventional large sedan.  Reminded me of the Chrysler LH sedans of the 90s-00s.   The 407 coupe was good looking.  

For current French cars, I like the revived Alpine model,  and some of the current models from DS 

[trinacriabob]

On 2/15/2020 at 6:03 AM, ocnblu said:

I like Citroen products, from afar, so that is based purely on surface design aesthetics .  Personal experience with French cars is limited to my mom's '81 Renault Le Car (purchased from Nolt AMC/Jeep/Renault in Lancaster, PA brand new).  She loved that thing and it was reliable for her over the 100k miles she put on it.  Back then, there was not so much homogenization in mechanical engineering as there is today across brands, with more conglomerates and fewer individual car companies left.  An old French car with long travel mechanical or air suspension is the best riding car you will ever know.  Comical on corners, but level and so perfectly smooth on straights.

Citroen suspensions seem to be their hallmark.  I rented a C3 last summer and couldn't believe how responsive, smooth, and compliant the ride and handling were.  It felt like a much larger car.  No wonder they're popular over there.