Which Sporty Coupe Would You Take Home? 1984 Renault Fuego vs 1992 Ford Tempo

I’m always surprised at how effective a little suspension tuning and some extra horsepower can be. Stiffen up the springs, add a turbo or a bigger engine, slap a tach in the dash, and you’ve got something just a little more special than the ordinary edition. Today’s cars have some really stodgy relatives, but thanks to more power, they’re lively enough to keep things interesting.

Yesterday’s choices were both low-mileage coupes that your grandma might have driven thirty years ago. You all claimed to hate them, but they sure got you talking, and voting. When the dust settled, the Chevy Cavalier took a narrow win, due mostly to its cockroach-like durability and lack of motorized seat belts.

I think that’s the way to go. General Motors cars get a lot of grief, much of it deserved, but I think they nailed it with the J platform. It provided reliable basic transportation for millions of people, and created a lot of fond memories along the way – not necessarily memories of the car per se, but fond memories nonetheless. You can’t ask more from a cheap little car than that.

Now then, let’s look at some coupes with manual transmissions and some extra horsepower, and see what you make of them.

1984 Renault Fuego Turbo – $4,000

Engine/drivetrain: Turbocharged 1.6-liter OHV inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD

Location: Lebanon, IN

Odometer reading: 203,000 miles

Operational status: Has been sitting for years

Some European cars, for one reason or another, just don’t translate well to the US market. And unfortunately, that includes almost everything built by Renault in the 1970s and ’80s. The Fuego coupe sold like hotcakes in Europe, and it stayed in production in South America well into the ’90s, but it landed with a thud in the US. Secondhand Fuegos gained a reputation for unreliability here, but that seems to have had more to do with poor parts support and kludgy repairs than the car itself. Renault didn’t sell many Fuegos here to begin with, and there are almost none left. The few that remain are often squirrelled away somewhere, like this one.

The Fuego was available with a couple of different engines; this one has a turbocharged version of Renault’s trusty old pushrod four-cylinder. It sits longitudinally in the engine bay, in front of the front axle like an old Audi, and drives the front wheels through a five-speed gearbox. This one last ran several years ago, when it was limped into the warehouse where it now sits. The seller believes a clogged catalytic converter was robbing it of power back then, so it will have to be removed or replaced before you start reviving the engine.

This car has over 200,000 miles on it, so someone got some use out of it. It doesn’t look too bad inside, but the driver’s seat has been replaced, probably because it was worn out. It’s not like these cars are a dime a dozen in junkyards, so a mismatched seat was probably the best they could do.

The Fuego’s styling is kind of a love-it-or-hate-it proposition; I’m personally a fan, but I know some folks just can’t stand it. It is very French, that’s for sure. The seller describes it as “nearly rust-free,” which is about as good as it gets for an ’80s Renault. There is a little rust along the bottom of the doors. It includes three sets of wheels, including the stock wheels, which are probably pretty hard to come by these days.

1992 Ford Tempo GLS – $3,500

Engine/drivetrain: 3.0-liter OHV V6, five-speed manual, FWD

Location: Carrollton, OH

Odometer reading: 116,000 miles

Operational status: Ad doesn’t say, but I’ll presume it runs and drives well enough

To make a muscle car, you take the engine from your big car, jam it under the hood of your small car, add some stripes and flashy wheels, and give it a cool name. That’s it. There’s nothing mystical or magical about it. A GTO was just a LeMans with a Bonneville engine in it. It’s not brain surgery. And the formula didn’t die with the malaise era. Plymouth revived the Duster name for a Sundance with a minivan engine in it, and Chevy’s Cavalier Z24 stole its engine from the mid-sized Celebrity. At the risk of infuriating entire legions of Chevelle SS and Charger R/T fans, I submit that this Tempo GLS, with a V6 engine taken from the Ford Taurus, is more or less a muscle car.

In addition to the big V6, the GLS ups the fun factor with a five-speed manual instead of the sorry excuse for a three-speed automatic found in most Tempos. It also, by the way, has a speedometer that reads to 120 MPH instead of 85 like lesser models. This one has 116,000 miles on it, but that’s all I can tell you; the ad invites you to message for more information. By the way, as of this writing, this car is listed as “Pending,” so if it vanishes before you all get a chance to check it out, I apologize.

I still really like red interiors, but this car highlights one of the problems with them. A few years in the sun turns them pink in places. I had a Ford Probe that did the same thing. It wouldn’t be so bad if everything faded evenly, but the various materials used in a car interior seem to shed pigment at different rates. And yes, this one has the automatic seat belts, and no, I don’t know why the driver’s side is all the way back with the door open. It shouldn’t be.

Outside, it has a rear spoiler you can blame Ford for, and some stripes and a bra that were someone else’s fault. Because it has the spoiler, it doesn’t have the luggage rack on the trunk lid that most two-door Tempos have. It looks like it’s in good condition except for a couple minor dents, but you’d do well to look underneath and make sure it isn’t rusty.

These aren’t the same two-door coupes you see for sale everywhere else; in fact, they’re both pretty damn rare. Is that a good thing? Well, if you like to draw attention at car gatherings, it is. When you’re looking for parts to keep it on the road, not so much. Either way, you have to like the car enough to put in the work. If you had to choose between these two – and you do – which one would you pick?