1997 Renault Sports Spider

The Renault Sport Spider is powered by the 150bhp, 16v four-cylinder, engine, which gave good service in the Renault Clio Williams and was also used in the original Megane Coupe 16v, and given the relatively light weight of this car, that's enough to make it very fast indeed. Rest to 60mph takes just 6.9 seconds on the way to a maximum speed of 134mph. Take a seat behind the wheel and you instantly know that this car means business. Quite simply it's more race car than road car. With a single aluminium bar dominating the dashboard, there are only three dials set into a central pod on the dash and they don't include a speedometer, only a rev counter, with oil and water pressure gauges. To complete the sports car feel, there are body-hugging Recaro bucket seats, a leather-trimmed steering wheel, and adjustable pedals so the driver can achieve the absolute optimum driving position. The windows meanwhile, pivot up to open, arguably practical, certainly distinctive. The Spider model was unfortunately discontinued after only a year and a half of production, with a total of 1,635 examples manufactured.

Only 60 right-hand drive models were manufactured during that 18-month period, and this particular example has covered only 3,781 miles from new, as detailed on the fresh MoT certificate dated the 17th April 2016, making it a rare and interesting proposition.

Registered in the UK in 2013 the V5c shows one former keeper, however, the car was registered in Ireland in 1997 and the SIMI Vehicle Data Check in the accompanying history file shows 2 keepers.At some point in the past, the engine has been changed from the original which Renault tell us was C00050 and is now C000721. We have no information about whether the work was carried out by a Renault dealer, however, these are high-revving modern sports cars and we feel that a sound later engine is a better bet than an over-revved original.This file also contains some receipts and invoices for servicing work, the original handbook and service book along with copies of the original registration documents.Renault Spiders always prove to be popular when we have offered them in the past, and with its low mileage and sensible guide price this one will not disappoint.