2,85
PRV (L)
The PRV V6 didn't just live under bonnets — it travelled through time on the big screen and rode in the back of heads of state. From the DeLorean of Back to the Future to the limousines of presidents and party chiefs, here is the Douvrin engine as the public really met it: on screen and on the front page.
Conceived as a discreet grand-touring engine, the PRV V6 ended up under some of the most photographed cars of its time — a Hollywood time machine, the state limousine of a divided Germany, the armoured car of a French president. This page gathers the PRV's appearances in film, on television and in the press. As with the rest of the site, each entry is flagged with how solid the information is — and the page is meant to grow with the community's finds.
From a Hollywood blockbuster to a cult French comedy, PRV-powered cars have earned their place on the big screen — usually without audiences ever suspecting what sits under the bonnet.
The most famous car in cinema history hides a French secret. Doc Brown's time machine in Back to the Future (1985) is a DeLorean DMC-12 — and the engine in its tail is the V6 PRV, born of the Peugeot-Renault-Volvo alliance. A 2.85-litre, 130 bhp Douvrin V6 carried Marty McFly to 88 mph and into pop-culture legend.
A detail for enthusiasts: in the first film, the engine's menacing roar was actually dubbed from the V8 of a Porsche 928 — but under the stainless-steel skin, it really is the PRV V6.
PHOTO TO COMEIn 1993, Les Visiteurs — one of the biggest hits in French cinema history — flings a medieval knight and his squire into the modern world. The car they stumble upon is a Renault Safrane V6 RXE (Phase 1), powered by the 3.0-litre PRV V6.
In the film's cult scene, as a ring punches through the car's roof, a character delivers the line that has stayed legendary — “hold on, look at the car's roof, it looks like a cauliflower!” — making this Safrane one of the PRV's most quoted screen appearances.
PHOTO TO COMEIn 1997, Jan Kounen delivered Dobermann — a cult French crime film, hyper-stylised and ultra-violent, driven by Vincent Cassel, Monica Bellucci and Tchéky Karyo. Among the film's cars is a Renault 25 V6 injection (Phase 1) — the 2.7-litre, 144 bhp PRV V6 (code Z7V) — a world away, this time, from the official limousines.
Far from heads of state and presidential motorcades, the Douvrin saloon finds an entirely different register here: nervous, urban and disenchanted — further proof that the PRV crossed every genre of French cinema, from popular comedy to the most radical genre film.
PHOTO TO COMEOmnipresent on the TV news of their day, two PRV-powered limousines carried heads of state — and put the Douvrin V6 on the front page without anyone naming it.
Stretched 70 cm and bodied by Bertone in Italy, the Volvo 264 TE (Top Executive) carried the PRV V6. It became the official car of East German leadership — Erich Honecker rode in its back seat — and also served the Swedish government. Through the 1970s and 80s, the Douvrin V6 thus appeared, uncredited, in countless news reports.
Two open-topped Landaulet versions were built for Honecker's official parades; one survives today at the GDR Museum in Berlin, the other in a museum in South Korea.
PHOTO TO COMEFor both of his terms, French president François Mitterrand chose the Renault 25 Limousine — stretched 22.7 cm by Heuliez and armoured — powered by the V6 PRV — the 144 bhp 2.7-litre or the 182 bhp 2.5 turbo. Omnipresent on French TV news of the late 1980s and early 1990s, it became so emblematic that the presidential motorcade was nicknamed “le gang des R25”.
Built in only 832 examples between 1986 and 1988 — on the Phase 1 Renault 25 only — with individual rear seats, this Heuliez limousine is the V6 PRV at its most official.
PHOTO TO COMEThe PRV also slipped into the garages of larger-than-life public figures — starting with the most flamboyant Frenchman of the era and his rarest Renault.
A flamboyant businessman, boss of Olympique de Marseille and one of the defining French personalities of the 1980s and 90s, Bernard Tapie had a taste for exceptional cars — a Ferrari, a Porsche 959… He was also one of the very few owners of the Renault Safrane Biturbo, Renault's secret flagship: a Hartge-built bi-turbo V6 PRV of 268 bhp, with all-wheel drive and the plush Baccara trim.
Built in barely 806 examples before production stopped in 1996, the Safrane Biturbo had a handful of prestige clients — Tapie, but also football boss Louis Nicollin. Priced at 428,000 francs and good for 250 km/h, it remains one of the rarest — and most celebrity-laden — PRVs ever. (Its engineering is detailed in the Tuners section.)
PHOTO TO COMESome leads are worth pinning down before we state them as fact. If you can document any of these — with a source, a screenshot or a magazine reference — please share it on the forum.
Beyond Back to the Future, other PRV-powered cars (Alpine, Renault 25, Peugeot 505/604/605, Volvo 264…) surely appear in films and TV series — to be identified and confirmed precisely.
Front pages and road tests (L'Auto-Journal, Sport Auto, Échappement, Auto Hebdo…) featuring PRV-powered cars — to collect and date.
Beyond the Volvo 264 TE and the Renault 25, were other PRV-powered cars used as government or ceremonial vehicles? To confirm case by case.
Period TV and print advertising for PRV-powered cars — to gather, with brand and year.
A film, a series, a magazine cover, an advert — every sighting helps build the pop-culture story of the Douvrin V6. Share it with the community.