Vel Satis, am I mad?

[farrendahl]

Okay here's the deal, I love my MG ZT-T but I keep craving a change and for some reason I seem to be developing a something of a unnatural obsession with the Renault Vel Satis. I know it's a different prospect to the ZT-T and I'm fine with that as I like variety but am I insane to be considering a change to one of these or is it a good albeit left field choice?

[Gizmoish]

Nothing wrong with them.

Apart from the electrics.

And the engines.

Comfy place to wait for the AA though.

[farrendahl]

Gizmoish said:

Nothing wrong with them.

Apart from the electrics.

And the engines.

Comfy place to wait for the AA though.

Well I do like to be comfy

[Dangermouse58]

Just make sure you have good AA cover and access to public transport (or a replacement vehicle) for when it reguarly goes in for repairs.


And yes; you are mad.

[Rochellc01]

Gizmoish said:

Nothing wrong with them.

Apart from the electrics.

And the engines.

Comfy place to wait for the AA though.

Thats the reason they are quite rare....(in comparison to other renaults)

[fatboy69]

A few years ago i was a guest of Renault at an event at Kemble Airport which was a day for prospective customers to arrive, drive any cars in the range & be generally entertained for the day.

One of the cars i went out in was a Vel Satis. It broke down on the test run......

Electrical fault.

It was towed back to the airfield, repaired & another prospective customer was sent out in it.

It broke down.

Electrical fault.

Needless to sat i didnt buy a Renault.

But swmbo did. She bought a Laguna. It broke down. A lot.

It has gone now. Replaced by a Jaguar which, so far, hasnt broken down.........

[boyse7en]

You're not alone. I must admit to fancying a Vel Satis for a while now. The ones with a light leather interior look fantastic inside, and I like the fact that most people have no idea what they are, so you don't get any of the badge snobbery about spec/engine you get with most other cars.

Just not sure that I'm brave enough. Mind you, I have owned three Citroen XMs, with the current one still chugging along on 185,000 miles.

[farrendahl]

My big problem is I have the need to scratch that "Oh look it's a quirky car" itch, but if I'm to do it I'll only have a budget of say £1.5 - £2k maximum and the Vel Satis seems to be the only car that I can find that hits that criteria

[Dalto123]

Saw one the other day and surprised me how big it was! I do like them but reliability problems are quite worrying.

[Dapster]

I drove one at a Renault event many moons ago too. It didn't break down but it handled like a cross channel ferry in a force 10. It was awful. A £2k S Class would be a safer bet.

[AmitG]

Aside from reliability (and you can probably assume that all the lemons have been scrapped by now, so anything left is probably broadly OK) parts availability is a big problem. I think they haven't been sold in the UK for about 7 years and many parts are either no longer available or have enormous lead times. An acquaintance of mine had one and ended up waiting something like 3 months for a front wing before giving up and trading in the car.

Some parts were shared with the Espace and Laguna but there are many bespoke parts, the panels being the obvious ones.

I would wager that anything unique to RHD models stands a good chance of not being available, in which case you may have no option but to scrap it.

I looked into them a while ago. Beautiful cars with a distinct identity and a sense of opulence and occasion rarely found at the time. But the parts situation put me off.

[farrendahl]

Dapster said:

I drove one at a Renault event many moons ago too. It didn't break down but it handled like a cross channel ferry in a force 10. It was awful. A £2k S Class would be a safer bet.

An S-Class hardly fits the quirky remit though does it?

[mattnunn]

Bonkers and blind, never mind reliability it's hideous. Why no go Citroen C6 if you fancy some Gaelic oddity?

[Twincam16]

Saw one on a used-car lot for £995 the other day. When they get that cheap they're almost worth a punt as I can't see them getting any cheaper.

[farrendahl]

mattnunn said:

Bonkers and blind, never mind reliability it's hideous. Why no go Citroen C6 if you fancy some Gaelic oddity?

The fact that you can't get one for sub £2k kills the C6 off the list (give it another 5/6 years though)

[farrendahl]

So any other suggestions for quirky/unusual on a 2k budget?

Practicality is not a huge concern, but would be welcome and no I don't want an MX5, they are certainly not quirky or unusual

[V8mate]

Gizmoish said:

Nothing wrong with them.

Apart from the electrics.

And the engines.

Comfy place to wait for the AA though.

The engines are fine, it's the gearboxes you have to worry about!

[em177]

Bit different, and can get a high spec mint one for £2k, the forgotten French barge:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2003-PEUGEOT-607-HDI-MAN...



Or if you could stretch your budget and extra £500-1k:

[AmitG]

farrendahl said:

So any other suggestions for quirky/unusual on a 2k budget?

Practicality is not a huge concern, but would be welcome and no I don't want an MX5, they are certainly not quirky or unusual

Alfa 166? You could get a good one on that budget.

[farrendahl]

em177 said:

Bit different, and can get a high spec mint one for £2k, the forgotten French barge:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2003-PEUGEOT-607-HDI-MAN...



Or if you could stretch your budget and extra £500-1k:

A had actually given the Avantime a bit of thought as they seem to have an air of 1. The all important quirkiness and 2. I don't give a damn, about them but the lowest I can seem to find them (on the rare occasion you can find one) is for about £4k