"Francois" the Vel Satis 3.5 V6 Privilege Shed

"Francois" the Vel Satis 3.5 V6 Privilege Shed

Author
Discussion

Kringle

Original Poster:

44 posts

91 months

Thursday 4th August 2016
quotequote all
As a very long time lurker of Readers' Cars I finally have a car which is interesting enough to share.
So this is thread of my shed. A 2004 Renault Vel Satis with the Nissan 3.5 lump and a myriad of quirks/ faults.

My previous daily was a gen1 Mazda 6 with the 2.0 duratec motor, however many issues cropped up with it and a recent house move meant I had a garage to work on the car at my own pace in relative comfort.

Whilst the Mazda was off the road I needed a stop gap, something big enough for the 2.4 kids, with a high level of safety and possibly something interesting which I wouldn't normally own. As I knew the car was to be a short term ownership I started to browse at wilder and wilder cars until I happened across a Vel Satis which was owner by a chap who had 3 of them and was scaling back his car ownership. A few emails later and 2 hour train journey and it was mine for £850.




After 2 Mazda 6's an RX8 and a 1.6tdci Focus I have never experienced a car quite like it. It doesn't have the sat nav but it still has plenty of toys, I mean who needs an adjustable speed limiter? Really?

It's a very relaxing place to be and the engine is at home in a car like this, It wafts around and driving it at any sort of speed feels insulting. There's a natural hesitation with the auto box but it gives the impression it isn't all that pleased with you demanding excess.

When it finishes huffing at you the acceleration is surprising, probably not on the stop watch but when the car is the size of a modest cathedral it certainly raises the eyebrows!

The missus first impression was that it was a bit "Francey" and she immediately liked it's hideous appearance. Like my other cars she suggested it needed a name so despite my resistance in becoming too attached to it we named him Francois.

The more I drove the car the more I have fallen for it. The multiple moving, heated seats, the coffee cup holders (and coffee courtesy of waitrose) and an increase in my listening of Radio 3 has rapidly aged me from 28 to somewhere in the 60 bracket. God help me.

In my next post i'll discuss some of the "quirks" of this luxo barge. Thank you for reading smile

TVR Sagaris

833 posts

231 months

Thursday 4th August 2016
quotequote all
Great thread; these have always held a strange appeal along with the Avantime. Photos of the interior in the next post please.

SpeckledJim

31,608 posts

252 months

Thursday 4th August 2016
quotequote all
Cool car.

S3_Graham

12,830 posts

198 months

Thursday 4th August 2016
quotequote all
Certainly interesting!

Good luck with it!

Deerfoot

4,897 posts

183 months

Thursday 4th August 2016
quotequote all
£850! Nice barge.

Have you any interior shots?

Krikkit

26,500 posts

180 months

Thursday 4th August 2016
quotequote all
Lovely cars, excellent choice!

W00DY

15,467 posts

225 months

Thursday 4th August 2016
quotequote all
Awesome. I look forward to hearing about it and how it is to live with.


There's having balls and then there's buying someone's 3rd best Vel Satis! Good luck.

RicksAlfas

13,355 posts

243 months

Thursday 4th August 2016
quotequote all
Bonne chance!

CX53

2,964 posts

109 months

Thursday 4th August 2016
quotequote all
You've got some swingers!

Interesting choice of shed, better than the 106 1.5d I've been tooling around in! Enjoy

NormalWisdom

2,139 posts

158 months

Thursday 4th August 2016
quotequote all
Ahhhh, the "VELocity, SATISfaction", less than 1200 UK sales but an old Top Gear fave....

anonymous-user

53 months

Thursday 4th August 2016
quotequote all
Excellent! Congrats on the lovely car. Will follow with interest.

Freds

947 posts

136 months

Thursday 4th August 2016
quotequote all
God bless You, Francois and the local auto electrician. Stay strong my friend...... http://www.samaritans.org

S10GTA

12,645 posts

166 months

Thursday 4th August 2016
quotequote all
clap

RC1807

12,483 posts

167 months

Thursday 4th August 2016
quotequote all
Freds said:
God bless You, Francois and the local auto electrician. Stay strong my friend...... http://www.samaritans.org
hehe
That's mean!


feef

5,206 posts

182 months

Thursday 4th August 2016
quotequote all
It was on my shortlist, but a history of owning Citroens saw me end up with a C6 instead, but I still think the Vel Satis is an eyecatching and interesting old barge. And SO much car for £850!!

muhnkee2

172 posts

148 months

Friday 5th August 2016
quotequote all
I applaud your choice, i owned an avantime for 3 years and it still my favourite ever car - i loved it more than E60 M5 that replaced it!!
Keep on cruising...

Veeayt

3,139 posts

204 months

Friday 5th August 2016
quotequote all
Kringle said:
A 2004 Renault Vel Satis with the Nissan 3.5 lump
Was it the other way around?

M3333

2,259 posts

213 months

Friday 5th August 2016
quotequote all
Brilliant car, I love these.

Many Many moons ago (2004-5) I won a lot of business for a company who stored and processed all the Renaults coming into the UK. Basically we had the task of installing the security devices into thousands of brand new cars before they were transported into the Dealership network. The company we were working on behalf of gave us a modern purpose built workshop to complete this in on the same site.

At the time I had 15 lads working for me and we used to be given a job list with the vehicles that required alarms installing and the stock location of said vehicles. Please bear in mind the compound itself held just over 15000 cars so it was massive. Keys were just left in all the vehicles so most mornings I would go and hunt a 'mini bus' vehicle to drive my lads around to collect the vehicles allocated to them to then drive them to the workshop and complete the installation.

Anyway, basically every morning I would hunt out a V6 velsatis to transport them around. They were actually quite rare and hard to find and I didn't always succeed but a lot the time I did and I still remember the lovely rasp of the V6 and the room inside and the heated seats. They were a lovely old barge to pootle about in. Occasionally the car i chose would run out of fuel and we would just leave it and jump in something else to carry on the job with (usually a diesel Megane or Laguna!). So pre PDI and pre dealer delivery your Velsatis may have been one of my mini buses hehe



Edited by M3333 on Friday 5th August 08:03

Twoshoe

847 posts

183 months

Friday 5th August 2016
quotequote all
Gosh, the Vel Satis - I'd completely forgotten about these! Can't remember the last time I saw one, but fair play to you for taking this one on.

Does it have the 'dotted' wooden trim bits inside? (Or am I thinking of something else?)

Freds

947 posts

136 months

Friday 5th August 2016
quotequote all
Twoshoe said:
Gosh, the Vel Satis - I'd completely forgotten about these! Can't remember the last time I saw one, but fair play to you for taking this one on.

Does it have the 'dotted' wooden trim bits inside? (Or am I thinking of something else?)
Woodworm ?