saying goodbye to my Avantime
Discussion
After 3 awesome years, today our Avantime is leaving us.
An impending baby forced a move to a sensible four door car, but i cant help thinking i will regret selling this quirky french beast.
At least it is going to a good home - a collector has snapped it up, so i dont feel too bad.
I wonder if the new beast will become such a part of the family like the avantime did....
An impending baby forced a move to a sensible four door car, but i cant help thinking i will regret selling this quirky french beast.
At least it is going to a good home - a collector has snapped it up, so i dont feel too bad.
I wonder if the new beast will become such a part of the family like the avantime did....
I still want one of these, but pending house extension is a priority.
If you don't mind me asking did you PX it, or sell privately?
The avantimes on autotrader seem to be hanging around for a while so perhaps I could go in with a cheeky offer, you never know. THen the wife would be surprised, however as a wise man once said, always better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission, or something like that.
Have you got a thread on what it was like to live with?
It looks a great example.
If you don't mind me asking did you PX it, or sell privately?
The avantimes on autotrader seem to be hanging around for a while so perhaps I could go in with a cheeky offer, you never know. THen the wife would be surprised, however as a wise man once said, always better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission, or something like that.
Have you got a thread on what it was like to live with?
It looks a great example.
Hey folks,
I replaced it with the very “sensible” 5 series in the back of the picture - the 3litre avantime averaged 18mpg, the 5litre bmw is averaging 15mpg so far, so I am keeping my shares in BP, and measuring it in smiles per gallon!
I bought it in 2009 with 60,000 miles for £4,200 and sold it today with 80,000 for £3,500 - i dunno if the BMW will do the same bangernomics!
I sold it privately. There are usually five or six for sale around the UK, there are only a couple of trim levels, and two engine choices, so it comes down to personal choice. I know at least a couple have been totally restored and put away in collections, but there are still quite a few on the road.
To live with it was awesome, big enough to cart anything, anybody, anywhere, we did lots of European road trips in it. It causes a stir wherever it goes - there are only about 300 left in the uk now and its very marmite, so people either love it or hate it.
Certainly not a shy persons car, you have to get used to people talking to you at petrol stations, supermarkets, traffic lights etc!
Its main failing is the rear leg room, though its good, it’s not great, the front seats sit right on the floor, so you can’t tuck your feet under them, but it’s not too bad. The boot is massive, enough room for at least six dead hookers I guess.
With the windows down and the roof open zooming across the Cotswolds there can’t be much more enjoyable cars for the money. Then on a cold winter day, windows closed seat heaters on and it’s a perfect winter car too.
Sure it was known as "the boat" amongst friends, it didn’t really go around corners, but the v6 had 210bhp so it had enough get up and go to get going!
The owners club is really strong and there are a couple of mechanics in London who specialise in them, most of the parts are from others Renaults, so there is no trouble with availability.
While we owned it nothing went wrong, the clutch was done - £600 from a specialist, the previous owner had already replaced the exhaust with a stainless one, I think the next clutch change is meant to be after 10 years, so it should be done soon, but I haven’t heard of any many owners onto their second clutch.
As a replacement I did look at a VelSatis, but it was too similar to the Avantime, without the funkiness (IMHO), and also the C6 – which seems to be the most common replacement for Avantime owners, but the wife was tired of weird French cars, so we went for the sensible choice.
In Europe they are still around €12,000 in the same condition, so there was some interest from the continent from people who wanted it for parts. But in the end i sold it well known Avantime loving TV star...
I am sure we will miss it, but time for someone else to enjoy it now!
Thanks for all the comments.
Greg
If you are interested in know more about the Avantime, its all here:
http://www.avantime-owners.com/vanilla/
I replaced it with the very “sensible” 5 series in the back of the picture - the 3litre avantime averaged 18mpg, the 5litre bmw is averaging 15mpg so far, so I am keeping my shares in BP, and measuring it in smiles per gallon!
I bought it in 2009 with 60,000 miles for £4,200 and sold it today with 80,000 for £3,500 - i dunno if the BMW will do the same bangernomics!
I sold it privately. There are usually five or six for sale around the UK, there are only a couple of trim levels, and two engine choices, so it comes down to personal choice. I know at least a couple have been totally restored and put away in collections, but there are still quite a few on the road.
To live with it was awesome, big enough to cart anything, anybody, anywhere, we did lots of European road trips in it. It causes a stir wherever it goes - there are only about 300 left in the uk now and its very marmite, so people either love it or hate it.
Certainly not a shy persons car, you have to get used to people talking to you at petrol stations, supermarkets, traffic lights etc!
Its main failing is the rear leg room, though its good, it’s not great, the front seats sit right on the floor, so you can’t tuck your feet under them, but it’s not too bad. The boot is massive, enough room for at least six dead hookers I guess.
With the windows down and the roof open zooming across the Cotswolds there can’t be much more enjoyable cars for the money. Then on a cold winter day, windows closed seat heaters on and it’s a perfect winter car too.
Sure it was known as "the boat" amongst friends, it didn’t really go around corners, but the v6 had 210bhp so it had enough get up and go to get going!
The owners club is really strong and there are a couple of mechanics in London who specialise in them, most of the parts are from others Renaults, so there is no trouble with availability.
While we owned it nothing went wrong, the clutch was done - £600 from a specialist, the previous owner had already replaced the exhaust with a stainless one, I think the next clutch change is meant to be after 10 years, so it should be done soon, but I haven’t heard of any many owners onto their second clutch.
As a replacement I did look at a VelSatis, but it was too similar to the Avantime, without the funkiness (IMHO), and also the C6 – which seems to be the most common replacement for Avantime owners, but the wife was tired of weird French cars, so we went for the sensible choice.
In Europe they are still around €12,000 in the same condition, so there was some interest from the continent from people who wanted it for parts. But in the end i sold it well known Avantime loving TV star...
I am sure we will miss it, but time for someone else to enjoy it now!
Thanks for all the comments.
Greg
If you are interested in know more about the Avantime, its all here:
http://www.avantime-owners.com/vanilla/
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