Shed Of The Week: Renault Vel Satis

Several bravery pills required for this one...

The French have discovered or invented some fairly major stuff in their time. Photography. The metric system. Pain au chocolat. Dynamometers. Oxygen. The Etch a Sketch.

And in 2001, they created the Renault Vel Satis.

Loved by French taxi drivers for its space and comfort

Aimed at non-conformists and optimistically named after a conflation of the words Velocity and Satisfaction, this front-wheel drive notchbacked brother to the Laguna 2 was Renault's flagship model, but it wasn't warmly welcomed by the press. They didn't rate the stodgy handling or the choppy ride, which for cruising at least should have been much better, given the fact that it used the long Espace chassis. Nor were the scribblers all that keen on its uniquely teetering style or a front end that made even the last Ford Scorpio look handsome.

In their defence the pressers had been put into a state of confusion by Renault's simultaneous unleashing of the Avantime, a giant one-box two-door device so outlandish it made the Vel Satis seem about as radical as a sock.

Neither the Avantime or Vel Satis lasted long, but the VS was more successful than you might think. We stopped taking it in the UK just three years into the production run with only 1,200 cars sold, but it soldiered on for another four years after that in France, where it was lovingly adopted by taxi drivers. They liked its commodious and luxurious interior, easy access to the rear (hoh-hee-hon, etc), back seat fold-down facility and Louvre-sized boot. Also, the French President jiggled around in one, but then he probably had to for reasons of nationalistic pride. In total over 60,000 Vel Sati were built.

Two French presidents have given the VS a seal of approval

Our Shed starts off well by packing the grunty and (in this application) refined Isuzu-designed 3.0-litre 24-valve V6 diesel. This gives it excellent motorway cruising ability and (despite the car's kerb weight of more than 1,700kg) a genuine potential to hit 40mpg, along with a 147mph top end and an eight-second 0-60.

It sidles further up the Satisfaction scale by being in top Initiale spec. That means it was stuffed with just about everything you could ram into a car in the early part of this century, including the odd cool Presidential feature like rear window blinds. Then it has a green leather interior garnished with plenty of what Shed thinks might be bird's eye maple veneers. Plus it has an NCAP five-star crash rating.

All good so far. But the Vel Satis does have issues. Generically, the gearbox was not the best, being rather prone to ratio-hunting. Specifically, our Shed has a fuel injection fault. From one of the pics we can see that the engine is idling at what looks like a decent speed of around 1,000rpm, but that's about 250rpm more than it should be. Pressing the brake can drop the idle to the correct 750rpm, but out on the road you may find the engine going into limp-home mode with very tardy throttle response under load.

All the luxury and comfort needed for long drives

If this problem is coming up on the display as Fault In Fuel Injection System, it's not unknown in 3.0-litre diesel Vel Satis circles. It could be failed solenoids on the fuel injector pump. That will be expensive to fix.

Or you might be lucky. It might be bunged-up injectors and/or the EGR valve, a typical issue on older diesel lumps running cheap sticky fuel. That can often be sorted by running a couple of doses of a detergent-based additive like Redex through the system. Using good quality diesel is a good idea.

Tracking a Vel Satis shouldn't present any special difficulties other than the pain of forking out for new tyres if it turns out to be them rather than the tracking. Named-brand 245/45x18 tyres for this car are around £100 each. Other problems to look out for? Surprisingly few, really. The electric handbrake is troublesome and some owners have experienced leaky air-con pipework.

This car would have been over £30K new. Now it's reduced to scrabbling around in the bargain basement. Won't someone take pity on it?

Here's the ad. Place your bets.

A Fine Example of the Rare Renault Vel Satis with 1 Year MOT, Next MOT due 04/11/2016, 5 seats, Green, Upgrades Include: Satellite Navigation System, Leather Upholstery, Parking Sensors, Cruise Control, Climate Control, Alarm, Computer (Drivers Information System), Full Electric Windows (Front & Rear), Electrically Operated Folding Door Mirrors, Auto-Dimming Rear View Mirror, Radio/CD Player, Electrically Operated Heated Front Seats, Memory Position Drivers Seat, 18in Alloy Wheels, Air Conditioning (Front & Rear), Rear Window Blinds, Headlight Washers, Front Fog Lights, Remote Central Locking with Spare Key *Needs Tracking, Computer Showing Fuel Injection Fault - No After-Sales Care or Warranty, Sold as Declared* OPEN 7 DAYS, ALL MAJOR DEBIT CARDS ACCEPTED, P/X & DELIVERY AVAILABLE