: Renault Avantime 3.0 V6 Privilege
:Morris Minor (x2), MG Metro, various Renaults from Clio 182 Trophy (HUGE fun), two Espaces.
Having been working for a Renault dealer when the car was launched it was lust at first sight, however a price tag of £30K (with the depreciation to match) was too much at the time. Four years later the usual French car depreciation had brought it into the realms of a normal budget. Why did I buy it? Well it was a car that only the French in their odd moments of madness (Citroen SM, Peugeot 1007) could design and then be brave enough to market. The car is unique, rare, head-turning, all three Top Gear presenters like it, and it was a crossover before the term was invented. My car also had 'provenance' as it was a one-private-owner car, and the only one the dealer I worked for sold!
I had looked at another one a year or so before this one, but on the test drive a child ran out into the road in front of us and almost got killed so that was the end of that experience!
To be honest I knew a lot about the car before I bought it from my dealership days, but the fantastic owners website is full of the pitfalls (rear ignition coils), and benefits (open air motoring) of owning one. Despite all the usual comments about French cars the doors haven't dropped, the electrics generally are reliable, and the interior trim is still in the right place.
Some owners have done well over 100,000 miles in theirs without issues, so I know the engines and gearboxes are robust.
Things I love:
Let's be honest it's not going to win races, or hustle you too quickly down a country lane, even my family have nicknamed it 'The Barge'. It's a Grand Tourer that has been designed for continental roads, and cruising down the Kings Road or Champs Elysee. It's actually quite well built, reliable, and the piece de resistance when you drop all the windows and draw back the full length sunroof gives you a view that only a cabriolet can rival. It has a nice big V6 that torques you along, eating up the miles, armchair-like front seats, and a boot that swallows anything.
As I have a Scenic as a main car then the Avi doesn't get used that often, but when it does come out over a weekend I realise why I like the car all over again. The design of it even after 10 years still gets comments, and the owners with ones that have private plates on are asked if it's a new car (or a Megane II).
Things I hate:
Hate is a little strong, but I wish the suspension was set up better. On an open road it's great, but on pot holed and rough UK roads it does crash around a bit. The brakes could also be better for a 2 tonne, front-heavy car; sometimes you just have to push the middle pedal hard and pray!
Costs:
The main costs are petrol as the car does south of 30mpg on a good day, RFL as the CO2 is 271g/km, which back in 2003 was bad enough but in 2012 is terrible, and the cambelt change which should be an engine-out job on the V6.
Insurance is reasonable, but I live in fear of having an accident as the write-off value isn't anything close to what I consider its true value. A windscreen is around £2000, so one day soon a car will be scrapped for the sake of a stray stone. Overall the running costs have been very low, and my main expenditure outside of regular servicing was replacing the air-con compressor and condenser a couple of years ago.
Parts are an interesting one as, if they are a common Renault part, they are reasonable, but the unique Matra parts are expensive and we're now coming to the time when Renault don't have to support the parts supply. The problem with it being a rare car, with not many written off, is that scrap parts are difficult to get hold of.
Servicing can be main dealer, but with the cars getting old, and on sale for so little time, the expertise in the network isn't always at the dealer you might want to use. Luckily there are now a couple of specialist Renault independents such as Rentech and Alpine Autos that are getting to know the cars, and do a V6 cambelt change in situ.
Where I've been:
The main meet-ups have been local to where I live in Surrey, at World Series by Renault, or places like Gaydon for a national meeting. This year being the 10th anniversary of the UK launch, we've got a special meeting at the Transport Museum in Coventry on 7th April.
Being a French car it has to go back home occasionally, so I've had a blast around Linas de Montlhery circuit for the French 10th anniversary last year, and a visit to the site of the old Matra factory in Romarantin a couple of years before that. On the way back from Montlhery I just had to take it through Paris, up the Champs Elysee and round the Arc de Triomphe.
The owners are a unique bunch who tend to reflect the uniqueness of the car, and it's good to meet up, especially in France where we tend to be the second-strongest contingent of owners after the French.
What next?
Selling it? NO!
Ideally I'd like to upgrade the brakes and suspension as they are a bit of an Achilles heel. My real ambition/fantasy is to take the 2.0 turbo model, install the injectors etc from a Megane 225 as it's the same engine, reduce weight inside, and create a bit of a stealth car. Either that or buy the V6 295bhp compressor prototype that's been on eBay recently...