RE: Venturi Atlantique: Time For Tea?

RE: Venturi Atlantique: Time For Tea?

Author
Discussion

Hurricane52

279 posts

122 months

Tuesday 14th July 2015
quotequote all
I bought one from Nick Mee about 15 years ago and covered about 25K miles I think over about 7 years. Nick is an Aston specialist and a gentleman. He lost a lot of money trying to get people to take notice of the Atlantique, which is a great car. No-one in the UK, including Nick's mechanics, could get mine to run reliably. Its problems were intermittent, but fairly frequent. The worst kind of problems really. It would tease me no end. Extremely fast trips from London to Wales, then for no apparent reason "limp home" mode made some long weekends much longer then intended.

Eventually I had an obsessive auto electrician spend hours and hours tracing everything. He was impressed by the immobiliser. I remember him saying "if I had to install an immobiliser, this is the kind of thing I would do. It's a work of genius, a French genius." Apparently, Venturi built the cars then had this "genius" from Paris come to Dieppe to install an immobiliser deemed suitable for the UK market. It spoilt my ownership. It was eventually stripped out and I had one last lovely drive, before selling it in 2007 I think for about 18K to a Delorean/Alpine PRV specialist on the South coast. He sold it to France.

There were very few RHD Atlantiques - probably fewer than 10 - and some went to Asia. Mine was a lovely colour - a Rolls-Royce colour called Oyster something. It was grey with a copper hue. My wife said it was brown.

The few hardy Venturi owners tended to share info and I know one who has kept his silver one in Worcestershire to keep his fantastic A110 company. I think he gets his serviced by the ex-Venturi staff at Extreme Limite in France. I wish I had done that from the beginning.

They are a step up from the GTA (I have had a Turbo since 1992) in terms of speed and refinement. The handling is spot on and the mid engine layout made for a more stable car in side winds. My brother in law following me along B roads in some German car wondered if my brake lights were bust, truth is you didn't need the whopping (for their time) brakes that much - it just went round corners. I can see why Mr Mee and the press thought it a rival for the 911 - much better looking and quicker. In reality, it was more akin to the Esprit Turbo, but without that silly handbrake on the right sill which always caught your trousers on the way out.

All in all, the Atlantique is much missed and a more exclusive and exciting drive than the Ferrari 456GTA which replaced it, but that took us over the Alps to Italy no bother. And more importantly, home again, without any limping whatsoever.










Baryonyx

17,990 posts

158 months

Tuesday 14th July 2015
quotequote all
Great to hear from an owner. Sounds like every 90's supercar, it had it's share of 'character' in terms of problems and foibles. Still a thing of beauty though.

Ozzie Osmond

21,189 posts

245 months

Tuesday 14th July 2015
quotequote all
IIRC they were built at Cholet, near Nantes in the west of France. It happens I was engaged in buying group of French companies based in exactly that region. As a big fan of mid-engined cars I couldn't help investigating more closely and was fascinated by what I found - although the "ownership experience" threatened to be difficult in UK and I never actually bought one.

Truly the French Esprit.


wildcat45

8,056 posts

188 months

Wednesday 15th July 2015
quotequote all
Hurricane52 said:
I bought one from Nick Mee about 15 years ago and covered about 25K miles I think over about 7 years. Nick is an Aston specialist and a gentleman. He lost a lot of money trying to get people to take notice of the Atlantique, which is a great car. No-one in the UK, including Nick's mechanics, could get mine to run reliably. Its problems were intermittent, but fairly frequent. The worst kind of problems really. It would tease me no end. Extremely fast trips from London to Wales, then for no apparent reason "limp home" mode made some long weekends much longer then intended.

Eventually I had an obsessive auto electrician spend hours and hours tracing everything. He was impressed by the immobiliser. I remember him saying "if I had to install an immobiliser, this is the kind of thing I would do. It's a work of genius, a French genius." Apparently, Venturi built the cars then had this "genius" from Paris come to Dieppe to install an immobiliser deemed suitable for the UK market. It spoilt my ownership. It was eventually stripped out and I had one last lovely drive, before selling it in 2007 I think for about 18K to a Delorean/Alpine PRV specialist on the South coast. He sold it to France.

There were very few RHD Atlantiques - probably fewer than 10 - and some went to Asia. Mine was a lovely colour - a Rolls-Royce colour called Oyster something. It was grey with a copper hue. My wife said



The few hardy Venturi owners tended to share info and I know one who has kept his silver one in Worcestershire to keep his fantastic A110 company. I think he gets his serviced by the ex-Venturi staff at Extreme Limite in France. I wish I had done that from the beginning.

They are a step up from the GTA (I have had a Turbo since 1992) in terms of speed and refinement. The handling is spot on and the mid engine layout made for a more stable car in side winds. My brother in law following me along B roads in some German car wondered if my brake lights were bust, truth is you didn't need the whopping (for their time) brakes that much - it just went round corners. I can see why Mr Mee and the press thought it a rival for the 911 - much better looking and quicker. In reality, it was more akin to the Esprit Turbo, but without that silly handbrake on the right sill which always caught your trousers on the way out.

All in all, the Atlantique is much missed and a more exclusive and exciting drive than the Ferrari 456GTA which replaced it, but that took us over the Alps to Italy no bother. And more importantly, home again, without any limping whatsoever.









Great write-up. Thanks.

sidesauce

2,456 posts

217 months

Wednesday 15th July 2015
quotequote all
alpgta said:


Yes first post and all that. Long time listener, first time caller etc but I thought I'd pitch in.

Well here's my GTA Turbo, owned 20 years+ now and a total of 190K on the clock (110K of which was me!) They're not as fragile as you might think, but I really do need to get out in it more this year as it's been sitting far too idle of late.
Top lurking sir! Welcome. smile

cerb4.5lee

30,186 posts

179 months

Wednesday 15th July 2015
quotequote all
wildcat45 said:
Hurricane52 said:
I bought one from Nick Mee about 15 years ago and covered about 25K miles I think over about 7 years. Nick is an Aston specialist and a gentleman. He lost a lot of money trying to get people to take notice of the Atlantique, which is a great car. No-one in the UK, including Nick's mechanics, could get mine to run reliably. Its problems were intermittent, but fairly frequent. The worst kind of problems really. It would tease me no end. Extremely fast trips from London to Wales, then for no apparent reason "limp home" mode made some long weekends much longer then intended.

Eventually I had an obsessive auto electrician spend hours and hours tracing everything. He was impressed by the immobiliser. I remember him saying "if I had to install an immobiliser, this is the kind of thing I would do. It's a work of genius, a French genius." Apparently, Venturi built the cars then had this "genius" from Paris come to Dieppe to install an immobiliser deemed suitable for the UK market. It spoilt my ownership. It was eventually stripped out and I had one last lovely drive, before selling it in 2007 I think for about 18K to a Delorean/Alpine PRV specialist on the South coast. He sold it to France.

There were very few RHD Atlantiques - probably fewer than 10 - and some went to Asia. Mine was a lovely colour - a Rolls-Royce colour called Oyster something. It was grey with a copper hue. My wife said



The few hardy Venturi owners tended to share info and I know one who has kept his silver one in Worcestershire to keep his fantastic A110 company. I think he gets his serviced by the ex-Venturi staff at Extreme Limite in France. I wish I had done that from the beginning.

They are a step up from the GTA (I have had a Turbo since 1992) in terms of speed and refinement. The handling is spot on and the mid engine layout made for a more stable car in side winds. My brother in law following me along B roads in some German car wondered if my brake lights were bust, truth is you didn't need the whopping (for their time) brakes that much - it just went round corners. I can see why Mr Mee and the press thought it a rival for the 911 - much better looking and quicker. In reality, it was more akin to the Esprit Turbo, but without that silly handbrake on the right sill which always caught your trousers on the way out.

All in all, the Atlantique is much missed and a more exclusive and exciting drive than the Ferrari 456GTA which replaced it, but that took us over the Alps to Italy no bother. And more importantly, home again, without any limping whatsoever.









Great write-up. Thanks.
Agree. thumbup

Stunned Monkey

351 posts

208 months

Wednesday 15th July 2015
quotequote all
Hi All, as the next owner of R300 VEN, I can add a few notes… Cheers alpgta for the nudge wink

I had wanted one of these ever since I first became aware of this gorgeous Frenchie with the engine and gearbox I knew and loved. I still think it’s one of the prettiest cars of all time. I always found the cockpit layout to be disappointing with the seating position too low, the dash too high and zero adjustment except the usual two on the seat. The handling was sublime and I can liken it to the lightness of an Elise, but bigger and a crapload faster (over 300ft-lbs at 2500rpm).

The single turbo 3.0 was lifted straight from the Alpine A610 with the only difference being increased fuel pressure to meet a standard 1 bar boost and lightly tweaked ECU map to compensate. The transmission too was the same albeit with the final drive flipped for mid-mounting. I spent some time troubleshooting the cutting-out issue which had not been fixed by removal of the immobiliser. I can understand how it felt like a “limp mode” because it would do it on anything other than light throttle, but it was not a high level intentional safe mode. The cause was much more prosaic: Overheating of the ECU’s injector drivers. The more you hoofed it, the hotter those FETs get. In the A610, the ECU is mounted in a ventilated compartment between the rear seats. On the Venturi, it’s screwed to the carpet underlay and covered with a layer of carpet. Spacing it off the wall by 5mm or so and removing the carpet stopped the problem. The other car of the same colour passed through my hands too and had the exact same issue – that’s owned by a bloke on the RAOC forum now I believe.

Electrics in general are not good on the Venturi. Connectors are poor quality AND bespoke (they decided to make male JPT connectors with more than two pins). I also managed to break one of the striker pins off by (gasp) Shutting The Door. I still have the £35 M8x1mm helicoil kit I had to buy to fix it…. Access to the engine is surprisingly good – everything’s accessible either from the back or under the access panel under the rear windscreen. Event he dizzy cap is easy enough to change from underneath if you have an M8 ratchet spanner.

When I got the car the boost control valve also wasn’t working, and a change of connector restored the flat-out neck-snapping acceleration the reviews of the time all raved about. I also replaced the brake light sensor because it wasn’t registering light braking…

I’d have another if one came up for the right money. The combination of the looks and the handling are worth the foibles.

Lotusgone

1,160 posts

126 months

Wednesday 15th July 2015
quotequote all
£60k+ new was a lot of money for something that looked like a large MR2.

Stunned Monkey

351 posts

208 months

Wednesday 15th July 2015
quotequote all
In photos maybe, but not in the flesh.

Hurricane52

279 posts

122 months

Wednesday 15th July 2015
quotequote all
Stunned Monkey said:
Hi All, as the next owner of R300 VEN, I can add a few notes… Cheers alpgta for the nudge wink

I had wanted one of these ever since I first became aware of this gorgeous Frenchie with the engine and gearbox I knew and loved. I still think it’s one of the prettiest cars of all time. I always found the cockpit layout to be disappointing with the seating position too low, the dash too high and zero adjustment except the usual two on the seat. The handling was sublime and I can liken it to the lightness of an Elise, but bigger and a crapload faster (over 300ft-lbs at 2500rpm).

The single turbo 3.0 was lifted straight from the Alpine A610 with the only difference being increased fuel pressure to meet a standard 1 bar boost and lightly tweaked ECU map to compensate. The transmission too was the same albeit with the final drive flipped for mid-mounting. I spent some time troubleshooting the cutting-out issue which had not been fixed by removal of the immobiliser. I can understand how it felt like a “limp mode” because it would do it on anything other than light throttle, but it was not a high level intentional safe mode. The cause was much more prosaic: Overheating of the ECU’s injector drivers. The more you hoofed it, the hotter those FETs get. In the A610, the ECU is mounted in a ventilated compartment between the rear seats. On the Venturi, it’s screwed to the carpet underlay and covered with a layer of carpet. Spacing it off the wall by 5mm or so and removing the carpet stopped the problem. The other car of the same colour passed through my hands too and had the exact same issue – that’s owned by a bloke on the RAOC forum now I believe.

Electrics in general are not good on the Venturi. Connectors are poor quality AND bespoke (they decided to make male JPT connectors with more than two pins). I also managed to break one of the striker pins off by (gasp) Shutting The Door. I still have the £35 M8x1mm helicoil kit I had to buy to fix it…. Access to the engine is surprisingly good – everything’s accessible either from the back or under the access panel under the rear windscreen. Event he dizzy cap is easy enough to change from underneath if you have an M8 ratchet spanner.

When I got the car the boost control valve also wasn’t working, and a change of connector restored the flat-out neck-snapping acceleration the reviews of the time all raved about. I also replaced the brake light sensor because it wasn’t registering light braking…

I’d have another if one came up for the right money. The combination of the looks and the handling are worth the foibles.
Great to hear that you got to the bottom of it. All those wasted cups of tea for the electrician chap... If I ever see him again, I'll delight in telling him about theECU placement. It did seem to happen more often in the summer. I wondered about the brake lights and asked Nick Mee's blokes. They thought it was some Citroen type pedal pressure switch and told me to live with it. Funny that it was just bust. I'd forgotten about the torque - I guess that's why it felt so useably fast. I did like the driving position though and the seats were spot on for me. Long arms/body - short legs syndrome. Hope you're doing well.

Legatron

10 posts

122 months

Wednesday 15th July 2015
quotequote all
is this the same "Venturi" that partnered the Venturi Larousse F1 team ack in the early 90's?

mogjay

31 posts

146 months

Wednesday 15th July 2015
quotequote all
I used to think these were the bees knees on gran turismo 2 as a kid

BREMBOV6

496 posts

147 months

Wednesday 15th July 2015
quotequote all
I really really like that!

I knew there was French 'supercar' - just couldnt remember the name

GTRene

16,369 posts

223 months

Wednesday 15th July 2015
quotequote all
those are nice too, Venturi 400 Trophy,
said:
only 73 cars made by Venturi for racing in their Gentleman Drivers Trophy



GTRene

16,369 posts

223 months

Wednesday 15th July 2015
quotequote all
or 400 GT








paulyaudio

7 posts

161 months

Wednesday 15th July 2015
quotequote all


This is my Venturi Atlantique 300 single turbo. I use it quite regularly as it is very easy to potter about in or blast down a good B road. It also makes a better GT car than my old alpine A610 which I did love and miss lots! But I could not afford to keep both!

Coker

4,432 posts

174 months

Thursday 16th July 2015
quotequote all
Interesting thread. Nice to hear from all who've posted their ownership experiences.

Impasse

15,099 posts

240 months

Thursday 16th July 2015
quotequote all
alpgta said:


Yes first post and all that. Long time listener, first time caller etc but I thought I'd pitch in.

Well here's my GTA Turbo, owned 20 years+ now and a total of 190K on the clock (110K of which was me!) They're not as fragile as you might think, but I really do need to get out in it more this year as it's been sitting far too idle of late.
That's only the second GTA I've seen with a Renault nose badge instead of the Alpine "A". The other one was my old car - or are they the same vehicle?


slipstream 1985

12,126 posts

178 months

Thursday 16th July 2015
quotequote all
GTRene said:
or 400 GT







stunning

Kitchski

6,514 posts

230 months

Thursday 16th July 2015
quotequote all
wildcat45 said:
I take it the engine is a PVR lump reworked.
The one in the for sale ad's running the later ES as fitted to Xantia, 406, Laguna, Clio V6 etc. No doubt the earlier models used the PRV, though I've not actually looked.