The heated windscreen works on both sides, but only a few filaments heat up – a common result on these. The remaining faults are pretty much limited to a CD player that doesn’t eject discs and a heated driver’s seat that sometimes doesn’t work.
AVANTIME V6 EXHAUST WINDOWS
With this open and all the windows down (using the plein air button), the pillarless Avantime feels more like a convertible than a coupe.Īll the digital displays work and the car even comes with its original Pioneer/Renault-branded remote control for the headunit and multi-changer CD player. The full-length sunroof (possibly the biggest in production) opens, closes and seals as it should, including the full-length electric blind.
As Thierry Metroz, the Avantime’s design project manager, said: "We wanted someone walking around the car to be continually astonished." Well Thierry, you succeeded.
AVANTIME V6 EXHAUST FULL
It’s stuffed full of interesting features and novel solutions to problems you didn’t know you had. Some cars delight you with the way they drive, while others, like the Avantime, delight you every single time you step inside. The rest of the interior is as well-preserved as it is quirky take a look at the way the interior trim on the doors folds as they open, for example. Even the driver’s side seat bolster, an area that often suffers wear, shows only very minor creasing.
AVANTIME V6 EXHAUST FREE
All five leather seats are still in fabulous condition being free of rips, tears and other major problems. It’s much the same story on the interior, which is very, very good while the seatbelt guides might be showing a light patina but that is the extent of the cosmetic problems on the Avantime’s beguiling interior. Jobs still to do? Well, you could pop a new front number plate on to replace the one that is starting to delaminate, and give it all a good polish, but that’s about the extent of your problems… This kind of thing matters, it really does. Just think about it: if an owner goes to the trouble of fitting four matching tyres, they aren’t going to skimp on the smaller stuff that you can’t see, are they? That means they aren’t going to use Asda value engine oil for example, or buy their filters from an eBay site that gets them straight from China. And yes, we are going to remind you again of the significance of buying a car with matching tyres. The alloy wheels are also in terrific shape and shod with new, matching Continental tyres, all of which have good tread. He’s done a fabulous job, because the coachwork is flawless and looks utterly stunning. The paintwork is in fabulous shape thanks to the owner having undertaken a full respray in the summer of 2017 in the car’s original colour of Steppe, which is an attractive green/silver metallic that suits the car perfectly. Unmourned at the time, the Avantime is currently treading a knife-edge between modern classic and unnecessarily-complex banger, which means now is the time to buy before all you can find are unloved basketcase projects and delivery mileage, unusable show queens. Matra built just 8,552 examples in the three years it was in production and it didn’t so much as go out with a bang as taken round the back and quietly shot. (that is one of the more polite descriptions).īut those huge sliding doors, sofa-like rear seat, and glazed roof meant that passengers enjoyed a unique ride in fact, the experience was more embracing than that, feeling more akin to travelling by train, or even by plane, than a mere car. And make no mistake, this is the new Citroen ID/DS hipsters who are just being born now are going to be fighting over the chance to buy one in twenty years’ time…(*maybe)ĭesigned as an avant garde alternative to the safe executive options from Germany, the coupe profile has been described as that of a “teapot shorn of its handle”. Widely described as a French Folly (or worse), the Renault Avantime is actually just one of a number of cars that were so far ahead of their time that it may well be another couple of decades before they are viewed with the affection they deserve.
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