Thanks for all your opinions, I particularly like the SM idea but as its got to be an everyday car for c 15,000 miles a year sadly not really practical.
I know i'll get bored of the Avantimes handling quickly and the reliability will likely drive me insane but as the men in white coats still havent caught me i'm taking it as some sort of sign.
I'm off for a test drive after lunch...... i'll be back with driving impressions later (and maybe the Avantime). So everyone best be on standby for lots of techincal questions in the coming months!
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I think you could have an affair with the Avantime, a holiday romance with a French beauty (eye of the beholder and all that) but it might be a high maintenance relationship long term!
As much as I love the car (see posts passim) I'd really struggle to go for one without having something else to turn too when I needed something to work right then now.
Alan Clarke of the diary fame summed up classic car ownership (and Avantime ownership) - expect to lose any money you spend on a classic - with that aforethought and if you're happy with it, you'll be fine!
Go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on
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Well just back from test driving it. First impressions it feels almost as special inside as it looks outside - with pillarless windows, decent quality leather... but its a bit like a reverse tardis, I?ll be the first to admit the Prelude isn't a well packaged car but this is something else - the length of the dashboard means the front seats are approximately half way along the chassis and the rear seats and boot are also surprisingly cramped for its physical size. Overall - slightly disappointed.
Driving impressions, again the positioning of the front seats makes the steering seem slightly strange but the all round visibility is excellent, helped no doubt by the high seating position. The chassis is decent enough in an unremarkable way, fairly cushioning but it definitely doesn?t ask to be pushed into corners as there does seem to be a bit of understeer even at relatively low speeds. The 2.0 Litre turbo engine feels slightly underpowered for the car but does the job, again coming from the Prelude I was expecting this.
Overall, did I like it? Yes. Do I want one? Sort of, but probably not as an everyday car as I don?t feel 100% I could depend on it. However, give it a couple of years when they reach banger money and I?ll be seriously tempted to get one ? I just think the current prices are in that middle ground where they are too expensive to be disposable but not valuable enough to spend serious money on if a big job needs doing.
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Yes Renaults are all terrible. That's why a work colleague is in the process of buying his company owned 94,000 mile 05 plate Laguna from the lease company because literally nothing has gone wrong with it from new, and he still loves driving it. That's why we're about to do 2,000 miles round Europe in our Scenic which has had two minor faults in the near 2 years we've owned it, and won't even think twice about it.
The vast majority of Renaults provide reliable, smooth, comfortable, well designed transport for their owners. Some go wrong (particularly the early dCi models), but most don't.
If you like the car, buy it.
Cheers
DP
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DP, please don't dispel the Renault=junk myth, or you'll drive up the prices of used cars :(
Same goes for those plugging Nissan Almeras. Please stick to the script: they are hideously untrendy, rubbish to drive, and make you a social pariah.
That way s/h prices stay low for those of who don't want to join the lemmings paying silly money for Fords and VWs ...
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Good point, NW.
I've owned about 20 cars throughout my driving career, and the only truly unreliable one of the lot was actually the lowest mileage, and wore a VW badge.
The badge is no guarantee of a dog, or a gem.
Cheers
DP
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little aventime pixie whispers in your ear, #
"go on do it, you know you want to, go look at it again" "take pictuires of it, doesent it look stunning, isnt it unique, doesent it look funky, anyone else in your road got one? you know they dont, go on you know you want it, buy it its only 4 grand, pah 4 grand for that its peanuts, buy it buy it buy it you know you want to, you will always regret it if you dont"
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Not mad exactly. Courageous perhaps. I do actually get where you are coming from, I rather like them too. but having had a nightmare of an Espace experience back along, I would be personally a bit wary. I do though, understand the attraction. Maybe if you got a very good warranty sorted out it would be worth a go for a year or two. Certainly a bit different and might well turn out to be perfectly OK or better than that.
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I wouldn't hesitate if the thing was in decent or rescuable nick and the price was right. Renaults are fine in my experience. It's cars that are dodgy and unreliable.
Large French cars make a point of seeming underpowered. Getting off the mark in leisurely fashion, like the Paris traffic which one always has to learn anew after London, dates from the first DS and its pneumatic gearbox whose rhythms also had to be learned. Once they get rolling though, slipping through the air and floating over the cobbles, they don't seem underpowered because they aren't. Similarly the driving position, with the screen right forward and out of reach, is something one would soon get used to. Don't be put off by people's bigotry even if you do decide against in the end.
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I'd be less worried by the Renault badge and more by the rarity of the product.
Every exotic car, regardless of badge, has a tendency to bite you each and every time you need something replacing.
Need a new exhaust? That'll be £500. New piece of trim? Nothing in the scrapyards, no pattern parts, Renault charge another £500 with a 2-month lead time, and then no-one knows how to fit it properly.
You'll be in the exact same position as the buyer of a Japanese import. And heaven help you if anything major starts to play up with the electrics.
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 04/08/2008 at 01:26
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France is nearby and in many ways a country similar to this one. There are certain to be superb French independents capable of dealing with any Renault problem, and I would bet some of them will be Avantime specialists. You just have to do the work and find them. You will be able to get something decent to eat at the same time.
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Do you know Lud you have almost made me wish that I had a rare French car with a minor problem and that I had a week or so to spare !
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Maybe if you live in Kent this is viable, but there is no way I am making an 800-mile round trip to get a car fixed.
In any case, if the car is knackered, how do you get it there? On the back of a rescue truck? Where can I hire one of those cheaply for two or three days? And what about the lost work-days?
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Aw don't be so practical Jase ! It's Sunday. I quite like the fantasy of puffing on a French stogie in a genuine gallic backroom surrounded by the scent of pnues ! Sliding off periodically to the cafe to sip a coffee and chaser while the vintage Citroen traction avant is lovingly fettled. Tomorrow is time enough to return to 21st century mundanity.
;-)
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Hehehe ;)
It is a nice image.
Problem is, I've been to France a couple of times, and the reality is that the country is just another modern concrete jungle in the main, not so different to the UK and the idyllic notions we have about the country are as quaint and outmoded as any thought of England being green and pleasant.
(Actually my corner of England is both green and pleasant (western County Durham up near the pennines), but then that's because it's a long way from London or indeed any mega city -- problem is it's also cold and grey!).
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It's an Espace underneath which is based on the Laguna, so spare parts aren't a problem. The only notable point on spares are the body panels. The electrics are all form Samsung so not too much to worry about there either. These were largely hand built at Matra so there is less consistency in build but I know opeope who have had nightmares with Audis and VWs in the past so every model can have a rogue dog. That a handful were sold isn't so much of a worry with such mainstream underpinnings.
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no way.. i get that pixie voice in my head every couple of months too? now i know im not alone i dont feel so stupid for wanting one of these fantastic french creations for myself..hey the french dont really get much right but they were bang on le nail avec this one...vive l'avantime..
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The fact that this answering a many year old OP ,the electrics are a nightmare have nothing whatsoever to do with Samsung.Both the Laguna and Espace that this machine was based on are an absolute bag of nails including the electrics,unusual looking I will grant you but anybody with any sanity would leave well alone.
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