barefoot Posted January 14, 2011 Posted January 14, 2011 The local one man band garage generally sells stuff of no interest to anyone on here, but recently I saw he'd got an Avantime in. For the past week it's been parked up at the Co-op... I suspect that he bought it with a minor problem that he's struggling to sort out,check the interior... the back seats are piled up with trim as well.
face Posted January 14, 2011 Posted January 14, 2011 Bearing in mind it's a Renault, and looking at those pics, I think we can rule out an electrical problem
trigger Posted January 14, 2011 Posted January 14, 2011 It has a similar plate to the one of Top Gear 2002 Renault Avantime 2.9i Privilege by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr I think it's very brave/daft man that takes on one of these.
dollywobbler Posted January 14, 2011 Posted January 14, 2011 Meh. You want stunning, you have to live with the consequences. They're not quite that bad, but they do suffer from the odd gremlin.
Shep Shepherd Posted January 14, 2011 Posted January 14, 2011 I wonder how much he'll ask for it when it's fixed, and how long it will take him to sell it? I hope that it gets sold to an appreciative owner Incidentally, a dealer near me has a Vel Satis V6 in at the moment, which is on sale for £1,995. I rather like the look of it ^^
Electric Leyland Posted January 14, 2011 Posted January 14, 2011 How cheap are the cheapest Avantimes now? I just adore them, but reckon its a couple more years til one becomes cheap enough to have a punt on.
Shep Shepherd Posted January 14, 2011 Posted January 14, 2011 How cheap are the cheapest Avantimes now? I just adore them, but reckon its a couple more years til one becomes cheap enough to have a punt on. There are currently seven on the Auto Trader website, ranging from £3,500 to £6,995. Pretty strong money, I think.
cort16 Posted January 14, 2011 Posted January 14, 2011 I've seen a couple of okayish ones going for around £2500. There was 2.0T one local to me went for £2200 but it needed a timing belt imminently, which I've heard is a bit of a 'mare.There was a cracking 3litre v6 one with low miles and a multipoint lpg conversion for £4500 on ebay recently, which would make a nice daily.I get man moist over them but I can't justify one as I've got nothing to use it for.
AnthonyG Posted January 14, 2011 Posted January 14, 2011 There can't be that many sold in the UK, so what with the rarity value and the cost of new parts (so a broken one is always worth £XXX for its good bits), I can't see them ever getting to the £499 level. The Vel Satis, though, that's obviously nearly there already!
Shep Shepherd Posted January 14, 2011 Posted January 14, 2011 There can't be that many sold in the UK, so what with the rarity value and the cost of new parts (so a broken one is always worth £XXX for its good bits), I can't see them ever getting to the £499 level. The Vel Satis, though, that's obviously nearly there already! Apparently, there were fewer than 400 sold here. I imagine that not many examples of the Vel Satis were sold, either.
cort16 Posted January 14, 2011 Posted January 14, 2011 The vel-satis is already £1000 fodder at the car auctions. There's 2 normal engine and a torquetastic 3.0Dci engine plus detuned 3.5v6 350z engine so it had the potential to be a barge bargain if it doesn't commit electrical suicide.
Electric Leyland Posted January 14, 2011 Posted January 14, 2011 The Avantme can't even be considered as a car for baby in the back either being a 2 door. MInd you if you got a really knackered one it wouldn't be baby relocation transport in the first place. A massive Autoshite prize for the first to buy an Avantime for under a grand.
oldford Posted January 14, 2011 Posted January 14, 2011 I think that the HY plate was from the region of where the importer is based, which brings up the question of how many were registered bt Renault UK and how many were actual sales to the public.
barefoot Posted January 14, 2011 Author Posted January 14, 2011 I wonder how much he'll ask for it when it's fixed, When I first saw it on his forecourt, he said that he would be selling it for £4,000I'll post a picture when it's actually up for sale.
Guest Leonard Hatred Posted January 14, 2011 Posted January 14, 2011 Aren't they basically a funky mk3 Espace? I don't remember people being called mentalists for buying them.
cort16 Posted January 14, 2011 Posted January 14, 2011 Yip it's a 4 seat, 2 door Espace. I really want one. Renault realised at the time they couldn't compete with zegermanz so they just went massively left field with a totally different (and in my eyes frappin awesome) idea then immediatly then shot themselves in the foot by not sticking a derv in it so no company car buyers would touch it.Me thinks prices will bottom out around 1.5k then start going back up because of the limited numbers, mental design and propensity for the electics to implode, which will no doubt thin the numbers a bit.
25v6turbo Posted January 14, 2011 Posted January 14, 2011 Avantimes will always be worth more than the Vel satis,i doubt the latter will drop much more in value but on the initiale is worth entertaining..As for the avantime prices are VERY expensive,V6 manual is the one to get,but for example each window reg is £1500 and each of the centre caps that are missing is £60 EACH,and of course theres the alloy silver painted roof which rusts and bubbles up....They actually sold more of these than my V6 safrane(just over 300 V6 safranes in U.K)and its amazing how many i still see floating around,but most are shitters now,not many nice examples,as for regs need to look for Renault UK(Weston Avenue,Acton)or if registered at the import centre then they will have Portsmouth plates.
dollywobbler Posted January 14, 2011 Posted January 14, 2011 One of the best white elephants of our time - an SM brought up to date! Fantastic double-hinged doors mean you can easily access the rear seats, even in a tight space. HUUUUGE sunroof and masses of glass give an airy feel. V6 engine sounds right (wouldn't want a four-pot - that'd be if they stuck a Fiesta engine in a Ferrari). Lots of kit - bells and whistles all over the place. May have been a commercial disaster (Renault are bastards - they deny Matra the right to build Espaces anymore, but give them the Avantime as compensation, then launch the Vel Satis to rival it!!) but it prepared the world for the odd-arse Megane. Only downsides are things like the sunroof rattles, electrical problems are a given, depreciation for the first owners was SHOCKING and it feels exactly like a Renault Espace to drive. Rather dull actually. A mate had one new, solid it for a pittance and it went overseas. Would I have one? Yeah, probably.
moggy Posted January 14, 2011 Posted January 14, 2011 got one infact its my 2nd love it, but its just a cruiser. Only cars I can compare it to is really a renault fuego or perhaps a 25v6turbo. as it just floats along and there's enough power to get you into trouble Mrs has said mine has to go this year as it just sits on the drive! think 3k is a fair price. and being a 2.0t! its cheaper cambelts and lots of cheap engine parts! I think I'd avoid the v6!!!!!
CIH Posted January 14, 2011 Posted January 14, 2011 you better have some pictures to back up that claim *shakes fist*
CreepingJesus Posted January 14, 2011 Posted January 14, 2011 I think that the HY plate was from the region of where the importer is based, which brings up the question of how many were registered bt Renault UK and how many were actual sales to the public. A quick nose around the UK owners' club site, suggests (very roughly, from their pic gallery) a 3rd of them had HV/HY plates. Given that their UK office is near Rickmansworth, the plates should be K-something, shouldn't they? Not Portsmouth. Aaah those sneaky French-type chaps...smuggling outlandish cars into a pirate cove on the south coast at midnight. Then having the bottle to register them legally?Seriously tho', they must have pre-registered a shitload of 'em. I don't imagine they'll hit the £499 for cash mark, either; but I do wonder where the prices will bottom out...I quite fancy one! 2.0t would do me fine.
Largactil Posted January 15, 2011 Posted January 15, 2011 I leased one for a year, back in 2004 - Blue / Silver 3.0 V6, with cream leather (and carpets!) - On an 'HY' plate, too... I was racing a Caterham at the time, and needed road wheels (having flogged my road car to buy the Caterham) - A leasing firm were offering the Avantime at £199 pcm, which seemed reasonable for what was a £30k car. Only ever seen one other on the roads of Scotland. It was huge, though. And drank petrol at a frightening rate. The one touch button, that dropped all the windows and opened the roof was always worth a giggle. It wasn't particularly fast (slushbox), and I remember comedy bodyroll, whilst attempting to hustle it around country lanes...Much more of a cruiser; which it was very good at. Actually grew quite attached to it over the 12 months I ran it...Not sure I'd be brave enough to actually buy one, though...
25v6turbo Posted January 15, 2011 Posted January 15, 2011 Renaults import centre is CAT GB,or it used to be called that in Portsmounth(although it MIGHT of gone to Southampton now)There local regs are HV/HY.
autohausdolby Posted January 16, 2011 Posted January 16, 2011 I had an Avantime as a company car for a week when they were new and it's still one of my all time favs. There's a Vel Satis sat opposite work at another garage waiting for a cheap gear box to turn up for it. It's been waiting for at least 2 years. It's a £500 car all day long with no Vitesses.
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