Top Gear Avantime

[Birksie]

Oooooh slating of the Avantine on Top Gear Phil !!!
Id write a letter of protest, especially on the "Monumantal Failure" quote.
lol
Sorry, had to giggle.... :lol:

[bozzzydmc]

Its the usual ruining a perfectly nice rare car for 'entertainment'.... Hopefully it will be fixed and put back to its former glory...

Nice to hear from you Paul.

Mike

[Guinney1971]

we got a phone call in the pub last night from Phill's brother to say they were ripping one
apart on the show.

Just another example of TG trashing a rare car for kicks (anyone remember the Alpine?).

I dont watch TG anymore tbh.......

And to think a couple of years ago Clarkson put it in the 'sub zero' on the cool wall.......... :roll:

And as was discussed at length on the old forum, the Avi was not a monumental failure, but
it was a way of Renault getting out of the contract with Matra who built the series 1-3 Espace's.

Renault had a 20 year contract with Matra, and the series 4 Espace was built by Renault not
Matra. However, when Espace 4 came out, there were still 2 years of the contract with Matra
left, so the Avi (a concept car) was put into production - it was cheaper for Renault to have
5000 built (only 435 in RHD), and lose £100,000 on each car, then pay off Matra's contract.

Phill's car is the 51st car built, and he bought it brand new in 2002. He had to wait over
six months for it (they lent him a Vel Satis whilst it was being built as he'd sold his Espace
privately), and he eventually took delivery of her in November 2002. She was on a 52 plate,
but now sports the more fitting registration M4TRA.

She's a beautiful car to drive, I love her to bits, and she will never be sold.

Pic of me and Avi at the Ace Cafe in 2006

[Birksie]

Needs nitrous Claire. :wink:

Seriously, you're right. Its quite disturbing that they can buy a nice "Rare" motor such as the Avantine and rip it to bits just for kicks. I think I would be mortified if they did that to a D.
While The Stig was wragging it round the track, all I saw was Phils face crying out in horror.
Again, it was quite horrendous the way they ripped the rear window out and replaced it with plexiglass, ohhh and that horrid wooden splitter fitted to the front that caught fire!!!! Notice how they didnt really seem to care, as if it was just an old mk2 fiesta or something.

Like Mike said, I hope they fix all the damaged parts and restore it to its former glory.

It did sound pretty awesome though ! lol

And thanks Mike, nice to see you're still about matey.

[Flux Capacitor]

Sorry to bring back a old thread but I saw one of these cars recently in Dulwich!

[Birksie]

lol, thats odd.
Its just been aired again today on Dave !

[Flux Capacitor]

Birksie Wrote:lol, thats odd.
Its just been aired again today on Dave !

Yep I watched it just now and that's what reminded me.

What I wanna know is how come I was this Renault but I've never seen a D driving around? I'm sure DeLoreans are less rare than Avantimes anyway!

[Dan6457]

I saw a blue avantime on the m25 a couple of weeks ago too.

[Guinney1971]

Flux Capacitor Wrote:

Birksie Wrote:lol, thats odd.
Its just been aired again today on Dave !

Yep I watched it just now and that's what reminded me.

What I wanna know is how come I was this Renault but I've never seen a D driving around? I'm sure DeLoreans are less rare than Avantimes anyway!

There were only 435 Avantime's built in RHD, for the UK, Japanese and Australian markets.

Around 300 made their way to the UK - Phill's is certificated as the 51st one built

[Flux Capacitor]

Claire Usher Wrote:

Flux Capacitor Wrote:

Birksie Wrote:lol, thats odd.
Its just been aired again today on Dave !

Yep I watched it just now and that's what reminded me.

What I wanna know is how come I was this Renault but I've never seen a D driving around? I'm sure DeLoreans are less rare than Avantimes anyway!

There were only 435 Avantime's built in RHD, for the UK, Japanese and Australian markets.

Around 300 made their way to the UK - Phill's is certificated as the 51st one built

Cool!

Is the build quality good on them, Phil? For a Renault, I mean

How many Ds are there in the UK then? More or less then 300?

[bozzzydmc]

Flux Capacitor Wrote:How many Ds are there in the UK then? More or less then 300?

<300 ...

I would say @ 200 ....

[Guinney1971]

Flux Capacitor Wrote:Cool!

Is the build quality good on them? For a Renault, I mean

Well, remember, the Avi was built by Matra, not Renault - Matra built the first three generations of the Espace too.

She is beautifully built and has had no faults - she's now over 6 years old, and still only has 33,000 miles on the clock.

I dont really do 'modern cars', but I love Avi, she's summat else

[Flux Capacitor]

Claire Usher Wrote:

Flux Capacitor Wrote:Cool!

Is the build quality good on them? For a Renault, I mean

Well, remember, the Avi was built by Matra, not Renault - Matra built the first three generations of the Espace too.

She is beautifully built and has had no faults - she's now over 6 years old, and still only has 33,000 miles on the clock.

I dont really do 'modern cars', but I love Avi, she's summat else

Cool, it's a bit like the DeLorean I suppose, another revolutionary car that didn't quite make it.

[Guinney1971]

Flux Capacitor Wrote:Cool, it's a bit like the DeLorean I suppose, another revolutionary car that didn't quite make it.

It was never intended to 'make it', it was put into production to get Renault out of their 20 year contract with Matra.

Every Avantime cost Renault £100k to build (and they sold new for £25-£35k in the UK) - but that was cheaper then paying Matra off!

Some pics from the UK Avantime meet at Gaydon in 2006 -











You can take some quite moody shots with them too

[Flux Capacitor]

Oh ok, so they just needed something to get them out of the contract so they made that? Still interesting, anyway.