GTP Cool Wall: 2001-2003 Renault Avantime

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2001-2003 Renault Avantime

  • Total voters
    128
  • Poll closed .
White & Nerdy

White & Nerdy

Messages
4,209
United States
Wasilla, AK
2001 Renault Avantime nominated by Famine

View attachment 129945

Stats:
Production: 2001-2003
Style: 3-door minivan
Engine: 2.0L turbocharged DOHC inline 4 (rated 161 HP & 184 lb-ft), 3.0L naturally aspirated DOHC V6 (rated 206 HP & 208 lb-ft), 2.2L turbocharged? diesel DOHC? inline-4 (rated 150 HP & 241 lb-ft)
Transmission: 6-speed manual, 5-speed automatic
Layout: Front-engine, Front-drive​

Automatic transmission is available only on the V6 model.
 
A very interesting, quirky and unusual French MPV that was a commercial flop.

While it does lose some points for being featured the way it was on Top Gear, still a Cool car.
 
Can't blame the French for trying to do things differently with this. Still seriously uncool.
 
Some really clever bits on this and with it being such a huge commercial flop and them now being as rare as rocking horse plop. It's one of the very few Renaults I find cool, this one is very cool but not sub zero.
 
Probably the coolest mini van in existance, but it's still a mini van.

Edit: Accidentally voted sub zero, I meant meh.
 
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Nice interior in that cheap yet stylish and comfortable way that only the French can manage. As it's only effectively a 4 seater with 2(3) doors, you'd be hard pushed to class it as a 'minivan' even if it has that shape. An Espace would be cooler, so i can only give this a reluctant Meh.
 
Yes it's a miniavan. But it has not-boring styling and a decent range of engines. Not sold in the U.S. Would make it unique if I drove one.

image.jpg
 
So, so flawed in so many ways.
But the idea is just mad.
And among the crossovers today, it would look normal. Those are mad ideas as well, except not in a good way and they've somehow all sold well.
Cool.
 
Frankly the only thing it has in common with a minivan is the general body shape. 2 doors, 4 seats, limited practicality, I doubt any of these were ever used for school runs.

Instead they used that body shape to create a roomy, comfortable and unbelievably airy car. It was brilliant, except the majority didn't get it. Still gets a solid cool from me.
 
The name says a lot about what this car was. I think if it had come out a decade later with an identical engine line-up to the Espace, sales would almost certainly dwarf the number they sold up to 2003.

But at the end of the day, it was a plush French 3-door "Coupéspace" which was inherently quirky and turned out to be a commercial flop.

Solidly, solidly cool.
 
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Super Uncool. It's upsized megabutt-Megane, overweight and awkward looking, and Renault already has Espace which is far cooler than this.
 
Cool car... under appreciated because it was before its time ;)

Cool car BECAuse It was ahead of its time...

If it came out now, maybe it would have been better accepted ? Or the total opposite...

I didnt like it when it first came out,
But now looking back and seeing it now, i think it is a seriously cool car !

Not sub-zero cool but still cool nonetheless

The french said it, Space is also a luxury...
 
I had a teacher who gave a class about contemporary french philosophers. He was quite knowledgeble about them all, Foucault, Derrida, Ranciere, you name it. The man was incredibly interesting, but he wasn't a show-off neither he was arrogant to us, inferior students, or to anyone. He was in his 40s but was as layed back as any of us in our 20s, not shy of drinking a beer, remembering his wacky 20s, or that time he shook hands with Henri Pescarolo at a Magny-Cours track day. He also owns a small book shop in a little quartier in Paris, next to a hobby store that specializes in autmotive miniatures and that's managed by a guy who he went to high school with. He now haves a family so he had to sell his vintage Alpine hillclimber and buy a new, safe, spacious car but one that he still likes to drive hard when commuting to the university in the early morning.

Ok, I just made up all of that, but that's the kind of guy I imagine drives an Avantime. I was thinking of a high cool...but I ended up giving it a straight up Sub Zero 👍.
 
Seriously uncool. Didn't even have to think twice.
 
A very strong cool 👍 Fantastic piece of art and stunning in person. The fact that they actually made it, would it be for a short period of time, makes it even cooler.
 
Solid cool from me as well. Quirky, great idea, and I assume you don't see many of them. They aren't bad looking, imho. And it was featured by the three monkeys on Top Gear, which I think is cool.
 
We might have a Miura beater!... in the form of a later car. It may be interesting and not too bad looking but at the end of the day if it looks like a minivan then you're still going to look like a minivan driver. I'll give it a meh though because it's still interesting enough to be above uncool.
 
Front half looks pretty good. The rear half looks like there was a huge fight amongst the design team whether or not to make a minivan or a sedan...with tragic results. The pic in the OP doesn't portray the ugliness of the rear end well.
 
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It wants to be too many things. It wants to be a sporty coupe but its built on an MPV platform, why? A giant box for moving people about that wants to be for people who otherwise desire a sports car doesn't make any sense. It's a car for people who are confused on what they want.

Really uncool.
 
It's a piece of rubbish. Renault were far too ambitious with this thing, and it doesn't re-invent MPV's
Seriously uncool
 

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