It seems to me that commercial flops, like this Renault, eventually become cool as time passes.
It's an interesting concept.
I think it's because what people need is different from what people want. Brand new, a car like the Avantime is very much an acquired taste, because you could spend similar money to get a much (objectively) better car. Put in a position of needing a coupe (or as close as one gets to needing a luxury product anyway), it's an unlikely purchase.
But used, its appeal widens. Because nobody bought them in the first place prices drop like a stone. Then, all of a sudden, you have an incredibly rare and unusual car available for peanuts, and since you've bought it cheap then potentially expensive problems to fix are less of an issue, since you'd have spent thousands more for an equivalent but more popular car anyway.
That said, my pricing theory doesn't explain its coolness necessarily, but it contributes to the car's appeal and broadens its market a little.
That rareness also brings on a certain insta-classic status. A regular MPV/minivan essentially remains a working vehicle all its life and gets chucked away when it dies. Cars like the Avantime are immediately treated a little differently, despite being similar underneath. Nobody buys an Avantime to run until it dies - they run one because they like the design and want to perpetuate it in the future. Can of worms: That makes it far more of an enthusiast car than most stuff posted on the cool wall, which will just pass through several owners' hands, perhaps be appreciated, but eventually die without much thought. Counterpoint: It's also an enthusiast's car that you don't necessarily need to be a
car enthusiast to own - anyone with an appreciation of design could fall for it.
The Avantime's cooness is also in that very French way of looking at something and thinking "now why hasn't anyone done it like this before?". Sometimes that's because doing it a different way is a bit daft (Matra Murena's three side-by-side seats, anyone?), but the fresh thinking and originality that usually results is very cool.
