Stylish & spacious family motor that iconic Top Gear trio all liked can be yours for less than £3,000
A STYLISH and spacious family motor that once featured in a bizarre Top Gear challenge can be bought for as little £3,000.
The seldom-seen Renault Avantime, which was only up for sale between 2001 and 2003, sold poorly before it was eventually pulled from production.
These days, very few are seen on British roads – with a quick search on How Rare Is My Car suggesting just 159 are currently registered with an MOT.
Renault’s vision for the Avantime was for it to be a sort of MPV-coupe, that provides the practicality of a large family motor with the grace of a coupe.
To that end, it certainly looked like a people-mover – and in way resembled Renault’s much-more-popular Espace.
But, as it had coupe DNA, the Avantime only had two doors, making it resemble an overly large hatchback.
An Avantime famouly featured in an episode of Top Gear, where the iconic trio of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May were given the challenge of modifying one to beat the lap time of a Mitsubishi Evo 10.
Sadly, despite improving the car’s wheels, brakes and seats, while also stiffening its suspension and tuning the engine, they were still unable to beat the Evo.
Key facts: Renault Avantime
- Price when new: £23,895 – £28,295
- Power: 210 bhp
- Top speed: 138 mph
- 0-60mph: 8.3 secs
- Years sold: 2001-2003
- Units sold: 8,557
- Class: Minivan/Grand tourer
But the episode did reveal to fans that the Avantime is one of the few cars to feature on the show to earn praise from all three presenters.
Indeed, as it turns out, the Avantime is joined by only the Ford Mondeo and the Subaru Legacy as the motors all three Top Gear hosts liked.
These days, this 20-year-old set of wheels can be picked up very cheaply from second hand dealerships.
One is currently available on the Cars & Classic website for just £2,500 with 137,000 miles on the clock.
This dark blue example features a 2.0-litre engine and a manual, six-speed gear box, and the listing states it has excellent tyres as well as a new clutch, alternator and front brake discs and pads.
This comes as Sun Motors main man Rob Gill recently got behind the wheel of Renault’s new Scenic EV, claiming the motor’s a well-thought out family car packed with all you need.
And Renault’s sister brand Alpine have recently revealed an EV of their own.