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An accouplement of
of Renault´s and Matra´s designers and technicians became probably a historical rule.
Technical masterpieces produced regularly by their manufactures could be called
"art" with no shame.
The last result of this cooperation is called AVANTIME.
It is double-door 2+2 coupé of a dateless design. If it would be serially produced, its
potential buyers are the people who prefer innovation, dynamics and non-traditional
things, people who used to have a coupe or break and they want universal and spacious car
with a strong personality.
Examining AVANTIME we can see it shares a lot with prototypes INITIALE (1995) and VEL SATIS (1998).
In case of all of these three cars Renault paid an attention on dynamics, luxury, comfort,
safety and strong personality. I tell you honestly, if any of these three cars would
appear on our market, I wouldn't wait even a second and I´d run to the next dealer's
office to order it.
 Renault succeeded to put together
two seemingly non-coherent forms of the bodywork, coupé and monospace. AVANTIME has a bit
of each of them. The two doors come from coupe (the system of opening is the same as the
one used on VEL SATIS), as well as its dynamic and managing abilities. Monospace bodywork,
high position of the driver's seat, spaciousness and variability of the interior comes
from the monospace-type cars. Designers were really generous, as they were generous while
creating
any of the mentioned prototypes. You will not miss in the car's equipment four really
luxurious seats, a lot of technical instruments making the drive easy or eventually for
fun - like the display of the navigation system, which is also a screen for DVD player
An engine shows you that AVANTIME is really serious about
dynamics. A strong 6-cylinder heart beats in the body with an output of 250 Hp and torque
over 300nM. The manual gearbox with 6 gears transmits the power of the engine to the
wheels. We should mention the wheels as well, they are not so regular. 20´´ rims made of
light alloy are really respectable and give you an idea about the dynamic characterictics
of the prototype. 245 mm tyres protect the driver in case of defect because they ensure a
safe coasting to minimal distance of 250 km by minimal speed of 80 kph in case of sudden
elusion of an air from the tyre.
| Technical parameters |
| overall lenght |
4643 mm |
| width (excluding door mirrors) |
1884 mm |
| heigth |
1600 mm |
| wheelbase |
2752 mm |
| front track |
1600 mm |
| rear track |
1600 mm |
| service weight |
1750 kg |
| front overhang |
1018 mm |
| rear overhang |
872 mm |
Engine |
| in front across V6 24V |
2946 ccm |
| performance |
250 bhp |
| torque |
>300 Nm |
| emission standard |
Euro 2000 |
Gearbox |
| manual, # of gears |
6 |
Wheels |
| light alloy rims |
20" |
| tyres |
Michelin PAX 245 |
(Text by Viktor Kazda, photos by Renault)
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