Considering that it is one of the most successful car manufacturers in western Europe, Renault is taking an awful lot of risks right now. The Vel Satis assumes that no other luxury car manufacturer knows what it's doing. The forthcoming Megane looks completely different from any other medium-sized hatchback. And then there's the Avantime.The Avantime. There it is. But what is it? What does it do? What is it for? To draw attention to the occupants, perhaps? If so, it does that very well indeed. I've rarely driven a car which diverted so many people from what they were doing the moment it came into view.Just about every square foot of the Avantime calls attention to itself. At the front it looks like an extremely annoyed Espace. The rear is an artistic but almost entirely uncarlike collection of shapes whose long-term purpose seems to be to lessen the shock of the new Megane. Strange details combine to make an even stranger whole, though if you step back a little you realise how effective this whole is. I don't think I've ever seen a car which proclaims its direction of travel to quite the same extent as this arrow-like creation. It's almost as if the styling department is offended by the very concept of reversing.Having had their consciousness dragged towards the car, onlookers then get every chance to study the occupants. The Avantime has a lot of glass area, and the interior floor is very high, so the general public can study the people inside without having to peer round pillars. You can't travel incognito in this thing.So it attracts attention. But that can't fully explain what the Avantime is all about. Renault is no help at all here in marketing it as a coupé. That word creates a whole lot of associations, nearly all of which are then systematically destroyed by the car itself. Coupés have three doors - okay, so does the Avantime. Coupés are also low. Whoops - the Avantime is very high. Coupés are sporty. No, no, no - the Avantime isn't sporty at all.Well, it does have a three-litre V6 engine which produces over 200bhp. Straight lines are not a problem. But if you try to push it along a twisty road, the Avantime rides and handles like a heavily-laden Transit. Any corner requiring more than about a quarter-turn of lock is a chore.If the corners are gentler and the road surface is smooth, the Avantime is much more composed. Remarkably so, given that its underpinnings are also those of the Espace. On the other hand, it doesn't begin to compare in handling terms with most other coupés. So is the Avantime really the first-ever coupé MPV? And if so, does anyone actually want to buy one of those?In many respects the Avantime is too clever for its own good. The dashboard is quite modern, though nowhere near as futuristic as the exterior looks would suggest. It's also fairly minimalist, to the extent that there are no obvious radio controls. You can switch channels and adjust volume using buttons on the steering column, but there's no apparent method of switching the sound system on or off.To do this you have to open a drawer in the centre of the dash, take out the remote control and press the appropriate buttons on that. A lot of effort, and not advisable if you're driving at the time. And the remote is not illuminated, so it's useless at night unless you've used it so often you've remembered which button does what.Then there are the doors. They are huge, and if they opened normally they would double the width of the car. So they're double-hinged, reducing the angle of opening. Which is fine except that to get in you have to walk to the back of the car and then forwards to get past them.The windows open slightly when the doors do, and once you've shut the doors the windows then close fully to match. But because there is no upper frame to the doors, the windows are almost entirely unsupported, and they rattle when you pull the door shut. It's so bad that you think the window is about to break, so you close the door more gently. And then it doesn't catch, so the windows don't close, so you have to try again, wincing as you hear the punishment the glass is being given. It does nothing for the perceived quality of a rather expensive car.The seats look very comfortable, but the ones in the front offer very little side support. Perhaps this is a ploy to dissuade you from trying to go round corners quickly. I found that on twisty roads I was starting to suffer from backache within the first two miles. Better to lean back and keep the Avantime going in a straight line as far as possible.Rear comfort is compromised mainly by that high floor, which means your feet (and therefore knees) are higher up than you feel they should be. A pity, because there is enough space otherwise for the Avantime to be a roomy four-seater. Maybe this is one of the very few concessions to the standard idea of a coupé - after all, who ever heard of a coupé that could comfortably carry four adults?For the first two days of this test I barely had a good word to say about the Avantime. It began to make more sense when I ignored Renault and stopped thinking of it as the kind of car the company says it is. And when a drunken blonde came lurching up to me just as I was about to leave a petrol station and asked, in between bawling obscenities at her boyfriend, what kind of car this was, the penny dropped. Maybe I've just had a sheltered life, but in my experience that was a unique event. In everyone's experience the Avantime is a unique car. And that's all you really need to know.Second opinion: I drove the Avantime at the original press launch wanting to like it, and succeeded - due entirely to the smooth roads and traffic jams that I encountered. But could I live with it? Sadly, no. The limited door opening becomes a pain after a few days, and forgetting that the tailgate is open can lead to a self-op lobotomy! Even more niggly, the 12v socket in the front doesn't work until the ignition is fully on, so no plugging the laptop in on the auxiliary mode. There is no dimmer switch for the digital dash display and the "reclining" front seats don't recline, they only tilt. Taking a tiredness-break in a lay-by is most uncomfortable. John Fife. Engine 2946cc, 6cylinders Power 210bhp @6000rpm Torque ib/ft @3750rpm Transmission 5 speed auto Fuel/CO2 24.6mpg / 273g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 9.2sec Top speed 134mph Price From £28271.00 approx Release date 17/05/2002
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