One time, at some Season 12 episode of BBC Top Gear, the producers bought the hosts a Renault Avantime at the cost of about 6 grand and see if they can max out the car to be as fast as the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X. The starting budget's about 15,000 Pounds and since the used Avantime costs about 6,000, only 9000 Pounds were left in their allowance and see if they can find the necessary modifications needed on that budget.
So, what's it all about the Renault Avantime anyway and why this is the car chosen for a task to modify it into an Evo-beater?
First launched in 2001, the Avantime is what they believed to be an three-door MPV that was designed and manufactured by Matra and it was made with B-pillars. Renault says that the Avantime was made to combine MPV conveniences with coupe looks and sadly, it became a recipe of failure. In the UK, it sold about 435 units before it was dropped from its price list 18 months later. Of course, even with the launch of the utterly redundant Vel Satis, which is their flagship back then, the Avantime didn't help, and Matra decided to pull out of the automotive production business in 2003.
A 2002 article from Automobile Magazine said that Patrick Le Quement, the man who designed this car, knows how to think clearly and the Avantime's design he penned was an nice attempt but such utilitarian expectations don't jibe with the tastes of a grand tourer. Yep, this car can be somewhat very weird but hey, when the years pass by, the Renault Avantime is definitely a future classic and because of such less units made, it's hard finding this car when the times go by. So, what's so special about it? Aside from being one of the cars the Top Gear boys like, the Avantime definitely has more headroom than any other car and when you open the windows, now that is a party piece! Plus, getting to the back of the Avantime is as clever as you can imagine thanks to its long doors and clever double hinges.
It maybe more of a head turner and more of a convenient classic, it finds handling to be somewhat sluggish and even with its 3.0L V6 engine equipped on the top-spec model, it's nowhere near as good as the Evo X and as demonstrated by The Stig, it lapped round the Top Gear Track in 1:42.5, 14 seconds slower than the Evo X, thus initiating the challenge.
Anyway, while this is taking too long to explain about how the boys did to the Avantime, let's explain about how it did well and you might think that all their hard work pays off...but it didn't. It lapped round the track in 1.35.4, which is still slower than the Evo X's lap time.
You see, the aftermarket tuning industry is a $257 billion market in the US alone and it employs over four million people at manufacturers, distributors, retailers and repair shops according to the AAIA. We were wondering that even though we spent 257 billion dollars on modifying cars, where does the cash go? Down the drain, that's the answer, but in the world where tricking out cars is a possibility for speedo boys, it's a trial and error process. Try and try until they succeed. That's the lesson in the world of modification, especially for this car who says "I wish I was faster than the Evo".
If you have the budget to find an Avantime, would you consider spending your leftovers for modifications? Well, the jury's still out...