Renault Aventime

Car: 2001 Renault Aventime V6

Start Date: June

Deadline: December 2025

MISFIT CARS

The first in our collection of cars that on paper should have been a huge success but for various reasons were a huge flop with awful sales and reviews. Our Aventime is one of the many unloved examples out there so it is our mission to not only bring this beauty back to life but to breathe some modern life into it and to show all those who maligned this French icon just how wrong they were.

Renault Avantime V6 – The Car That Tried to Be Everything

Alright, picture this: it’s the early 2000s, and Renault decides to throw the rulebook out the window. They drop the Avantime — a massive, two-door luxury coupe… that’s also kind of an MPV… with spaceship vibes. And if that’s not weird enough, they slap a silky 3.0L V6 under the bonnet making just over 200 horsepower.

It had no B-pillars, huge glass doors, a panoramic roof, and the inside felt more like a futuristic lounge than a car. Sounds cool, right? Well, yeah — but here’s the thing: nobody bought it.

Only around 8,500 Avantimes were ever sold. Why? Because it was totally confused about what it wanted to be. Too big and odd for coupe lovers. Too expensive and impractical for MPV buyers. Plus, build quality wasn’t great, and the timing was awful. SUVs were taking over, and this artsy French spaceship just didn’t fit in.

BUT — fast forward to today, and the Avantime has become a bit of a legend. It was ahead of its time, no question. And now, people are finally starting to appreciate just how bold and different it really was.

So yeah, the Avantime flopped… but it did it in style.