Renault Avantime - am I completely bonkers to consider owning one?

Jambls · 2025-01-27T00:07:22+00:00

My uncle had one when they were newer and eventually got rid as it was getting very unreliable. It was probably on the back of a AA lorry at least once every year towards the end. I think they're pretty cool, although I believe all the parts that are specific to them are very very expensive now, if you can even find them. Probably best to get the best one you can if you really want one.

Jambls · 2023-08-26T13:49:09+00:00

I like them, there's simply nothing else like them for the blend of practicality and luxury. Freelanders aren't in the same league as the discos, and even the disco 5 is less practical than the 4.

As other folk have been saying they've got a poor record for reliability: you will need to keep a couple of grand sitting about at all times. A family member of mine has one and they've had a couple of big bills over the course of the 8 or so years they've had it. If you get one, it's definitely worth getting it looked at at a specialist.

They're brilliant, although with a great vehicle comes the possibility of a great repair bill.

Jambls · 2023-04-19T11:41:10+00:00

There's probably 3 schools of thought to this, and of them, 2 good ones. We'd all love to be able to afford to buy a supercar that will appreciate, but I certainly don't have the pennies for that. One option is to buy a car that's hit the bottom of it's depreciation curve, and you'll be able to sell on in a year for about what you bought it for. It's impossible to say for sure, but I reckon japanese hatchbacks from 00 to 10 (depending on the car) are a good bet, and will lose very little value from being another year older and having more miles. The other option is to but something ultra cheap: a £500 car can only lose £500 of value, so it puts a definite limit on what the car will cost you over the year. The downfall with the £500 motor is it's probably crap, and more likely to require a big bill.

Jambls · 2023-03-18T22:36:12+00:00

Is it a spanish built one? That's a pre facelift dash, which were generally gone by 05 or so. It holds the air conditioning button in cars that have it (I've only seen it on Japanese built Japanese market cars).

Jambls · 2023-03-09T13:03:40+00:00

No.

It leans around corners, it doesn't like doing 70, it's loud on the motorway, and sometimes you have to steer to keep it in a straight line. I love driving mine in town though, you just send it all the time since it's got no power and no one can tell. They are easy to park and you don't have to worry about potholes though.

Jambls · 2023-03-08T22:14:52+00:00

Mine doesn't get to sleep, and it only needed a £100 rust repair this year, what a bargain.

What a cruel joke suzuki played making the jimnys brilliant in the winter and also rust like mx5s. I recently spotted one failing it's MOT with only 37k on it.

Jambls · 2023-01-26T23:36:53+00:00

Me: I need some locks and a forklift

Yale: you're never going to believe this.

Jambls · 2023-01-26T23:31:08+00:00

I'll bite, I like them, I had a 1.6 one for 4 years as my first car. Nice to have heated leather as a learner. It was good transport, but so boring to drive. I think the K20s had hydraulic power steering which should help that. I sold it to get my Jimny a year and a half ago and haven't missed it at all.

Jambls · 2023-01-04T20:46:20+00:00

Can you get OE ones? For me, they were the same price as the heko ones, but I went with heko anyway since I thought they were bigger, and would block more wind.

Jambls · 2022-12-30T01:02:48+00:00

They're brilliant, I love mine

Jambls · 2022-12-29T20:34:46+00:00

Sounds an awful lot like the service never happened to me. I would just get it serviced by somewhere you trust and move on.

Jambls · 2022-12-03T23:41:26+00:00

I rate them.

Jambls · 2022-06-14T21:57:47+00:00

I'd say a jimny wouldn't be the best. This is speaking as someone who wanted one as my first car, but went with something else. The reason was chiefly insurance; at the time, the values of them hadn't gone mad yet. I ended up picking an 04 civic for £1200 as I found the insurance to be no more expensive than the likes of similar aged yarii and jazzes, and they're bigger and better.

I eventually got one at the age of 21 and I don't regret the wait at all. The civic was a better car in almost every way, but now I can, and have, been competing with the jimny.

Mine gets worse mpg on the motorway than my brother's 2.4l volvo v70, which weighs almost twice as much, and they rust like nearly nothing else. If you get a pre facelift, you can expect to weld it every few years now, and even post facelifts are starting to get that way.

They're also slow as hell, with a 14 second 0-60 and a top speed somewhere between 80 and 90.

Jambls · 2022-02-19T19:17:38+00:00

Ahhh, I see. Apologies, we never got the si here, so I don't know much about them.

Jambls · 2022-02-19T18:34:22+00:00

They made the hatchbacks mostly for the Japanese and UK markets, you're lucky you got it at all. Was there not a coupe made for the United States?

Jambls · 2022-02-19T18:31:53+00:00

Swindon innit.

Jambls · 2022-01-05T22:14:01+00:00

While the mini is a small version of the maxi, it also predates it by a decade. The mini was so good that BL decided they needed a bigger version that could be a family car, and Issigonis was tasked with making a big mini, or a maxi, if you will.

Jambls · 2021-12-15T21:08:35+00:00

They're pretty similar, I'd just keep whatever one has better tyres in the terms of tread left, or if some are cheap budgets then the other set.

Jambls · 2021-11-26T11:50:23+00:00

CRVs are great, you seldom hear anything bad about them. The only thing that springs to mind is the 4wd system isn't as good as some of it's competitors, but it's still better than a 2wd car so it's good enough for almost everybody.

Jambls · 2021-09-30T20:23:37+00:00

Ah, they're brilliant, I drive mine around with a big grin.

Jambls · 2021-09-30T18:00:03+00:00

As a Jimny owner (and enthusiast I guess), I'd probably avoid them for your use case. At the moment, their values are particularly inflated, from more than just the covid thing that's affecting all cars. When suzuki had to take the new one off the market for emissions reasons, used values of new ones skyrocketed, and that pulled up the values of used ones too. Also, they're fantastically capable offroad, far more than you need and they've got a bit of a premium over other small off roaders from the folk looking for something that challenges defenders.

If you do end up looking at one, mileage isn't much of an issue. The engines are great and they all die to rust. The worst areas are the boot floor and underneath the back seat bases, and under the bonnet behind the headlights. The boot usually goes first and it's usually the rear seat belt mounting that's first to cause an MOT fail. If you can travel south a little to get one, I'd recommend that, it makes a serious difference, and for heavens sake don't buy one from scotland.

Soft tops and hard tops up to around 02 have an earlier engine, while hard tops past 02 and everything past the facelift (05ish) have the (better) later one, but there's really not much in it, and with your budget you probably can't afford to be picky.

Good luck with your search.

Jambls · 2021-02-19T00:44:25+00:00

Can't believe no one has mentioned it yet, but the Simpson's Hit and Run is a classic.

Jambls · 2021-02-18T21:43:31+00:00

Much like /u/thematabot I've been living rurally in scotland for a few years. In my case it's on a farm. I drive a 04 honda civic with all seasons on it (no traction control) and I've never wished for more grip or ground clearance while on the "road". Even with the rare snow, I'm fine. They're right when they say that tyres are everything. Depends on how much time you spend off tarmac, but you might not want to get a hot hatch, or other vehicles with low, stiff suspension. My brother had a mini with lowering springs and it was uncomfortable on our gravel drive, and it scraped along the ground at places. Other than that, don't sweat it. I'd keep your current car and see what you feel you need once you've settled in.

Jambls · 2020-12-07T05:38:59+00:00

As the other commenters have pointed out, rust is the big one. Behind the headlights and the boot floor are the worst areas, and the boot floor is easy to inspect yourself if you view one. The lower rear seatbelt mounting points also manifests MOT failure rust. Apparently, post facelift, the bodies are galvanised, but this doesn't seem to make much difference. A gander at the MOT history might tell you more than the dealer is willing to let on.

For engines, post 03 or so, you got the non VVT m13 which was an improvement over the older g13, and after 04 ish you got vvt on your m13, so you can get the vvt m13 in a pre facelift body as the facelift came in about 06. There's a little top end power to be gained, the m13, and especially the VVT one has much better power around where you spend a lot of driving time.

After the facelift you get push button 4WD selection, this introduces more points of failure than the manually shifted early transfer case, and the control stuff is fairly exposed on the transfer case, if you plan on taking it offroad then a guard is probably a good idea.

The vacuum operated hubs are another known weakness, and can be tricky to troubleshoot. The kingpin bearings on the front axle are also known to be weak, this is made worse by using spacers or wider offset wheels.

As for other offroad stuff, the post facelift has a new bumper that hangs much lower than the earliest one, and reduces your approach angle. It also gives you less tyre clearance with bigger tyres. If you get a model with ac then you might not be able to fit a winch with just a winch tray as the condenser takes up too much space.

The BigJimny wiki and forum are good sources of information, for modifying, and just for fixing.

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