Peter & Seth

To call the Aventime "quirky" is a bit of an understatement. Based on the current Espace platform of that time, who would have thought that a large 2-door 4-seater MPV would sell?

A local IT business round here had a small fleet of them (half a dozen or so?), painted/vinyl'ed up in company titles and logo. I believe they got shot of them after a year or so, due to the appalling build quality and reliability.

The history of the Aventime is all a bit weird involving company politics. It was built my Matra but Renault released the Vel Satis at the same time in almost direct competition with itself. Building the Avantime and then being cr*pped on by Renault was the straw that broke Matra's back leading to exit car manufacture altogether.

I remember that IT company too! Taylor Made Computer Solutions

Back-tracking a little to the Nissan Figaro: it was only made for the Japanese market and is based on the Micra! I see them quite regularly tootling around the City of London and yes, mostly owned/driven by women. They've become somewhat collectible in the UK 'cos we seem to love small quirky cars and the Micra is a cheap and reliable platform. I think they're fab. If I could fit my wife, two children and model railway in it I'd have one, they're very cool!

I'd have one of those Renault Aventime's too but they were very badly received and production was short-lived.