Renault Vel Satis

This "thing" is supposed to drag execs out of their BM's and Audi's, and quite frankly I dont see it happening one bit purely because.
1) It's so ugly its mother couldnt love it
2) It doesnt even drive well
3) It's a Renault
Ride is bad, performance average and the interior is simply not up to BMW style or Audi standards. I saw pics of part-wood part-grey-plastic-looking steering wheel.. thats not right...

That's my whinge out of the way, I'll leave you to decide for yourself:

http://www.km77.com/marcas/renault/velsatis_01/med/frontal.jpg

http://www.km77.com/marcas/renault/velsatis_01/med/3-4tras.jpg

http://www.km77.com/marcas/renault/velsatis_01/med/interior.jpg

Would you swap your 3-series or A4 for this?

First of all, this car is a competitor of the 5 series, A6 or E-Class (price, size and prestations).
About the design you can like or dislike it's your own opinion, personnaly, I think it's a good thing that a car maker dare something different.
When you say that "it's a Renault" and mean clearly that Renaults are not good cars, I'm very shocked : today, 15% of new cars sell in European Union are Renault (either Europeans are stupid, either Renault are good cars...) and the Renaults are as good in quality and better in handling than the VWs for example.
So open your eyes and do not say that franch cars are bad cars because you think that French are still selling Renault LeCar, or Alliance.
And to end this, the Vel Satis is the best seller of his category in France (ahead of the Peugeot 607, Mercedes Classe E and BMW Série 5).

sorry stefane, you got me wrong...

when i said "its a renault", i didnt mean its a bad car.. not at all... i would be the first to admit that renault have made some excellent cars (Alpine, Clio Williams 1/2/3, Clio Sport (172) and Clio V6) but i meant that not many people would buy such an expensive renault because renault is not a big force in the executive car market, it cant compete with the BMW, Merc, or Audi badges because of snobbery, etc... also, front wheel drive doesnt help.... of course, its different in france because french people are very patriotic and love french things (not a bad thing! :) )

as for renault vs VW, i would say small renaults have better handling but VW has better build quality, those cars will go forever.

about the satis being ugly, that of course is only MY opinion, but i do agree with you that its good that they are trying something different

cheers,
jay

I'm agree with you that a Renault is not a BMW... but can be compared with VW : the VWs have a good build quality, better than Renaults (excet the Vel Satis at the same level than The A6 for that !), but Renaults have a better handling, even the medium and big (Laguna, espace, Avantime, Vel Satis) and comfort than the VWs. So that's why I said that Renault was (today) equal to VW. And VW (with the Phaeton) tries to enter the market of the S-class, A8 and 7 series, so why not Renault with a different approach (and a lower "class") ? And the sells in Europe (i've not the numbers) are good for this car.

In all honesty, I dont think VW or Renault can make it as luxury car sellers

I don't know, we'll see with the Phaeton or the Citroën C6. But that's true that cars like the Vauxhaull/Opel Oméga, Lancia Kappa or Citroën XM never really succeeded beating specialists manufacturers (BMW, Saab, etc.)

i dont think vauxhall could ever make it.. the depreciation on their cars is savage :bloated:

Yes Opel (and Vauxhall) are in a bad mood. Except the Zafira (sold by Vauxhall ?), Opel is not right.
Our new Prime Minister (Jean Pierre Raffarin) has a Vel Satis ;)

yes the Zafira is sold in the Uk. i think the problem is that Vauxhall is a very bad "badge", if they changed it to Opel it would rejuvenate the brand a little... also, a little more exotic looking cars would help.. the cars sold by Vaux/Opel are so bland!

This is going to be interesting if it comes here.........Simply because people expected Peugeot's 6O7 to flop like the 6O5 before it, but rather demans is out-stripping supply, same went for the 166 (Which I don't understand why it doesn't sell in badge-obssesed UK, after all it has the badge AND the unique looks)

I guess NZ punters are now putting looks ahead of badges, despite the 5-series and E-class being the best-sellers of the segment

I dont know why the 166 isnt doing well; its not a bad car but ive yet to meet someone over here who likes the looks. I personally much prefer the 156. As for the 607, it just hasnt gotten very good reviews + badge snobbery etc etc...

the 5-series & E-class are the best sellers in this segment because they're the best cars by far, simple as that. also, they're not bad looking at all + have a lot of presence compared to the Pug etc...

just my penny's worth

Nothing to deal with this subject, but you're English and I would have liked to ask you if Lancia was still sold in the United Kingdom.
I heard that they stopped in 1994...
Do you have some Lybra, Epsilon, Kappa, Delta II or Thésis ?

Lancia withdrew from the Uk market in '95.

I have seen ONE Lancia Lybra, very nice car, owned by a diplomat who lives near me. Delta II's are more common but still rare, there are quite a few Ypsilons considering Lancia doesnt have a UK dealer, Ive never seen a Thesis and i cant remember seeing a Kappa. The most common cars are Delta I's, mostly EVO's :D

Thank you for these infos. The Thesis (pic) is sold for few weeks only, I saw one in Belgium early September and one near Paris this Monday : it's a nice car, but the sides are not original enough.

I read a few reviews about the Thesis, its supposed to be a nice car to drive, very relaxing... what do you mean it was on sale for a few weeks only?

I don't speak english very fluently... but I will ;)
I mean that you can buy the Thésis since September (for few weeks ??!).
Ok ? ;)

compris ;)

fabuleux :D
... we're speaking of a Lancia in a Renault's post !! ;)

c'est clair :D

it doesnt really matter what forum it is, we're all petrolheads, as long as we're talking about cars in a car forum it's ok with me !

Ok, nice, so what do you think if we speak about Land Rover for example :D
Do you speak French, or just some words ?

Je suis (j'etais) lycéen donc mon francais n'est pas mal.

what do you want discuss concerning Land Rover ? or are you just trying to get as far off-topic as possible :D ?

deuxième solution :D
we could speak about the Trabant Limos in the ex DDR !! :D that's off topic, isn't it ??!!!!

Trabant Limos??? :confused: im guessing its a limousine maker? that makes me think.... there arent any forums for limos on here! :D :D

of course. It's a transformation made by their owners ! ...mhhh, speacial ! there are some fun taxis like that in Belin.

Ive never heard of Trabant. My friend organised a big night for his birthday a few weeks ago, transport to the club was by limo, pretty cheesy but it was entertaining. I didnt find out what make the limo was, i didnt really care to be honest :D , and the champagne wasnt helping either :D

:D Champagne, it's good, but not to recognise odd cars ;)
You don't know the "Trabi" ???! If you go in ex-DDR (Est-Germany), you'll be able to see some. It was a car for communist citizen... very awfull, but they don't want it to be nice ! It was sold untill 89, when the Berliner Mauer felt.
615 kg, 35hp, motor "two times" (deux temps, je ne sais pas comment traduire cela), max speed : 60mph, 65 with wind in the rear :D
The limos are transformations made after 1989 of course.
Here is a pic of a Trabant of 1986 :

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