Based on a scale model
The Renault Avantime is a crazy thing from front to back, in a positive sense of course. It is Known for its bizarre design and its by hinges, but alles are not as unique as thought.
The Renault Avantime shows that ‘Deliciously Crazy’ Shortly After the Turn of the Century Really Meant ‘Delicioly Crazy’, With Every Credzy Look at Good Sales Opportunities Proudly and Cheerfully Pushed Axis. That is QUITE DIFFERENT in 2025, Although Renault is one of the few brands that has not completely unlearned this form of daring. Yet just 20 years ago, Renault Raised Eyebrows More Often than Now, for example with the introduction of the avantime. The Avantime, launched in 2001, is a crazy mix of coupé and mpv, covered in unique – but remarkable timeless! – Design and supplemented with a series of crazy details.
For example, all side windows and the glass roof can be opened at the touch of a button, so that the headwind can blow through the opulent interior unhindered by b-pillars or other unpleasantness. That interior is a sight in itsself, and to get there you must of course open A Door. The Avantime – ‘Coupé’ Used to Mean Something – of Course Has Two of Them, and They are Truly Gigantic Given the Size of the Car. The Rear Seat of this French Five-Seater also had to be Easily Accessible, So the Doors Extend Generously Past the Front Seats.
This Posed A Problem for Renault, because a Large Car with Gigantic Doors is Simply Inconvenient in Tight Parking Spaces. As a Solution, The French Probable Came Up With The Most Photographed And Discussed by Hinge In The World, With A Double Hinge Point That Allows The By To Open Sideways And Forward. Where the front edge of the by on your car disappears behind the fender when opened, the avantime by is pushed in front of the fender Towards The Front Wheels when opened. This results in a generous opening without the doors immediately making the car meters wider, which is smart.
Very Smart, But Perhaps Not Entirely Invented by Renault, because there is Another Spacious Coupé that had a Similar Construction Much Earlier. That is the first lexus sc. That Model was never delivered in Europe, but was on price lists in North America from 1991 as the sc 300 and sc 400 and Became a hit in Japan as the third generation of the toyota soarer. Like the avantime, The Spacious, Two-through SC had flaps of Doors, and Like Renault, Lexus Came Up With a Complex Solution for this. The SCs Door is Therefore also lifted forward over the fender when opened, by means of a double hinge that seems very Similar to Renault’s Solution in Terms of Operation. Or actual the other way around. At Renault, However, All this was more noticeable because the brand chose to split the by panel in two and have it pivot along. The Lexus Simply Has a One-Piece by Panel, But Behind It is a Complex Steel Construction That Reportedly Weighs around 6 kg per side.
Anyone Who Wants To See How Such A Double Hinge Works Can also Take A Look At The Doors Of A Scale Model. They usualy have a simple by construction with a thick u-shape as a hinge, but there too the through, as it was, pulled forward over the fender. It is not Exactly the Same, But It Does Resemble It.
