Renault Vel Satis 3.0 Dv6 Initiale 3.0 Ltr V6 Diesel - Initiale

Hi all.

I have had my 3liter V6 diesel Initiale Vel Satis for 2 years now - Confort-wise it is brilliant - an absolute palace to drive in.

The electronics are horrible - I have stopped counting the amount of times the screen has booted for no reason.

The mecanics are horrible as well. My car has 100,000km, and the engine is dead (head gasket) Apparently the 3.0V6 Isuzu engine has big issues (overheating problems mainly). If you have this engine, go to Renault immediately and get it fixed - there is an internal technical note (4678A) that refers to this issue for engines JK0J, JK0V, BJ0J, BJ0N.

All the best,

While there is no way I would or could have bought my 2005 Renault Vel Satis V6 Diesel Privilige new, for £6000 with 28,000 miles on the clock it is worth every penny. It is comfortable, smooth, quiet and economical and best of all rare. With careful driving 44mpg is easy and you are travelling in style for the price of a city car. Any downside? Well Renault electrics are a known problem, so fingers crossed and I will just have to wait and see.

I would recommend the car to others if that is what you are looking for. Its certainly something different.

Bought my Renault Vel Satis 3.0 6 years old looking as new, top of the range (Initiale) 3.0 litre diesel. I love it! Loads of space and comfort, I've driven for 6 hours straight and felt absolutely fine at the end of it, lots of tricks and refinement and I paid a pittance! Just £4k for a 40k miles sedan with this amount of luxury - let others lose the depreciation money - that's a given with big French cars!

I get 35mpg (overall) and could get more.

The most comfy car I have ever encountered, it's more comfy than my sofa. This car is a real head turner, a great conversation piece. I believe someone should start a Vel Satis owners club I would join.

The Renault Vel Satis is a hell of a lot of car for the money (values now in freefall, even though it's under 190g CO2), fool the neighbours into thinking you are royalty.

I have done 95,000 miles in 02 registered Renault Vel Satis 3.0 diesel, bought at 6 months old. An intermittent "rattle" or quiet "grating" sound has developed at low revs/speeds that is not the engine or gearbox and Renault are not sure of the cause: may be "mechanism for the A.C." Obviously they have no idea, It is not getting worse and I await developments. Otherwise very few problems over 5 years. Any suggestions? Has anybody else experience of this car over 100,000 miles?

Beautiful interior. Lovely drive. Wife gets 31-35mph so not bad.

It's not a Jag (I drive a XJ as my works car) or a Mercedes, but it is massive step up from most cars on the road.

If only it didn't eat tyres....

If you have read the other review posted here I can say that I have had none of those problems with my Renault Vel Satis, however I didn't have it from new. My tyres wear as well as I could expect, but they are eye wateringly expensive 18" high load Michelins. Perhaps the geometry needs careful checking on these cars. Only fault that developed during my ownership so far was a wheel bearing, this got fixed under warranty, but beware as rear wheel bearing is also rear disk! I would recommend these cars - if you can find a good one, and if you realy want one. If you want run of the mill exec motoring buy a Merc or BMW. I use a Mac though not a PC, so I always tend to go for the road less travelled. The other good thing about driving it is that you don't have to look at the outside!

This Renault Vel Satis was a 3 year contract hire that I used in my business. Initially it got strange looks, then this moved to admiration and wonder, then we got to pity and feeling sorry for me. A large saloon/estate that is supposed to be Renault's answer to the might of Munich. Sorry but it just doesn't cut it. A £30 K car which in three years is probably worth less than £8k. Continually failed to start, or do anything due to a totally dead electrical system. Often leaving me stranded. Even a warranty battery change didn't solve the problem. Maybe there's just too much gadgetry in there. Worst thing was the wheels/brakes/tyres. Twisted Discs they said. They were supposed to put new ones on for me and told me they had done so. Yet three months ago they were telling me that I need new discs all around (£650). It was still chewing up tyres on the front despite me having complained to Renault servicing from month 3. At £160 + VAT per tyre these are just too much. They told me that this was normal for power steering cars. !!! Eventually 8 months short of the contract completion I requested that Renault take it back. I couldn't take anymore. They agreed and in fact agreed to pay all the contract termination charges. They obviously know something I would guess but they are not admitting it. I'm going for a Jeep now, and we'll see what the Chrysler 3.0 CRD engine is like. Sorry but I could not in all honesty ever recommend a Vel Satis other than for gentle local motoring, just not reliable enough and too expensive to run.