In a recent Question Of The Day it was asked whether tall cars should make a comeback. Of course, those of you better versed in reality realised pretty soon that they never went away. To this day you can buy a tall VW Golf Plus, a tall Focus C-Max or a tall Smart ForTwo, or a tall Fiesta, or 208 or Clio or, well, you get the idea.

The thing is, the above are all tall because that’s the only way the package can be made to work. To accommodate multiple full-sized human beings in a space less than four metres long means everybody has to sit upright. Think of these cars as modern successors to the Renault 4, so beloved of tall-hatted Gendarmerie and folk like me who’s legs have integral stilts.

So, little cars have to be tall, SUVs have to be tall, and MPVs have to be tall in order to do what they’re supposed to. What of big cars, though? How about luxury ones? They all tend to be sleek, long and low. People slither into them, recline and then unslither at journeys end. That was the way it had to happen.

Until Renault came along with the ill-fated Vel Satis.

“Renaults history has been shaped by the constant search for new and better ways to do things…….they were the first car manufacturer to break with accepted standards and create the monospace format. That lead to the audacious and elegant Avantime. And now to the launch of the daringly innovative Vel Satis.”

There will be debate about the monospace thing and who came up with it first, but there’s certainly truth in the statement that Renault have a history of innovation. Unfortunately, innovation doesn’t automatically lead to sales success. The Avantime, which may well end up being covered by R.A-S.H at some point, competed in the not-at-all fiercely contested two-door MPV arena. Literally the slimmest niche in the history of the wheel. The Vel Satis was an altogether more sensible proposition.

“The harder we looked at it, the more we thought that the luxury car was in need of a new approach.”

With two decades of MPV experience already accrued, Renault were keen to take some of the clever thinking that made the Espace so successful and apply it to a sector where design always pretty much followed a common trail.

“The size of the doors alone, tells you that Vel Satis opens up a new dimension in luxury motoring”

This was a big car by European standards, occupying the same amount of highway real estate as a 5-Series or Audi A6, but standing several inches taller. The big doors gave the packaging game away, here was a car that you step inside rather than sinking into. And, once installed (or perched) things all started to make sense. Passengers sat high, those in the back higher still for a panoramic view through the steep front screen. Because the seating was quite upright, like that of a supermini or MPV there was loads of legroom, and there was headroom and shoulder space in abundance. although it did slightly annoy me that you couldn’t stretch out with your feet beneath the seat in front.

“The design and interior trim of Vel Satis reflect our determination to combine uncompromising elegance with ergonomic efficiency – everything you need falls naturally and effortlessly to hand.”

Renault interior design was quite artistic during the first part of the decade, and the Vel Satis was a very nice place to be. The materials were good by Renault family car standards and there was considerable attention to detail paid to the finishes. Inlayed walnut marquettry was available in the top-line Initiale model.

And, though you sat upright this didn’t resign you to bus-style discomfort. Vel Satis came equipped with the trademarked “Great Comfort seat” (a world first). This meant huge, articulated armchairs with integrated seat belts and, whatever criticisms the reviewers may have found as regards the ride quality or powertrains, there were few quibbles as to the merit of the seats themselves. There was a broad choice of engines, too, from Nissans VQ 3.5 V6 unit, down through the ranks of V6 and four-pot diesels, to the turbo’d four cylinder petrol at the bottom of the range. None of these made for a slow car; some of them were much quicker than they needed to be.

“Every sensory component, from soundproofing to smell has been designed to enhance the pleasure and relaxation of everyone on board.”

It really did seem, if the pages full of prose were anything worth believing, that the Vel Satis had all the answers. And never before had a Renault been developed to smell good, in fact usually, after being full of family for mile upon end, a typical Renault had an olfactory signature akin to a Manhattan Dumpster on a sunny day.

The rest of the brochure goes on and on, and on some more, ad infinitum, like one of those charity workers in the street who you know represent excellent and worthy causes, but who are still less likely to make you reach into your wallet than to prompt you to run quickly in the opposite direction. The truth is, as you might have guessed, that Renault were laying it on a bit thick about just how great the Vel Satis concept was. A few dozen pages into the brochure they start back-pedalling and begin to offer justification into what they’ve done and why they did it, as if they were expecting everybody to ask why the hell they bothered.

You may recognise styling aspects (albeit in massively diluted form) from the Initiale concept car shown in 1995. Renault say that the Initiale was “greeted as much with surprise and disbelief as excitement and admiration”. The questions on the lips of automotive commenters had been things like “Could a luxury car really be so daring and so luxurious, or would it, as so many concept cars do, disappear back into the realms of improbability?”

Of course, the answer was inevitable. The Vel Satis was only moderately successful, selling far fewer copies, certainly in the UK, than Renault would have liked. The clever packaging ideas seen in the Vel Satis went on to influence precisely zero other manufacturers, although the inspiration for the BMW GT range must have come from somewhere…. Indeed, Renault themselves must have retrospectively seen their conviction in the concept as having been a little misplaced; the Renault Samsung Lattitude that went on to fill the shoes of the Vel Satis in most markets, had none of its avante-garde and contentious aspects.

In the future it seems that Renault might be a little less cavalier about “….extending the frontiers of the possible in saloon car luxury”. As somebody interested enough in vehicle design to have taken a four-year degree course studying it, I yearn for imaginative, forward-thinking design to come back and usurp the current trend towards parking-lot presence, superficial flashiness and look-at-me lighting.

I’m unlikely to ever hold the keys to one of these, but the brochure is safely locked away.

(Disclaimer:- All photos were taken by the author and are of genuine original manufacturer publicity material, on my bathroom floor again. All copyright rights remain in the possession of the manufacturer, who have temporarily put most of their imaginative design ideas on hiatus)