For a change, the only rotten thing about this car is the photography. This is a rare chance to get a genuinely appealing and comfortable French luxury car, a Renault 25 2.9 V6 auto.
Admittedly, the 1990 version of the R25 is not so visually pure as the pre-facelift version. Renault lost the industrial design aesthetic in their attempt to make their flagship look like their mid-field contender, the Renault 21. Or else both cars were facelifted in an attempt to
make them look similar to the Clio. If you can get past the ill-matched blend of early 80s and nascent 90s organic styling, the R25 is a remarkably refined cruiser. The V6 is related to the same unit fitted to lots of Volvo 760s and 960s so it’s not an unusual device for Scandinavian mechanics to fiddle with.
I have driven the R25 in its four-cylinder guise and it’s a pleasure to punt around in. The seats are cossetting, the engine is well muffled and it moves quickly. This version has tighter, firmer seats but the main layout is the same as for the launch car. There is a massive amount of room in the back, natural given its ministerial-car remit.
The asking is 40,000 kr or €5300. That is a lot more than you’d pay for a similar car south of the border but not unreasonable for a Danish-registered car. The odometer stands at 95,000 km which implies this a retirement car and the owner has completed their retirement.
If you can stand the anxieties associated with the Douvrin V6, there is a lot to recommend this car which has most likely been winter-stored or garaged continuously. After 1990 the supply of top-level French cars dries up so in many ways this is the last of wave of large, non-German luxury cars made in large enough numbers to make ownership unproblematic spareswise. The technology is simple too.
After this, the next set of big executives was dramatically reduced in numbers and more complex to make. They won’t be nearly such good prospects as this, a late-model from the time when it non-prestige large cars were a normal part of the landscape.
If it wasn’t near Copenhagen, I would go to test drive it.
Driven To Write 
When I was a lad back in the 1980’s, a friend’s dad drove a pre facelift 25. The interior space was remarkable, as was the acreage of synthetic fibre on display. Pair that seat fabric with a fidgeting shell suit clad arse and the potentiality for fire was enormous.
I do remember that static shocks were an everyday peril of 80s motoring.
I reckon the owner is in his late 60s or early 70s. The price is shocking but try finding one this good….Oh, I did. In Germany for €750 to €1200, both under 120,000 km.
The 25 remains the most convincing big Renault of the modern era. It was as if Renault’s management took a long hard look at the Citroen CX and told Opron; “like that but 25% less weird”. What the 25 had that no other large post war Renault ever possessed was a sense of occasion. In its outer styling and in the drama of its starship enterprise control panel.
I once delivered a brand new 1990 2.2TX version to a client in Dunderrow Co. Cork. I remember it as being nice to drive and that the ABS quite literally proved a godsend.
The Safrane that replaced it hadn’t a screed of the 25’s appeal. It was that model’s failure that was directly responsible for the fact that Renault lost the large saloon market. The Vel Satis only hammered in the last nail.
Nice article about a car I liked a lot at the beginning of the 1990′ (perhaps one of the reasons I got leather upholstery in my Chamade).
Regarding a space in the back, I have to add that Renault actually made Limousine version of 25, with about 20cm added behind front seats. ( I have a period 25 brochure, if anybody wants to take a look)