Renault 19 1.4E RN Biarittz

hi there,

well where to start with this real bargain of a car, i was never looking to buy a renault 19 or any other car for that matter 3 years ago.

this was my 3rd car and of all the three this is by far the better of them, i bought one for £100 off an old couple who had owned the car for 12 years and only still clocked 48000 miles on it going to tesco's once a week :p.

i snapped up this motor when they told me they had just MOT'd and taxed it, in the time i have owned it it has never let me down apart from the radiator thermostat breaking twice which just resulted in the fan not turning on so when i stop in traffic i either had to turn the engine off or turn the heaters on full out the window (not nice in the summer!) the performance for a 1.4 is shocking, 110mph in forth gear then will pull to 122mph completely standard. car has many good extra's like :- Power steering, immobiliser, front and rear fogs, central locking(on the key), many seat adjustments, really comfortable seats (even compared to some new 2009 cars)

what really makes me laugh is that my step dad drives a nearly new fiat punto active sport 1.4 injection and it doesnt pull, tops out at 100mph! and my old renault pulls like a train compared to it!

hope any of this is of use to anyone thinking of buying one because they are shockingly good cars and sooooo reliable u wouldnt beleive it!

I own an L reg Renault 19 1.4e RN Biarittz which i bought back in April of this year to replace my Vauxhall Astra mark 2 (see my review on that in the Astra section of this site).

It has been the best car that i have owned so far (out of the four since i passed my test).

The car is packed full of features that normally you would find on cars much higher up the specification ladder. Mine came with things like remote central locking, electric sunroof, seat hight adjustment, adjustable headlights, steering adjustment, immobiliser, front and rear fog lights, and of course the all important feature power steering.

The Renault 1.4 energy injection engine is very strong and great for both pottering around town and for those longer journeys. In the mid to upper rev ranges it pulls like a train but lacks a little grunt lower down. However overtaking is effortless and stress free.

The car itself looks great both inside and out. In fact I believe that this car looks better than it's younger sibling the Renault Megane (which also happens to be based on the 19 platform).

Handling is great in the dry but not so good in the wet, although the economy tyres that my car currently has fitted could be a lot to do with it.

I'll know more about the cars handling when winter hits aberdeen properly.

There are no real reliability issues with this car, being the age that it is I expected some minor problems (and got some). It had a dead fan when i got it (cured by a fan from an old scrapped renault 19 costing £5) The radiatior got flushed a few days later. A few weeks back the alternator belt snapped and was replaced and a new expansion tank cap was fitted. I've had no other problems.

All in all the renault 19 has been a great car and i would recommend this one to anyone looking for a cheap reliable car!