Faults:

When first purchased:

Exhaust blowing.

Handbrake needed adjustment.

Wheel arches needed touched up.

General service including coolant flushed, as the car was getting hot quickly, but not overheating.

Rear window seal needed to be replaced.

Aerial needed to be replaced.

General Comments:

I absolutely love the old girl. Bought it off an old couple who were giving up driving. The car had always been garaged and the paint work is like new, as well as the interior.

The car had always been serviced, however in the last year or so they had not had it serviced as they were driving it less and less. There is the odd little bump and scrape, but barely anything.

Inside is just as comfy as my old Rover; the chairs are like armchairs. The dash is simple and well laid out, and the car still smells new.

The car is very economical, but the performance is not the best; you need to rev it high in fourth gear, as in fifth it can struggle.

But overall a very good car for 20 odd years old; a bargain at 450 pounds.

Sadly however I have had to buy a smaller car due to eye problems, as I do not want to bash the old girl. So she is safely tucked away in my garage, waiting for her return to the road.

Faults:

Really nothing unexpected, the previous owner didn't invest much into it, so all the typical stuff that wears needed attention.

Oh, the car has Bendix ABS, which is really unreliable (the power assist sometimes works, sometimes doesn't) in which case the red handbrake control lamp lights up as well as the ABS lamp.

Due to this the car is currently is having the brakes converted to a normal servo-assisted system.

Also the head gasket was leaking some compression gases into the cooling system, so it's being replaced also. Not really a surprise considering the car is 15 years old.

Other minor cosmetic details both inside and out.

General Comments:

Well I wanted one of these for a long time and I wasn't disappointed. The car is really fast, the suspension is adequately stiff to handle it (but not too stiff), and the entire car has a unique feel to it, to me anyway.

Engine surprisingly runs really smooth; doesn't take oil and emissions are OK, gearbox works properly and is quiet.

Performance? It smokes almost anything that out on the roads even today with ease, handles like a dream and attracts attention. Really cool, classy looks and straightforward design makes it cheap to fix if something eventually breaks. I don't mind putting some money into it as the pleasure you get from driving compensates for it all.

I'm thinking of restoring it a little bit in the future (respray, new interior etc). You gotta try it to understand it. The downside? It provokes you to drive fast and do stupid things, so it's not for everyone...

Faults:

Brake master cylinder.

Brake pads and drums.

Gaiter on the driveshaft.

Starting to rust around the wheel arches.

Paint starting to fade, but not too bad for a 13 year old car.

General Comments:

The car is nice to dive and has not let me down once.

I would say it's a good first car if you want to go A to B. But it's not a sports car, but it is a good car.

My mate sold it me and he bought a Pug 306, but he's had nothing but problems with that. He asked me to sell my Renault 19 back to him. I said no way.

I learned something with Renaults - you get a good one or you get a real bad one.