Renault 19 opinions

N

Nick Chandler

Member
Fellow Frogger
Joined
Jul 11, 2002
Messages
24
Location
Tasmania
Howdy all, i've just come to a realisation about how cheap renault 19s are...
A) are they any good to drive? (i realise they aint quick but are they fun?)
B) are they reliable? (autos in particular)
C) are parts easy to get hold of?
D) general opinions on them? mallet

take it easy head_ban :D
 
B) are they reliable? (autos in particular)
Click to expand...
Hahah!

I'm sure danielsydney will help you out.

Does Renault Australia have any supply of 19 parts at all, or do you have to go to specialists?

I've got plenty of Volvo Australia era info on the 19 & Laguna if you're interested. Still remember getting a free Swatch watch from them after having a test drive in a 19 Chamade. They also gave Volvo owners a $5000 cash voucher to use against a 19 - in hindsight, I think we're happy we didn't use that.

Cheers,

Justin
 
How long is a piece of string??

Stodgy design work aside, they look OK, I drove an auto at the local Volvo dealers a while back.....
It was fine.....

But reliable??

There are question marks about the auto transmission, but as the same transmission was used in other manufacturer's vehicles (VW Golf??), it is probably no less reliable than other European autos.. Justin at Alpine motors in
Phillip recently told me that the transmission itself was OK, but the problems were usually associated with poor quality fluid...ie: people not having it changed freqently enough. Of course changing the fluid is diificult in itself....involving draining off an amount of fluid when the transmission reaches a certain temp. Your average three thumbed Joe such as myself was never meant to attempt it.

This leads on to the question of how you work on the things....the answer seems to be with great difficulty. The engine bay is fairly crammed and maintenance issues like clutch replacement are said to be a bit of a bastard. The other issues such as sensors and electronic engine management are all there as well...

But you are right they are cheap.. and not that old...but imho as exciting as a cold lamb chop really.

mallet
 
Nick Chandler:
Howdy all, i've just come to a realisation about how cheap renault 19s are...
Click to expand...
Models are usually cheap for a reason, usually because of poor perception, probably the Renault 19 case or because they are just bad ie a Lada.


<strong>A) are they any good to drive? (i realise they aint quick but are they fun?)</strong>[/QUOTE]

The 1.7 Series 2 manual I drove many years ago seemed under powered, and I was coming from an R12. Depends on your idea of fun to drive, they are certainly no drivers car, but as an everday sort of car, the purpose for which it was designed, they are fine.

<strong>B) are they reliable? (autos in particular)</strong>[/QUOTE]

There seems to be questions of reliability hanging over the 19, probably associated with poor servicing in the past. I know of a FSH Volvo/Renault serviced 1991 Renault 19 that at five years old was suffering from a silted up radiator. It was found the coolant had never been changed. The auto seems to have its own problems, it seems frequent changing caused by around town driving of dropping into overdrive top then back to 3rd seems to cause wear which leads to failure. It seems a less frequent problem on country driven cars. But the early VL and VN Commodores also suffered from a similar problem. Also I've known of a dropped tooth off the crown wheel or pinion on an auto. Certainly the auto seems to have a lot of reliability problem, and as Bog Master pointed out you need the XR 25 diagnostic box to get the level correct in the trans. Another thing the canmbelt needs changing every 90,000k's.

Overall as reliability goes they are probably no worse than the average car up to 160,000k's

<strong>C) are parts easy to get hold of?</strong>[/QUOTE]

A good selection of fast moving parts seem to be stocked by the current Renault regime, I've even bought 12 parts from the local dealer here. But there are also the specialists like Caravelle and French Connection in Melbourne who stock bits. They aren't at the orphan stage yet.

<strong>D) general opinions on them??</strong>[/QUOTE]

If it was a French wine it would be a vin ordinaire.

Tell us more about your father's first car 8G which you mentioned in a previous post topic, that would be more interesting than discussing 19's!!

Simon
 
Well Mr Chandler. I can only tell you about my 19 Automatic chamade in particular and what its had done.
Mine has now done 156000km. 6 months after i bought my car the transmission had an issue. The electronic solonoid went in the car. It went into limp mode until fixed, unable to be driven. I got it fixed at colliers. It was $AUD700 for the part total cost $AUD1500 including labour. I have sinced changed oil and transmission fluid in the gearbox. The gearbox has a filter this needs to be changed once a year. Colliers charge $AUD300 for the filter to be changed and the oil refilled. I also had a failed water pump which cost about $AUD100. It was leaking and I changed this myself took about 4 hours.(easier than i thought). I also changed the timing belt about $AUD60.

I have cleaned all the sensors myself, takes only a few hours it is quite easy. Renault Australia still have all mechanical parts and most things for the car except accesories and that kind of thing. I have changed the front discs and pads on my car which is easy and not hard to do at all. I suggest if you can to seek the 1.8 engine as the 1.7 engine (like others say) is rather cramped and looks like the engine has been thrown in together. If the car has a whole auto transmission failure the engine needs to come out and this is big dollars. (major dollars).
The car itself according to David Collier is one of the Least expensive Renaults of that period. So that is why I have not bought something else, (also i love the car). The car itself is not a machine of speed as Australia never got the 16 valve model. I think they are a very good car and in comparison to other people mine has stuck by me and done quite well. I have changed the wheels and tyres to 16 inch wheels instead of the standard wheels. I have been told by others that they are a little underpowered but maybe the manual car is better a little bit.

Like all cars. you should check the service history and then drive the car and decide.

They were basically a car which Renault decided was a car that should be taken to a dealer to have things done to it. I also get the impression that they are a car that after 100,000km things start to go wrong, but check the history on it. Overall the car is very good and I love them. I think they are very comfortable and there are plenty of things on the internet with info and advice.
I have never been in a sedan so cant speak for those but the chamade is very nice. Plenty of room also. The cooling system must be maintained meticulously also.

Thats my opinion...

:D :D
 
With the last generation Volvo brought out here, you got 81kW as opposed to 68.5kW with the earlier 1.7s (now don't ask me why Renault insisted on the extra 0.5 of kW).

There were various improvements in the Phase III model.

Cheers,

Justin
 
go check out opinions in the "bx or renault 19 "
thread on here somewhere....Renault people told me to avoid em...they're pretty bland...
 
Daniel, I don't know for sure, but changing the auto trans filter once a year sounds like overkill. Please be wary that the dealer isn't taking you for a ride, bouyed by stories of R19 tranny failures. If that's definitely a Renault service scheduled thing, well, I'll be happy to eat my words.

Cheers

Stuey
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top