1994 Renault 19 Rl Be Bop review from UK and Ireland

In the five years and huge mileage I covered in this car the only things to have gone wrong are:

Rear wheel bearings suffered wear (right hand side only).

A metal pipe at the front of the engine corroded and burst, which was my fault for not putting corrosion inhibitor in the coolant.

The best car I have ever owned.

When I had this car, I was a seventeen year old obsessed with driving fast. Living in the countryside, I had the opportunity to do this every day, and so I did. The poor car barely dropped below 80mph and quite regularly reached 130 mph on the speedo. I used to get through tyres and brakes (consumables) quite rapidly, but the car shockingly never missed a beat. If I drove current day Vectra like I used to drive my 19 it would be dead.

The car was always waxed and washed, suffered no corrosion what so ever.

I fitted a tow bar, and used the car to launch and recover a 14ft jet boat, which it did effortlessly.

The handling was very precise and the car would always let me know before it was going to lose grip via a unique rumbling feel through the steering. When grip was finally lost, the car slid sideways gently in the most predictive way I have ever known.

The seats are extremely comfortable and long distance cruising on the motorway could be done with ease.

The only downfall with the car is that it lacked torque low down in the rev range, although for a 1.4 petrol it flies at higher revs and beats anything ford and vauxhall can offer for a similar age and size of car.