I got one from new as a company car when I worked in France, a fairly basic 1.4 hatch. Thrashed that car up and down the autopistes and to the UK. Like he says, it was solid and very reliable. Used to drive it at an indicated 120 or higher all the time. No complaints.
R21 is a great car. My father still owns one and It's just amazing. I've driven many different cars but the 21 is unique. I bought R19 Chamade 1.7 and It's been more than 2 years now. Not that good, weak brakes, not as comfortable, but it gets the job done. Happy to drive them. Tough cars, economical, and cheap to maintain. Good video. Cheers!
Hahahaha my first car was a renault 21. What a lemon! I drove that POS for maybe 6 years before the motor blew up for the second time at about 120k. After that we bought another one for a motor transplant. If anything the Renault made me alot better at auto repair, as I could not longer afford to take it to the garage. However I have to admit I sure had alot of interesting adventures trying to figure out the little puzzles it would leave me every week. My favorite was the time the brake lights kept shorting out every time I turned left and touched the brakes at the same time, it took me forever to figure that one out, and for a while I had the middle brake light in the rear wired up on a switch I would press with my finger every time I was ready to stop. Also I lucked out when I found a axel with a 5yr warrenty, since the boot around the cv join would rip twice a year, and it was cheaper to just replace the whole axel. Oh fun, fun.
Always makes me laugh when they moan about high boot load sills......................has anybody ever had real experience of it being a problem? I had a Zafira with a flat load floor and no sill.......parked on a slope I lost 3 bottles of wine when I opened the hatch and they fell out and smashed - give me a sill anytime !
It can _also_ be an issue when loading heavy cases into the boot - in fact I had to ask for assistance (which I abjectly *despise* doing under any circumstances)...but it taught me a lesson - load the cases when they're already IN the car. A pain, yes...but it saves alot of aggravation. As for poor doggies, I sympathize with them on this issue - particularly if they're small and/or have joint/muscular problems.
I do have a new car but keep my old 19diesel, it's worth nothing but soldiers on, 350K on the clock, cost nearly nothing to run, 50mpg & is great to haul materials from the DIY store with a trailer. The N/A diesel is a winner in snow, it does not accelerate just gathers momentum. Oh and I bought it 10 years ago for € 200.
+Russ Cattell My father also had a 1993 renault 19 diesel. we sold last year beacuse it is euro 1 (for big city in germany ou need euro 4). it had 363000 km
Interesting, the column control for the audio was an idea that took nearly 20 years to catch on, and it took iPod docking to bring it back to the market.
First car was a 19 1.4 rt bought from Godalming in mid 2003 on an m reg a lovely bluey green metallic, so literally one of the last ones before the fresher new Megane came out. It was a bit of a left field grandad choice of car for an 18 year old but I fancied a bit of refinement compared to my mates nova and 106. Loved the velour seats the stereo controls and space compared to smaller cars. It suffered a squealing fanbelt that never shut up. I was no mechanic had it 5 months sold it and got an older clio on an L with the same 80 bhp engine and no power steering. That ended up being the most fun little car I ever owned. Raw light and felt nippy to me at the time with the 100 so kg weight defecit compared to the 19. I loved that car. Then jumped straight to an old a4 2.8 quattro in black the insurance still haunts me. Even though that was on a P plate driving a couple of peoples almost new focuses the first shape or a nearly new astra g at the time in 2005 felt like a huge step down in quality. They really made those a4s solid back then. Now owning a nearly new b9 a4 and astra k the gulf in quality is not so vast. Id love to go back in time though to being 18 and 19 when I had my clio. Simpler times.
I bought one in 2000 as my first car. To answer your question: There were plenty of them, and by then they all were aproaching the end of their life. I liked my one, but it needed a new silencer every two jears, leaked cooling liquid, roasted its heating knobs, started to stutter ad cold weather - that car was not meant to last forever (sadly).
Not really, the Chamade was only used in the phase 1 Renault 19, on the phase 2 the name Chamade was dropped, the name applied to both the hatchback and the sedan but in 1993 it was dropped just to call it the 19, my dad actually owns a '98 model which is the base trim the RE with the C2L 1.6 litre and carburated.
Not a Renault fan but I must admit, the good old R21 had something special. Like there realy was no other car like it. It had a soul... The R19 on the other hand was the beginning o a long series of plain ugly cars, the first gen Megan being one of the most horrible cars the French ever made! Here the seed was planted...
R19 was just weak car. It just feels and looks like that. R21 was extremly comfy, bigger back seat was extremly comfy. And the hatchback was just beautiful with those lines and tail lights. The 2.1D, even the naturally aspired was quite good engine and had some punch unlike for example Sierra 2.3D 1st gen Megane was really innovative and modern car ........ but that was all the good and then you go to the bad, reliability, even dealer services couldn't fix loads of stuff, wrecked Megane always ended with huge panel gaps no matter how skilled people tried to mend it. Megane 1.9 TD wasn't barn-engineering like older diesels and to fix it, you needed Dealer service for diagnosis through computer and plugged in, car often didn't send any information. My friend got one wrecked and not mended properly where he spent about 9 months going from one service station to another, to official dealers service and nobody was able to find why it smoked like crazy in winter, everything was changed, fuel nozzles, heater plugs, it was revired, seal where changed, it didn't leak oil or water into engine but it still smoked like hell.
Is the R19 related to the Chevy Cavelier/Pontiac Sunbird? it has a strong resemblance to those cars and wouldn't surprise me both were boringly average cars like this R19 LOL
My dad has a r19 chamade 1.4 it's now 21 years old and it still is good shape. it's actually very fun to drive and the top speed is good but it has no torque at all seriously
Gosh! You've got to be fairly young then - they used to be somewhat common on the roads (maybe saw about 1 or 2 a day in the late 80s/early 90s - when I was looking!)
@@letsdiscussitoversometea8479 Yeah, they were very common at that time, my dad got one as a company car in '87; we moved house the following year and the guy next door had the estate version.
@@nkt1 Ah - the Savannah! Even rarer I'm sure. Weren't they replaced by the Safrane in the early/mid 90s? Somebody in an nearby housing block had one in dark green. The last time I saw a 21 for sale, it was in brown, and seemed to have been for sale for a while... Wonder what happened with it? Admittedly, the 21 was never really my cup of tea - though I did consider the Vel Satis when it launched in about '02 - along with the Avantine for some reason (don't ask!). I was always thought the 21 had a bit of a "Dutch" look about it as well - like it would be driven by a middle aged Dutchman - possibly a teacher! Just had that association with me :)
@@letsdiscussitoversometea8479 There is a Dutch connection, the Renault 21's 1.7 L engine was also used in the Volvo 480, which was manufactured in the Netherlands. I was never that keen on the 21's styling, it seemed a bit bland. A couple of years later, by dad got a Peugeot 405, which seemed a better car in almost every way. Much prettier, more luxurious (only a GR, but had rear electric windows/head restraints) and seemingly much more fun to drive. It even sounded better, despite only being a 1.6 L.
Is it the e6j carburetor or e7j injection version? If it's the injection version, there might be something wrong with the lambda sensor. As the energy engines have really good torque (120Nm) for their size if they're in good shape. And yes I've currently got three 1.4 19's :D
no it's probably an e6j carb because it doesn't has a lambda sensor.But i don't think 120nm is a lot.But now i've got a bigger problem than that the dashboard is falling to pieces...
I see people moaning about those cars reliability, either they produce weak cars for europe (maybe a stereotype) or they send very strong ones to Africa and south America, because here R19, R21, R25, 405, 309, 205, with a million miles on the clock are running just fine.
@kazimann Lets wait 20 years before saying what will be and what not :P They also said at the time that we would be using electric power in 20 years but its still not a viable alternative for most users. As for running diesel on veggie oil, I'm not too sure. You will certainly find difficulty running any modern diesel on straight veggie oil, whereas the old simple indirect diesels with their mechanical pumps used to be able to run on anything resembling oil with no problems.
Renault sold a booted version of the R21 in the USA as the Eagle Medallion, one of the last vestiges of their alliance with AMC/Jeep, which was by then had been sold on to Chrysler. I don't believe the Medallion was a terrible car for its day but they were rarer than hen's teeth even when new. If you can find one now, 30+ years after the last one was unloaded by their dealers, it's truly a hard to find classic. You could drive all year around all parts of the country and not see another.
My second car was a renault 19 AWFUL CARS THEY BROKE OFTEN I DROVE RENAULT MANY OFTEN I HATE RENAULT THEY DONT KNOW HOW TO MAKE A CAR THAT WILL NOT BRAKE DOWN......NOW I HAVE AN OPEL CORSA D ......WHAT A DIFFERANCE
My first car was a Renault 21, due to the electrics I lost a lot of weight walking!
I bought an old Renault 19 diesel as a gap car ( until I could afford a new one ) and ended up keeping it for 6 years!!
I got one from new as a company car when I worked in France, a fairly basic 1.4 hatch. Thrashed that car up and down the autopistes and to the UK. Like he says, it was solid and very reliable. Used to drive it at an indicated 120 or higher all the time. No complaints.
I saw a Renault 19 Chamade for the first time in at least a decade yesterday.
Phasing out the Petrol and Diesel engine within the next 20 years.... my backside!
Thanks for these uploads mate L:)
R21 is a great car. My father still owns one and It's just amazing. I've driven many different cars but the 21 is unique. I bought R19 Chamade 1.7 and It's been more than 2 years now. Not that good, weak brakes, not as comfortable, but it gets the job done. Happy to drive them. Tough cars, economical, and cheap to maintain.
Good video.
Cheers!
"Phasing out petrol and diesel engines".....hmmm yes we've heard that before haven't we!
Hahahaha my first car was a renault 21.
What a lemon! I drove that POS for maybe 6 years before the motor blew up for the second time at about 120k.
After that we bought another one for a motor transplant. If anything the Renault made me alot better at auto repair, as I could not longer afford to take it to the garage.
However I have to admit I sure had alot of interesting adventures trying to figure out the little puzzles it would leave me every week. My favorite was the time the brake lights kept shorting out every time I turned left and touched the brakes at the same time, it took me forever to figure that one out, and for a while I had the middle brake light in the rear wired up on a switch I would press with my finger every time I was ready to stop. Also I lucked out when I found a axel with a 5yr warrenty, since the boot around the cv join would rip twice a year, and it was cheaper to just replace the whole axel. Oh fun, fun.
is it possible to buy a dvd (or vcr) set of the old format top gear
great!thanks for uploading,I still have one R19 made in 1995 though but still goes fine :)
Always makes me laugh when they moan about high boot load sills......................has anybody ever had real experience of it being a problem? I had a Zafira with a flat load floor and no sill.......parked on a slope I lost 3 bottles of wine when I opened the hatch and they fell out and smashed - give me a sill anytime !
Good point LOL.
A few pillows fell out of my Volvo the other day right into a puddle ☹️
Yes, it can be an issue if you have a dog.
It can _also_ be an issue when loading heavy cases into the boot - in fact I had to ask for assistance (which I abjectly *despise* doing under any circumstances)...but it taught me a lesson - load the cases when they're already IN the car.
A pain, yes...but it saves alot of aggravation.
As for poor doggies, I sympathize with them on this issue - particularly if they're small and/or have joint/muscular problems.
I do have a new car but keep my old 19diesel, it's worth nothing but soldiers on, 350K on the clock, cost nearly nothing to run, 50mpg & is great to haul materials from the DIY store with a trailer. The N/A diesel is a winner in snow, it does not accelerate just gathers momentum. Oh and I bought it 10 years ago for € 200.
+Russ Cattell My father also had a 1993 renault 19 diesel. we sold last year beacuse it is euro 1 (for big city in germany ou need euro 4). it had 363000 km
I have now sold mine, € 100
Interesting, the column control for the audio was an idea that took nearly 20 years to catch on, and it took iPod docking to bring it back to the market.
First car was a 19 1.4 rt bought from Godalming in mid 2003 on an m reg a lovely bluey green metallic, so literally one of the last ones before the fresher new Megane came out. It was a bit of a left field grandad choice of car for an 18 year old but I fancied a bit of refinement compared to my mates nova and 106. Loved the velour seats the stereo controls and space compared to smaller cars. It suffered a squealing fanbelt that never shut up. I was no mechanic had it 5 months sold it and got an older clio on an L with the same 80 bhp engine and no power steering. That ended up being the most fun little car I ever owned. Raw light and felt nippy to me at the time with the 100 so kg weight defecit compared to the 19. I loved that car. Then jumped straight to an old a4 2.8 quattro in black the insurance still haunts me. Even though that was on a P plate driving a couple of peoples almost new focuses the first shape or a nearly new astra g at the time in 2005 felt like a huge step down in quality. They really made those a4s solid back then. Now owning a nearly new b9 a4 and astra k the gulf in quality is not so vast. Id love to go back in time though to being 18 and 19 when I had my clio. Simpler times.
i got a 1991 R21 txi with 136hp and still can go with 200km/h after 22 years. The big seats are very confortable. It is one of the best renos :)
I haven't seen a renault 19 in a long time but I can't believe how cheap you could pick up a used one in the 00's, I wonder why?
because they was everywhere, i remember when get r19 16v under 1000e was easy, now impossible..
I bought one in 2000 as my first car. To answer your question: There were plenty of them, and by then they all were aproaching the end of their life. I liked my one, but it needed a new silencer every two jears, leaked cooling liquid, roasted its heating knobs, started to stutter ad cold weather - that car was not meant to last forever (sadly).
This time, Chris Goffey tests the Renault 19 and 21. Taken from season 12 episode 2.
actually the chamade is the name for the sedan version of the 19
Not really, the Chamade was only used in the phase 1 Renault 19, on the phase 2 the name Chamade was dropped, the name applied to both the hatchback and the sedan but in 1993 it was dropped just to call it the 19, my dad actually owns a '98 model which is the base trim the RE with the C2L 1.6 litre and carburated.
I had both, both are reliable
R21 e19,bellissime, meravigliose,grandiose.
Not a Renault fan but I must admit, the good old R21 had something special. Like there realy was no other car like it. It had a soul...
The R19 on the other hand was the beginning o a long series of plain ugly cars, the first gen Megan being one of the most horrible cars the French ever made! Here the seed was planted...
R19 was just weak car. It just feels and looks like that.
R21 was extremly comfy, bigger back seat was extremly comfy. And the hatchback was just beautiful with those lines and tail lights.
The 2.1D, even the naturally aspired was quite good engine and had some punch unlike for example Sierra 2.3D
1st gen Megane was really innovative and modern car ........ but that was all the good and then you go to the bad, reliability, even dealer services couldn't fix loads of stuff, wrecked Megane always ended with huge panel gaps no matter how skilled people tried to mend it.
Megane 1.9 TD wasn't barn-engineering like older diesels and to fix it, you needed Dealer service for diagnosis through computer and plugged in, car often didn't send any information.
My friend got one wrecked and not mended properly where he spent about 9 months going from one service station to another, to official dealers service and nobody was able to find why it smoked like crazy in winter, everything was changed, fuel nozzles, heater plugs, it was revired, seal where changed, it didn't leak oil or water into engine but it still smoked like hell.
I haven't seen a Renault 19 for nearly 20 years, so I'm guessing they've almost all rusted into oblivion!
they are still a common sight in 3rd world countries
@@procerus3654 Especially Argentina, you can see one on every street!
@@osvaldovidela6466 balkan europe here, they appear here and there, though first gen meganes are way more popular
I answered my own question, The GM J body was produced in Europe only as An Opel from what I can gather
They forgot to mention that the 21 was sold as the Medallion in the USA at the time.
Is the R19 related to the Chevy Cavelier/Pontiac Sunbird? it has a strong resemblance to those cars and wouldn't surprise me both were boringly average cars like this R19 LOL
My dad has a r19 chamade 1.4 it's now 21 years old and it still is good shape.
it's actually very fun to drive and the top speed is good but it has no torque at all seriously
thanks for the upload
i only saw a Renault 21 one time in my entire life, and it was in front of a mechanic shop.
Gosh!
You've got to be fairly young then - they used to be somewhat common on the roads (maybe saw about 1 or 2 a day in the late 80s/early 90s - when I was looking!)
@@letsdiscussitoversometea8479 Yeah, they were very common at that time, my dad got one as a company car in '87; we moved house the following year and the guy next door had the estate version.
@@nkt1 Ah - the Savannah!
Even rarer I'm sure.
Weren't they replaced by the Safrane in the early/mid 90s?
Somebody in an nearby housing block had one in dark green.
The last time I saw a 21 for sale, it was in brown, and seemed to have been for sale for a while...
Wonder what happened with it?
Admittedly, the 21 was never really my cup of tea - though I did consider the Vel Satis when it launched in about '02 - along with the Avantine for some reason (don't ask!).
I was always thought the 21 had a bit of a "Dutch" look about it as well - like it would be driven by a middle aged Dutchman - possibly a teacher!
Just had that association with me :)
@@letsdiscussitoversometea8479 There is a Dutch connection, the Renault 21's 1.7 L engine was also used in the Volvo 480, which was manufactured in the Netherlands.
I was never that keen on the 21's styling, it seemed a bit bland. A couple of years later, by dad got a Peugeot 405, which seemed a better car in almost every way. Much prettier, more luxurious (only a GR, but had rear electric windows/head restraints) and seemingly much more fun to drive. It even sounded better, despite only being a 1.6 L.
Is it the e6j carburetor or e7j injection version? If it's the injection version, there might be something wrong with the lambda sensor. As the energy engines have really good torque (120Nm) for their size if they're in good shape. And yes I've currently got three 1.4 19's :D
no it's probably an e6j carb because it doesn't has a lambda sensor.But i don't think 120nm is a lot.But now i've got a bigger problem than that the dashboard is falling to pieces...
Good car
R19 R21 ❤
HAHAHA. They really didn't phase out anything, did they?
WTF?
Why dose William Wooollard look like prototype Boris Johnson?
even bloody souds simillar (with less affliction in his voice but still)
I see people moaning about those cars reliability, either they produce weak cars for europe (maybe a stereotype) or they send very strong ones to Africa and south America, because here R19, R21, R25, 405, 309, 205, with a million miles on the clock are running just fine.
Best car ever
@kazimann Lets wait 20 years before saying what will be and what not :P They also said at the time that we would be using electric power in 20 years but its still not a viable alternative for most users.
As for running diesel on veggie oil, I'm not too sure. You will certainly find difficulty running any modern diesel on straight veggie oil, whereas the old simple indirect diesels with their mechanical pumps used to be able to run on anything resembling oil with no problems.
Could you tell me how to travel in time??
⌚
boh
Get an R21 Quadra Turbo. Now there’s a unicorn car.
-
I miss my old 21 turbo, fun and comfy car, shame about the reliability
Nice 🔑 look
🗽👋😘🙌✋😺😄✌💋💋👏😸🚀✌☺✌
Renault sold a booted version of the R21 in the USA as the Eagle Medallion, one of the last vestiges of their alliance with AMC/Jeep, which was by then had been sold on to Chrysler.
I don't believe the Medallion was a terrible car for its day but they were rarer than hen's teeth even when new. If you can find one now, 30+ years after the last one was unloaded by their dealers, it's truly a hard to find classic. You could drive all year around all parts of the country and not see another.
ok
Renault 19 seems resoundingly unremarkable.
19
ya
How did Chris Goffey ever get on TV.
When he had the interview the woman who did it was enticed by his sexy beard
sadly this hasnt been taxed, so it was probs crashed
What would you do for a mustache ride???😘
3:44 Is he running on fumes ??
+Lewis72 That is not the fuel gauge
MultiOlive Oil
Ah, it's hard to tell what that dial is. I've had a qick Google. it could be an ammeter/voltmeter or somesuch.
+Lewis72 It's oil level indicator. It works only with key on and engine off
starsky778
Ah, OK thanks.
Que dijo sobre el 21?? xD
Bueno el 21 cola corta no me gusta mucho xP
Grande Top Gear!!
Why does he say Renó?
because this is how it's pronounced in French, more or less
The assy-metric bothers me even more!
My second car was a renault 19 AWFUL CARS THEY BROKE OFTEN I DROVE RENAULT MANY OFTEN I HATE RENAULT THEY DONT KNOW HOW TO MAKE A CAR THAT WILL NOT BRAKE DOWN......NOW I HAVE AN OPEL CORSA D ......WHAT A DIFFERANCE
Love old topgear, check out this renault 21 turbo ruclips.net/video/4NZNc3Ja5dE/видео.html
Love renault
Bad car