A Renault 19 was hardly and "old" car in 1998.
You know that Renaults get crusty in the brochure?
As a friend always says: Do not buy a car that starts with F: Ford, Fiat, French...
Unnecessary to say that I have two Renaults and one Ford.
I've had three Renaults & two Fords----but I'm happy to say, I no longer have any of them!
The first Ford was a 100E Ford Popular --- a secondhand beast to get around when I did a "working holiday" in the UK in 1971/72.
Nice looking car, but a late 1950s body filled with 1930s mechanicals-----sidevalve 4, with thermosyphon cooling, 3 speed gearbox, vacuum wipers, 6 volt electrical system, etc.
It was quite nice to drive, but the fuel economy was abysmal for such a small car.
Next Ford was a 1988 Australian Ford Falcon-----about as different from the "Pop" as you could get.
Massive 6cyl OHC engine, automatic, with 4 wheel disc brakes, airconditioning, & its fuel economy wasn't much worse than the 100E!
Secondhand, of course, so "gorilla-isation" began to show its ugly head.
Someone had fitted one of the fuel injectors incorrectly.
Initially, only showed up as a sudden hesitation sometimes when cruising around about 110kmh, but gradually got worse, along with other more "Ford caused" problems.
My first Renault (secondhand) was an R12, locally assembled during the days of "Australianisation", so the electrical system was made locally by Bosch, with a great deal of commonality with other locally made cars.
It was a great little car, but eventually the gearbox failed, & I bought another slightly newer one-----still good, but no where near the first one.
Engine died, so I tried to replace it with the good engine from the first one, only to discover all the mating bits had changed.
Next was a R25---- sheer luxury, compared to the dear old R12, but a piece of crap.
The LCD dashboard gave silly readings, & the "little guy in the dash" gave silly voice announcements, but as if that wasn't enough, the "computer controlled" automatic transmission would suddenly drop down & lock in second gear. (the first "electronic" transmissions in Ford Falcons later than mine did similar things).
For another delight, the (expensive) alternator died, so I finally gave up.
About that time, both the R25 & the Falcon were dispatched to "car heaven", & I bought a Toyota Camry.
It is now as old & ugly as me, but in better health------starts & runs like a new car!