All 197's should have had a cambelt change by now, and it's a job that needs doing properly. I'd be wanting a receipt from a reputable garage to be sure its been done right.
Gearboxes can go bad and crunch, although mine was fine on >70k, it depends how they are treated. Gearboxes can be picked up for ok prices
The flexies on the exhaust can blow, if they do it's a manifold off job to fix, so not cheap.
Some have a bit of a flat spot about 2.5k but a few fixes for that - nothing major
If you look for one with the Recaro's in - they wear quite badly but again mine were fine on higher miles, its dependant on how it's been looked after.
The front hub setup is very similar to the Megane 225, and can suffer from similar issues with the balljoints. If it makes a screeching noise when turning the steering wheel at low speed it's probably them. Renault will only sell you the complete assembly at about £250 but there are places that can change just the balljoint for a much better price.
Other than that just the usual stuff you would look for on any car - Service history, overall condition, decent tyres (usually a good indicator on how it's been looked after).
Oh, last thing - they aren't the quickest of hot hatches, but they handle well. If you want straight line performance look elsewhere.
