From the little I have heard about Rovers, They are what the Dog and Lemon guide SHOULD be talkin bout.
skippy33,
Mar 1, 12:24pm
lol,ok,cheers
robotnik,
Mar 1, 12:39pm
That is pretty cheap. At that price I'd take the chance and would drive it until it died. It probably has a few years left in it anyway.
andy61,
Mar 1, 2:10pm
Do you want to keep your mechanic wealthy and yourself poor! If so buy it. Google Rover K series motors- a shocker motor for needing frequent and expensive repairs-headgaskets,sunken cylinder liners etc etc.Not easy to buy replacement engines as the ones at the wreckers have blown engines as well,also if it has CVT transmission,they are bad news .Better cars out there.Your hubby will be late for work often if he gets a Rover.
franc123,
Mar 1, 2:55pm
I've had about four or five clients who went ahead and bought these thinking they were smart stepping out of our grey porridge market of Corollas, Pulsars, Civics and the like and getting themselves a small prestige (!) Rover, and found out quickly why BMW called Rover "The English Patient" when they owned it.The quality and durability is indeed sick, particularly the engines and transmissions, body problems like water leaks, squeaky trim etc also annoy. Leave them to masochistic Pongos with a warped sense of patriotism. Not worth it even at $1600.
skippy33,
Mar 1, 3:51pm
ok,cool,wont be getting that then,cheers for info
pebbles61,
Mar 1, 4:08pm
The K series engine isn't too bad regarding the head gasket woes from what I've seen/read and most of the can be sorted in that regard. I wouldn't buy an automatic one though as they have a CVT box as far as I've read and they're not too flash. If you wanted a Rover, the 400 and 600 series ones in automatic had Honda engines _b
sas777,
Mar 1, 6:42pm
No, masochistic 'pongo' ex-pats don't buy them, at least sensible ones, because they saw too much of that rubbish back home.
UK registrations include a year letter, so everyone can see the age of cars in the wreckers. Believe me, these model Rovers and the 400 and 600 series etc. were the first to get towed down the dump (where they belong)
pebbles61,
Mar 1, 7:01pm
Like Aussies with their Holdens! lol
But saying that I do own British cars, but I doubt I'd buy a 200 series Rover
socram,
Mar 1, 9:19pm
Wifey had a 214 Cabriolet and I had a 420Gsi for about 4 years.Didn't cost us a bean other than routine maintenance on either of them.
Cabriolet didn't leak at all and apart from replacing the manky plastic rear window and the dodgy metal strip that retained it, bodyshells were also no problem at all - more than can be said for both the Honda Civic and Toyota MR2 that preceded it.Both were also less economical than the Rover and didn't seem to perform as well.
The 420 was used for a fair bit of towing and managed that quite competently too.
pebbles61,
Mar 1, 9:22pm
Oh noes.he dissed Toyota in an NZ based forum.*hides to watch the fallout*
mgmad,
Mar 2, 12:20am
Maintained properly the K series is a very good engine. Most head gasket issues are a result of a simple cooling system fault, which is often left undiagnosed - hence tales of multiple "head gasket failures" - of course the gasket will fail if you don't fix the problem which caused it. Not to mention if you do have a problem, they're not that hard to work on anyway, and parts aren't any more expensive than other cars.
However, as has been mentioned, the CVT box isn't that strong so personally I'd not be going for a manual one. Mum has a 216 (manual), which has done over 300,000 km and is still going strong. I will admit the linings on the door cards can fall off (must be BMWs influence) and I've seen a couple of cars where the leather gear knobs/steering wheels has come a little loose, but other than that Mum's car has been pretty hard wearing given the work it's done as our work pack horse etc (including quite a bit of towing).
socram,
Mar 2, 3:37pm
Again.
jerichord,
Mar 2, 3:57pm
aahh, socram, i see that the morris garages achieved only 3rd place at the concourse last week, and, wait for it they were beaten by the mustangs, does that mean that mustangs get the lions share of the gate, or have morris garage, porshe and jaguar still got it sown up so the plebs get the crumbs for their hard work.
wrong2,
Mar 2, 4:29pm
tbf, that MR2 of yours only had 83 hp brand spankers
comparing it to the rover K is a bit of a leg pull on your behalf
socram,
Mar 2, 9:51pm
1500cc MR2 then on to a 1400cc Rover, her next car.What exactly is your point!
Jerichord - as I understand it, those top clubs do quite well out of it as they are the organising committee.Whoever wins this year, I presume does very well out of next year, but then they have to supply the manpower. Even we got a couple of hundred just for turning up with 5 cars last time we went.We were happy enough with the crumbs and no work.
wrong2,
Mar 2, 10:49pm
83 hp brand new versus 105 hp brand new
real hard to see why it went better aye
socram,
Mar 3, 2:48pm
But aren't Toyota's always the bee's knees!If Rover could get 25% extra power and performance out of a smaller capacity engine, powering a full 4 seater, doesn't it reflect rather badly on the Toyota engine performance and efficiency in a small two seater!Power to weight ratio!
In fact, the MR2 was also less economical than my 2 litre MG Montego, so even though the engine and car were smaller, economy wasn't that hot.
But again, we all know every thing thatcomes outof Japan from a major manufacturer is always good and nothing ever coming out of the UK is.
pebbles61,
Mar 3, 5:37pm
No doubt bro!
julian.walls,
Mar 3, 6:07pm
A local car dealer in the Hutt sold 4 Rover 214/216s a few years ago - these were not made by Rover but built by Honda in Japan - Surprising these Honda ones were worse then their British counterparts by having plastic studs for the head rather then Rover steel ones! My sister brought one of them and naturally the head blew its top within the warrantly period and at much expense and time he fixed the fault! -There are some good dealers about. he is one of them.
esprit,
Mar 3, 6:35pm
They were not built by Honda and they didnt have plastic head studs. Some of the earlier Rover K engines had plastic locating dowels which allowed a bit of head shuffle with thermal cycling. These were since changed to steel ones, as do all of the head gasket kits.
wrong2,
Mar 3, 9:18pm
wow, arent we carrying around a massive shoulder chip
duly noted
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