1993 Rover - Austin 400 416 Si review from UK and Ireland

Front suspension re-bushed - £300.

Igniter failed and the car had to be towed home. Recycled one from a scrap yard was only £10 though.

Other than that I've only had to buy normal service items - tyres, oil, etc.

My first car, I paid £1200 for it and it couldn't be better.

The Honda engine is simply amazing. It pulls well even from low revs, but get it over 4500rpm and it really takes off! The sound at high revs is just fantastic it just gets better and better until you hit the 7000rpm rev-limiter (oops!).

60mph comes up in 9.5s and that's with a full load of passengers! Tops out at 125mph and pulls hard up to 115. Makes a great motorway cruiser although 4000rpm in 5th at 80 is a little high.

Handling is great too, mines on very narrow tyres so you can get the front end to wash out too easily on the power. Off the power its perfectly neutral, go in too fast and the whole thing just drifts, no need for steering correction, just wait till you shed the speed and get your foot back down! Can get away from a V6 vectra through the twisty bits, although the two police offices in the unmarked car weren't so impressed!

Has a lovely rover interior, wood trim everywhere and nice comfy seats. Radio can be a pain to tune, but that's about the only bad point.

Running costs are minimal for a 1.6 engine. Drive with your finest pipe, slippers and flat cap on and 45mpg is possible. Driving with a little more enthusiasm I've never managed less than 30mpg and I've tried fairly hard!

Despite all the use and abuse this car gets it burns no oil and has sailed through its MOTs. The engine and drive-train are seemingly indestructible!