1989 Rover - Austin 200 213 S review from UK and Ireland

Front brake calipers both seized and stuck regularly. This causes the pads to wear out at an alarming rate.

One caliper actually burst a seal, made a lovely mess.

The rear in-drum handbrake adjustment bar snapped, made the shoes come loose, which burst a rear wheel cylinder.

Rover main dealers are a bunch of incompetent idiots. I had the wrong part sent up four times before they eventually managed to get the right handbrake adjuster.

The carb got blocked and the car stuttered badly for a few hours. Carb cleaner had it sorted in seconds.

Oh, I smacked it backwards into a wall, which crushed the boot area slightly and left a rust hole, so now my boot leaks too.

For a thirteen hundred cc car, this thing does not go half bad. The 12 valve Honda unit will happily rev to over 8,000 with zero trace of valve bounce.

The brakes are good when well serviced, though a little over-servo-ed (grandad-friendly) for my liking.

It's a comfy, nicely furnished thing inside, and the exterior was probably considered pretty stylish when new. Outside wears far quicker than the inside, it has rusty areas in the strangest of places... like in the middle of a door for example.

You can fling it about with some gusto, considering it's basically a re-hashed Triumph Acclaim (yuk)

The front shocks on mine aren't really up to country lanes and back roads, resulting in the two front towing eyes now being flat :D.

But for £150 with a years' tax and test, who am I to complain?