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

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?

You must be very young friend. There is no way that you would have taken a corner so fast as to crush your frontal towing eyes without actually slamming your oil pan and engine into the road also. Have a good think about that. The reason I come to my conclusion is thus. The engine is very much lower then the tow eyes are!

Very young? All relative I suppose...I'm 23.

Just popped outside to have a gander at the underneath of said Rover.

Lowest point of the entire car was (still is, even though both are badly flattened) the twin towing eyes at the front of the car.

Next point up is the downpipe (also lightly scored), then a small steel undertray (below the radiator).

The sump is actually higher than all these points, which isn't the case on my 205 GTi, where it protrudes even lower than the downpipe.

Towing eye damage aside, the car is still running well, although the downpipe is beginning to blow slightly. The towing eyes still catch under seriously enthusiastic driving - I must say I'm impressed at the performance of what is after all, only a 1300cc car.

Thanks for your comment, please feel free to ask any more questions :)

A joker? No. I resent that comment a little.

I aim to make my reviews as light-hearted, but informative as possible.

I've now had the car for around 7 months. In that time, the only other parts that have failed were the battery draining when I left the lights on (the dashboard lights go off when you remove the key from the ignition, which is a touch annoying - makes it hard to notice if you've left your lights on during the day)

The car still pulls well - the breathing is a little strangled so I removed the airbox as an experiment. The car revved much more cleanly, pulling like a train abouve 5k, which surprised me.

Considering I'm used to driving rally cars I didn't think I'd tolerate this rusty little saloon for so long! IT is outgripped by most newer cars, but for it's age it doesn't perform to shabbily, especially when one considers the 155/70/13 tyres.

Traction is a minor problem in the wet mind you - it has a tendency to wheelspin furiously in the wet, a problem which has worn one of the CV joints - it started clicking yesterday so I know it won't last much longer.

I still maintain that for what I paid, the car has performed excellently.

Pro's:

Over here (Netherlands) nobody knows what it is so there cheap to buy.

The 213 S is normally being driven by old people (not wrecked)

Not a Vauxhall!

Reliable Honda Engine (12 V very good in 1985 compared to it's competitors)

Fuel economy.

Virtually no oil consumption.

Cheap insurance.

Except for the exhaust pipe relatively cheap to maintain.

Contras:

Not a sporty ride.

No power steering.

Rust prone (especially rear wheel arches typical Honda problem)

No Honda finish.

Mr Netherlands, I pretty much agree there. I've now had the car for about 8 months.

It's been extremely economical - oh and the CV joint clicking I spoke of? Well, the joint actually failed on Tuesday. It started tugging the wheel extremely hard until I was forced to pull in at a lay by. The joint was so severely worn that I was unable to maneuver the car into a decent parking position.

I obtained a second-hand replacement drive shaft for £25 and had to fit it at the roadside - not a terribly difficult job, but I was hampered by a wind-chill factor of -16 on an open plain... not what I call fun.

I replaced a worn track-rod end at thew same time, for the sum of £8.50.

I still haven't had any cause to top the oil up in 12,000 miles, although she does use a little water in warmer weather.

The front struts are now showing serious wear, and with the MOT looming in the next couple of months I fear the car will be beyond economical repair.

Still, I can't really complain given it's been almost cost-free motoring for a year. I recommend one of these to anybody needing reliable transport. Paper bag for your head is optional. ;)

Hi.

In your first review you commented that the brake calipers repeatedly stuck. I think I'm having the same problem...

What did you decide to do about it??? I've read a few reviews regarding this, not sure what to try first.

It gets pretty hot when it's stuck on that front wheel...

Thanks.

Hi mate - I was given a pair of calipers for free - but in all honesty the only permanent cure is probably to get some brand new ones. : (

Other than that, de greasing, stripping, cleaning and re-assembling with new seals (cheap) should help.

I have had a 213 for 2 and a half years - got it for my 18th birthday.

I t had only done 42,000 genuine and full history.

Anyhow it has been great.

The performance for a 1.3litre engine of its age has seen my burn off plenty of newer cars of similar engine capacity. I guess the power is helped by the cars light frame, plus the fact that the more it rusts the less there is to pull.

I have to found rust in the most bizarre places, but generally I have been able to patch this up accept for the wheel arches.

Problems.

Carburettor - had dirty fuel in the system caused major reliability problems till I got a new filter and fuel tank.

Brakes - warn very swiftly

doors - the handle springs keep going and it makes them difficult to push the handles in to close.

Security - very poor, had it stolen three times - even i can break into it within 2 seconds. Had to buy a big heavy chain and padlock to tie around the steering wheel for over 70 quid combined - think they are worth more than the car!

Its running great now hit the 58,000 mile mark.

Went to Derby from Liverpool twice last week clocking up some 500 miles without a problem.

I am looking to sell it soon, so if anyone is interested it can be yours for 60 quid.

To be fair, what it lacks in image and handling it makes up on performance, economy and comfort.

But there is no doubt from the test drives I went on, trying numerous new saloons (type of car I am after) including - KIA rio 1.3, Hyundai accent1.3, ford focus 1.4 saloon, seat Toledo 1.4 and Citreon sara - no car has that same performance feeling or boost I get from my 213. Long live the 213.

I would love a rover 45 just could not afford the higher insurance bands. However I am going to have to end my love affair with saloons as I am after a nearly new Corsa to save on the insurance as its in band 1.

I have bought a rover 214 Si as my first car, but not actually driven it yet. looking forward to it though. I've had a problem with it tho, it keeps trying to start its self with out a key and with it all locked up. does anyone else have the same problem? or does anyone have a cure?

I should be careful driving very fast around bends with your worn out Shocks. I managed to roll my Rover 213 on the A41 because I threw it into a corner at 90mph and the shock snapped. I hit a Guard Rail and then it rolled 5 times into a Field. I was very lucky, after 4 months of Hospitalisation and 7 Operations I can now walk again albeit with a Cane. Needless to say, I now replace my Shock Absorbers on a more regular basis.

I am willing to give you 30 quid for it mate.

I have just bought a 1989 213 with 20+ thousand miles on the clock, and oh boy it's sweet. I used to have an 05 Corsa SXi and I had all sorts of expensive problems with it.

This Rover (Ronda if you like) however has beaten 2 litre Vectras, Mondeos, plus a host of other cars that are 20 years younger. I get stick for driving it, but let me till you, if you see one on the road, give it respect. Cars these days are not worth the tires they are running on.

BMW should have never bought Rover, and Rover should have never broken the bond with Honda. A match made in heaven!

Rover 213.. the best Rover of the 1980s.

Robert Black

Cambridgeshire.