1993 Rover - Austin 200 214 Si review from UK and Ireland

Head gasket went at about 125K miles - fairly common for this engine apparently. Repair was done badly and went again 5 months later; had it re-done at a better garage and no further problems.

Valve seats needed re-grinding recently, after I noticed lack of power.

Thermostat also replaced recently because it failed and caused overheating in traffic.

Minor electrical problems: loose connection to alternator, ditto throttle position sensor - easily rectified.

Occasional clutch judder.

Finally, not something that went wrong wrong as such, but the coil is placed in a position where it seems to collect moisture and splashes from puddles, so is prone to corrosion and can briefly lose power if you drive through big puddles.

Love it! The engine is ace for a 1.4 - out-performs many cars with much bigger engines, and (assuming the speedo is accurate, which it probably isn't) I had 124mph out of it once :-)

Handling sometimes prone to under-steer, but feedback from the wheels is excellent so it's easy to catch and correct. Mine doesn't have power steering (most models do I gather), and my girlfriend sometimes struggles with parking.

Average about 40mpg commuting York-Leeds daily.

Loads of boot space, and generally practical as well as great fun.