1994 Rover - Austin 200 SEi review from UK and Ireland

Alternator went about a week after I bought the car. £110.

Automatic electric window bust (i.e press it once and the window goes down by itself, requires the button to be held down now). £Time.

Rear drivers side central locking broke. Just detached itself, I can still hear the motor running. £Time.

Gearbox needed rebuilding. Replaced the bearings in there. £220.

Track-rod end needed replacing for it's MOT. It also failed emissions, so I had the cat replaced, occurred to me after it was more than likely the filthy air filter. £200, although cat was probably alright.

INSIDE:

For a £500 car, it is extremely well equipped. Comes with half leather interior, walnut dash, ABS, drivers airbag, electric front windows, nice little armrest in the back, sunroof, alloy wheels with locking wheel nut, adjustable steering, lumbar support in the seats. Even a little drawer thing for your coins, although these do tend to drop out under heavy braking. Pretty much the only thing it doesn't have is air-con, but living up north, it doesn't bother me that much (they were an option though). The boot is rather capacious, and comes with a proper spare wheel, also alloy, none of this "Max. 50mph" rubbish. In the back there is reasonable room for 2 (possibly 3) full grown adults to travel in moderate comfort, with proper head restraints also, but it only has a lap belt in the middle.

Words cannot describe the sheer comfort of the seats and driving position. My dads Integrale had slightly comfier seats, but a driving position like a gorilla (typical of the Italians).

ENGINE:

For what it is, the K-Series engine is an absolute monster. I challenge you to find another 1.4 litre car with 105 BHP. I have never tested 60mph from a standstill, and I tend to not believe stats on the internet, because I know for a fact the top speed is NOT 108mph, as I managed 120mph on a flat stretch of the A1. Suffice to say it smokes Corsa's, Clio's, Saxo's, Nova's and all them other cars idiots like to stick plastic bits on to. I've also managed to outrun a BMW 520d, a Primera GSi, 8v Corrado, a Peugeot 405 GTi, and (with some driver skill involved) a Calibra. Not a V6 mind. It is more than adequate for a refined cruise, then a good flooring when a boy racer needs a good showing up in front of his girlfriend.

Power is somewhat lax from low revs (as indicated on the nice rev counter), but once you hit 4000rpm, there is a definite step as the engine picks up, delivering smooth power up to the 6000rpm peak horsepower, then hitting the limiter at 7200rpm.

The gearbox, although a bit weak on the build quality side, does handle the power nicely, managing 60mph in second gear, 95 in 3rd, 110 in 4th, and I've never got the red-line in 5th yet.

The gearbox is also a dream to use, with the nicest change out of all the cars I've driven (My word, the French did something good!!). Although it is my preference, I don't like the mechanical change where you can feel the selectors clunking out of one gear and into the next (*cough* new Civic *cough*), and the change in the Rover is like sliding a knife through warm butter, whilst your hand is caressed by nubile young women (not that there will be many with the sex appeal a Rover has).

One other advantage if you are into the "modding" scene, is the fact the venerable K-Series was used by Lotus and Caterham, amongst others, therefore there are loads of aftermarket parts for the engines, which could easily take the 1.4litre up to about 170BHP. Just remember its only front wheel drive and you won't get much more power than that onto the road.

PERFORMANCE:

I touched upon it a bit in the engine section, but the all-round culmination of the engine and chassis should be mentioned.

The Rover seems to have a preference for being quickly, with the engine bouncing off the limiter, and tyres stretched to their limits, although it is more than adequate as a gentle cruise machine too. Makes you think Rover were frustrated at their lack of money to develop a proper sports car, so did the best with the cars they had to work with, (TF and SV excepted).

How Rover managed to make the suspension the way they did is a mystery. It is very soft, yet managed to make a meal out of the slightest dent in the road, throwing the car about like a big fat man flailing in a swimming pool, but also jerking the occupants about a bit too. Yet at the same time, throw the car into a corner, and it sticks to the road remarkably well, I have yet to lose grip in the dry, and the few times it did in the wet, it exhibited safe and predictable (read: boring) understeer initially, followed by the back end stepping out of line and righting the car with a simple lift off the power. I do get the impression this is due to the tyres, the widest Rover fit on any of their non-turbo cars (185/55/R15).

Though the car is quite easy to spin too. I discovered how to get a sideways drift going in a front-wheel drive car in my previous Polo (understeer, left foot brake, keep power on, opposite lock), but with the Rover having a longer wheelbase it spun a lot earlier that the Polo would have. A lack of driving skill on my part I feel, not having driven a long car before.

The steering is somewhat lifeless, but it does provide some feedback. No more, no less than what is required to keep the car on the straight and narrow. In my Polo, you could feel the suspension loading up into a corner, and the steering get heavier as the limits of grip were reached, but the power steering in the Rover seems to cancel this out. Although I imagine without power steering, it would be an absolute horror to parallel park.

On the motorway the car is rather good too, holding 70mph at 3000rpm in 5th gear, it is rather quiet too, and that lovely gearbox and engine combination provide loads of torque for a motorway drive, pulling from 45mph in 5th steadily, if not overly quickly (very good for a 1.4 litre though), thus reducing the frequency of gear changes. How thoughtful.

CONCLUSION:

For what it is, the Rover is a really good car. The 1.4 litre has more than enough oomph for the people who will be buying them (i.e hard-up, 19 year old students like me), with insurance for the SEi in group 8; plush half leather, nicely trimmed interior for the ladies who get past the idiom of a Rover being an old mans car, and actually get inside; and a reasonable reserve of power for those boy racers who think go faster stripes and a fart-can exhaust will make their 1.2 Corsa the dogs danglers.

Plus, I haven't noticed any rust whatsoever on my car, all the electrics with the exception of those mentioned above work fine, and the horror stories of head gaskets exploding are stupid. It has a temperature gauge for a reason, it does run slightly hot on warm days, or chugging uphill with 5 people in it, but just watch it doesn't get into the red and you'll be OK.

It just boggles the mind as to why people dislike Rover so much that they went bust, they actually make damn fine cars, if you can just get past the negative image presented by the likes of Clarkson and just give one a go. You'll really like it. And I've driven a Lancia Integrale Evo, and an Audi Quattro 20v turbo!