1995 Rover - Austin Coupe 220 Turbo 2.0 turbo from UK and Ireland

Summary:

Absolutely amazing, buy one - enjoy!

Faults:

I've put two sets of front tyre's on the car (Yokohama's) in a year and a half, but with over 200bhp going through the front wheels its hardly surprising!

A couple of small oil leaks (superficial).

Power steering fluid leak from pump (£250).

Exhaust - replaced with stainless steel performance item (improved performance and sounds very nice too!).

General Comments:

A truly amazing car! You'll need to spend a lot of money to find something quicker. I've embarrassed some 30 - 40k cars in it, EASILY!

In the year and a half I've owned the car I've only been beaten twice and that was by a Lotus Esprit turbo and a 2003 BMW M3 (on the motorway).

Overall it's a great car - tops out at 150mph, 0-60 in 6 seconds. Very underrated car, quicker than an Escort Cosworth (in a straight line!).

However I do know of a few people who have had problems with them, but I think if you find a good, low mileage example you should be O.K.

Insurance can be a little pricey though group 17, I'm 25, 3 years NCB, clean licence etc, £950 fully comp.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 25th November, 2003

24th Mar 2006, 06:19

Rover Coupe Turbo. I've got one of the FDHs (Fully Specked up for the Japanese market, but never sold there). Had it since 1997 when it was new/0 miles. I love it to bits. It's very quick and much underrated. Problems:

It eats front tyres;

Gearboxes are prone to eating bearings. Get them repaired as soon as the sound occurs (usually pitted bearing races) leaving it too long leads to more severe damage.

Head Gasket Leaks. Replace with uprated gasket. This solved mine.

Rear brake calipers prone to seizing.

Water Leaks via rear bumper mounts.

Advice:

Regular Oil Changes with synthetic oil

Add braided hoses to improve braking

Add later 16 or 17 inch wheels and tyres with 205 rubber to reduce wheel spin and torque steer.

Add front strut brace to tighten up handling

Add uprated shocks, but avoid lowering as this is not necessary unless you like the look!

Enjoy!

1993 Rover - Austin Coupe 2.0 petrol from UK and Ireland

Summary:

Performance and comfort

Faults:

Oil leaking from head gasket.

Petrol tank corroded then split.

ABS sensor faulty cost £130 for the part, £120 to fit. went to another main dealer cost £25 to fit.

Back window leaks.

Rattles over bumps in road.

Water pipe burst cost £100 for part and could only source from rover dealer.

General Comments:

The cars performance is brilliant, but tends to lift on the front when travelling and cornering.

But the looks with the roof out gets heads turning and with the a/c on means I can enjoy the performance and the comfort,without losing perfomance.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 11th August, 2003

7th Jul 2004, 13:31

Hi.

I am looking to buy a Rover coupe, either the one like yours, or the VVC engine.

I have been told though that these fast engines have a tendency to blowing head gaskets as it's a alloy head, and cam-belts keep breaking. Is this true?

Have you had the above problems with your car?

28th Sep 2004, 09:30

I have a 96 model 220 coupe, I chose this over the vvc because a mate of mine has a 218 and has had quite a bit of trouble engine wise. The K series engine was bored out from a 1.4 to a 1.8 so the pots are very close together and head gasket failure is very common. The 2 litre Honda is a less strssed 136 BHP engine against the 1.8 litres 145 BHP.

Chris Moon.

9th Aug 2008, 00:03

Can't turbo the VVC - unless you are prepared to spend silly £££, and you'd have to lose the VVC mech anyway. Not a good engine for forced induction conversion.

The T16 2L Turbo is a rocket straight out of the box, and they are cheap as chips. You can easily pick one up for around 1k.

The head gaskets are a K-series issue, and unrelated to the T16 turbo (which is Rover made, not Honda).

The T16 oe head gasket can leak, but it is not failure - just the bolts are not near enough to the oilway to clamp it absolutely shut. The "Klinger" upgraded multi-layer head gasket stops this cosmetic problem.

The only downsides to an un-modified example are the brakes, which are are a little small for the power, and the handling - because the car sits too high.

For an absolute wealth of information - specs, fixes, data, modifications etc - see the best Rover resource forum:

http://www.rovertech.net

Hope this helps.

Dom.