1985 Rover - Austin Maestro L from UK and Ireland - Comments

Oil leak from sump, fixed.

Oil leak from rocker cover, fixed.

Oil leak from gear linkage, left.

Oil leak from diff, left.

Exterior door handles broke.

Rear arches rusting badly.

Roof lining fell down.

Indicator switch broke.

Rear wheel bearings both failed.

Gearbox whine at only 80,000 miles.

Petrol tank leak at 80,500 miles.

Slipping clutch at 83,000 miles.

Etc, etc...

I bought my Maestro in good faith after I decided my old (but reliable) escort mk2 had to go. Big mistake.

The car was only 7 years old and the rear arches decided to dissolve almost overnight. The car decided to spew a load of oil from the sump which was fixed, then from the rocker cover, this too was fixed. A week later the oil leaked from the diff and gear rod linkage so I left it. One winter morning I tried to get in the car and the plastic exterior handle snapped off in my hand, as too did the passenger side. What a fantastic car Austin-Rover well done! I had to get in the car through the tailgate.

The interior looked like something out of an allegro and always smelt damp and sicky. The dashboard used to viabrate and numerous switches used to break, the scrapyard owner got his pension money from me!

Only after a year the petrol tank decided to leak which filled the interior with fumes (made a change from the smell of pee) and then just before I needed the car for a long journey, the clutch started to slip.

After serious debate weather or not to torch the car out of sheer frustration, i sold it to a guy for £250 and bought a 1988 Cavalier 1.6 GL which was an absolute gem compared to the nasty Maestro.

I hear the Austin Allegro is quite a good little car.

Yeah, these cars: Allegro and Maestro are both Crap.

The Allegro is without a doubt, one of the worst cars ever made along with Trabant, Fiat 126 and Yugo GV.

As for the Maestro: It's better, than the Allegro, but that's not a lot going for it, otherwise if it wasn't improvement, than it would have been a total waste of money for British Leyland - Even so, the Maestro was still rubbish compared to its rivals.

I wish id bought an Allegro instead of the maestro mate, avoid them like the plague!!!

I own a 1989 Maestro Clubman Diesel. It is one trash car. The only reason I have kept it is because I am a Welder and it is a Diesel. It has now done 284000 Miles. I have replaced the Radiator, Water Pump, Several Engine Mounts, Balljoints, Back Exhaust Box and the Clutch Three times. It beats Car Payments. It is extremely noisy and slow. The body roll is very dangerous. I have had it on two wheels before now. The Paint went many years ago. It is now a combination of several different Primers and a very rust holed Red Colour! Still, the look on peoples faces when they first hear then see this rusty old shed being thrashed senseless down the road makes it all worthwhile.

I will give you Fifty Pounds for it Mate. Email me at:

Martysmyth-bradshaw@ocs.net.

Buy it? are you serious?!!!

READ THE REVIEW MAN READ THE REVIEW!!!

The Maestro was typical BL - a clever design totally screwed up by piss poor quality control, militant workers, incompetent management and cash flow problems.

It actually had some really neat touches. Interior space was/is better than many rivals, the "flat pack" wiring system was ground breaking, and it was one of the first cars to have a modern flush bonded windscreen.

But it looked like a turd and fell apart. We Brits have a long and proud history of great designs turned into crap by sheer incompetence. Triumph Stag, Rover SD1, Metro... etc etc...

And now look at the state of our "car industry".