1983 Rover - Austin Quintet 1.6 petrol 4 from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

A good little car. Well done Honda (Ha Ha)

Faults:

Nothing, as of yet. I just got the car and it had been sitting in a garage unused for a few years. I have changed the oil and spark plugs and just gone around checking that everything is OK.

General Comments:

Engine was quite smokey initially, but an oil change and a decent run in the country seem to have fixed the problem.

Performance from the 1.6 is great and economy is good. It is not a real screamer of an engine and pulls strongly from 1700rpm. It only does 3000 rpm @ 120kph in 5th gear.

Ride is excellent, maybe a little soft. Handling is OK, but you can't chuck the thing around; a smoother more measured approach is needed to extract the best handling.

The brakes are average, disks at the front, and drums at the back. But none the less, they pull the car up straight each time.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 30th September, 2007

1984 Rover - Austin Quintet 1.6 from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

Reliable and cheap with a touch of luxury

Faults:

Got eaten away by rust and needed the alternator repaired. It leaks oil and brake fluid, but you just top it up. Air con was out of gas.

General Comments:

I bought this car for $500 with six months registration still on it. It matched the most important criteria of having power steering and power windows. This car was originally purchased as spare parts for a quintet with much lower mileage my father had taken apart. It still sits in parts in the back yard. This rover lasted me 2 and half years, but is out of registration now due to rust. It still starts first time every time which is amazing. Its just a shame the rust ate it away. We bought it with holes in it and just patched them up ourselves each time for registration, but its just gotten too bad. The car is waiting to be used as a plan to put the other one back together.

The velour interior is comfortable and the power steering is SO light. This car is a gem to park in tight spots. Visibility is great to the back and you can get within a cm without touching using the side mirrors because of the squarer shape. Economy is good, reliability is good, but safety would not be exceptional - keep it for a runabout around town.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 12th April, 2004

1983 Rover - Austin Quintet 1.6 litre straight four from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

The car is very good for a first car

Faults:

Water pump packed up.

Thermostat stopped working.

General Comments:

The car has only done 62,000 km which is very low considering it is 19 years old. The Rover Quintet is a Honda Quintet with different badges and levels of equipment. The car starts first shot every day. It is sluggish under the foot because it only has a 1.6 litre engine. The car has electric everything and air conditioning which is very good considering how old the car is.

The cabin is very nice, it has velour trim and it has a cosy feel to it.

But there is hardly any leg room for passengers sitting in the back of the car.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 16th September, 2002