Ging26

Hi, I am after peoples opinion. Having just sold my wrx my96 (and moved address which includes losing my scoobynet password - dough!!) I am looking for a rover 220 turbo. I do not have loads of money to spend but want to find a decent car. I have looked at quite a few and have seen some real rough ones. However today I viewed an L-Reg Tahiti blue coupe turbo. It looked in good condition with no rust problems, did the usual basic engine checks and the interior seemed clean and decent. My one concern is the mileage - just over 100k, however the car did not drive nor sound like a badly looked after 100k car. The owner had a good list of bills and it had recently had a new gearbox, front and back discs and calipers changed and regular servicing. The turbo was the original one but seemed ok and it did not sound or look like the car had been abused or thrashed. Am I missing anything obvious? Will a coupe turbo with 100k just cause me problems due to the mileage? Is it due a major service of any kind? I could really do with some advice as it seems on the surface to be a good enough car, at the right sort of price. Any help / advice would be greatly appreciated.. P.S. I know it wont compare to the scoob but I must admit in liking the car and for the money I can still get some performance and a nice looking car. Cheers in advance

corradoboy

I looked at these before getting the Corrado. If you consider performance as 0-60 time then go for it. If you want a car that handles well, look elsewhere. These things understeer, a lot. The turbo'd engine may well kick out a lot of power, but the chassis and suspension isn't up to the job. I also wouldn't trust a Rover engine as far as I could throw it, very fragile.
Having said that, the one at Scoobyshootout today was well quick, once it was moving. After all the wheelspin it took off in second like a scalded cat. Also, how do you think laydees will react when you tell them you drive a Rover? "Is it your dads?"

misty

I had a 1993 420gsi turbo! it had 105,000 when I bought it full service history. Check the manifold studs, mine stripped, which made the exaust blow, (heavy turbo)! Turbo went @ about 108,000, but not to expensive and it's a diy job to take it off! apart from that no problems, and a proper Q car.
dave

R1916v

Got an autocar test somewhere that was a calibra turbo vs escort cossie vs rover.

They said escort best handling worse engine (!), Rover best engine worst handling, calibra was inbetween with both being average.

mn_angrybeats

They can be made to handle Powerflex Nylon bushes for the suspension components and stiffer lowering springs make the world of difference.

MGJohn

My K reg Tomcat Coupe now has 110,000 on the clock, engine and turbo runs like new, uses hardly any of the old synthetic, goes quite well and here's the bonus, gives around 30 mpg no matter how I drive it.... and I do drive it! Car is unmodified apart from slotted discs, braided hoses and uprated springs. Used it today to tow a 4-wheel trailer with an R800 T16 Turbo on board (I like 'em but can only drive one at a time). 200 mile round trip and kept speed down to around 50 mph towing that lot. This towing exercise was a doddle for the car and the R800 turbo and trailer is no lightweight. These Rover T16 engines are so smoothly powerful that even when towing, you have to really concentrate otherwise your speed will creep ( ) up and attract the attention of certain parties who have no hesitation in awarding points ....

Like most cars, a good regular maintenance programme is essential.
Provided they are well maintained, not abused or neglected, these T16 turbos give many thousands of miles trouble free service. Well over 200,000 far from unusual. Those that don't have probably been abused or neglected at some stage and may suffer turbo and gearbox problems too. They are easy to modify if you seek more power. Witness Andy Nicholls' now legendary Maestro Turbo with Rover T16 power. However, more power costs, both financially and from accelerated wear aspects.

Don't buy the first 'nice' one you see. Look at as many as you can and travel if necessary. Autotrader usually has a selection. Yes, there's still many nice ones around (four within 1/4 mile of where I live) if you're patient and look properly. Decent K-L reg cars available for under 2 grand, well kept later cars about double that or more.. Superb value and really useful performance.

If a car does have a tendency to torque steer, there will be a reason for this - steering had a whack at some stage or not properly set-up. Provided no obvious signs of damage or abuse, chances are all it needs is 4 wheel tracking done properly by someone who really knows what they're doing..... then, no problems unless you deliberately try to induce torque steer by over-driving the car.

Like many 80s and 90s Rovers, much under-rated cars but not by everybody. Couple years back I worked for a large organisation and there were several 220, 600 and 800 Rover turbos in the car park. I wanted one back then and I put a Wants ad. on the works internal net-notice board that if any of their owners wanted to sell, I was interested. Got several replies from some Rover owners who advised not to get the Rover engined versions. According to them the Honda engines being much better apparently.... However, of the several owners of the Rover turbo engined cars, all except one were very happy with their cars and not ready to sell. The exception had one of the nicest R600tis around which he had had from new and would be prepared to sell it to me ... for about two grand above book... which is the same as saying get lost ....



[Edited by MGJohn - 9/28/2003 11:41:59 PM]

[Edited by MGJohn - 9/28/2003 11:44:05 PM]

corradoboy

In a similar league, have you considered Nissan 200SX.

£2k should get you pre '94 with pop-up headlights 1.8 turbo, over £2.5k and you'll be into the better looking version with the 2.0 turbo. Good RWD fun for little cash and Jap reliability.

tiggers

Maybe we were just unlucky, but my wife had a 220 Turbo Coupe for 2 years. It loved the garage so much it kept going wrong so it could go back there.

It was a serious pain in the **** and I wouldn't touch another in a million years. Lots and lots of niggling little faults and a couple of major ones - e.g. new gearbox at 65K (despite being always maintained according to the service schedule).

Also whole car gave me the impression of being put together on a Friday afternoon and the body flex was frightening.

Still maybe we were just unlucky.

Regards,

tiggers.

[Edited by tiggers - 9/30/2003 1:16:13 AM]

kenny.c

a friend had a 220 turbo coupe.......he had nothing but bother with it........just b4 he got shot of it the gearbox and the cylinder head gasket went...........never agian he says.........

miles25

?

[Edited by miles25 - 9/30/2003 10:22:31 AM]

mn_angrybeats

Nothing to do with the torsion diff then ? my MINI has over 220hp / 195lb/ft and has nothing like the Torque steer that the Tomcat Turbos suffer from..

The 96MY Coupes are the ones to get IMO, far better balanced with the suspensions mods it had and the 1.8vvc engine is well matched to the chassis..

Not saying the Tomcat can be made into a good car, but standard they are poor.

MGJohn

As stated in my earlier posting, there are four within my neighbourhood and several at my workplace. All owners very happy with them. You do tend to hear about the problem cars moreso than those that don't give trouble and this is true of any marque. Plus, some peoples' idea of regular maintenance is checking the tyre pressures annually .... I once looked at a car which had been owned by the vendor for several years. I asked him to pop the bonnet ... he did not know where the bonnet release was!!

Documents and FSH are another thing. When my wife's MG was broken into some years ago, they removed all the history documents ..... it was just back from a service and still with the car ..... what would they want those for? I leave you to guess.

tiggers

Just to put MGJohn's comments in context of my experience.

My wife's 220 Turbo Coupe was purchased by her when the car was two years old. It was previously owned and maintained by Rover head office prior to this and came with a full Rover service history which seeing as it was owned by Rover you would think was done correctly. We then had it maintained at our local Rover agent for the two years we had the vehicle and adhered rigidly to the service schedule (several times the servicing was carried out ealy as the car was aleady in for more fault correction).

List of faults included gearbox replacement at 65K (why we decided to finally get rid), two water pumps, head gasket, electric windows staying down, ignition problems, loose trim, leaking rear hatch etc. etc.

Maybe we had a bad one, but never again will we touch the Rover marque as the car was frankly very poorly put together both in terms of constrcution and design.

My advice - get a Nissan 200SX - much better vehicle all round.

tiggers.

MGJohn

mn_angrybeats WROTE:

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If a car does have a tendency to torque steer, there will be a reason for this - steering had a whack at some stage or not properly set-up
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Nothing to do with the torsion diff then ? my MINI has over 220hp / 195lb/ft and has nothing like the Torque steer that the Tomcat Turbos suffer from..

The 96MY Coupes are the ones to get IMO, far better balanced with the suspensions mods it had and the 1.8vvc engine is well matched to the chassis..

Not saying the Tomcat can be made into a good car, but standard they are poor.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++

mn_angrybeats

Some Mini and GOOD POINTS particularly about early and later cars. ... and another thing: When I first drove my car (late K reg but one of the early cars) the first time I made a higher revs upward gearchange on near full boost the thing did change direction and I was not ready for it. Although a previous glance at them all showed no signs of under inflation, the rear nearside tyre only had about 12 psi in it. When adjusted to 30 psi, no problem. Ten years before, I had a similar experience in an MG Montego Efi (not turbo)... again, the rear nearside tyre was under inflated although visually it looked OK. I now always carry a tyre pressure gauge in my cars.

Worth repeating, if a car does suffer from torque steer, forget the old saying "they all do that" and get the tracking and steering checked properly. Even some good brand tyres can also make a big difference where torque steer and tram-lining is involved.


[Edited by MGJohn - 9/30/2003 11:25:43 AM]

MGJohn

tiggers...

That's horrible ....You must have had an exceptionally unlucky break with that particular car. I can understand why you adopt a "never again" attitude towards Rover product. Some years ago, I had a similar experience with a highly regarded Japanese marque but I appreciate they are not all like that. There's also Honda in my garage ...

RLE

iTrader: (2)

Had my Rover 220 for three years with no problems before I part ex'd for the Subaru. Must say it felt a lot faster than my current car but yes the handling is lethal.

Made sure I serviced the car regularly which helped and never had any major problems. Head gasket at 60 000 was the only concern and front tyres given its ability to spin!! Wish I had it back to be honest!!!

CavT

Most of the bugs with the Rover 200 Turbo's are well known and no longer an issue for the car (all though thats not much consolation for those that had to fork out!).

Steel Head gaskets are a must. A Turbo Rover around the 100,000mile mark is going to need a recon on the Turbo at some point, figure on £150-£350 to get that done (just don't goto AET Turbos). They are not OVERLY prone to rust like the Maestros and Montegos were, and if you can get the later Honda engine..... maybe fit some Type R Civic Cams

Places like Roverload will help steer you in the right direction, and although some people have had bad experiences of them, its the same for most marques these days.

Personally I think for a Rover, they are well specced, tidy looking cars that have aged well. Straight line stuff will be good, but take it easy on the corners!