B9GLY

What are peoples opinions on these??

anyone got a decent spec list of an m reg one??

how fast are they and where modifys them?

cheers

sti-04!!

I had a 420 turbo, it blew its head gasket, then fried its own ecu, but part from that it went well

NotoriousREV

I had a 620Ti (same engine) and put one of the rods through the block and broke 2 gearboxes. I was laughing the whole time as it was such a fun car. Not that reliable, but loads around in the scrappers these days.

Rose tinted glasses firmly on, one of my favourite cars, although the handling and grip was non-existent.

rossyboy

iTrader: (8)

Dont do it. I had a coupe for 2 years and it was the most unreliable car I have ever owned. Looked nice and was pretty fast, but it'll be just as expensive to run as a scooby, without the reliability.

Oh and its a Rover.....

Robbie T

iTrader: (8)

From memory, just over 200 gee gees so no slouch. Motobuild were always the people to speak to when it comes to rover tuning.

Never had one so thats all i've got but HTH

kibbster

I had a 620Ti, quick a **** for a tank but I blew the diff, all the windows failed and went bang and had oil pouring out of the HG - all within a couple of months of ownership!
I'll agree with what peeps are saying here, totally unreliable but good fun.

Group Captain Smudger

I had an "L" reg turbo. Faster top end than an (standard) Impreza due to better aerodynamics. "Raced" a Yam FZR1000 and didn't seem to have too many problems keeping up (n.b. I was on the FZR, missus in the 220). People always mentioned torque steer but I didn't have any problems (perhaps I didn't push it enough?). Only things that were replaced were front brake pads (used to trample on the brakes in them days) and backbox. Wheels are small and tyres are a bit skinny (195s). Had a T-bar roof. Chopped it in for a v8 TVR.

Stryder

I had a 220 Coupe Turbo, and spent 10k on it in the 6 years I had it. Would still have it if I hadn't got married, and the wife threaten to kill me if I didn't get rid of it.

What a laugh though. I got a new Engine installed from Andy Nichols (Rover turbo Guru), who took me out for a spin in his then White MG Maestro Rover turbo's car. WOW.

In a straight line once rolling, they are extremely swift cars. Torque steer as standard though. I put ebiach springs and a sparco strut brace to sort out the mad handling. They come with standard 216 brakes, so you will have to up rate them. I got mine debadged, and it was a real sleeper. It was running 240 bhp and was very quick and fast, could live with the old 1995 model merc 500sl, and on a private test track in a straight line (AHEM!) it would have Integra and Civic Type Rs.

Be very prepared to throw alot of money at it though as they are prone to go wrong, especially the Frenchesq electric's.

miles25

Great cars for the money. I miss mine sometimes

Check out www.rovertech.net for info

ninjacost

enjoyed mine , never let me down running over 200bhp very quick in a straight line, crap round corners with standard suspension ,uprate fit anti torque steer bushes and give some serious motors a fright !

JTaylor

http://www.moto-build.com/

Get passed the **** website and silly bodykits and you'll find these boys are clued up on the Tomcat.

I'll give you mixed reviews. Looked after and not thrashed they can be fun and reliable. The handling in standard form is poor, but Motobuild will help here (torque steer mod is a favourite). Quite pokey and tunable but this is where you begin to run into reliability issues if its not done properly and if your using a poor base car.

All the above of course is irrelevant without seeing the car, the owner and the history.

JTaylor

P.S. Clean ones do of course look very nice which is what always attracted me.

NotoriousREV

I should point out that my car did 200,000 miles in 5 years, most of it flat out and was serviced by a back street garage whenever my company could be arsed paying for it.

kibbster

I believe they are known as Moto-Bodge on the Rovertech forum...

drumsterphil

iTrader: (1)

I had one of the 220 Coupe Turbos sent to Japan and then sent back again (had square no. plate and some serious jap-stereo equipment).

Plus points - very quick in a straight line (easily as quick as a UK scoob), responsive engine, nice interior and looked really nice (mine was dark blue).

Bad points - terrible handling, no traction, bodyshell not the most rigid, dubious reliability (mine melted its LSD and wasn't driven that hard).

Never really noticed the torque-steer to be honest, wasn't a difficult car to hold onto (try a Montego turbo if you think the 220 suffers from torque steer )

B9GLY

cheers for the comments, keep em coming as im undecided still!!

I used to have a MY99 uk turbo, would like another scoob really, what would you go for early wrx or save a bit of money and get the rover???

s70rjw

iTrader: (2)

My mate had one from new 2 gearboxes a clutch and headgasket in first year. Loads f leccy roblems to alarm, windows etc.

kibbster

They have very weak gearboxes (I'm guessing the 620 and 220 share boxes) the diff blows if you rev them hard in first.
Can be helped with uprated metal not plastic bearings in diff.
Window problems again common, windows jam and either explode or bend/snap the regulators to buggery then burn out the motor/switches.
Headgaskets in the Turbo less prone than the K series engines but it's a Rover.
Expect all of the above problems and oil leaks as standard.

Mike123

My friend had a (nightfire?) red one for a few years (K456 VUT). Problems he had were :-
1/ head gasket leaking oil at corner ( not a compression blow ) so he had it leaking oil for about 3 months before twas fixed. Apparently common for head gaskets to go there but it didn't lose power as not a compression blow.
2/gearbox went at end of ownership and on about 80k so he had to get a new one
3/paint bubbled and flaked off rear spoiler in places so he fell lucky and got a perfect one off a scrapyard car for about £40.

On the plus side, it was fast for the driving he did ( mostly dual carriageway and fast A and B roads ).
Was economical as well in that sort of driving and can confirm that it could out-accelerate a classic shape UK scoob turbo at motorway speeds ( he did it to several ).
He also scared an L-reg M3 on the way home one evening although to be fair at an indicated 140 he did start to pull away convicingly from the Rover.

skoobidude

I had a black '93 220 Turbo Coupe for just under years. Nothing major went wrong with it and in that time I put over 50k on the mileage (sold back in 2000 with 94k on clock).
I don't believe the speedo was accurate above 100 though as it use to sail passed 150 with ease indicating 135 in fourth It did pass a uk Impreza on A38 to Birmingham though Not sure what speed I was doing at the time.
Gearing was very good with 70mph @ around 2500rpm. This gave a return of about 34mpg so great performance/economy.
The only mods I carried out were lowered suspension, clear side repeaters, uprated discs/pads, painted the naff chrome grill black to match rest of car and moto-build roof spoiler.


Nick
This was definately one of the best cars I have owned.

JTaylor

I shuddered a bit when I saw the shocking site and tacky products but didn't realise their reputation was fcuked as well. Shame, I dealt with them a long time ago and they were decent.

I've seen a lot of **** 220s and it looks like the lads above have owned some too. I also know a couple of lads in Plymouth who've got very clean examples and they'd make a good ownership proposition. Really depends on what you buy.

rossyboy

iTrader: (8)

Just to confirm what others have said, I lost head gasket and diff/gearbox. Back then a new gearbox was £2k, though I have no idea what they are now. It never actually broke down in 2 years though. It just broke

Woody1

Had a 620 TI. Got a new gearbox under warranty and two head gaskets. There was always oil leaking some where from the engine. Great family car and took many by surprise at the lights !!!!

Wouldn't get one outside warranty due to my experiences.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

I had a 1.6 auto and that was a bit of a wobbly thing, wouldnt want one with 200 bhp !

kibbster

Same here, no actual brakedowns just breakages

Next time you are driving on a long journey count the broken down cars, I bet 40-50% are Rover 2??s
:P

No really, nearly every car I see by the side of the road is a old style 214 or 216.

Spankathon

I had a 220 Coupe Turbo, great car, like others have said, easily as quick as a UK Classic Scoob, mine had head gasket failure (luckily in the 3 month warranty period) and needed a rebuilt gear box, £300 for a re-con one so nothing too bad. Great car, would have another without a question.

It had perf. exhaust, lowered and had some various discreet styling bits. I had mine for about 3 years, put on about 45K miles on it. As quick when I sold it, as when I bought it.

Well good it was.

Horico

I had an M reg one.....

No real major issues with it other than the gearbox going....bought a stolen (through the police impound thingy) 420 GSi and took the 'box off that and sold the rest of the bits so was a relatively cheap repair...

They are fast in a straight line although my UK Turbo with 250 bhp was quicker in a straight line (when I picked up the scoob from london, my mate was driving the tomcat).

Handling wasn't the most re-assuring due to the way it felt as you entered the corner but once the weight transferred you could hold a steady line and pretty much scrabble your way out with varying levels af drama (wheelspinning anyone?). They do feel quick though due to the way the turbo comes in....the torque steer on mine was improved with some bushes on but it did still feel vague around straight ahead...

There are lots of tatty ones about now which is a shame but they're getting on now. The last UK ones were N reg if I remember rightly while the ones to go for are the Jap imports that were sent there then came back. They have a higher spec and some are really low miles. I think they can be spotted by the XXXX FDH number plate.

I would still love to own a mint low milage jap one in Tahiti Blue with full leather, air con etc etc....

There's a lot of rubbish thrown about regards reliability but get on www.mg-rover.org and the other sites mentiones and weed out the rubbish.

JoeyDeacon

My father has an L reg 220 (Non turbo) and the head gasket went last week throwing all the oil out of the engine.

Must admit it has been pretty reliable but lots of things have suddenly started to go wrong with it. I would imagine that most of them are getting to the age now where they are starting to become money pits.

RLE

iTrader: (2)

Had an L reg 220 turbo for three years and 40k miles. Pcked it up with the head gasket problem which cost me £400.00 to cure but apart from that and the electric motor going on the central locking never had any problems.

Mine was RR @ 211 bhp with exhaust and filter-was far quicker than the Impreza that I got to replace it (standard UK 97 turbo) and once the power was down (2/3rd gear) the thing flew.

Great car which I regretted selling to a point. Scary on corners though when flat out but never did do any suspension upgrades. Always ensured it was fully serviced as well which I think helped!

John57

I had a nightfire red 420 GSi turbo a few years back - K678 JRW .... had it chipped and Racelogic Traction Control added - 215bhp at the top end but about 45bhp extra at 3K rpm ..... it absolutely flew !

I broke 2 gearboxes but loved every minute of having it ......