Rover 214si '96 onwards
 

anybody had one? anybody know anything about them?

I've got one as a courtesy car and its surprisingly nice for a Rover and 1.4 engine.

Are they cheap to run or die on their ar$e after 80k miles?

What alternatives are there that are better in your opinion? Must be economical, cheap to insure/run and be reliable.

The Rover seems a lot for the money with electric windows/sunroof/electric locking/power steering 70k miles for less than £1k. I know the badge is dead but plenty of supplies for parts. Whats the catch?

My brother caned his to 120,000 miles, still going, neglect of the cooling system will kill them in no time, not a bad car really, way better than an Escort.

No catch - and a nice engine to boot. Rest is dodgy in terms of Rover build quality but not too bad. It lasts as well and is great value. I had a 1994 214 SLi that was a third car to run into the ground when I had a 993, and the Rover did everything it needed, nothing failed and I sold it on for about £200 less after 1.5 years. Good enough in my book. Well worth it and loads around.,. The HGF is the main issue which seems mostly pot luck as to whether it happens, but a good SH helps, although nothing is definate.

I have just bought a silver one - 1998 on an 'R' with just 46500 miles on it for £135.00

Just service them regularly and keep an eye on the cooling system. Check engine mountings.

Plenty of parts still about

Cheers

T

:o where did you get that from for that price? Apparently the biggest issue with them is the head gasket which costs a grand to fix by a garage. Having a look about in autotrader but ones that look good that ive called about have all sold. I thought the car market was supposed to be dead!

It needed a new rear light cluster and a back door so it had been written off - Madness

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...h/DSC00061.jpg

Cracking little car :)

T

Personally, I'd opt for the old concerto shape

I've had both. Earlier car was screwed together much better imo. So don't be suprised if the trim rattles and various stuff like central locking and radio/clock display go on the fritz.

Head gaskets will go regardless of service history. Although if it's been done at least once, it's unlikely to go again unless there is a botched coolant change or teh engien is driven too hard when cold (i.e straight on to the motorway within 15mins of starting).

Also watch out for other engine running issues. ECU has built in MAP sensor which can intermitantly pack in (seemingly in cold weather on a cold starts :wonder: ). Emissions can be an issue on older cars, which need ragging to death immediately prior to just to having the sniffer put up the exhaust to barely scrape through - This might be the OAP driving syndrome though. ;)

MPG not as good as what you would expect for a 1.4 (same goes for 1.6).

Avoid CVT gearbox at all costs. Otherwise it will cost (Awful MPG, expensive to rebuild, they go wrong alot, and are a pig in traffic).

Nice to drive. But I've always hated the brake pedal feel (far too much wasted travel) Worse on rear drum / solid front disc versions. Can get a bit floaty on the B-lanes at 60mph but handling is quite solid and predictable. Ventilation on teh car is pretty crap, although heater can blow very hot, it can still remain very stuffy in damp weather (especially in the back). And when set to cold it never seem to blow totally cold (as if the coolant shut off valve was leaking) - not good in summer. Unless you have A/C. Still, the windows works ok.

I also found the front seats very uncomfortable giving me lots of lower back pain on any jorner longer than an hour. The offset steering wheel making you sit at an angle and nowhere to put your left foot doesn't help.

If you don't care about all the above...buy one :D

1K will get yout a good 620 TI

full leather 200 Bhp

;-)

Generic User, spot on review that.

I had the BRM one and the HG went, still like the car but I couldnt trust it after that so had to go, thing is my Saab is using a bit of water and has a whiff of coolant about it, so more skinned knuckles for me.

My mum has a 25, V reg, my dad has a ZT (he is a Rover fetishist) but still rates the little 25 for its nice engine and decent handling, still a good looking timeless shape in the right colour.

Incidentally the 25, there are two versions 80 bhp and 105 bhp, we converted my mums from 80 to 105 by replacing the plastic throttle body with the spare one from my BRM, hey presto another 25 bhp for next to nothing.

They arent that economical, but then again, they produce 105 bhp and need revving, might get more mpg from a 1.4Escort but it will have 70/80 bhp and be a slug in comparision, I sued to drive company 214s when they were new, and the smoke you can get of the tyres if you try is amazing, the earlier low power 214 was only an 8 valve so be careful if you want to do the power mod, it doesnt work on the 8 valve engine, east to tell, it says 16 valves on thte cam cover if it has 16 valves.

Watch out for rust, even my youngish BRM had a little on the arches.

They do suffer from gasket probs, some g/box as well but bought carefully (much cheaper than a Grand) they can provide cheap transport.

Cheers for the replies :) cnewboult £1k may get me that car but I bet it costs a fortune in petrol and insurance in comparison.

Generic User thank you for that write up, whats a CVT gearbox?

Tony you got a steal there, I need to start looking at other places rather than just autotrader!

Continuously Variable Transmission.

In a nut shell: Automatic.

Ah thanks, guessed it was but only ever known them as automatics! Wouldn't touch one with a barge pole.

Its a rubbish automatic, not a proper one, its stepless and uses belts to vary the gear ration infinitely, sounds good but in practice early ones were crap.

Anyway, for a while I had a 1.6 Rover Coupe with a an auto box, that wasnt a CVT, asfaik they always used a standard auto, when did they bring it in ?

The Coupe was a decent little car, thinking about it, try and secure one of these as it had the Honda engine (1.6), a lot more reliable than the Rover unit and no worse on fuel, pretty much indestructable. Be careful as later models had a 1.6 k series instead, not sure when the changeover was.

Great Little cars and very under rated, hears mine, had it for about 5 years. The head gasket went on a few years ago so I got a 10k mile recon 1.8 out of an MGF to replace the old 1.4, with the custom cams and other mods I ended up with quite a nippy little car, got to sell it now I have my Scooby though:( can afford to run both.http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...hotScale50.jpg

I have an old shape 420SLi and I love it..........great run around and not worth selling as its worth nothing to anyone but me

When did that first post get edited???? :D


Perhaps, I never asked that question?? LOL.