Cheapest car i've had - finally found what I was looking for
 

Got it this morning for £770, cambelt, clutch and head gasket all done. Going to take it to my garage to get it checked over. Has a load of history with it and previous mot's. 65k but drives great. The interior is near as perfect. Only £25 to fill it up from empty as well.

:D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...***/Rover1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...***/Rover2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...***/Rover7.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...***/Rover3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...***/Rover4.jpg

Now the only bad bits so far:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...***/Rover5.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...***/Rover6.jpg

I know nothing about car repairs, never done any myself so how bad is that rust? Is it easily fixable or the boot has had it? Not going to be using the boot so no big deal there. The rest of the car is rust free that i've seen.

Looks surface(ish) to me probably solid underneath, get someone who knows to look but does not seem too bad to me.:)

Thanks :)

it's a rover 214 with the chocolate head gasket, give it 2 weeks and that rust will be the least of your worries ;)

but seriously it looks like surface rust so i shouldn't think it needs any attention.

The front chassis legs where the subframe bolts to is prone to rust.

Nothing a quick scrub with the wire brush, some etch primer, and a dousing with waxoyl won't sort :thumb:

Btw, those chintzy seats are the uncomfortable ones (unless your below 5ft5" tall ). :(

If you ever get a howling noise at 70mph+, moreso on warm days, don't ask what it is, I never cured it, dispite new seals all over the place :rolleyes:

Hence I bought one with the head gasket already changed ;)

Thanks for the rust opinions, glad I didn't turn it down now then as the rust did concern me a bit.

Looking back through the history and its done 30k of the 65k in the last 5 years. Going to get it fully serviced as I don't know when it was last done, previous owner worked at a Vauxhall garage and got all its servicing done there for free.

Just looking at getting the stereo out now as its not working due to battery change and no code for it. I've got an old mini disc player I can put in it that I took out my Scooby when I had it so will do for a radio. I can't wire for toffee though so no idea unless its a straight swap but unlikely.

Well just driven it 20 miles up the motorway at 70mph+ and it sounded fine. Agree on the seats but then they were the last of my worries.

I'll be in the same boat in a couple of weeks..

I was going to get a cheap escort around the £500 mark. What do you reckon, good or bad move?

Bad move. Spend £600 and get a little micra.

My bro bought his with the HG having been done, 800 quid bill, ran it for 40k and it was still going strong, ignore the doomsayers, most it can ever cost you is 770 quid.

My BRM was going there (tailgate) so it got flat green smoothrite on it, exactly the same colour as the actual paint, no more rust.


Decent little car for the price of a telly.

They are really good cars, is yours 8v or 16v? -the 16v k series is STILL one of the best engines around..

I had to do a headgasket on my mums 214, pretty easy, cost about about £80 to do, certainly nothing to worry about.

I had a Sdi version. The battery kept going flat so got rid. Apart from that it was great. Also it eat front tyres.

F

The 1.8 is much more prone to HG failure, witness the number of MGF's you see steaming at the side of the road.

Looks a bit ghey to me!

Who owned it before? - Graham Norton??

It's not just the engine with the MGF, the cooling system on the MGF is so much more prone to airlock, that the slightest leak, sludge or bad coolant change causes them to air lock and overheat. Worse still, the temperature gauge can read normal! :cuckoo: Crap design.

Yes, true but they also go on 1.8 200's, the bigger bore and highr output can be too much for the cooling system to cope with, boot it and the low capacity colling system gets a blast of hot water which doesnt do it any good.

Its the 16v engine. As for the comedian who said "it looks ghey" its actaully my Mrs car, except I bought it and got to choose what car to buy and wanted something less than £1k but fairly low miles, ie less than 80k that had 5 doors, 1.4 or less engine and was clean inside but wasn't a Ford Fiesta/Escort. There isn't much out there that can beat the Rover in meeting all those requirements.

I paid £850 for a 42K FRSH M plate Rover 220 Gsi. Leather, sunroof, electrics etc.

Not a bad car, a little bit thirsty but suffered from a weeping HG. Also, due to the poor qualites of materals, the fifth gear bearing uses a plastic holder which wears away, cuasing the car to whine in fifth. it also had an idling problem, never seem to go under 1K revs despite swap out throttle bodies etc.

Sold it for £800 in the end. I did about 15K in, spent about £200 on fixing bits, so £250 for 15K isnt too bad.

I like rovers, cheap, honest, and all the weak areas are pretty much known about and therefore easy to spot. Get yourself over to rovernet.co.uk, lots of advice etc etc there.

SBK

Ah thanks, didn't know there was a forum for Rovers. Will go and have a look :thumb:

Just been to that link and its says coming soon so is there not a live forum already on a different link?

You could try www.mr-rover.org shoud have enough info for your needs.

Thanks for the link, found them this morning on a google search and have registered, looks a god site and will make a change to having only used SN! :o

LOL I misunderstood - I thought this was a celebration of the bangers everyone's driven in the past! Which was an old Maestro with a leaking sunroof and cost me £50 off a mate. I sold it back to him a couple of months later once I got my proper car back on the road, but that was the cheapest motoring I ever had - cost peanuts to insure and fuel. Just a shame that I got a lapful of water every time I turned a corner. But everyone should drive a £50 motor at some stage - if only to put into perspective how ridiculous it is that a set of brake pads for a Subaru can cost well over that!

In terms of cheap motors, your mean machine at £700 is what I'd call 'top-end' LOL. I've had a Nissan 200SX for £700, a Clio 16v for £400, a Tipo for £350 and a lovely 1.8 Scirocco for £250. All of them needed a little work, but did the job for a while. I keep thinking I should sell the Scoob and buy an old Merc 190 Cosworth and keep the change.

Can you do you own mechanics/fixing? If you can then great but I can't so couldn't buy a car that cheap that needed work doing to it. It would cost me a fortune in mecahnic fees. Plus my 22 month old son has to be carried about in it which is why I wanted something that hopefully is a lot safer than a £50 motor.

[QUOTE=**************]Its the 16v engine. As for the comedian who said "it looks ghey" its actaully my Mrs car, QUOTE]


Funny that??On your other post which you edited 4 mins after this one you said the car was definitely for you???

Im sure you wife is very happy with your.... err... her?, car ;)

You certainly did a good job of finding one perfect for her (you), even if your 'covering up' skills leave a lot to be desired. :D

Anyway, im sure the colour is 'fit for purpose' - no matter which of you is driving it...

Its in her name but I bought it so it also makes it mine and a new toy to play about with :p Both the cars are driven by both of us, its whatever suits the journey. But just having forked out the money on it yes I was talking as though its my car. You're entitled to your opinion of it being a 'ghey' colour, personally I don't care what the colour is, thats the last criteria for me when buying a car :)