Tekforums

Right, my girlfriends looking for a car under Ã,£1000, and she seen a Rover 214. Now my brother says not to go with rover, just wondering what advice you lads would give?

Cheers

coded

Why not rover?? What reg is the 214?

P reg

what age is it? they are good cars.


no doubt you will get the usual "dont buy a rover" crap from all the pub mechanics :p

they are nice cars, well put together and well specd. the only bad thing is they are slighly prone to head gasket problems, but these are easily avoided with good maintenace (water pump and cambelt every 70k) and checking the coolant level regularly (like you should on every car really)

I have a 214 and has gone through 2 mots without a single prob and hasnt caused me any hassle.

you will get good advice from - http://forums.mg-rover.org/index.php

Quote from: CodedP reg

check the service history and ask about the head gasket. if it has been done before then it shoulndt go again. other than that they are good cars.

"a car is only as good as its previous owners" is a good phrase.

Quote from: CodedP reg

i have a p-reg rover although its a 220sdi

bought it in 2001 and its not filed on a MOT yet.

The 214 aint a bad car at all, comfy and fairly nippy. My dad had one for ages and never had any problems with it til it died - it was pretty old.

Cheers lads :) ill tell her to go for it then :)

Its just a Honda with knickers isnt it? If so, its a good choice.

ill give my opinion.. get a cheap vauxhall :P theyll put up with almost anything and not give up in a hurry, go on forever and parts are cheap as chips (if you avoid the dealer)

Heard far too many rovers with HG issues tbh, seems more than just a small weakness in my view.

Yeah ok people will disagree with me but iv had 9 vauxhalls now and never a single breakdown

Quote from: maximusotterIts just a Honda with knickers isnt it? If so, its a good choice.

no that was the older one.



this is the one he is talking about

Ive got a 214i thats done 90k. Its pretty good runner, I must admit im probably not the best owner, its had a few bump + stuff. The only thing wrong with it so far is a broken exhaust.

Pretty fast too considering im 19 and most people my age have 1litres!

And Id say go with a fully loaded TD xantia with air con, big comfy seats, nice interior and suspension that will outlast and out-comfort (not even a word) any of its contemporaries 10 times over - and will return 5-600 miles per tank depending on how you drive it.

Quote from: BXGTi16VAnd Id say go with a fully loaded TD xantia with air con, big comfy seats, nice interior and suspension that will outlast and out-comfort (not even a word) any of its contemporaries 10 times over - and will return 5-600 miles per tank depending on how you drive it.

hydrospastic suspension :gag:

no, rover has the hydrospastic(lastic) citroen has hydropneumatic and hydractive - more reliable and much, much longer lasting than springs. Much lambasted by talentless backstreet mechanics who cant work their way around a simple hydraulic system.

Quote from: BXGTi16Vno, rover has the hydrospastic(lastic) citroen has hydropneumatic and hydractive - more reliable and much, much longer lasting than springs. Much lambasted by talentless backstreet mechanics who cant work their way around a simple hydraulic system.

Never had a spring go TBH on any car but my Xantia had to have all its suspension changed. Was a lovely car apart from the suspension and the high group insurance.

Your xantia had to have all its suspension changed? 6-10 spheres, at least 4 hydraulic rams (depending on setup), 40 or 50 yards of pipe, hydraulic pump, accumulator, hydractive or activa system & spheres (if fitted)

The most common cause of failure is neglect to flush the fluid at the service interval, or use of the wrong sort of fluid. Other than that failures are very rare - the xantia has the best record of all the hydraulic/air types. The very first ones produced had inferior coating on the pipes meaning they were liable to rust after 3-5 years, but all others were plastic coated

Ins groups are okish - 6+ i think - TD is around 8 - but that is prob higher than the rover

Dont know what it needed but it was quite expensive. the car bounced around and became uncontrollable. Slightest bump in the road meant it bounced and when trying to brake it was constantly setting off the ABS.

Failures arent rare. i took it to a citreon dealer who showed me a few others that needed the same thing. He told me it was quite common, had no reason to not believe him as its his business to know.

And it was insurance group was 13 which to be fair is quite high.

IG 13 - That must have been the 2.0 16V version?

Bouncing around and setting the abs off...bouncing around can only be caused by duff spheres - Ã,£30 each

ABS going off by itself is certainly a weird one - its the same system as used on just about every euro car of the time, BMW/Mercedes/etc - the only time Ive ever experienced that myself is on a Lexus.

If I went to a dealer (5 years ago) who had a few xantias in with hydraulic system failure that were regulars on their books, my conclusion would be that they didnt know what they were at, and that they didnt service the cars properly - theres a lot of them about - there is one main dealer here in NI who shall remain nameless who porports to be a hydractive expert - I went looking for activa parts and they didnt even know what activa was.