| Product: |
Rover 214i 3-door |
| Date: |
24/06/02 (1062 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Looks
Disadvantages: Unreliable, Expensive to repair, Waste of space
I bought my Rover 200 (a 1.4i 16v) when it was amere 10 months old back in 1999, it had 6,000 on the clock and I bought it from the main deals in Oldham (Richard Corts), cost was just short of £8,000.
Since then I have had to have several repairs carried out and the vehicle is not even 4 years old.
New front brake pads and discs, both sides (twice!)
New Exhaust
New rear cylinder (twice)
New Starter Motor
New Battery
New Oxygen sensor in the Catalytic Convertor
A reconditioned Gearbox!!!!!
New Radio
New Electric window motor
New Throtle
New Clutch
Cracks appeared in the Windscreen as well
I currently have a broken intermitent front windscreen wiper and the rear screenwash doesn't work properly, plus the wipers fused out whilst I was driving in heavy rain on the motorway once.
And all this is before the car reaches 50,000 miles. The Gearbox ceased on the motorway and cost me an extra £130 to get it towed to a garage (that's before teh £500 to fix it). The car failed it's MOT due to the oxygen sensor, which cost me over £250 to get put right. Most of this work was after the vehicle fell out of warranty.
Basically Rover weren't interested in all the faults with their car and the dealers attitude was disgusting, as such I therefore have no hesitation advising everyone to steer clear of Rovers. I confess the car looks great, has a smart interior and thought I'd got a great car, but given the last 12 months has cost me about £1,500 to keep a 4 year old car on the road, I wish I'd never bought it.
Summary:
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Last comments:
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- 28/06/02 I take on board your comments Angus, however I do have to disagree with you. I don't expect it to cost over £500 to get a car through it's first MOT. With regards to the Throttle, that was faulty when I got the car and was lucky enough to get it fixed under warranty. The clutch was fine until the Gearbox ceasure took it out.
Angus, I would agree the Gearbox shouldn't have gone (£630 to sort out incl clutch), but I'd also add the Catalytic Convertor Oxygen Sensor shouldn't have gone (£250+ to fix). And whilst a might expect a 3 1/2 year old car to need a new battery and new brake pads, I certainly wouldn't expect to need new brake discs and pads twice and I wouldn't expect to need a new starter motor. david I hope you're right and things have improved as one of the reasons I bought Rover was to buy British, however I'm one customer that won't be returning. |
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- 24/06/02 From what people I know who work at Longbridge tell me, it's fair to say that the company was a mess when BMW were running the shop, largely because they didn't have a clue (example: spending the 75 launch day whinging about productivity instead of praising their own car).
I don't know much about car maintenance, but I don't think you can expect a small car that's done 50,000 miles in three years to be in mint condition - certainly if you've driven it at all hard then the clutch is bound to have gone by then. You were unlucky with the gearbox, though.
Anyhow, I'd ask people please not to judge the current MG Rover cars by the standards of the 1998 output - the company is different in almost every way, and considering the unpromising models they had to work with (the 25 and 45), they've worked miracles. The 75 is a BMW success - it's a lovely car, and I'm sorry they're going to adopt a much uglier style in 2004/5 - but that's in spite of, not because of, BMW mismanagement. |
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- 24/06/02 With the exception of the gearbox and maybe the throttle (depending on driving styles) I would expect most of these things to go wrong with a car by 50K.
I often wonder what people expect a car to preform to, and I laso feel the way individuals drive a car has long tem affects on the cars reliability.
Ang us |
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