My take on the 'old man's car' the Rover 25 (Rover 25 1.6iS 16v 5dr)

Member Name: Stephoohla

Product:	Rover 25 1.6iS 16v 5dr
Date:	20/08/09 (62 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Comfortable, affordable

Disadvantages: As mentioned before, 'old man's car'

I was in desperate want of a new car, but unfortunately don't know a lot about cars, and did not have a big budget. Lucky for me, my stepdad runs a small used cars business, so I had a few choices if I brought one from him. This was one of the choices.

When my stepdad said 'Rover', I think I had a typical response by thinking 'an old man's car'. However, when I saw it I quite liked the shape. The back end looked really nice, a lot like the similar but much cool MG ZR styles, which I would've loved but I'm afraid was out of my budget!

I assumed as soon as I started the engine I assumed it would conk out straight away and I'd have trouble getting it up the street, but surprisingly enough, it started straight away and ran very smoothly. I was moving up from a 1.4l to a 1.6l, so I immediately noticed it was a bit more powerful that my previous car.

The seats are really comfortable, and are easily adjustable to any position you want. When I first climbed in, I found that the seat was too high as the previous owner must have been quite short, but with ease I managed to pull the knob at the bottom of the seat and adjust it so that it was lower.

The bodywork was silver. I've never really liked the colour silver on a car, and I think I'm still a bit against it on this one. No matter how much I polish it, it still is dead and dreary, no shine to it at all. I have seen this car in some beautiful colours however, pastel green, pastel blue, even black looks cool, so I would recommend finding a nice colour in it.

The car takes corners pretty well, which I was surprised at considering there's no 'tyre grip' feature. I'm quite a fast driver, and this car handles bumps and potholes in the road pretty well, without causing the whole car to shake.

The standard audio player that came with my car was unfortunately just a cassette player, perhaps pointing out to me how old it is. The speakers were very basic and not very bass friendly either, and the back speakers were basically nothing. However, as I'm an avid music fan, I quickly went out a brought a standard CD player, and it fitted really well, and some better speakers, which also fitted well thanks to the previous owners having cut some holes in the parcel shelf already.

I felt a hell of a lot better about having an 'old man's car' now that I could play some loud music!

The engine is a bit too noisy for my liking, but once I had the music on it was barely noticeable. And even now and again there would be a strange rattle that would worry me, but then it would go away and everything would be fine, but I suppose that just depends on the age of the car.

One thing I really hate is that there is no air conditioning, so in the summer it is unbelievably hot if you're queuing in traffic. However, with all the windows down and the sunroof open (it can open two ways, either by moving up by a 30 degree angle or slide all the way open) whilst you're driving along you can forget the need for air con.

This car seems pretty standard on it's petrol consumption. Not as efficient as my old car, a VW Polo, but definitely more fuel friendly that BMWs, Focus's, etc.

It's a medium sized car, so not really recommended for learner drivers, but definitely isn't too big that you'll feel like you're driving a truck. It's a comfortable drive, and definitely good if you're on a smaller budget.

Summary: I do really like this car

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