Rover 400

Welcome to my first review since the beginning of March! I'm sure you're all glad to see me back (stop stifling the laughing at the back). As you've probably guessed through reading my other reviews, I manage to get through a lot of cars (on number 12 now, not bad for someone who has only been driving 7 years). So I thought I may as well write my big comeback masterpiece on my latest pride and joy, my beloved Rover 414SLi. Before I plough into this, I should warn you that it is based entirely on my experiences with this car, and a 416GSi I owned a few years back, which are both Mk 1 'wedge' models. I don't like the newer curvy, ...  Read the complete review

The 414i was the best we could affort on the company car scale back in 1997, so the decision was relatively straightforward. As it turned out, it was not a bad one, either... Design/image This car was the last to be engineered jointly with Honda and is therefore visually very similar to Honda's Civic model of the time. I always felt, however, that the Rover was the classier of the two. For example, it featured body-coloured bumpers, chrome grille and rear number plate surround and rosewood effect fascia inserts. Whilst the Honda now looks decidedly out of date, the 400 series still looks the part. This is obviously partly due to the fact that its ...  Read the complete review

I?ve just sold my Rover 400 after owning it for the last 5 years so it?s an ideal time to reflect on owning this car. If you are thinking of buying a Rover 45, then this will also be applicable as it?s an updated version of the 400. Two weeks after starting my first time job after university, my old university runabout car, an E Reg Astra decided to blow up on me. So with a proper job, came proper money and the urge to buy a new car! Well I didn?t buy brand new, opting for a nearly new car instead (the most sensible option in my opinion). At the time, a lot of the newer cars such as the Focus, new Astra, and Mark 4 Golf (which is my current car) ...  Read the complete review

Had a white 'S' reg Rover 414 which had a bit of poke for a 1.4 once you got it moving but still no sports car. Had the car in total about a year or so and bought with 75,000 miles on the clock. had 2 previous owners, Really comfortable and clean, good condition interior, not too sure about the walnut dash though! touches of chrome about the place and a good driving position. Should've bought a 1.6 I feel, because I feel with needing to give it the extra oomph to get it going, i wouldn't have lost anything in fuel economy from having the 1.6. Fairly reliable however the notorious head gasket went on mine which is a common problem on the K series ...  Read the complete review

What would you rather have, a dodgy old non-turbo diesel Volkswagen or Peugeot with a spec-list only Spartans would be happy with, or a newish 104bhp turbodiesel Rover 400 with 12mths MOT and lots of features for similar money? I know which I chose... Reliability: The only disabling problem I had with this car was some corroded wiring in the starter circuit, an easy fix. Despite incredibly hard use (driving through fields, rivers, up dirt tracks, thrashing it mercilessly) it never faltered. It shrugs off 1000-mile road trips with no fuss at all. Modern Rovers have a fragile reputation, but with the L-series turbodiesel and Honda underpinnings this beast ...  Read the complete review