A great underrated car. I had one for just over 10 years, except the cylinder head gasket blew for a third time, and we ended up taking the poor little car to a breakers that would dismantle it for spares. It rode and drove really well, very reliable except the overheating problem, and it was starting to go rusty around the rear wheel arches. I think the design has aged far better than it's rivals.
Such a shame how Rover ended. Had they just disappeared after BMW it'd still been sad but at least they would've ended on a high note, as maybe not that unique technically but still a quintessential British car. Instead we got the CityRover (which would be an interesting review by the way, if you can get hold of one). This era Rover still seems like great cars, especially the 75. Particularly after your excellent video on it I'd love to have one, preferably a blue estate with cream interior. Where I am, Sweden, there's the strange situation that there's several for sale---I believe there's six or more right now---but you _never_ see them on the road, or any Rover for that manner. After BL's production and reliability gremlins got hold of Rover they fell out of fashion here, and never really came back. I guess their "Old English" feeling and style, which I love, didn't really fit here. Also thanks for making such great videos! A well read and spoken gentleman for sure. Pleasant to see someone younger than even me, who's 22, having the same interest in older cars. Reminds me a lot of Furious Driving, but with a unique flare and slightly different focus. You complement each other perfectly
Acid Green you’re forgetting the MG Zed range and the F revised as the TF. Not forgetting the X-Power SVR. They did end on a high. It’s just that people chose to overlook the good points and constantly focused on the old image. The City Rover was a cheap car, no worse than a Daewoo Matiz. People just loved to mock and criticise.
I’ve just bought one of these, a 1.6 200 Auto, and after driving it over 300 miles so far, it’s one of the nicest small/medium sized cars to drive I’ve ever driven and owned. Soft, comfortable seats, great handling and nippy, and a pleasant interior with a soft touch dashboard which I wasn’t expecting. I wouldn’t say the driving position is a bit high, certainly feels lower than my Suzuki Wagon R, which feels like an old van to drive in comparison. But the Rover in my opinion is a nice car, I prefer the round shape of this 200 being a 90’s fan.
I second Ed, it was a VERY good looking car when it was launched but was very expensive for its size. I loved the BRM 1.8 version especially the diamond pattern leather(ette) seats...
Very informative video! My uncle owned one about 10 years ago! I always liked the styling although i see it as more of an old man's car than a car for someone in their 20s.
Great video about a beautiful elegant Rover 200. Mine which is a 1999 T plate British Racing Green Pearlescent is also still on the road enjoying life after just entering 140,000 miles. Again, name thanks for am informative video
Thanks for an informed, informative video on a pretty much forgotten Rover. I suspect these will become more sought after in the future. This particular example is REALLY clean, good to see one that is well loved.
Rather than getting on the property ladder in 1998 as a dumb 24 year old I ordered a new 220SDi Turbo (yes L-Series turbo tractor goodness waking up the neighbours). I had it 10 years and did 165k miles in it and it started first time every day; yes, bits fell off in the process. It was invincible off-road going into fields, landfills, rivers, moorland and 6" of fresh snow and was GTi fast (faster), all at 50mpg. Very forgiving ride and handling balance that you just can't find these days. Far better than the unreliable rot box Merc I replaced it with :(
I had a Rover 200 as a courtesy car a couple of times, and was very pleasantly surprised by how it felt (and drove) so much better than I had expected.
This takes me back! My first car was a Peugeot 306 - a hand-me-down from my parents, who bought it new in 1993 when it was the height of modernity, and gave it to me 9 years later when it was still a very decent first car. After 2½ years it was becoming increasingly unreliable, so I traded it in for a Rover 45 - I did look at the 25 but it felt cramped inside, whereas the higher-spec 45 felt luxurious, and was a great car for several years until it met an untimely end in a flood 😭
I had one of these as my first car, a 216 Si in British Racing Green. I think I put 50 or 60k on it and only had to have a brake calliper replaced. Cheap to run, comfortable, good size. And the view from the drivers seat over that curvy bonnet was great. A really underrated car, I miss it a little.
Always liked the design of these Rovers & it still looks fairly modern today. Even the basic versions appear more premium than most Escorts & Astras at the time which justified a higher price , sometimes creating a size inbetween other competitors pays off but unfortunately it didn't work out for Rover as planned , the situation got a bit desperate a few years later when they changed to a MG badge & lowered the price to help sell more cars , by then it was too late to save the company !
Absolutely, the R3 astounded me at just how nice everything felt. It's a much nicer car than the Escort, Astra, and Golf, although I think I would rather have the 306.
I had a 1996 214i 8v K-series. When it worked, it was nice to drive. It was a money pit and way too unreliable. Head gasket went twice. Then a piston rod bent. Actually, on the second time I had the head gasket done; I took it to an independent Rover specialist. When I contacted them by phone and told them I had a bubble-shape Rover 214 8v with the head gasket gone for a second time, the guy’s immediate response was, “That 8 valve 1.4 K-series isn’t worth the scrap value of the metal it’s made out of, to be honest.”.
You tend to find that the 8 valve engines are more reliable than the 16 valve ones. You also find that most head gasket failures are due to owners not maintaining their cars properly, or poor quality repairs being done in the past. As for bending a con-rod, I'd say that's definitely due to how you treated the engine.
@@chucky2316 They do suffer badly from it, but many were caused by another leak of coolant (eg- thermostat housing, inlet manifold) going unnoticed and causing overheating. Once a K series has suffered from HGF once, there is no reason for it to fail again if repaired properly. I have a 1998 Rover 211 virtually identical to the one in this video. When I bought it a few months ago, it had suffered from HGF for the 2nd time, due to a cheap, rubbish Multi Layer Steel gasket being used. I have repaired it again with an elastomer gasket, strengthened oil rail, and high tensile bolts, so it should last for the rest of the cars life now (or until I put a larger engine in).
Today a friend of mine told me he has this car. Have a gasket failure, can you please tell me how do you replace the old gasket? Just copy the shape on the new material? Can you please tell me more about new bolt specs?
Fond memories of my second car, a 214 Si. Mine was the same colour, brooklands green, but with the lighter beige velour "Kashmir" interior. Remote central locking, electric front windows, mirrors and sunroof as standard plus some eBay sourced original rover alloys and a leather steering wheel, I was a very happy 18 year old. The 16 valve k-series was stealthily quick and never gave me any bother in almost 3 years and 40,000 miles, I was always told to use decent quality antifreeze and it seemed to do the trick. Talking of tricks, the parcel shelf can be detached and slid neatly down the back of the seats out of the way for tall loads.....
I had an Astra company car that got rear ended and got a Rover 200 as a courtesy car. My memories are small boot, cramped rear space, decent drive. Don't get me wrong the Astra had more space but was awful to drive however back then as a Dad with kids I knew where my priorities lay
The Rover 220 diesel was a brilliant car, totally reliable, exceedingly fuel efficiency and there wasn't many that could beat it off the lights. If you had the tyre pressures correct it would also handle well.
Money was the reason for badging, pricing is always sensitive at the low end of the market. That was the reason for the flex beam rear end too (Golf was actually the target competitor). The pitching of the car price wise was always on the higher end for a given car size which was made worse by the fact that the cars were smaller than their direct competition. I had a 99 (98 built) 220SDI 3 door for about 6 years. It was brilliant for what it was, made better by a rechip & more boost. It went well & always sat around 50mpg. Took ages to warm up on winter days though!
I had 2 Rover 25s a 1.4 and an L series diesel, both really great cars. Would have another diesel, very economical, quite powerful and most importantly pre DPF and DMF.
I had a rover 200 vi, the "hot" version. My God it was quick, and well equipped (for the time) as well. Sun room and air con, one of the best cars I ever had, until the head gasket went. I had it repaired but it was never the same.
Another great video! I had one of these as my first car in 2002, I loved it, what made me buy it was it’s beautiful looks and I loved the walnut inserts!
Finally, someone saying what I thought about the driving position in these! I always felt like I was sitting ON rather than in these 200/25s; a feeling not helped by the non-adjustable wheel and low scuttle. Eventually you got used to it, and it helped with visibility too, but the driving position always seemed odd to me. I always had a feeling I was looking too far below my eyeline at the gauges as well. Never owned one though - these experiences were from hire cars, so I was dipping in and out of these, and driving other cars in between, rather than it being my everyday car. After a while owning one, it might not have been an issue.
Great video as always. I had a R3 200 some years back. It was a 99 on an S plate 216 Si 16v in Tahiti blue. A much missed car. Something that was always a bug bear of mine on these cars was the massive panel gap between the bonnet and the top of the bumper. The one here unfortunately suffers from this.
Fast forward 15 years to 2010 and B segment cars such as the Fiesta and Corsa had become the same size. Now in 2024 the 200 still doesn't look out of place. If they had priced it to compete with the Fiesta rather than the Escort it would have been exceptional value and been the best selling car in the segment.
My neighbours had a T plate 1.4 200 in the early 2000's. I always thought they were a nice looking car. Years later I fitted a amplifier into a P reg 200.
They were very modern at the time, they were a new hope for Rover as they had a reasonable decade prior on sales their future looked bright , shame it went wrong later.
Always liked the look of these. Even though we never got it here in the States, I had a friend in Germany who had one and she loved it. I always thought that this and the Daewoo Lanos looked very similar. Another great video, Ed! I still say you and Steph from I Drive a Classic should do a video together. I think the two of you do the best car videos on UA-cam :-)
Had 2 MG ZR'S both in x-power grey, both 5 door 1st one was a 2.0 L series perkins engine. Not the quickest but quite responsive and great on fuel 2cnd was a 1.4 k series Put a k and n induction kit on it, Sounded like it was on ITBs😂😂 Lots of fun great cars with character. I'd have another diesel one. If your reading this and wanting one watch the back arches👍🏼
The interior looks really nice, I love the instrumentation. Truth be told I'd don't like the external styling of it or the Peugeot that much but I realise beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The Rover 25 with the twin headlights looked much better to me. I'm not sure which car in that segment stands out to me, I love the styling of the eighth gen Honda Civic but not sure if the Rover 25 and that Civic were sold at the same time.
Great video about the nice little Rover 200. I still have Rover 400 sedan from 1998, it's still running like a clock without a problem. Would you make a video about Rover 400 series? I'm so excited ;)
I really liked this video bringing this beast to life mine was a 1400 but slippy clutch lol best half a grand I spent in my lifetime would do it all again if I could
Yep the MK3 200, and the MK2 400 (1994-1999) were actually nice, good, well built cars with some classy touches. But both cars were priced and pitched against the class above size wise, which really effected sales. The MK2 400 was effected the most - a shame as the 400 was actually a very lovely car with a class leading ride, but pricing it against the much bigger Mondeo and Vectra was a big mistake
A very neat little car indeed. Emphasis on the little part. Rover did the same with these as Nissan tried a few years ago here in Canada. They tried to sell sizzle without the steak to back it up. To me, used to North American cars, the spec seems very much entry level, and not at all aspirational. The engine size always strikes me as being terribly small. Then again, we don't have the punishing taxes on engine size, nor the usurious gas taxes that drive the cost of running a car through the roof.
The nice wheel, fast steering rack and well sorted suspension especially on the 25 which i think had the sportier ( but not hard) 200 vi suspension and 15 inch alloys handles superbly, lovely roadholding , nicely weighted steering with feedback and feel missing from modern crap. A ride which is fun and at the same time feels refined so much as to feel like a larger ,pricier car . only thing I will say is the 1.4 is so, so slow.
I think it looks better than the 306, the 306 you show in the video is a top spec later model the older 306s were not as good looking and some had grew plastic bumpers all 200s had body coloured bumpers as standard.
Much preferred the previous generation of the Rover 200/400,especially the earlier ones before they fitted them with the cheap tacky looking front plastic chrome effect grilles.I used to have a Streetwise version of this model,and while it looked OK from the outside,it was very bargain basement inside.
Having sat in this 200, a 25, and a Streetwise, they get steadily worse in quality as the years progressed. You can really start to see just how deep MG Rover went with the cost cutting in their final years.
Very typical of Rover/BMC/Leyland to just miss the point. And then they missed out on the Mini too. It is very apparent from your past videos that you are a fan of Rover and all its previous iterations and good for you. They have made some almost great cars and some fairly awful ones, pick your own models to fit into those categories, but they never ever got the marketing or support quite right. I was around during the seventies and eighties and witnessed the mess that was made of the company by its management and the government and the way that it treated its customers. A huge shame as many of the cars were very nice. You have to congratulate the Germans and the Japanese for making the most of the Rover mess and selling a lot of cars in th UK. Mind you, the Germans and the Japanese did their bit to stir the pot and finish off the company too, I suppose. Have a great Christmas and I look forward to more of your excellent vids in the New Year.
Too right, there was such an amalgamation of problems at BL/Rover that they were never going to survive. I don't think they consistently got a single thing right. Everything had issues.
A great review of an attractive and well-conceived little car. But, unfortunately as usual, Rover's lack of build quality and poor marketing skills prevented it from reaching its true potential. Such a pity and such a waste of a great hatch. Thanks again for the trip down memory lane.. I always look forward to a new post from you.
Hey man I had one of these in a 25 I love the interior and the feel of these especially for £500 shame only lasted me nearly 2 months before the head gasket went but oh well cool man
I have to disagree that the Peugeot 306 looked better. It may have been a sportier car to drive but I would say that the Rover 200 has aged probably the best of the cars from 1995. I think this and the Focus were the two best designed hatches of the 90's but the interior of the Rover has aged better than the Mk1 Focus. Maybe Rover should have sold this as a "100", the hatch 400 as the 200 and the saloon 400 as the 400 series. I never had a 200. I did have a Montego and can attest to random bits falling off. Montego was far and away the worst car I have ever owned. I would say though that the headliner and mirror coming off are not that uncommon for a 20 year old car... and great review that is informative and not at all shouty or gimmicky!
MrAdditionelle having experience of a 306 2.0 XSi, and various versions of the R3, I can comfortably say that the 306 doesn’t get a look in as far as I’m concerned.
Gourgeos little car let down by mismanagement of Rover. This should have been the 100 series. The 400 should have been the 200. I wonder how things would have been so different. Hard to imagine that a 1995 design car stayed in the market for 10 years until the latest 25 series ....impressive
Lovely Video Mate Really Enjoyed, if you ever want to do a 25 you know where i am lol even though there wouldnt be much difference with mine and the 200 ;)
The older the rover the more the armchair lazy feel.. had many a few over the years.in.90s to mid 00s all under £500 quiders.. in 2000 acquired a . D reg 86/87 vanden plas 1.6 going for free from work colleague..was most plush..sharp n square but great. 👍
Hi all rover fans. Do you know any vendor that may sell complete engines and deliver overseas? Thanks for this video, kind regards from santiago de chile
Like your informed approach to these vids. Somewhere between Hubnut and Big Car! On some of the channels, Steph, Hub, furious, and now this vid, have occasionally noticed, the dangling dice. What is it with these things? They really are a distraction to any kind of attentive driving. Or is there a point to them that I’m missing??!!!! This car just .. widged my poppet ... no interior mirror but there is a flippin dangly thing instead ! Do people let their cats play in their cars ? /EndRant !!
People just like them. It’s not my remit to decide whether the dice should or shouldn’t be there, it’s up to the owners of the cars we’re so lucky to borrow.
Twin-Cam I’m sorry , neither time nor place for my comment - I’ll plead a “get out of bed on wrong side” for my grumpy lack of judgement earlier. It is indeed great and generous of people to let their motors be looked over. Best wishes to all.
Haha! As you may have seen, I don’t have dice in my car. I’m not a big fan myself. I don’t even usually have an air freshener hanging from my mirror, it annoys me! I usually put it on the choke lever.
The revised Rover 200 was renamed as the Rover 25 in 1999 - 2000 to keep it in line with the Rover 75 the revised Rover 400 was also renamed as Rover 45 in 1999 - 2000
Odd that the spec is too low for electric windows but it’s got wood panels. Love your “almost offensively 90’s” line. I never really noticed these when they came out except that they did some in a gorgeous green that looked incredibly shiny... I suspect the effect didn’t last. I always assumed it was some sort of replacement for the Metro. Great review by the way, the only other person I can imagine reviewing this would be Hubnut with his wiper fetish. He’s another favorite of mine.
I think every 200 of this age had the wood as standard! To be honest, it would probably have been more expensive for them to make two different types of panelling. Then again, when did Rover ever have any sense?
I’d personally say that People are wrong thinking the 200/25 is a Fiesta Sized Car, when I happily got a 2002 Rover 25 as my first car 14 months ago as I always knew as being a long time Jaguar, Rover and Aston Martin Enthusiast and my Grandad and some one else owning 25s, as I loved them since I was very small, I can honestly say that the 200/25 is an Focus & Astra sized car indeed, one is that I sat in a 2006 Vauxhall Astra and I felt rather cramped and I had much more room in the 25 and I’m 18 years old, 19 in 5 months time and 6ft 5 so very tall. Also the Fiesta is a very cramped car as well and rather a rubbish car especially the 2010 one horrible awful car I don’t know why Ford make the Fiesta when they make the much better Focus. I also have parked my Rover 25 next to a Focus of the same age and they are the same length and the seats pushed back are the same leg room in the back. My Rover 25 beats any 2020 Focus, Astra, 1-Series etc. Fantastic, Amazing and Beautiful Car and my pride and joy as well as my 2005 Rover 75 as well which I love. The 25 is much better upgrade over the 200, the 25 has a better Grill, nicer front bumper and front lights, higher quality and better looking seats, more premium and much better looking mirrors, fresher steering wheel, nicer trim and wheels and nicer tailgate and much more.
@@TwinCam Great, i have a 1997 Rover 420D which is a great car, comfy, quiet, very good handling, reliable engine and chassis, the only weak points are the weak engine (only 86 hp non-intercooled L Series ) and the rust (plenty). I think it was the most beautiful compact car in the 90's, although the company priced the car to compete in the higher class with Ford Mondeo or Opel Vectra. The 420Sdi or the 420Si 136 hp would have been great
A great underrated car. I had one for just over 10 years, except the cylinder head gasket blew for a third time, and we ended up taking the poor little car to a breakers that would dismantle it for spares. It rode and drove really well, very reliable except the overheating problem, and it was starting to go rusty around the rear wheel arches. I think the design has aged far better than it's rivals.
Yep, They committed suicide with the relentless blowing head gaskets
Such a shame how Rover ended. Had they just disappeared after BMW it'd still been sad but at least they would've ended on a high note, as maybe not that unique technically but still a quintessential British car. Instead we got the CityRover (which would be an interesting review by the way, if you can get hold of one).
This era Rover still seems like great cars, especially the 75. Particularly after your excellent video on it I'd love to have one, preferably a blue estate with cream interior. Where I am, Sweden, there's the strange situation that there's several for sale---I believe there's six or more right now---but you _never_ see them on the road, or any Rover for that manner. After BL's production and reliability gremlins got hold of Rover they fell out of fashion here, and never really came back. I guess their "Old English" feeling and style, which I love, didn't really fit here.
Also thanks for making such great videos! A well read and spoken gentleman for sure. Pleasant to see someone younger than even me, who's 22, having the same interest in older cars. Reminds me a lot of Furious Driving, but with a unique flare and slightly different focus. You complement each other perfectly
Acid Green you’re forgetting the MG Zed range and the F revised as the TF. Not forgetting the X-Power SVR.
They did end on a high. It’s just that people chose to overlook the good points and constantly focused on the old image.
The City Rover was a cheap car, no worse than a Daewoo Matiz. People just loved to mock and criticise.
I’ve just bought one of these, a 1.6 200 Auto, and after driving it over 300 miles so far, it’s one of the nicest small/medium sized cars to drive I’ve ever driven and owned.
Soft, comfortable seats, great handling and nippy, and a pleasant interior with a soft touch dashboard which I wasn’t expecting.
I wouldn’t say the driving position is a bit high, certainly feels lower than my Suzuki Wagon R, which feels like an old van to drive in comparison.
But the Rover in my opinion is a nice car, I prefer the round shape of this 200 being a 90’s fan.
Your a star........the way you pick out the design features is great, even i look at this car and the 1.1 metro in a different way now.
I second Ed, it was a VERY good looking car when it was launched but was very expensive for its size. I loved the BRM 1.8 version especially the diamond pattern leather(ette) seats...
Very informative video! My uncle owned one about 10 years ago! I always liked the styling although i see it as more of an old man's car than a car for someone in their 20s.
Great video about a beautiful elegant Rover 200.
Mine which is a 1999 T plate British Racing Green Pearlescent is also still on the road enjoying life after just entering 140,000 miles.
Again, name thanks for am informative video
Thanks for an informed, informative video on a pretty much forgotten Rover. I suspect these will become more sought after in the future. This particular example is REALLY clean, good to see one that is well loved.
Loved my Rover 25 (basically a 200). Best handling hatchback I've ever driven
Rather than getting on the property ladder in 1998 as a dumb 24 year old I ordered a new 220SDi Turbo (yes L-Series turbo tractor goodness waking up the neighbours). I had it 10 years and did 165k miles in it and it started first time every day; yes, bits fell off in the process. It was invincible off-road going into fields, landfills, rivers, moorland and 6" of fresh snow and was GTi fast (faster), all at 50mpg. Very forgiving ride and handling balance that you just can't find these days. Far better than the unreliable rot box Merc I replaced it with :(
I had a Rover 200 as a courtesy car a couple of times, and was very pleasantly surprised by how it felt (and drove) so much better than I had expected.
This takes me back! My first car was a Peugeot 306 - a hand-me-down from my parents, who bought it new in 1993 when it was the height of modernity, and gave it to me 9 years later when it was still a very decent first car. After 2½ years it was becoming increasingly unreliable, so I traded it in for a Rover 45 - I did look at the 25 but it felt cramped inside, whereas the higher-spec 45 felt luxurious, and was a great car for several years until it met an untimely end in a flood 😭
My first car, 1.6 in red. Head gasket went obvs. Loved it.
I had one of these as my first car, a 216 Si in British Racing Green. I think I put 50 or 60k on it and only had to have a brake calliper replaced. Cheap to run, comfortable, good size. And the view from the drivers seat over that curvy bonnet was great. A really underrated car, I miss it a little.
Always liked the design of these Rovers & it still looks fairly modern today. Even the basic versions appear more premium than most Escorts & Astras at the time which justified a higher price , sometimes creating a size inbetween other competitors pays off but unfortunately it didn't work out for Rover as planned , the situation got a bit desperate a few years later when they changed to a MG badge & lowered the price to help sell more cars , by then it was too late to save the company !
Absolutely, the R3 astounded me at just how nice everything felt.
It's a much nicer car than the Escort, Astra, and Golf, although I think I would rather have the 306.
I had one of these. It was a good little car with a lovely smooth gearbox.
I had a 1996 214i 8v K-series. When it worked, it was nice to drive. It was a money pit and way too unreliable. Head gasket went twice. Then a piston rod bent. Actually, on the second time I had the head gasket done; I took it to an independent Rover specialist. When I contacted them by phone and told them I had a bubble-shape Rover 214 8v with the head gasket gone for a second time, the guy’s immediate response was, “That 8 valve 1.4 K-series isn’t worth the scrap value of the metal it’s made out of, to be honest.”.
You tend to find that the 8 valve engines are more reliable than the 16 valve ones.
You also find that most head gasket failures are due to owners not maintaining their cars properly, or poor quality repairs being done in the past.
As for bending a con-rod, I'd say that's definitely due to how you treated the engine.
@@chucky2316 They do suffer badly from it, but many were caused by another leak of coolant (eg- thermostat housing, inlet manifold) going unnoticed and causing overheating.
Once a K series has suffered from HGF once, there is no reason for it to fail again if repaired properly.
I have a 1998 Rover 211 virtually identical to the one in this video. When I bought it a few months ago, it had suffered from HGF for the 2nd time, due to a cheap, rubbish Multi Layer Steel gasket being used.
I have repaired it again with an elastomer gasket, strengthened oil rail, and high tensile bolts, so it should last for the rest of the cars life now (or until I put a larger engine in).
Today a friend of mine told me he has this car. Have a gasket failure, can you please tell me how do you replace the old gasket? Just copy the shape on the new material? Can you please tell me more about new bolt specs?
This is a car I strongly dislike. But your production values, insight and enthusiasm mean I’m totally watching this!
Fond memories of my second car, a 214 Si. Mine was the same colour, brooklands green, but with the lighter beige velour "Kashmir" interior. Remote central locking, electric front windows, mirrors and sunroof as standard plus some eBay sourced original rover alloys and a leather steering wheel, I was a very happy 18 year old. The 16 valve k-series was stealthily quick and never gave me any bother in almost 3 years and 40,000 miles, I was always told to use decent quality antifreeze and it seemed to do the trick. Talking of tricks, the parcel shelf can be detached and slid neatly down the back of the seats out of the way for tall loads.....
I had an Astra company car that got rear ended and got a Rover 200 as a courtesy car. My memories are small boot, cramped rear space, decent drive. Don't get me wrong the Astra had more space but was awful to drive however back then as a Dad with kids I knew where my priorities lay
@@chucky2316 oh dear never ever involved in sales - far too tawdry and full of grasping needy people
Alan Partridges favourite runabout before his Lexus IS200!
I had rover 200 vi, still one of the best cars I ever had, super fast, until the head gasket went.
Exactly the same here mate, loved my vi broke my heart when the head gasket went 😪
i had a 1.4 1995 400, in dark metallic green. loved it to bits. the steering was the best i have ever used
The Rover 220 diesel was a brilliant car, totally reliable, exceedingly fuel efficiency and there wasn't many that could beat it off the lights. If you had the tyre pressures correct it would also handle well.
Money was the reason for badging, pricing is always sensitive at the low end of the market. That was the reason for the flex beam rear end too (Golf was actually the target competitor). The pitching of the car price wise was always on the higher end for a given car size which was made worse by the fact that the cars were smaller than their direct competition. I had a 99 (98 built) 220SDI 3 door for about 6 years. It was brilliant for what it was, made better by a rechip & more boost. It went well & always sat around 50mpg. Took ages to warm up on winter days though!
I had 2 Rover 25s a 1.4 and an L series diesel, both really great cars. Would have another diesel, very economical, quite powerful and most importantly pre DPF and DMF.
I had a rover 200 vi, the "hot" version. My God it was quick, and well equipped (for the time) as well. Sun room and air con, one of the best cars I ever had, until the head gasket went. I had it repaired but it was never the same.
Another great video! I had one of these as my first car in 2002, I loved it, what made me buy it was it’s beautiful looks and I loved the walnut inserts!
Finally, someone saying what I thought about the driving position in these! I always felt like I was sitting ON rather than in these 200/25s; a feeling not helped by the non-adjustable wheel and low scuttle. Eventually you got used to it, and it helped with visibility too, but the driving position always seemed odd to me. I always had a feeling I was looking too far below my eyeline at the gauges as well. Never owned one though - these experiences were from hire cars, so I was dipping in and out of these, and driving other cars in between, rather than it being my everyday car. After a while owning one, it might not have been an issue.
Great video as always. I had a R3 200 some years back. It was a 99 on an S plate 216 Si 16v in Tahiti blue. A much missed car. Something that was always a bug bear of mine on these cars was the massive panel gap between the bonnet and the top of the bumper. The one here unfortunately suffers from this.
Fast forward 15 years to 2010 and B segment cars such as the Fiesta and Corsa had become the same size. Now in 2024 the 200 still doesn't look out of place. If they had priced it to compete with the Fiesta rather than the Escort it would have been exceptional value and been the best selling car in the segment.
I like you and your videos…. Young but professional and interesting! Thank you for your good job…
Went very quickly backwards down a bank and in to a fence in one of those back in 2001 lol.. it drove back home perfectly despite its ordeal.
My neighbours had a T plate 1.4 200 in the early 2000's. I always thought they were a nice looking car. Years later I fitted a amplifier into a P reg 200.
They were very modern at the time, they were a new hope for Rover as they had a reasonable decade prior on sales their future looked bright , shame it went wrong later.
Totally agree on the seat height
Otherwise it drove really well and the interior was good
I really wish JLR revives the Rover brand to compete against mainstream brands like vw, vauxhall, ford etc
Always liked the look of these. Even though we never got it here in the States, I had a friend in Germany who had one and she loved it. I always thought that this and the Daewoo Lanos looked very similar. Another great video, Ed! I still say you and Steph from I Drive a Classic should do a video together. I think the two of you do the best car videos on UA-cam :-)
Had 2 MG ZR'S
both in x-power grey, both 5 door
1st one was a 2.0 L series perkins engine. Not the quickest but quite responsive and great on fuel
2cnd was a 1.4 k series
Put a k and n induction kit on it,
Sounded like it was on ITBs😂😂
Lots of fun great cars with character.
I'd have another diesel one.
If your reading this and wanting one watch the back arches👍🏼
The interior looks really nice, I love the instrumentation. Truth be told I'd don't like the external styling of it or the Peugeot that much but I realise beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The Rover 25 with the twin headlights looked much better to me. I'm not sure which car in that segment stands out to me, I love the styling of the eighth gen Honda Civic but not sure if the Rover 25 and that Civic were sold at the same time.
Great video about the nice little Rover 200. I still have Rover 400 sedan from 1998, it's still running like a clock without a problem. Would you make a video about Rover 400 series? I'm so excited ;)
Nice Video and car as usual.
I really liked this video bringing this beast to life mine was a 1400 but slippy clutch lol best half a grand I spent in my lifetime would do it all again if I could
Yep the MK3 200, and the MK2 400 (1994-1999) were actually nice, good, well built cars with some classy touches. But both cars were priced and pitched against the class above size wise, which really effected sales. The MK2 400 was effected the most - a shame as the 400 was actually a very lovely car with a class leading ride, but pricing it against the much bigger Mondeo and Vectra was a big mistake
It reminds me of a Peugeot 206 expressed in Rover terms.
Thank you for your contribution to the universe x
A very neat little car indeed. Emphasis on the little part. Rover did the same with these as Nissan tried a few years ago here in Canada. They tried to sell sizzle without the steak to back it up. To me, used to North American cars, the spec seems very much entry level, and not at all aspirational. The engine size always strikes me as being terribly small. Then again, we don't have the punishing taxes on engine size, nor the usurious gas taxes that drive the cost of running a car through the roof.
The nice wheel, fast steering rack and well sorted suspension especially on the 25 which i think had the sportier ( but not hard) 200 vi suspension and 15 inch alloys handles superbly, lovely roadholding , nicely weighted steering with feedback and feel missing from modern crap. A ride which is fun and at the same time feels refined so much as to feel like a larger ,pricier car . only thing I will say is the 1.4 is so, so slow.
I think it looks better than the 306, the 306 you show in the video is a top spec later model the older 306s were not as good looking and some had grew plastic bumpers all 200s had body coloured bumpers as standard.
Don't know why I have always liked rover
Much preferred the previous generation of the Rover 200/400,especially the earlier ones before they fitted them with the cheap tacky looking front plastic chrome effect grilles.I used to have a Streetwise version of this model,and while it looked OK from the outside,it was very bargain basement inside.
Having sat in this 200, a 25, and a Streetwise, they get steadily worse in quality as the years progressed. You can really start to see just how deep MG Rover went with the cost cutting in their final years.
1:42 you’re missing another important sticker the furious driving one he’s big into the rovers he’s just uploaded a 216 si cabrio he’s restoring
Very typical of Rover/BMC/Leyland to just miss the point. And then they missed out on the Mini too. It is very apparent from your past videos that you are a fan of Rover and all its previous iterations and good for you. They have made some almost great cars and some fairly awful ones, pick your own models to fit into those categories, but they never ever got the marketing or support quite right. I was around during the seventies and eighties and witnessed the mess that was made of the company by its management and the government and the way that it treated its customers. A huge shame as many of the cars were very nice. You have to congratulate the Germans and the Japanese for making the most of the Rover mess and selling a lot of cars in th UK. Mind you, the Germans and the Japanese did their bit to stir the pot and finish off the company too, I suppose.
Have a great Christmas and I look forward to more of your excellent vids in the New Year.
Too right, there was such an amalgamation of problems at BL/Rover that they were never going to survive. I don't think they consistently got a single thing right. Everything had issues.
My first car was a rover 25 1.4 100bhp, good car
Same. I had a 3 door with electric windows and air con. Blew the headgasket in spectacular fashion doing 80 on the outside lane of the M1.
A great review of an attractive and well-conceived little car. But, unfortunately as usual, Rover's lack of build quality and poor marketing skills prevented it from reaching its true potential. Such a pity and such a waste of a great hatch. Thanks again for the trip down memory lane.. I always look forward to a new post from you.
Hey man I had one of these in a 25 I love the interior and the feel of these especially for £500 shame only lasted me nearly 2 months before the head gasket went but oh well cool man
Great video Mr Ed Twin Cam!
Is that Oli's car ?
Yes it is!
@@TwinCam Great to see collaborations- hopefully the Aygo one day
I have to disagree that the Peugeot 306 looked better. It may have been a sportier car to drive but I would say that the Rover 200 has aged probably the best of the cars from 1995. I think this and the Focus were the two best designed hatches of the 90's but the interior of the Rover has aged better than the Mk1 Focus. Maybe Rover should have sold this as a "100", the hatch 400 as the 200 and the saloon 400 as the 400 series.
I never had a 200. I did have a Montego and can attest to random bits falling off. Montego was far and away the worst car I have ever owned. I would say though that the headliner and mirror coming off are not that uncommon for a 20 year old car... and great review that is informative and not at all shouty or gimmicky!
MrAdditionelle having experience of a 306 2.0 XSi, and various versions of the R3, I can comfortably say that the 306 doesn’t get a look in as far as I’m concerned.
Owned one myself as a stop gap car only main complaint I had was for me the gear box felt clonky and stiff in the gears
Gourgeos little car let down by mismanagement of Rover.
This should have been the 100 series. The 400 should have been the 200.
I wonder how things would have been so different.
Hard to imagine that a 1995 design car stayed in the market for 10 years until the latest 25 series ....impressive
I thought so. Things could have been different have Rover Group stuck with the original product positioning plan for those.
Rover 25 Streetwise. Yay or nay? To buy or not to buy?
Wow, look how young you are haha. you have changed !
Nice Video, I also own a 211 in the same colour. Love these litte cars
I found your videos very interesting. Subscribed 👌👍
Lovely Video Mate Really Enjoyed, if you ever want to do a 25 you know where i am lol even though there wouldnt be much difference with mine and the 200 ;)
The back reminds me of SEAT Leon
If I was choosing a car based on the indicator stalks, this would be the one to have. 1.4 K series engines lack torque.
The older the rover the more the armchair lazy feel.. had many a few over the years.in.90s to mid 00s all under £500 quiders.. in 2000 acquired a . D reg 86/87 vanden plas 1.6 going for free from work colleague..was most plush..sharp n square but great. 👍
I have on here in Kenya, where can I get the spare parts
Hi all rover fans. Do you know any vendor that may sell complete engines and deliver overseas? Thanks for this video, kind regards from santiago de chile
Alan Partridge would approve.
Unfortunately, the 211 never had the walnut gear knob Alan cherished so much 😉
They've rebadged it, you fool!
I would have thought this Rover is inspired by Honda Civic since the company used to partner with Honda.
The Rover 400, launched in the same year, is pretty much all Honda Civic. But the Rover 200 is pretty much all Rover.
It was never a suitable replacement for the previous 200 to my mind - and so I moved onto the 400.
It wasn't meant to be - it was intended to replace the Metro, but they priced it completely wrong. The new 400 was the replacement for the R8 200/400.
Like your informed approach to these vids. Somewhere between Hubnut and Big Car! On some of the channels, Steph, Hub, furious, and now this vid, have occasionally noticed, the dangling dice. What is it with these things? They really are a distraction to any kind of attentive driving. Or is there a point to them that I’m missing??!!!! This car just .. widged my poppet ... no interior mirror but there is a flippin dangly thing instead ! Do people let their cats play in their cars ? /EndRant !!
People just like them. It’s not my remit to decide whether the dice should or shouldn’t be there, it’s up to the owners of the cars we’re so lucky to borrow.
Twin-Cam I’m sorry , neither time nor place for my comment - I’ll plead a “get out of bed on wrong side” for my grumpy lack of judgement earlier. It is indeed great and generous of people to let their motors be looked over. Best wishes to all.
Haha!
As you may have seen, I don’t have dice in my car. I’m not a big fan myself. I don’t even usually have an air freshener hanging from my mirror, it annoys me! I usually put it on the choke lever.
Twin-Cam 👍❗️ Thanks, man. Great to hear of someone hanging stuff on the choke !!! Possibly along with the essential cloths-peg ! Ciaooo.
Diesel SDI this car 1500 miles on the clock
Very rarely ever drop below 50 to the gallon
And capable of 135 miles an hour
Very nearly bought one of these for my first car. Great vid as always 👍
The revised Rover 200 was renamed as the Rover 25 in 1999 - 2000 to keep it in line with the Rover 75 the revised Rover 400 was also renamed as Rover 45 in 1999 - 2000
Odd that the spec is too low for electric windows but it’s got wood panels. Love your “almost offensively 90’s” line. I never really noticed these when they came out except that they did some in a gorgeous green that looked incredibly shiny... I suspect the effect didn’t last. I always assumed it was some sort of replacement for the Metro.
Great review by the way, the only other person I can imagine reviewing this would be Hubnut with his wiper fetish. He’s another favorite of mine.
I think every 200 of this age had the wood as standard!
To be honest, it would probably have been more expensive for them to make two different types of panelling. Then again, when did Rover ever have any sense?
Red lights yeah man
Good vid
I’d personally say that People are wrong thinking the 200/25 is a Fiesta Sized Car, when I happily got a 2002 Rover 25 as my first car 14 months ago as I always knew as being a long time Jaguar, Rover and Aston Martin Enthusiast and my Grandad and some one else owning 25s, as I loved them since I was very small, I can honestly say that the 200/25 is an Focus & Astra sized car indeed, one is that I sat in a 2006 Vauxhall Astra and I felt rather cramped and I had much more room in the 25 and I’m 18 years old, 19 in 5 months time and 6ft 5 so very tall. Also the Fiesta is a very cramped car as well and rather a rubbish car especially the 2010 one horrible awful car I don’t know why Ford make the Fiesta when they make the much better Focus. I also have parked my Rover 25 next to a Focus of the same age and they are the same length and the seats pushed back are the same leg room in the back. My Rover 25 beats any 2020 Focus, Astra, 1-Series etc. Fantastic, Amazing and Beautiful Car and my pride and joy as well as my 2005 Rover 75 as well which I love. The 25 is much better upgrade over the 200, the 25 has a better Grill, nicer front bumper and front lights, higher quality and better looking seats, more premium and much better looking mirrors, fresher steering wheel, nicer trim and wheels and nicer tailgate and much more.
Hi, make a video with a Rover 400/45
When I get around to it, I have one that’s been offered to me!
@@TwinCam Great, i have a 1997 Rover 420D which is a great car, comfy, quiet, very good handling, reliable engine and chassis, the only weak points are the weak engine (only 86 hp non-intercooled L Series ) and the rust (plenty). I think it was the most beautiful compact car in the 90's, although the company priced the car to compete in the higher class with Ford Mondeo or Opel Vectra. The 420Sdi or the 420Si 136 hp would have been great
I’m not driving a mini metro. I’m not driving a mini metro. I’m not driving a mini metro. I’m not driving a mini metro.
I’ll just talk over you.
Always looked better than the competition, in my opinion.
All modern cars - inside and out -look really s****y today.