Faults:

Cylinder head gasket blew at 130000.

Head was skimmed and pressure tested and found to be OK, Gasket from main Rover dealer quoted £75 + vat!! (for a piece of card!)

Motor Factor sourced, £30.

General Comments:

Main dealer prices for parts are absurd. The age and value of these cars is not reflected by the dealer parts network. Best to use Motor Factors and the likes of Halfords.

Really comfy car, and roomy and airy inside. Rust is starting to show around the rear wheel arches and bonnet, but nothing drastic.

Faults:

Head gasket blew at 97000 miles - expensive.

Drivers door outside door handle failed at 97000 miles.

Drivers window winding mechanism failure at 97000 miles

Blocked radiator due to head gasket failure at 97000 miles - replacement needed.

Head gasket blew again at 98000 miles.

Intermittent dashboard lighting faults from 97000 miles.

Drivers seat starting to wear badly.

Terrible steering wheel judder between 50 and 60 mph (not wheel tracking or balancing)

General Comments:

Not a bad car for performance considering the engine size. The car is comfortable and has excellent view around the car through the windows. Nice features like electric sunroof and some nice trim to the interior.

However, the K-series engine in these cars are its downfall - the coolant capacity for the car is just enough for the car and the slightest leak will cause head gasket failure if not caught early enough - twice within 1000 miles in my case.

Steering is very heavy and could definitely do with power steering as parallel parking is difficult.

It's a shame about the engine in these cars because its not a bad buy otherwise, but be prepared to pay out £300 + every time the head gasket goes.

Faults:

Exhaust (middle and Back Box)

General Comments:

Hmmmmm, only a 1.4, I don't beleive it, a nice drive car which handles and performs excellently for a car of its age, exhaust was cheap too at £160 with fitting, eats petrol more than a standard 8v motor though.

Faults:

Replace front brake pads L (worn)

Clutch judder when pulling off

Rounded off sump bung

Hole in radiator (65000 miles)

Rear bushes twice in 2 years

Leaking hose (One with filler stem)

Possible head gasket now gone.

General Comments:

A very cheap car to run, parts cheap and easily fitted at home.

Very economical, very reliable and No rust yet!!

Faults:

Indicator stalk snapped off.

Radiator blew at 111000 miles.

Down-pipe cracked at same time as radiator.

Rear driver side window seized shut.

Back box is now blowing.

Front disc's have warped and turned blue.

Rear suspension bushes have seized on.

General Comments:

This is a Comfy, quiet, fast car.

However it doesn't like corners and suffers from lots of body roll, the back end steps out often under braking or aggressive driving.

The brakes are appalling and are no match for the engine, as a result my disc's are warped and have turned a different color due to not being able to dissipate the heat build up. I will be fitting the brakes from a Rover 220GTi with uprated pads soon.

Steering is heavy when parking and has too many turns lock to lock.

It's very frugal, if driven at 70mph it will return 40mpg, but also achieves 26mpg when driven fairly hard.

Really quiet and relaxing on long journeys, easily does 100mph. Max speed I've seen is 126mph.

Great engine pulls, from 30mph in fifth and likes to rev all the way to the limiter.