Faults:

Alternator bearing failed £227, rear silencer (twin pipe) £138.

Rear window regulator siezed due to lack of use.

General Comments:

A great car, but the clutch is starting to judder and the ride is becoming spongey. Parts are expensive, but do not fail that frequently. Use a high quality oil in the Honda engined variant.

Faults:

Since bought in June 1998 at 3 years old/60,000 miles nothing has gone wrong, except for a bit of work needed for MOT (like brakes) plus there was a small water leak at the rear into the spare wheel well.

General Comments:

A really good car in all. It has depreciated a fair bit since June 1998 but it was good value then. £6,400 for a well-looked after and almost-mint condition, fast (115mph, 10.5 sec to 60), comfortable and stylish estate car could not be bettered, though it's only worth £3500-4000 now and was £16,000 new. I am looking forward to being able to replace it with another as they are still making them in 1999.

Faults:

Severe Leak in passenger footwell (3 visits to dealer to fix).

Alarm.

Heater - Pollen Filter became detached making heater useless.

Sunroof jammed open (Temp fix in place - awaiting dealer fix).

Door seal perished.

Fuel Injection system played up - now fixed.

Trim problems (too many to mention).

Squeaks & Rattles.

General Comments:

Although the car has never let me down, other niggles are irritating me to the point that after 4 months of ownership, I am seriously considering swapping it for something reliable.

Performance, economy, handling & comfort are superb (36-48 Mpg and better acceleration than most 1.6's).

Dealer's vary - I'm on my 2nd who seems ok - but they do have other franchises). I didn't have these problems with a 1990 216GSi which has 130k on the clock and is still on the road, so why do I have these problems now?

Faults:

This could take a while, I'll try to be brief:

Brake backplate fouling rear disc.

Cracked valve guides, new cylinder head at 24,000.

Oil leak, sump gasket replaced.

Gearbox at 43,000.

Engine failure at 54,000.

Clutch cable.

Power steering pump.

Suspension bushes.

Front foglight (still not working).

Radiator rusted through.

Drive shaft oilseal fell out.

Remote central locking (still not working).

Sunroof was noisy for months.

Exhaust rusted through, needs replacing again.

Gearbox again, car beyond economic repair.

General Comments:

A very capable car when it's working.

With ABS, uprated suspension and 200BHP it's the best Rover I have driven.

However there have been 17 unplanned trips to the dealer, many by breakdown truck.

Rover could do better, if they don't people will start recycling all the old "Skoda Jokes".