Why This 23 Year Old Drives a 1995 Rover 216 SLI
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ธ.ค. 2023
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Today on the channel, I sample an old school Rover - one of the fruits of their collaboration with Honda, the 1989-1995 216 SLI. Closely related (very closely) to the Honda Concerto, this was a hatchback that combined British and Japanese know-how to create... well, I'm not sure.
#Honda #Rover #britishcars
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Owner here! Jay did end up sending me some new tyres which during hard times made a big difference!
Unfortunately I found out whilst fitting to the rear that the fronts were nearing bald on the inside. A payday later and she (nicknamed by the previous owner "clover") has new tyres and it's transformed the car
She's most recently gone into a Honda tuning specialist for the belts mentioned at full lock (and driving out of a pub car park every day in the cold at 1am next to a residential area)
They've deemed it low on power low down and have tried a fair few things before a 600 mile journey the next day but she'll be in for a thorough look in January.
Unfortunately my adventure in bangernomics seems to be fading and she'll be having a specialist looking at her and paint to make nice once the problem child volvo comes back on the road this summer!
For the time being she's just getting me out of a hard place and is doing well
You, young man, are absolutely THE BOSS! 🤩
Legend!!!
Love how you kept this car going! Wish i'd done the same with my 2002 mk 1 Insight instead of selling it and upgrading to my CRZ. also. got to applaud the Film photography!
Im not sure if it was you but did you see someone pass you on the m45 in a blue MG ZS?
Massive Respect my man 💪
Good on you James for sending the kid some tyres. Those sort of gestures really build my faith in the spirit and generosity of car enthusiasts to their fellow man.
Well said M8
All my faith and spirit is evaporated after all the stuff I have seen and heard "car enthusiasts" say and do. Definitely the most angry fandom I know of.
@@baronvonjo1929 Yet here you are...
Jayemm likes the young boys
Hello, owner’s girlfriend here (yes I do exist!) Can confirm I’m definitely a firm third in his life after Sven the Volvo and Clover the Rover! I truly am a classic car widow but I wouldn’t have it any other way - these cars bring Jake such joy to the point where I can’t imagine him ever having a “modern” car.
Riding shot gun, I always enjoy my time in the Rover, the cassette tapes match the car so well! I love the “tea shelf” on the dash and the wood trim - which we were both surprised to find was real!
The Volvo has comfier seats but not by much, but most times when I’m passenger in that I’m surrounded by car parts!
Both cars are absolutely a part of our small family and will continue to be looked after to the best of our abilities . Thank you all for showing Clover some love (and some hate!) she’s a great little car and people are already ready to fight for her if Jake sells her on!
Ex Rover salesman here. The SLi got you power steering, electric front windows, sunroof, wood trim on the doors, and a better radio cassette player over the Si variant.
For me, it's like the older Mondeos. Cars you would see everywhere, and all of a sudden, you see none of them. Parents had one, grandparents had one!
Love it.
I had three.... Such good cars, and for me the mk4 was overall a better car than my F30 3 series 😊
I suspect when we keep having scrapage schemes they all get handed in.
I don't know how old you are so you might not remember but the Renault Fuegos used to be EVERYWHERE and they all literally dissapeared overnight.
The scrappage scheme has a lot to answer for there.
@@AWMJoeyjoejoe yep scrappage scheme was the work of the devil!
These were great cars in their day. A definite cut above the Escort and Astra of the era. 216s can be hit and miss. Some feel quite flat, and some of them absolutely fly. My first car was a 1993 420SLi and that was great fun. 136bhp and loads of torque in such a small, light car was a hoot. It went really well and was utterly reliable for three years of constant thrashing. Also, re the wood, you may be surprised to learn it was real in these. Rover had a very real talent for making real wood look like plastic 😂
It was a class above the escort and astra. Closer to a 3 series bmw. My dad had a 214sli mum had a 216gsi. I had an escort. They were very different cars.
Great work Jay. Buying him some new tyres is exactly the right thing to do. Pass it forward to the next gen. ❤
Great video, I came to this channel originally a few years ago for the reviews of higher end luxury and supercars, but these reviews of old cheap bangers are now my favourite. They really do show that you don't need a modern car to have fun or be reliable, because an old car, if looked after, will do it just as well. Also, good on you for sending the owner some new tyres, that's an amazing gesture.
Wood is real wood, not even a veneer.
My first car was a 1994 214 SLI, in an effort to modernise the cabin, I removed the wood trim to sand it back and sprayed it body colour. And to my surprise it was a solid lump of wood!
I view it with rose tinted spectacles, and feel I would be grossly disappointed if I got to drive one again. But I have great memories of it. And it was much faster than my friends 1.2 clios, fiestas, corsas etc etc
I will however say, the 1.4 k16 was a much sweeter engine than the Honda 1.6. Having also owned a 1992 216 GTI 3 door.
Definitely a great engine that 1.4, i have found that against other 1.4 or 1.6 na engines this little guy has some extra top end there. I don't know if it's actually the body being more aerodynamic than other hatches or what, but i have been keeping up with much bigger cars on some straight lines of the highway
My Mum had a 214 SEi 16v with the K series engine many years ago. I used to drive it to work as I was between cars at the time. That engine was so responsive and loved to rev. It was the more powerful 102 BHP version. It also had the half leather recaro style seats that were sooo comfortable. It had 15 inch 7 spoke star shape alloys on 185/55R15 tyres but the steering was too light and had no feel. It was nightfire red and looked stunning for what it was. Good memories :)
Absolutely love bangernomics - we're a dieing breed, scrappage and the current trend for selling spares or repairs cars to breakers has made it incredibly difficult to keep old nails going (lots just end up being cubed 😢)
I will admit. The volvo got cubed - but that was because I found out its still possible to buy a cut and shut from back in the day. The rover shall be back with an mot this week after scraping the £300 to get it through (cat and rear brakes) Admittedly that involved and inspection and mot costs. Power was restored upon servicing it after it failed emissions and discovering black fuel coming out the filter. Unfortuneatly ive become absoloutely smitten with the thing after a trip to wales and I dont think I can part with it
As a married man, a 1993 214SLi was the first car we ever got on finance.
It was a used example in white and cost £2995 .
Brilliant car with a fantastic engine, only let down by the ever present threat of tin worm.
Was the first car I ever had with fuel injection, and circa 105 bhp was a decent power to weight.
It had done 38'000 miles and as a family car with a small child was just the ticket for 2 years, cost us £50 a week on the dealer finance.
I owned a pre-plastic grill J plate 216SLi back in the 90s and I loved that car! Drove it flat out at all times round Norfolk back roads. It's genius was the high revving Honda engine and gearbox which put you straight back in the 'power band' as you changed up. You had to rev the nuts off it, and that's why the ones owned by old men were coked up and slow (rumour had it, from a mechanic at Mann Egerton at the time). Mine beat even a Mk 2 Golf GTi 16v off the lights, but it handled terribly. As well as the inevitable understeer and wheelspin from its stupidly undersized tyres, It suffered from awful lift off oversteer, which bit me several times. It would 180 or tankslap with ease. May have been what the driver experienced? The walnut trim was definitely real, except from the strip on the dash above the shelf, which I recall as the only bit that was plastic (despite looking the most convincing). Mine died of rot and was sold for £25 for scrap, so I'm glad to see they have appreciated in value, finally.
I like these new episodes of old bangers
Years ago, as a young civil engineer, I had the option of one of these Rovers. As a company car! I loved it. 25 years later, I purchased a convertible one as my wife's first car.
... following her passing her test. A lovely car, totally gutless! But lovely.
I lost my drivers license in the 216 Gsi. That car was great!
Loved those cars when they were launched!! Especially the cabriolet!! The coupe looked good too, with its small offset bonnet bulge.
The woodgrain on the door cards is quality
Had a metro decades ago..
Put a smile on my face lol..
Drive cars today 200 times more the cost 😞..
I can relate to this video a lot, I to am young, in my early 20s, I own a 1995 Rover 214SEi. I make cassette tapes for my rover and I absolutely bloody love the thing. It’s my pride and joy. Despite also being approached by older men who appreciate the old girl and also having issues with 22 year old tyres, I think it’s a lovely drive and they are definitely becoming a contender on most classic car lists.
They certainly are! This is my car in the video and since this filming it certainly went from "an old banger" to a genuine classic! Ive polished the paint and have done basic maintenence and take it to car shows every weekend as a classic! The main sticking point currently is that I also will be using it for a 65 mile a day paper round as my main income - it can do both! But longer term I'd like to get another car and relegate this to genuine clasic use once I get back on my feet! For now this covers all bases - especially after the volvo which was recently scrapped after discovering it was a cut and shut!
I drove 800’s throughout my 20’s. I was commuting into London everyday and they were dirt cheap, reliable and sooooo comfy. I absolutely loved them. I had variety, Mk1’s, 2’s, 4 pots, V6’s, autos, manuals and they were all excellent. I got so much stick for it at the time but they had a bit of class. Wafting down park lane in the evening in an 800 fastback really was something. 10 years or so later I still miss my old 800’s. I’m yet to find comfier seats in a car.
Makes me think of two people: Alan Partridge and Tony Pond
@@jamesbrett6518 th-cam.com/video/1rFzvKuzYgA/w-d-xo.htmlsi=cxtjQUBNQrsQOsmL
@@jamesbrett6518 shame they got tarred with the Alan Partridge brush because there was a lot more to them than most people would think. I was in the police at the time and they were still held in high regard by my older colleagues that had driven them in the 90’s. They were a solid and comfortable car. And pretty decent to drive if you got a good one.
I had a 416GSI and i loved it. I bought it new, kept it for six years and one day someone nicked it from Shipley train station and i never saw it again.
I owned a red Sterling 827 SLi Vitesse for 17 years as my daily driver. To this day it was one of the most interesting and fun cars I ever owned.
It would draw looks and positive comments like crazy. I had the Racing Dynamics 17" wheels, the Rover GT kit and an absolute mint tan suede interior with everything in top kit.
The one Achilles heel was a lighting gremlin that i could never find. The dash illumination would just turn off randomly. So weird.
In 1990 when I was 20 years old I started work at Longbridge in BIW. I have such fond memories of these cars, in my mind they are still new😂
My Grandmother had a 1999 216SLi, and let me tell you, that thing absolutely flew for what it was. It was the CVT, which at first was disconcerting to drive, until you realised it kept the engine exactly where it needed to be for maximum power. It was almost frightening how many cars this thing could drag off at the lights. Certainly felt much quicker than my 2008 1.5 Suzuki Swift.
However rust in the tailgate got it eventually and the nasty clunk from the CVT going from P > D was surely going to grenade it at some point too. But a very memorable car.
The biggest loss to the 200/400 range was the estate - Until the 75 arrived Rover didn't offer an estate for years!
It was only a gap of a couple of years. Production of the 400 estate ended in 1999 and the 75 estate was released in July 2001
@@Aaron-tf3iv two-three years is a lifetime in the motor industry, especially at that time - there's also a big difference in size too, the 400 estate was a great option against things like the Vauxhall Astra and Ford Escort estates - the 75 being much bigger. It was definitely a big hole in the range towards the end.
ETA: it's also worth remembering that by 98-99 you could buy the new Ford Focus estate, and the next generation Astra estate - I love Austin/Rover/BL, but time and time again they were short sighted and slow to react to the market, such a waste of huge potential.
@@The_BenboBaggins That is a good point... I often wonder why they didn't discontnue the R8 estate with the release of the civic based 400 and turn that into an estate. Classic cost cutting I assume!
For some reason the 400 estate is now incredibly rare. IIRC Honda wouldn't play ball in supplying the Civic Estate pressings when the HHH/HHR version was introduced.@@Aaron-tf3iv
Had a 1995 rover 216. Cam belt snapped at 70 on the motorway. AA towed it to a garage, new belt fitted and away it went. Good old Honda with their "none interference engine". 😁👍
They absolutely ARE cool! I was born in 88 and I loved plenty of cars that were from the late 70s/early 80s. No reason why someone born in 2000 can't enjoy cars from the 90s!
When this was launched it was a highly praised. Far better than the escort or Astra. Vw weren’t really in the same bracket then, but you probably got a lot more for your money with the rover. The concerto 1.6 had twin carbs! From memory the SLi got you the sunroof.
Had a rover 216gti with twin 5 inch exhaust 3 door in black Honda engine was amazing in its day
My parents had a 216GTi twin cam and it was the first car with any kind of claim to performance that I ever drove. It seemed very luxurious at the time. Then they got rid of it after barely a year - mostly my mother's doing, I suspect - claiming that £300+ for a service at the local Rover dealer was way too much. And back in those days, that was a lot.
I once owned an 820 it was a lovely car to drive
Very generous of you Jay. I'd have done the same. Also, Laufenn tyres are made by Hankook.
Had a Hancock tyre ad on this video 😂
Priceless 😄
I'd love to have a Rover, and even as a kid watching Misomer Murders I fell in love with Barnaby's Rover 800 and later 75. But in my country there are few Rovers on the road so I bought Lancia Lybra instead (because it resebles the Rover a bit :D ).
The SLi btw was a mid-range level of equipment with these things like you mentioned. The base was the Si, which did not have the elctric windows I'd say and the top was the GSi, which was as fast as an MG but luxurious as a Vanden Plas.
The box should be PSA origin, but Rover strenghtened the casing and produced a new linkages.
even in britain the only Rover you'll really see anymore is the 25 and 75. Some wierdo near me has a cityrover too.
Ow, a CItyrover, that must be a bit of suffering. There are also a number of 75s around, even some estates and occasionally also some MG versions. But they are either battered or their owners like them and don't want to sell. In my town there is a bloke who runs a 620 SDi as his daily together with a 2 gen Discovery. @@Drive-n-Vibe
Insane that mot testers can fail you on a non functional windscreen nozzle but allow cars with 10 year old tires on the road
It drives me mad. I believe on an HGV it would be a failure, but not a passenger car unless it degrades to the point where it is falling apart. The number of Ferraris etc... I see on 10+ year old tyres is maddening
Depends on the mot'er
I have a 2017 kia rio (yeah baby living the dream) 1 former owner and 13300 miles.
It's on its original tyres, the mot man at halfords put the tyres as an advisory because of the date stamp on them (1117)
Even though they have plenty of tread and even the moulding spikes on the sides.
I questioned this (who wants advisories on a 2017 cars mot)
The mot guy took the time to explain his thought process and asked how we use the car (usually due to a company van ,the car sits on the drive undriven for weeks at a time) and explained tyre degradation regardless of tread depth.
It opened my eyes and narrow mind, and in spring next year ,via black circles a new set of toyos will be fitted.
My 1st full time job was at a Austin Rover/Land Rover/Freight Rover and Jag dealer.Have fond memories of the 3dr 216Gti/220Gti and Rover 800 Vitesse,to me they still look good.My friend had a 620Gsi with the Honda engine,very nice car,comfortable reliable and a decent turn of speed.I hope the "Phoenix Four" are happy with their behaviour ruining the company,i was sad to see the brand disappear......
The 220 gti was a great car. Fantastic seats as I recall. 🤔
Brilliant! I had one of these inherited from my Gran as my first car. At the time 9.3 seconds to 60 and what I thought was 114bhp (I’d read 108 was for the slightly torquier version they fitted to the auto) felt properly rapid for a first car. I took all my clobber to uni and back in it and did 15000 miles in my first year. Absolutely loved it so it’s great to see an honest review of them now and I’m definitely not off to go and look in the classifieds honest…
Any car bought for under a thousand knicker is going to be fun. I would often spend less than £400 on a car back in the seventies or even the eighties and just drive it into the grond. They usually lasted about a year mainly as they would just disolve in front of my eyes. Cheap cars are just fun.
I like that the owner makes mixtapes to play in his car. I make mixtapes cds to play in my panda
Had one as my first car back 2002 paid £400 for the car ...£1072 to insure 😁 I loved it
Mine had the K series engine with no issues
Put a fiver petrol in it and go round the world haha
Loved mine when I was in my 20s. Fast (my turbo diesel), fun, 230,000+ miles… Honda and Peugeot mechanicals with lovely tactile Rover bits on top (and the wood veneer was real)
Had the 216 GTI twin cam 91 plate. 130 bhp and brilliant
My late father had a Tahiti blue R8 214 in the early 00s when I was around 10 years old. It never let him down, great car, I even remember the reg, N815 TAV. He always had rovers as most of our family worked at Longbridge so it was in the blood. I also have owned several Longbridge build cars over the years.
Good interesting vid.
Keep the old mundane car tests coming please. It’s what I can relate to the most. Thanks Jay.
I inherited my Rover 414 sli 16v in a H reg. I then took it to palce down in London who then fitted a boddykit on it and air filter and exhaust. Proper max power days 1998. I kept up with my mates Nova Gte. He was well surprised 😅😅
214SLi was my first car. 216GSi the second
My first car was an M reg 418 diesel saloon, loved that thing and boy am I glad that this car is still going, even the dedication to mix tapes is very impressive.
Please ask him to take this to FOTU next year, maybe you can bring a Rover product too James?
My Dad had a 214 SEi back in the day as a company car - was an M reg. It had the Honda K Series engine and he basically drove it with his foot flat to the floor at all times - was great fun
That engine was a Rover K series engine. They were so good people used to think they were Honda engines
The Rover ‘TomCat’ is a really good looking coupe! I remember seeing them on the road, back in the day. Please, someone, get one for a JayEm review!
I have a 200vi that I bought for 200 quid 9 years ago! It's very much a shed but it just keeps on going and loves to see the limiter
If that clock cover on the dash is still operational, it must be the most expensive part of this car.
90s accord/prelude fans are going nuts looking for them. Bought mine for 250€ and broke it during installation.
I passed an estate version of this, some time ago now. It had been lowered, not a mod I'm crazy about but in this case transformed the look of the car
Well done James for donating the tyres!!!🙏
I had a 216GSi brand new, in 1992. It was black. I found it brisk, rattle free and totally reliable. I mamaged to clock up 105,000 miles in 3 years, before upgrading to a 620 SLi.
Mines just on that cusp! One thing I have noticed upon getting involved with the owners club is that for the N Reg its a LOT more rattily - namely the roof. earlier ones are a lot better with a solid roof. Mine did have power issues caused by a clogged fuel filter at the time of filming but I wouldnt call it brisk! Its rapid above 3000 but around town below that it feels slow in traffic
I had an N reg 214 SEi and it was a cracking little car.It was nightfire red and polished up lovely.
Thanks to ULEZ I managed to buy a convertible for my wife for £700. It was a one owner Megane MK2 1.9 diesel. With a full clay bar and paint cut, it shines like new. So far we have added 8,000 miles in 6 months and it is proving to be very reliable.
Can't go wrong with the Honda engine gearbox combo in a Rover. Great little cars. I had a 216 cabriolet with the Honda CRX DOHC engine. Was superb. Didn't rot too badly either.
yup i am old, i had the 416 GSI, 1.6 16v about 130 something hp and it did touch about 185 km/h, and it was a fairly speedy car, alle electric windows,, HA!! had a cd player, airco, sunroof (electric) 4 doors saloon, also in Britisch racing green, had about 260.000 km on the clock and drove like new, fat tyres mounted 205 low profile on 16 inch Rover rims, and i loved it, spicey little runabout, did a lot traveling with it, had for some 3 years, and no troubles at all, if one availeble, jup i sure think about it to buy it.... i guess it did 0 to 100 about 10 seconds, topspeed i drove about 180 km/h on the clock
Yup i loved it, and this kind of video's take me right back to it, and i remember it vividly.... damn fun car back then...
'Old boy' here. We had a K reg, yes,twenty years ago. I thought it went like a rocket but it did replace a Sierra diesel estate with a non-functioning turbo! No p/s on ours though so a bit heavy when parking. I too own an old Volvo now.
I'm a fan of this entire era of Rover, where they were angular & resembled Hondas
It pleases me to see you still review these honest old things with such enthusiasm. Well done to that lad keeping one going.
We had one of these when I was a teenager. A brand new 216sli on a J plate. Got it when my parents separated. Had to sell the Ford Sierra ghia 4x4. Interior was a bit more modern. Thinks the specs went S, Si, SLi, GSi. SLi had the electric sunroof and a few other bits above the si. GSi was above my mum’s budget at the time.
I had a 214 with the K series engine. I scrapped it when the Head Gasket went.
I had a 220gsi turbo, I loved that thing.
When I was young I used to like the look of the 200 coupes! Not sure why but I did
In computer terms, SLi refers to multiple Graphics accelerators working in parallel on several rendering techniques adopted by 3DFX and later Nvidia and like the green Mk3 Golf featured on 1320Video in the US with 2 VR6 engines, i have thought of the funky idea of 2 D16"Z6" engines and some funky 4WS derived from the prelude as "one of those mad ideas" if not a more powerful engine similar to rover's K series, but perhaps something of the Honda variety. I remember someone who had one of these in a lovely blue. They had rover emblems on the rear pillars and whenever i asked, they said it would make the car float away as a poke at the flying Anglia..one day it was gone and since she knew i liked that car a lot, said it had finally flown away to a new owner, when actually rust had taken it likely to the scrapheap :( The scrap yard over here when i was just becoming a teenager might as well have been a rover dealership/parts specialist, so many of this generation from rot.
I always loved how the doors closed on these.
Great video, im 19 and drive a 1995 MK3 fiesta, unfortunately currently off the road, but can't wait to get it going again, love classic cars much more than newer cars.
Great honest video as always James. I too am 23 and I own a Tomcat. Mine is pretty special as it originally started life as a 1.8 vvc, unfortunately (and predictably) that engine blew up, so last winter, I stripped the car apart and fitted a 1.8 k series turbo engine from a Rover 75. It's been mapped at 200hp (same as the original T series) and its the only coupe to have had this engine conversion done. It is currently off the road for winter and will be having some improvements made in the new year, however, you are more than welcome to have spin in it
I had one of these back in the early 2000's cost me £300 and lasted several years. Lovely solid car and handled well and very comfortable. Built like a tank compared to the shit boxes of today. Since then I have had a 214 and a rather nice MG ZS, not the crappy foreign one.
I absolutely adore my 214, got it from my grandpa and boy have i been enjoying it ever since. I did however make a couple of crucial upgrades in my opinion, a set of rover 16 inch rims on 195/45 with slightly stiffer springs make the car feel a whole lot more planted and confident on turns. That thing is pretty scary from the factory if you do any kind of turning or braking at speed, specially on the wet (had the rear try to overtake me on the highway when the guy in front slammed the brakes for no reason). A hard sway bar would definitely make a world of difference without having to go extremely stiff on the suspension though i'm having a hard time figuring that one out, but still, on dry days it's a pretty fun back road runner, and also really stable a high speeds on the highway.
Definitely would love to get my hands on a 220 coupe since i much prefer the straight lines over the very round body of the mg zr, but those things are indeed hard to come by these days.
I drove a 216/8 GSi 16v a good few times. It was very close to hot hatch power. I thoroughly enjoyed driving it where I was working at the time. Not sure if it was a Rover engine or a Honda. Good memories, good memories.
Ahhhh this video takes me back. I ahd a 214 when I was 17 which was a quick car for its time (until the head gasket went alongside nearly every other 214).
The 216 was always the one to have as 'its got the Honda block' far more reliable.
I had the 214 Sliders on an M plate. Great first car! Loved it.
First time watching your channel great vehicle review I'm now a subscriber 😊
My dad had a 1994, 414SLI which we inherited from my Grandfather when he passed away. He had this from new. I hadn’t long past my test and even then it was considered an old peoples car.
I remember the engine being really punchy and loved being rev’d, it was great on fuel and the interior build quality was quite better than the fords i loved at the time. It had no rust. I really enjoyed driving it. I think it ended up getting scrapped when the head gasket failed. Madness now because i would have loved to smoke about in it now. Me and my friends have always been into performance cars and i managed to get them all to find some respect for the car. Some good memories.
I had a 3dr 214SLI as an inbetween car and although the interior wasn't that great it drove well aslong as you used the revs, which it didn't seem to mind. My Mum and Dad had the previous 80's version 216 and that took the entire family to France and back several times reasonably comfortably.
In fact my Family ( due to my Uncle working for Landrover with 3 company cars) have a long history with Rovers and had always found them reliable and cheap to run!
Part of my learning to drive was in an 820 saloon. My parents loved it, and as a passenger we did a few trips to France and it was lovely. I'm still on the lookout to buy one but, again, good examples are rare and demand a lot.
The fastback looks even better
Hi James, new subscriber here. I found your channel a couple of days ago, and have now watched a hole lot of your videos, and I like your work, good production, honest opinions, humorous and cool cars and content, keep it up.! I specially like the ones with cars from 80’s, 90’s and 00’s. I would love to se you review a 4th gen Honda Prelude with vtec and 4ws, and a Honda civic i-vt, a Peugeot 309 gti, aaand many more… good work, new viewer here.
The best part is you looked to happy and content bimbiling along!
The crowning glory of any audiophiles system will be their outrageously priced reel to reel recorder. Cassettes are miniature reel to reels in their own housing and they sound better than just about anything else and that is a fact. I still love them and so do people who understand sound.
I used to have a 1992 example of the 200, a 214 "Si" it had the K series & was pretty quick (in my then young) student mind. In fact at £200ish quid at the time it was the first car I'd ever owned that lasted me more than a year without ever breaking down, a great car, till it wasn't (but that's another story).
Anyway I mentioned I had an Si spec, or, well let's not beat about the Bush, "poverty" example. Keep fit windows, manual mirrors, manual (not Power Assisted) steering, no sunroof, 2 tone paint (by means of matt red on top, primer grey below) and obligatory "grey plastic" bumpers all round, no ABS either.
The only thing luxury about it was the 20 quid stereo that I had to put in, because the old one didn't work.
The "L" in SLi seems to mean only one thing "Luxury", or in British terms slightly less austere...
Driving one of these cars today after driving much more modern and expensive cars, they don’t seem bad.
But drive one after driving a 1995 Escort or Astra, and it will feel superb - they were a cut above the competition, and the 1.4 k series engine was leagues ahead of anything else.
Another related car was the Honda Integra - fantastic car. Zippy yet economical. Australia also received an Integra rebadged as Rover 416i - it was a 5 door Integra with a hefty price premium.
My mates mum had one back in the day, he borrowed all the time, it and revved and revved and sounded pretty decent
I like an old, run of the mill, every day run about. I truly do. I'm struggling here though.
Well, I guess it was related to the 220 Tomcat and I quite liked those.
Yes, they are and I’m going to buy one soon, a ‘90 400 series.
I had one almost exactly like that in the video, but it was the K series.
Wow, this upload is impeccable timing! I've recently found one of these abandoned and plan on getting it up and running, any advice?
I worked at Rover at the time and remember them fondly because I used to drive one every day between Oxford and Swindon with a fellow apprentice. It was during the brit-pop era with all these sing along tunes on the radio. They were ubiquitous, my mum had many as company cars as did what appeared to be about half of the population at the time. I remember thinking the retro faux chrome front grille was classy. It was quite a bold styling choice at the time which Rover was first to bring back with all manufacturers seeming to follow suit soon afterwards.
My dad bought in 94 i think a 90 year model of these. It was the 414. Above all others it was my childhood car. Years later, after the divorce, in 2001 my mother decided to trade in a golf and asked for my opinion, being young and not fuly cognizant of Rover state as a solvent brand told her we always liked dads car and should see what they had on offer. We ended up geting a new then 45. Same 1.4 engine. They were the rover bread and buter in Portugal at the time and frankly if it was not a top 10 national seller it was not far of. They were every were. This 45 gave me amazing memories. Not only was one of the first cars i got to drive after a Nova A gti i fliped within 10 minutes of ensuring😅, and a 89crx, but because of my dad rover conection and having had the chance of driving my new born daughter at the time in it... well sufice to say rover is and alway be, as well as opel, a funding part of not only what i am ss a person, but my family as a whole. I am sad the company is gone. Despite of all the issues you only remember the good times when all is said and done
I dug out an old iPod to plug into the aux port on my old 2006 Acura, but recording mix tapes, this kid is on another level.
Had a 418SD Turbo from new back in the day and did 120k miles without issue. Retired last year and needed something to run around locally so bought a mint 214Si. I don’t expect it to drive like a new car or go really fast and so love it. No computer, easy to fix and parts and tax are both cheap. I love the way people stop and comment too.
The badge-engineered cars are the best for finding gems for cheap. All the benefits with 0 hype
Had a 214SLI back in the late 90s, i loved it. I remember the seats being incredibly comfortable. It had a small issue where the battery charge would only last a few days and money being tight with a young family my fix was to just keep it plugged in to a charger when i wasnt using it rather than sort the problem!
I used to work with a guy in around 1998/1999 who had a 220 GTI ! In Red. I was only about 19 at the time and thought it was the absolute bees knees. To be fair it did look really good back then
Agreed. I had a friend with one, also in red. 92 on a K plate. It was great until he wedged it under the back of a bus in the town centre at some velocity 😂
Bonus points for having Lorna Shore copied onto cassette!! Probably the only time in history that has ever been done haha
There is nothing I find more satisfying driving into work in a grandad car blasting metal with the sunroof open
Ferrari fanatic drives Rover banger narrating story of a young nutter. Love this channel. 😁
I remember my parents having 416 Sli R8 in ocean blue. I loved it and have always had a strange soft spot for MG Rover products.
Ha ha the power house we've all been waiting for!! I shall also comment again AFTER seeing the rest of the video