I want to buy a Rover 25, should I ?

Question

Hi there, my 1st ever question....
I want to but a rover 25 i have seen, i have been told not to bother as i may struggle to get parts!?
I know nothing about cars it just looks nice.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thank you.

Answer 1

Oh dear god, this is the biggest host of naff answers ever!

Right, here's the facts. The Rover K series engine DOES suffer from head gasket failure. As a guide, you can probably expect it to fail at an everage of about every 50,000 miles. Although my MGF has just blown it's first head gasket at 82,000. A repair for the head gasket is around £350/400. Other than the head gasket, the engines are very reliable. Bear in mind that if you buy a 25 thats just had it done, you're probably good for another 50k.

There is of course, Diesel models. Which are the ones to go for, the old L series diesel actually makes the little 25 fly along rapidly (its found in the nose of much bigger cars so it's almost too big for the 25!) and if you're not bothered about waking your neighbours up, it's the one to go for. It's also bomb proof, you'll never break an L series diesel, the car often falls apart around the engine.

Parts are not a problem, period. All of the regular maintanence parts like brakes, pads, filters are already sold in droves by pattern makers like unipart. The big issue is that Xpart (the official spares division of rover) was bought entirely by caterpillar. Now, Caterpillar have a turnover some ten times that of rover ever did, and never do things by half. So you can be assured that spares will never be an issue, especially now that Nanjing China have re-opened longbridge and are producing cars again (albeit very slowly until september). There is also a big factory in Lincoln called Rimmer Bros who also do all the pattern parts (and have done for years).

The biggest question with spares surely has to be, if you can't get parts from them, why do you still see dozens of them every day? Shouldnt they all be in scrapyards? Logic speaks for itself. Talk to people who actually own rovers and they'll say the same thing "buy a diesel, parts are fine".

The only problems with parts came briefly during 2005 when caterpillar where taking over the spares division, and it mostly affected MG TF body panels.

Back to the 25, it's pretty solid, although check for panel damage, the big curved bumpers are easily cracked from car park nudges. The rear lights can let water into the boot, its the rubber seals round the casing and easily fixed with some bathroom sealant if they are leaking.

It's certainly comparable to the Corsa and Fiesta of equivalent age, and is better built than the 206 and Saxo. Although it lacks against the German and Japanese offerings.

My wife had a bubble shaped 200 (or 25 depending on how old it is) and it never skipped a beat. we covered 30,000 miles (in a k series one) without a hiccup, just regular servicing. My friend had the same car and she suffered the HGF, but other than that is was faultless.

Servicing is no more or less than any other small car, like a fiesta or corsa, so local back street garages have no problems working on them. Don't be told by anyone that servicing is a problem, it's rubbish. If you're handy then you can just do the regular oil and filter changes yourself, parts are available at the usual places like Halfords etc.

Becuase of the low prices, you can get a fully kitted out diesel for less than the equivalent Fiesta or Corsa. The diesel makes real good, common sense motoring with an easy 55mpg and bullet proof mechanicals. As a guide, a 2001 diesel, with full electrics, CD, alloys, air con and all the options ticked should set you back around £2500 to £3000 after haggling.

If you're set on a petrol, pay a good £500 to £750 less for the equivalent spec and put £400 in a piggy bank for the potential gasket problem. Hope that clears up some of the confusion for you amongst the scaremongeres here!

If you fancy something sportier, there is the MG ZR which is really, exactly the same car with some suspension tweaks and a bodykit (the engines are 1.4, 1.8 and 1.8VVC petrol, and the diesel). The same comments apply for spares and reliability, althought be careful of buying a thrashed one thats been abused by a boy racer.

See, there are some objective people here on answers!

Answer 2

Rover 25 Parts

Answer 3

Parts are not a problem.
They are available from Xpart (http://www.xpart.com/ ) through many former Rover dealers.
However, the later 25 models had cost taken out, reducing the corrosion protection for example. Buy either the latest Rover 200 you can find, or an early (BMW era) 25, and not a later (MG Rover era) 25. Avoid the K-series petrol engines (prone to head gasket failure). The diesels are much more reliable (I had a 1997 220SDi for over 5 years with no significant faults).

Answer 4

Dont do it
there are much better cars out there
You may suffer in the future from supply of parts though i think at this time not an issue
they blow head gaskets regularly
usually every 40-45000 miles
it is quite expensive to repair
with so much choice
choose a different car
good luck

Answer 5

I used 2 have a rover and they are a pain Cos you have to get the parts imported Cos they closed down over here. plus the cars are useless Cos they are very unreliable.

Answer 6

Rovers hmm.
1. they have head gasket problems
2. servicing can be expensive
3. cam belts take book time 4 hours ( auto data CD)
4. no longer made company went bust.
5. parts will become scars
6. lots of trim problems
7. poorly put to gether
8. ecu (brain of car) lots of problems with central locking & other fault codes
so please look for some thing eles

Answer 7

1

Answer 8

I have a Rover 25 and I love it! My head gasket went but that was gone wen I bought it! Since having that done which cost me around &300 it's been fine! No problem at all I love it

Answer 9

Dont, unreliable from new, poor spares backup since the factory went bust and they were'nt even the best car in their class when they were new.
Lots of better cars out their for similar money.

Answer 10

No.

That car has reliability issues, notably head gasket failures. This is because the coollant resevoir is small, so a minor drop in level can lead to big problems.

The build quality in general is also suspect.