It’s no secret that Rover’s last decades were a difficult time for the company. With little money for home-grown new models, by the 80s parent company Austin-Rover had to come up with a new plan. They’d had some reasonable success with the Triumph-Honda tie-up which produced the Ballade-based Acclaim and moved the partnership over to Rover for the rest of the decade, resulting in the compact 213/216 saloon and the bigger 800.
Despite the 213/216 saloon gaining reasonable success, it was a limited range and by 1989 was showing its age. Rover knew they had to adapt to survive and turned to Honda once more, joining forces to produce a new 200 model, code-named R8, along with Honda’s Concerto. The result was one of Rover’s biggest successes and helped keep the struggling firm afloat more or less single-handedly through much of the 1990s.
Launched in 1989 with 1.4 and 1.6 litre petrol engines, the 5 door hatch was a striking, modern shape with excellent road manners which met with immediate sales success. Later joined by a diesel and a 2.0 petrol, as well as a pretty 3 door, the 400-badged saloon and tourer, a convertible and the Tomcat coupe, the R8 really did have something for everyone and offered a slightly upmarket alternative to the competition. It was a remarkable success for a company which was still finding its feet in the new post-BL era and struggling with an empty bank balance and a less than perfect reputation. The hatchback range was replaced in 1996 with the rather less successful Honda Civic-based 400, with the tourer, coupe and convertible carrying on until 1999.
Unfortunately, despite the Japanese influence, reliability remained a thorn in Rover’s side and left the range with a reputation which it never quite managed to shake off. The new K series engines were in many ways superb, being revvy, lightweight, economical and powerful enough in larger 1.8 litre capacity to later see service, albeit somewhat modified, in the Lotus Elise. Unfortunately, as any man in the pub will tell you, they rapidly acquired a reputation for overheating and head gasket failure – not entirely unfairly.
The problem wasn’t down to one particular issue but was more a combination of factors; the low capacity of the cooling system, the plastic dowels used on the cylinder head and, in later models, Rover actually made the problem worse by replacing the aluminium inlet manifold with a cheaper plastic one which was prone to failure, leading to leaks, overheating and more failures. The larger 1.6 and 1.8 capacities have smaller gaps between cylinders, meaning there’s even more scope for issues – the 1.1 which saw service in the Metro and later R3 200 seems relatively unaffected by head gasket maladies.
These days, a tidy R8 makes a sensible and thoroughly pleasant daily driver. Most K-series powered models will by now have been fitted with an upgraded head gasket design at some point in their lives and even if they haven’t, it’s not too difficult a job for the home mechanic to attempt a repair. The shape has aged well, arguably more so with the earlier versions without the chrome grill added to later models. They’re exceedingly comfortable, generally reliable if looked after, not overly prone to rust and with the wide variety of engines and body styles, there really is a model for everyone. The large glass area gives superb visibility and the quality feel is still there to this day, something which was gradually engineered out of replacement models as the company tried to save every penny it could.
My first R8 was a shabby 220 SLi more or less purchased by accident after seeing a sale post on a car forum – it’d been around the houses and had seen a lot of mechanical work including a replacement engine and rebuilt gearbox but was now down on its luck. I took pity on it so after a lengthy train journey I picked it up and 5 hours later returned home having fallen for its charms. The seats were amazingly comfortable, the 2.0 T-series engine had plenty of miles on it but was smooth and responsive and the whole car just felt so ‘right’.
Having cost only £150, the car was all but end of life – the MOT was measured in weeks, some corrosion around the windscreen was going to be an issue as the screen itself had a huge crack across it and the water pump was severely incontinent. Deciding I might as well make some use of it, the next weekend I topped up the coolant and made the poor old Rover drag 4 burly passengers, a boot full of kayaking gear and a large trailer full of kayaks up some very steep hills. It didn’t complain and managed the job admirably, buying it a stay of execution while I pondered its future.
Unfortunately for my wallet, I rapidly decided I liked it so much that I got the work done to make it road legal for another year and then over the next 18 months embarked on a lengthy process of repairs and maintenance. In fact, I liked the tatty old crate so much, I sold my 2 year old Kia C’eed back to the dealer – the Rover was just a nicer thing to be in and was always my choice for longer drives, piling on the miles in all weathers and never once giving cause for concern.
When I eventually moved it on via the same forum, it kept going for another few years, moving among various forum members all over the country. It never fully stopped leaking oil; the T series had something of a predisposition to this, but otherwise it remained reliable and even came back to me for a while a couple of years later.
I’ve also had a couple of 1.4 models, a mid-spec 214Si which served as a runabout for a short while and never asked for much, and a run-out spec 214SEi which…wasn’t a great success. It was low mileage having been parked up for years, the previous owner had rescued it and got it roadworthy but unfortunately it was still on its original head gasket. The first time it saw a motorway on the trip home, the temperature gauge shot into the red and it made the rest of the journey home on a flatbed. Even that one had a happy ending though; it was sold to an ex-Rover mechanic who repaired it and took it all over Europe raising money for charity.
So does the R8 200/400 series deserve its reputation? Well…yes, partly. The 1.4 and 1.6 K series were the main culprit though and the rest of the range were much less prone to issues. Had Rover jumped on the problem early on and sorted the flaws rather than making them worse, the damage it did to the company’s reputation could have been avoided and who knows, maybe they’d even have managed to hang on a bit longer.
Despite all that, if you’re in the market for a cheap retro runabout, the R8 still remains a characterful, classier alternative to a humdrum Astra or Escort. There’s a wealth of information and support available to keep them running well, parts are cheap and easy to find and they’re easy to look after at home. Whether you’re looking for a cheap diesel hatchback or a turbo-powered coupe, they’re well worth a look and with prices finally on the up, there’s no better time to try one.