CityRover

[forddeliveryboy]

What's the ill-fated Indian Takeaway like to drive? From all the reviews I've read, people enjoy them hugely. How did Rover alter the springs - was the ride height lowered and springs stiffened? Lots of comments about stiff ride. Did Rover do half a job?

 

For £350-£700 for a good one, they're pure Autoshite, surely? Excellent reliability judging from comments, the only recurring niggle seems to be a poor fuel gauge and stiff ride.

 

For all the criticsm on Indian forums about the crap quality of their TV motoring programs compared with the British Top Gear, the otherwise very mundane test of the Indicar includes the comment, "in our week's stint with the car, we did notice an improvement in the over-steerability of the car..." complete with a neat little rear-end slide in the wet to demonstrate, quickly corrected without any sign of fish-tailing.

 

 

[saucedoctor]

They're bob on to drive. Gutsy enough too, just a bit old-fashioned. Never having driven the Indicar I can't comment on what kind of a job MGR did on the ride, but they're a perfectly acceptable wee car, especially when you consider how cheap a good one is.

PK Secret: the CityRover comes with at least one door dented from the factory. Big Jimmy from Quality Control used to kick them as they came out Q Gate.*

[dollywobbler]

Aye. The drive isn't too bad. Not an engine you want to rev, as its rather harsh and noisy, but the handling and ride are ok. It's the utterly shambolic build quality that lets them down. They could have done a much better job if they'd used stickle bricks. The interiors are just ridiculously shoddy, so it was never going to work as a premium supermini - which is where Rover aimed it.

 

The wipers are utterly shit though. Look at the passenger wiper in that shot above. That's as far to the right as it goes, leaving a HUGE unswept triangle in front of the driver (already a pet hate of mine on any car).

[forddeliveryboy]

Aye. The drive isn't too bad. Not an engine you want to rev, as its rather harsh and noisy, but the handling and ride are ok. It's the utterly shambolic build quality that lets them down. They could have done a much better job if they'd used stickle bricks. The interiors are just ridiculously shoddy, so it was never going to work as a premium supermini - which is where Rover aimed it.

 

The wipers are utterly shit though. Look at the passenger wiper in that shot above. That's as far to the right as it goes, leaving a HUGE unswept triangle in front of the driver (already a pet hate of mine on any car).

 

Well it is a Peugeot petrol motor - why wasn't it offered in diesel form, too? The 1.5 Pug would have made sense. If the wiper is such a problem, easy to move it round a bit on the splines, or cut and weld the arm - or if it's so bad then fit a BX mechanism in its place. Flippin' eck, it's being suggested for autoshite, not a Honda-beater. If I bought a Boxster I'd be just as unimpressed with the dash. From all the reports I've read, they hold together well down the years.

 

Should have been badged an Austin Metro or something a bit less posh than the Rover badge, had the springing and damping thoroughly sorted and priced under the cheapest Ka. They'd have sold by the bucket load. Instead, it sounds like they fitted shorter, stiffer springs, left the dampers (and no doubt the bump stops) as they were and thought that a crap, bouncy ride was acceptable in the 21st century.

[cort16]

I'd love a car with a sticklebrick interior how cool would that be?

 

Rover made a big mistake with the price. If they'd sold it cheap and done something with the interior they would of sold a ton of them. It's not great looking but it's not Peugeot ugly either.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Is it really a peugeot engine?? I've heard that before but its nowt like any Peugeot engine I've ever seen.

[forddeliveryboy]

I'd love a car with a sticklebrick interior how cool would that be?

 

You may be on route to making your first millon, cort16. The Post-It moment for car interiors. Arrange the ergonomics to suit the individual.

[dollywobbler]

Is it really a peugeot engine?? I've heard that before but its nowt like any Peugeot engine I've ever seen.

 

From what I recall, it's actually some weird concoction with its origins in a diesel engine. It's very much Peugeot-derived rather than a straight engine swap, as demonstrated by its odd 1405cc size.

[cort16]

It looks like something you'd attach to an industrial sewage pump.

 

[meshking]

Just realised I've done a fair few miles in a Tata Indicar version of the city rover.  For the real indian experience you need plastic covers on the seats and to drive with your hand on the horn.  

It was rather uncomfortable in the back and it didn't appear to be much of a drivers car either...

[forddeliveryboy]

Can't find any info on the engine, other than it's an older diesel which has been petrol-ified. Only oil burner is the old chocolate 1360cc, and it's not that apparently. All reports are that's it tough, long-lasting and torquey.

 

Can't help but think Tata are missing a trick not importing their Nano (which has bombed in India, through a total lack of understanding of how to market a 'non-car' - the press picked up on it being the cheapest their was and that moniker has stuck) - see how Citroen and VW cleverly advertised their lowly stuff to sell to those who aren't interested in cars.

[JohnDeere]

Like meshking, I've done many hundreds of kms in Indicars - but always in the back seat.  The overall design is very spacious, but with a sit-up-and-beg layout that makes a Metro look laid back.  Brand new ones feel old and falling to bits.  Very few redeeming features.  Therefore Autoshite gold.

[gordonbennet]

It was a hoot delivering them new to dealers.

 

Park outside, jump start the heap assuming the bonnet pull didn't rip out in yer mitt, then make a big scene of struggling to drive it onto forecourt coughing and splutttering, enter dealership and in a loud voice  ''where do you want this tata''...could have heard a pin drop, see embarrassed sales staff ushering transporter driver out whispering things about it being a Rover...''well it says tata on the paperwork'' at even higher volume, assuming a fake brummy accent to  add to the farce.

 

They resignedly sign the paperwork, bugger off, rinse and repeat at the next dealer.

 

Sticking the union flag on the boot of that thing deserved nothing but derision.

[forddeliveryboy]

Sticking a British flag on its boot deserved more than derision. CityRover was priced higher than a Fabia or Panda. Not a good strategy for a car with a 1990s Indian car interior.

 

The 1405cc engine was apparently originally a Tata diesel which had been based on an XUD, then turned into a petrol thing with the help of a French engineering company, LMM, http://forums.mg-rover.org/archive/index.php/t-17164.html, which is now owned by an Austrian automotive consultant AVL.

[cort16]

You may be on route to making your first millon, cort16. The Post-It moment for car interiors. Arrange the ergonomics to suit the individual.

 

It was actually dollywobblers idea so I'll cut him in for 0.1%

[forddeliveryboy]

It was actually dollywobblers idea so I'll cut him in for 0.1%

 

Inspired no doubt by the appalling crap-ness of 80s Peugeot dashes, as imposed on 80s Citroens! The original AX dash was like something designed and assembled by handicapped children in a Unicef hostel*, as was the Mk1 BX's. But somehow, the BX, being a parts-bin thing and still with traces of Citroen greatness got away with it. Even the later CX's dash was reduced to a thing of inexecrable cynicism and brittle-ness - of a quality you expected to find on a Lada, not a big Citroen. Depressing a Peugeot switch was deeply so. Stickle bricks would have been a massive improvement!!