For Sale Rover Unwise; the little shit that could.

[ruffgeezer]

Ok so as some of you know I recently bought this for £notalottadough

 

Here I will record my thoughts on the ugly little thing.

 

It's well used, abused and battered from it's time as an elderly farmer's daily, his residence is one with a narrow garage which has left it's mark on the Rover's plastic flanks.

 

There is some superficial damage to the front bumper which extends to all the grilles having been removed, something I hope to remedy in the not too distant future.

 

 

So what are the first impressions? This example has a K-Series 1.4 16v mill, which ordinarily would be ok in a car of this size. However in the case of the Streetwise, the designers decided to encumber the 200/25 with yet more plastic adornments as well as some rather flashy 16" alloy wheels. Progress can best be described as "steady" but not uncomfortably slow.

 

What does put a damper on performance in the case of this example is the incredibly stiff gear selection between 1st and 2nd and also up into and out of 5th. Again with a bit of research I am hoping to have this addressed soon.

 

 

The interior has stood up very well to the car's 117k, there is little wear to the steering wheel or seats, and a quirk of this model is that Rover decided to delete the middle rear seat in favour of an oddments tray, you have really got to wonder at the spectacular waste of time and money in such a thing when most people surely would have preferred the flexibility an extra seat would offer. 

 

I have read that the front seats are shared with the MG ZR and if this is the case, it may be prudent to swap the rear bench to a triple further along the line. Now I mentioned the front seats; they are rather sporty looking affairs with deep bolsters, but unfortunately that is where the "good" column ends, I have tried and failed to find a comfortable setting for these seats, I can only really describe them as nicely upholstered park benches.

 

 

Once the new Berlingo to the fleet has had it's brakes fixed, a few running repairs on this one should see it fully match fit, I don't dislike the little Rover, but it may take some time for it to settle in to a predominantly French stable.

 

 

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I think you could get these with a proper rear seat or the cubby hole job like yours.

 

If you find the gearbox has problems I have an IB5 from one of these you can have for £nowt, representing a £60 loss on my part

[vulgalour]

When these were new I found myself in the Rover showroom utterly confused by it.  The salesman could not explain to me the purpose of the expanse of unpainted plastic and it's benefit over a regular 200/25 beyond "it's for exploring the urban environment" whatever that was supposed to mean.  The whole car felt cheap, unfinished and generally nasty and none of the sales staff nor many of the customers seemed to know what to make of it.  It just didn't seem to fit any purpose at all.

 

Autoshite GOLD.

 

I'm sure you'll get along famously with it and/or hate every moment of ownership.  That said, if it's survived 117,000 miles and still looks just as naff as when it was new without looking utterly ruined it can't be that bad a vehicle overall.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I like these BTW, I know they are serious project drive victims but I still think they look ace. Fit a 4WD system from a freelander for ultimate WINNAGE

[HH-R]

The facelift dash felt even cheaper...

 

Quite a lot of the 1.4 25/SW had an 84 HP donkey instead of the full fat ~105 for insurance reasons (or maybe it was to further treat Rover like a red headed stepchild in favour of MG). The only difference is a restricted throttle body though, OMG+21BHPXTRA4PENNIEZ

[fordperv]

I wanted one of these so I could lower it to the floor with some Carlos fandango wheels

[ruffgeezer]

I wanted one of these so I could lower it to the floor with some Carlos fandango wheels

 

 

It's already got the silly wheels though.

 

 

When these were new I found myself in the Rover showroom utterly confused by it.  The salesman could not explain to me the purpose of the expanse of unpainted plastic and it's benefit over a regular 200/25 beyond "it's for exploring the urban environment" whatever that was supposed to mean. 

 

 

I think it occupies that weird sector of the market that completely missed it's target around that time.

 

Ford's Fusion, the Streetwise, Fiat's Panda etc. 

 

They were all aimed at young people with all this "urban" shite in the adverts, when what they actually attracted were little old men called Bernard and his bobble hat wearing wife, Doris who couldn't get in an out of a normal height car due to her arthritic hip.

 

If memory serves we changed it's headgasket and heater matrix around 4 years ago so it probably needs another headgasket now it should be all good for as long as I need it.

[dean36014]

For some weird reason I love these. A diesel version is on my want list at some point

[Wilko220]

The godfather of the Citroen Cactus. Wonderfully horrid.

[Cavcraft]

I honestly reckon these are superb looking cars.

[MarvinsMom]

i am so SO pleased that i am not alone in really liking these...

 

but i is a sick sad person.

[Uncle Jimmy]

For some weird reason I love these. A diesel version is on my want list at some point

That is pervy.

[dollywobbler]

I honestly reckon these are superb looking cars.

 

I don't disagree. There was one at Pride of Longbridge that had been 'slammed' and it looked ace (by which I mean standard suspension had been fitted). 

[UltraWomble]

Love em, but would have to rip the rear bench out and replace with a normal one

[twosmoke300]

Diesel one for sale on gumtree down in cornwall

[Jim Bell]

I think that's basically a Rover 25 gti.

With all of the good bits taken off. And with more plastic.

 

Verdict: could do better.

[KruJoe]

Hands up who else thinks it looks like a girl's bag, what with those daft little handles roof bars on it.

 

[HH-R]

I'd never noticed that before, but yes, they look little and daft awesome.

 

WOULD, in fact I looked for one not long ago but they all had mega mileage on. A testament that they are the best car in the real world.

[Lord Sterling]

These are pretty good, I've driven a few. The last one I drove was a '04 plated Turbo Diesel. It drove fine, nowt spesh but was Ok, the seats weren't nice though, Recaro jobbies that cut too much into my sides.

 

A fair amount of StreetWise and very late Rover 75s were 'KX' registered between '02 onwards.

[Jon]

I know they weren't sales successes but it seems a lot of manufacturers added plastic 'urban bits' 10 or so years ago to humdrum hatches to aid* sales; these must've sold by the barrow load compared to the VW Polo version (and perhaps other VAG ones too?). I'd never really noticed the fact that they had raised suspension before, strangely. Would be great to add this feature to a mid 90's 400 saloon with Streetwise steels for ultimate confusion.

[Bren]

I know they weren't sales successes but it seems a lot of manufacturers added plastic 'urban bits' 10 or so years ago to humdrum hatches to aid* sales; these must've sold by the barrow load compared to the VW Polo version (and perhaps other VAG ones too?). I'd never really noticed the fact that they had raised suspension before, strangely. Would be great to add this feature to a mid 90's 400 saloon with Streetwise steels for ultimate confusion.

Agreed - they even added plastic urban bits to the head gasket.

[Mr A Lawrence]

Drop a trophy 160 engine in it or even a 1.8vvc for extra pace!!!

[Formula Autos]

When these were new I found myself in the Rover showroom utterly confused by it.  The salesman could not explain to me the purpose of the expanse of unpainted plastic and it's benefit over a regular 200/25 beyond "it's for exploring the urban environment" whatever that was supposed to mean.  The whole car felt cheap, unfinished and generally nasty and none of the sales staff nor many of the customers seemed to know what to make of it.  It just didn't seem to fit any purpose at all.

 

Autoshite GOLD.

 

 

Just change "Rover" to "Nissan", "unpainted plastic" to "fugly panels", and "200/25" to "Micra/Note" in the above statement and you have an elegant summary of the Juke.

[New POD]

When these were new I found myself in the Rover showroom utterly confused by it.  The salesman could not explain to me the purpose of the expanse of unpainted plastic and it's benefit over a regular 200/25 beyond "it's for exploring the urban environment" whatever that was supposed to mean.  The whole car felt cheap, unfinished and generally nasty and none of the sales staff nor many of the customers seemed to know what to make of it.  It just didn't seem to fit any purpose at all.

 

Autoshite GOLD.

 

I'm sure you'll get along famously with it and/or hate every moment of ownership.  That said, if it's survived 117,000 miles and still looks just as naff as when it was new without looking utterly ruined it can't be that bad a vehicle overall.

 

 

I saw one in the car park at Rolls Royce in Derby, that had been lowered, (probably fitted with MG version of suspension) and it looked quite reasonable.  I guess that with a different version of the K series, and a 100 BHP more it would be a frantastic q car.

[Skut]

I was one of those obsessive MGR watchers at the time so test drove a brand new Streetwise. It drove like any Rover 200 25 but remember some of the new interior appointments once you delved into them seemed to have a lot of exposed screwheads. Felt a bit heath robinson. I secretly lusted after a trophy yellow one with steelies.

[ruffgeezer]

It's currently off the road until the new month starts, I had been making use of the "get you home tax" until I checked it's status again this morning, a week without my Rover... 

 

It'd better not piss all over the drive whilst I'm at work.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Plastic arches are for winners. Arch rust? Where?

[MarvinsMom]

It's currently off the road until the new month starts, I had been making use of the "get you home tax" until I checked it's status again this morning, a week without my Rover... 

 

It'd better not piss all over the drive whilst I'm at work.

 

my little (austin) rovers do this, and some of the larger cars do it too,  i think that they are just marking their territory.

[saucedoctor]

That car, with engine & chassis  number ending 762, should be the 105BHP donk. Check that the throttle body is opening all the way (flap horizontal). Cable might just be slack.

[ruffgeezer]

Should I be worried about how much you know about it?

 

Did you know I've rubbed some linseed oil into it's plastic bits? Fuck knows why, most of them are scuffed to buggery.