Project Drive

[wuvvum]

I've always been a fan of desperate low-budget facelifts designed in a usually futile attempt to bring an ancient design up to date.  I'm also, as you will probably have worked out by now, a fan of bubble Rovers.  So I've been keeping half an eye out for a last-of-the-line 25 for a while, and when this came up on eBay cheap (but fugging miles away, as usual with my purchases), I decided to go for it.

 

 

It's a 25 GSI, which I think must have been fairly near the top of the range.  It only gets a 1.4 Kettle, but it has full leather, aircon (working!), ABS, electric rear windows, rear parking sensors etc.  I picked it up from the sunny Sussex coast this morning, not knowing quite what to expect, and when I popped the bonnet and saw the trail of rusty gunk running down the side of the expansion bottle I got slightly worried, but in fact it's just driven the 185 miles home without missing a beat and the coolant level has hardly moved.

 

The interior is an interesting mix of old and new.

 

 

Most of the old 200 dashboard is very much recognisable, but again with some plastic bits tacked on in an attempt to modernise it.  The air vents and centre console are the main differences, although the door trims aren't quite the same either.  Some of the plastics used for the Project Drive bits are not quite up to the same standards as the rest, to say the least, and the handbrake ratchet also feels and sounds cheap for some reason.

 

It has some trim on the dash which I think is supposed to resemble grey wood, but it doesn't.

 

 

It does get a two-tone horn though, which I thought these lost in Project Drive.

 

The bodywork needs a bit of attention - it has a few scrapes from presumably being giffer-owned, and the front bumper appears to be a replacement which used to be silver and wasn't prepped properly before being sprayed red, as the paint is flaking off in a few places.  Overall it's presentable enough though, and a sweet little thing to drive - I haven't had a chance to throw it down my favourite B-roads yet, but initial impressions are that it's a lot tauter and more responsive than a 200.  Plans at the moment are to nick the alloys for the VI, then use it for a while and see if I get bored with it or not...

[Pillock]

Is that mirror control right off a 1980s Maestro?

[xtriple]

I like that. Like you I am addicted to 'last of the line cars' always have been. I much prefer the late Rover 75s and MGs over the earlier, prettier ones. I think it's a throwback to my Grandad telling me to always go for the last of the line as they 'have got them sorted out by then!'

[cort16]

I always thought this was a pretty decent stab at a facelift given their 50p budget.

[Cavcraft]

That does look rather ace, didn't even know they made a 'GSI' model with that shape of Rover. The steering wheel and dash look really snazzy too.

 

WT IS UR FAVRITE SHP OV ROVUR  

[Barry Cade]

I always thought post Project Drive Rover's were like going to work in your lunchbox. They just feel.... brittle, like Osteoporosis had set in.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

The leather in these looks crummier than an old Kia minicab thats been chundered in and steam cleaned 500 times. I heard the gearshift is lousy too but the ride & handling combo is 'the pinnacle' of these cars. The dashboard looks awful I must say. WLTT (WOULD LIKE TO TRY)

[Pillock]

It doesn't look bad at all, just a few areas of "fuck it" where they just left slabs of plastic instead if any sort of styling.

 

Also, drivers seat leather looks baggy like a seat cover on a 180,000 mile minicab. Can you get "cheap leather"?

[Barry Cade]

It doesn't look bad at all, just a few areas of "fuck it" where they just left slabs of plastic instead if any sort of styling.

 

Also, drivers seat leather looks baggy like a seat cover on a 180,000 mile minicab. Can you get "cheap leather"?

All the good cows legged it when the Pheonix 4 took over.

 

[wuvvum]

I heard the gearshift is lousy too

It is a bit crap to be honest - I wasn't aware that that was a trait of these cars though, I thought it might just be a quirk peculiar to mine.

 

I like these and the facelift 75s, but for some reason I think the facelift on the 45 really didn't work at all.  The 45 looks better with the old quad headlight front IMHO.

 

The leather does look a bit baggy seeing as the car's only done 77K.  Seats don't feel as comfy as the ones in the VI either.

[Barry Cade]

In the later 45's they put 75 seats in, and if you leaned back hard enough, the mountings would rip right out the floor.

[EssDeeWon]

I like that. Like you I am addicted to 'last of the line cars' always have been. I much prefer the late Rover 75s and MGs over the earlier, prettier ones. I think it's a throwback to my Grandad telling me to always go for the last of the line as they 'have got them sorted out by then!'

 

Normally I would agree 10 fold. But regarding the 75 the later cars were subject to fairly stringent budget cuts by MG Rover.

 

The earlier cars were assembled using beemer money hence you got real wood and thicker carpets etc..And some little details went missing on the post 2001 cars.

 

The facelift 75 is definitely growing on me.....but I am told they have a slightly cheaper feel to them.

[Rusty_Rocket]

'Project Dive'

 

I always thought the later ones handled really cleanly, maybe that was just the ZR.

[wuvvum]

Further findings:

 

-It does indeed handle better than the 200s, even the VI

-It also handles better than an Astra Turbo coupe

-The temp gauge doesn't move even when caning the crap out of it to try and keep up with an Astra Turbo coupe

-The headlights are much better than the 200's as well

-The immobiliser fob feels like something you'd buy from Poundland

-They don't seem to have managed to fix the heater fan rheostat problem - it only works on 3 and 4, as with the 200s

[HH-R]

Top bombing, these do indeed drive VERY nicely. I'm sure arse end 25s got ZR steering racks but don't quote me on that.

 

Similar to our dearly departed 25, with that grey fablon dash. Does the handbrake gaiter stay put? It didn't on ours.

 

I think only the top half or the dash was revised and the bottom half was the same, though cheapened. Gr8 4 checkin the fuses through the massive gap below the steering wheel. They even went to the bother of recreating the old Honda shiny clicky stalks as found on Rover 400s in a matte finish. EVERYTHING feels brittle on these, three of the four outer door handles were broken on ours.

 

The leather was wearing through next to the seatbelt and saggy where you sit on ours by 18k miles, it actually feels quite nice but not the most robust.

 

A/C is quite rare on these, does it have the even rarer rear electric windows?

 

WOULD.

[HH-R]

Rover finally fitted a low coolant alarm on these for the facelift IIRC!

 

Just remembered the non illuminated pointers on the dials, GR-49,000 4 seeing your speed at night.

[twosmoke300]

Is almost forgot I've been given a 2001 75 v6 ! Wonder if it's pre or post pd?

[HH-R]

A 2001 will have avoided PD pretty much, certainly 90% of it. does it have black sills?

[garethj]

Wow, I wonder how many of those were sold compared to Astras of the time.

 

Good save, when sitting behind the wheel I bet you can picture the stressed designers trying to facelift that dash with the financial constraints they had.

[twosmoke300]

A 2001 will have avoided PD pretty much, certainly 90% of it. does it have black sills?

Body colour I think

[Ghosty]

There's a reason they handle well.

 

I R RONG, that's 45s ennit

 

[Lord Sterling]

Excellent purchase wuvz, these little Rovers aren't bad at all. If it wasn't flr my thirst of large-engined barges I reckon I'd settle with one of these.

 

There's a reason they handle well.

 

No. By the time of the launch of the R3, Rover and Hondas partnership had already ended due to BMWs purchase of Rover.

[Noel Tidybeard]

Is that mirror control right off a 1980s Maestro?

yarp

[Noel Tidybeard]

There's a reason they handle well.

 

negative the bubble is all rover- maestro/montego suspension the 200td even had the montego turbo rear arb

[Lacquer Peel]

It has Maestro rear suspension but the front end is R8/Concerto.

It owes a wee bit to Honda's partnership with Rover but it's stretching it massively to say "yo, just a Civic innit."

[twosmoke300]

Correct , the 200 has bugger all Honda where as the 400 is nearly all jap

[purplebargeken]

Nice little thing

 

Hate the facelifted 45, that boot lid is just bloody horrible.

[andrew e]

Shite. I know I bought one almost new* delivery miles in June 2005 for £5999 from Motorpoint - 25 GSI 1.4. Lots of spec for the money including the grey walnut with door handles which fell off when new (You could get a GXI with a sunroof, rear electric windows and passenger airbag too, but you rarely see them). Mine was assembled in late March moments before the fall of MG-R. I did 72k in 3 years, then it got written off weeks after its first MOT

 

Negative points: Getrag box wonderful but not attached to the pIss poor MG-R shift linkage, pleather wore through in first year, streetwise springs fitted from factory, motorway gearing daft. Benefitted from dynamatting especially behind the tailgate lock (which was louder than a DI transit on a December morning). Did the same MPG pootling or being ragged within an inch of its life.

 

Excellent points: Phenomenal handling - honestly absolutely fool proof and mine had a combined ABS/ESP pump (that is shouldn't have had but did, so have a look Wuvvum) everyone who rung the neck of it came away surprised.

 

At the end of that day it was just a car, I looked after it, loved hammering round B roads - but never 'loved' it Here's the last time I saw it in 2008:

 

[Pillock]

Written off in an accident, or you just couldn't face the boot lock noise any more so scrapped it?

[HH-R]

None of Andrew's cars get away without being written off

 

Driven over by a truck IIRC?