Tales of the TataRover (off to pastures new)

[Austin-Rover]

With the Montego fixed and sold, there's space on the driveway for my CityRover to return and recommission. Yay!

 

But first, a bit of background history; As someone who cant help but fall for a car with a terrible reputation, who was I to say no when back in 2012 a friend's neighbour was hanging up her driving gloves and the family wanted rid? The car in question was an '04' Style in metallic green. All the front end panels were misaligned and the front seats smelt of piss. Delightful! Despite this I had warmed to the CityRover enough to search out something better...

 

 

 

I don't know of many people out there actively preserving examples of MGRover's last car, but I feel it is an important endeavour as the CityRover is the final episode of a bloody long soap opera. There's also loads of fun to be had with Rover enthusiasts who by and large take things far too seriously and get totally stressed out and offended by its mere existence. In reality, it quite aptly sums up just how far the once great company had sunk.

 

A browse of eBay back at the start of 2014 saw CityRover number two arrive. For extra novelty points it was the improved Mk2 version (famed for being on the boat from Pune during the implosion of April 2005). It looked a bit special on closer inspection... The exterior is genuinely a nice colour; Granite Purple, but the interior... wow! white 'leather'!

 

Now, as the Mk2 never got a proper launch, the brochures were never published, so the list of improvements from the original version largely has to be pieced together from the things you spot, and what you see in the pictures. Most noticeable is the change of interior plastics colour from grey to black, a new instrument cluster, extra trim and storage to the sides of the front seats, revised door cards and an improved heater set up.

 

This newer car is the same trim level as the green one - 'Style' (so top of the range). It couldn't be more different inside; The centre console and heater surround features a 'dark oak' print on the plastic and the 'leather' seats are a really poor quality vinyl. On the original CityRover, MGRover were asking £600 for the optional 'leather' - a bit bloody cheeky! In the years I've owned this example, I've only ever seen one other Mk2 with white seat trim - another 'Style', but with velour, not 'leather'.

 

Pictures are few and far between from the first few years, but I did manage to get it in to the Pride of Longbridge event in 2015 without anyone torching it. Result!

 

 

Fast forward to this weekend, and after two years in storage, the CityRover is back!

 

 

Lets take a tour... Time to clean off the crap;

 

 

The sound system courtesy of Argos, and some of the build quality;

 

 

Detail of the 'dark oak' print on the centre console. Attempting to address some of the criticism of the earlier car and inject some 'Rover' I suppose.

 

 

Now for the main event;

 

 

So what sort of recommissioning does it need? Well I pumped the tyres up, put a fresh battery on it and, umm, it seems to drive okay. It stops, too. With that in mind, I'm going to phone up tomorrow and see when I can get it in for the MoT. I can't see there's anything obvious for it to fail on. As I'd run out of jobs to do, it got a polish this afternoon;

 

 

Stay tuned for the MoT...
 

[dollywobbler]

Brilliant! I have driven one, and the interior quality was easily the most hilarious aspect. One of the electric window switches just fell apart as I touched it. I would LOVE to do a video on one. In fact, I seriously need to!

[Dave_Q]

Nice, proper top drawer autoshite. 

 

Got ferried around in a lot of the Tata Indicab version of these while working in Bangalore in 2009. May even have had similar pleather seats. 

 

Actually they are a decent chunk of car and MGR dropped a massive bollock just by making them too expensive.

 

Had they priced them at £5 below whatever the cheapest car on the market was at the time they could have had a noughties Dacia Sandero on their hands, as it was didn't they try to charge £7000 or something for them?

[RoadworkUK]

Heroic.

 

I reckon the novelty value of these far, far outweighs how abysmal they are. I predict cult status, albeit with little discernible hike in value.

[Cavcraft]

Excellent, good luck with the MOT.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Top shite.  Wow.  Usually I would only consider older cars 'shite'.  This is the same age as my car, which is not really shite.

 

However, this is definitely shite of the highest order.  Deeply confusing.

[Austin-Rover]

Top shite.  Wow.  Usually I would only consider older cars 'shite'.  This is the same age as my car, which is not really shite.

 

However, this is definitely shite of the highest order.  Deeply confusing.

 

Yes, It doesn't fit the profile on age, but for everything else... boxes are ticked!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Skills!!!! Good on you for perservering with these old shitters. Thinking about it I havent seen one on the road for a while now. Tell us about your best encounters with disapproving crusties at car shows!!!! I would love listening to all the incorrect info I would no doubt be subjected to if I rocked up with one of these.

[Isaac Hunt]

I can't be arsed to delete loads of text, but it made me smile when the OP said "There's also loads of fun to be had with Rover enthusiasts who by and large take things far too seriously and get totally stressed out and offended by its mere existence"...............not half as stressed and Jag lovers being told their heritage is now owned by the maker of the famous Rover City. Those of us who have owned a leaping cat are only just getting over the constant quip "it's made out of Mondeo parts innit mate"

[mrbenn]

The purple one actually looks quite... dare I say it... nice? The colour seems to really suit the shape and the interior is ace!

[Austin-Rover]

Skills!!!! Good on you for perservering with these old shitters. Thinking about it I havent seen one on the road for a while now. Tell us about your best encounters with disapproving crusties at car shows!!!! I would love listening to all the incorrect info I would no doubt be subjected to if I rocked up with one of these.

 

Well, if you go off that notoriously shite website, HowMany(might)BeLeft.com, 2,200 have left the DVLA records in the two years this one has been off the road. Just over 1,000 left now.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

I've seen a couple around in the last few weeks.  Usually in the light green colour your first one exhibits.

[clayts450]

Great news - I've been itching to try one of these ever since the infamous undercover James May review - half of it here

 

and it is on my bucket list.

 

These 'on the boat from Pune when MGR when titzup' Mk2s were all bought for peanuts as a joblot by Motorpoint and were then sold for buttons - see https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/motoring/features/cityrover-mark-ii-last-chance-hatchback-for-blighty-5329995.html

 

This and the Streetwise were launched at the same time by MGR in 2003 and both were heavily panned at the time, the CityRover more so due to the Phoenix Four charging way over the odds. A lot more love for Streetwises nowadays, less so CityRovers - as you say Rover-lickers really don't approve, I do as these have shite count of 11/10.

[Pillock]

I suppose most CityRovers were bought by people well into their 70s and 80s who have now shuffled off.... the family open the garage, see the giffer-dented car sat there and just call the local breakers.

[Yoss]

Excellent. Post of the day I reckon. Not that I've read all the others but I don't see how they can too this.

 

We all know the reputation and target market of these cars but whoever specced this colour and interior combo must have had a sense of humour.

 

Good luck with the MOT, not that you'll need it.

[clayts450]

And yes, there is a Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/cityrover/

[Timewaster]

I remember my local garage having one sat about waiting for some unobtainable part.

 

In passing I asked the garage owner "are they as shit as they say?"

 

And in his usual dead pan way he replied..

 

"No.... They're worse."

 

[Vince70]

That’s terrific and the last time I saw a city rover was a yellow one without a straight panel being driven by a little old lady in Bexhill-On-Sea last year.

 

The old girl was trying to park it and was using it as a battering ram on the cars parked in front and behind and I said do you know you’ve just hit both cars and the reply I got was “that’s what bumpers are for” then she started having a go at me.

[Mrcento]

Top shite.  Wow.  Usually I would only consider older cars 'shite'.  This is the same age as my car, which is not really shite.

 

However, this is definitely shite of the highest order.  Deeply confusing.

 

Nah it qualifies even on age (if not registration date), given the Indica it was based on was actually on sale in India in 1998. So really, it's a mid 90's design. Probably on 80's tech.

[blguy1975]

Wonder who put you onto the green one ??

Think the Piss was the Late Elsie's Dog ...Not Elsie

 

The MK2 looks epic , You are a Winnahhh

Wonder if Chris has done  test on a city before ?

 

I dare you to bring it to Tatton 2019 .lets see some #FOEM

[captain_70s]

Cor! Haven't seen a CityRover for years.

 

The last one I recall seeing was a battered green example driven by a Polish girl at my old college. It looked and sounded abysmal...

[Skut]

The drive I had of one didnt blow me away. It was nippyish but felt dismal inside. Grey plastic, that awful facelifted Rover badge. It was a depressing car. Shite from the second they pressed out the panels and vaxuum moulded the dash.

[Mrcento]

18th Nov 18 (11).jpg

 

 

Easiest way to immediately tell how desperate and moneyless Rover were, without even getting on the car to get a sense of the terrible quality?

 

The steering wheel.

 

When a company is rebadging a car, and can't even stretch to a different centre, so just sticks a badge on top despite the hole for it being the wrong shape, that's when you run.

 

I'm sure it was just a coincidence though that Rover adopted their logo on an oval badge, not like Tata had an oval badge they needed to cover up or....oh

 

[smellypoo]

Well, it was definitely a literal example of 'badge engineering'.

 

As someone mentioned earlier, it was also priced way too high when considering the competition in the UK.

[Timewaster]

Cor! Haven't seen a CityRover for years.

 

The last one I recall seeing was a battered green example driven by a Polish girl at my old college. It looked and sounded abysmal...

What was the car like?

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Apparently they only stopped making the Indica this year.

 

So you'd think parts would still be easy to get...

 

...

 

...

[Rusty_Rocket]

This is brilliant.  The last CityRover I saw in the wild was abandoned on an industrial estate a few years back, slowly turning green with weeds growing up next to it.  Long gone now.

 

The list price was just greedy though.  £6995 in 2003 equates to over £10.5k nowadays.  Isn't the (far superior/ larger/ safer) Dacia Sandero still £6k?

They were taking the p**s and the writing was on the wall

[Mrcento]

This is brilliant.  The last CityRover I saw in the wild was abandoned on an industrial estate a few years back, slowly turning green with weeds growing up next to it.  Long gone now.

 

The list price was just greedy though.  £6995 in 2003 equates to over £10.5k nowadays.  Isn't the (far superior/ larger/ safer) Dacia Sandero still £6k?

They were taking the p**s and the writing was on the wall

 

Here's a decent article on it

 

https://www.motoringresearch.com/car-news/features/great-motoring-disasters-mg-rover-cityrover/

 

In all honesty, it should have been priced in the mid 4k range.

 

I assume they priced it high out of desperation.

[oldcars]

Brilliant. I would be all over that at a show. Rimmers had rubber mats for these for £7 and load liners, headlamp protectors and mudflaps all for very little.

 

https://rimmerbros.com/ItemList--CityRover-Accessories--m-2481

[davehedgehog31]

Excellent thread. Find these miserable little things pretty fascinating.

 

I also like how in your interior shot you lined the heating dials up at the 12 o'clock position.