Calling all such owners , particularly those who have owned the 92-later,(presumably from cat/injected start era. Supposedly cheap buys around, but are they grief machines or good buys.? Do they take mileage, given sensible servicing? Considering looking for one, as a second vehicle or is equiv Honda Concerto a better idea, or can I expect horrendous spares pricing? Power steering preferred .
Thanks Chris. W.
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I briefly had a '92 214SLi with no problems, and my dad's had a '93 414Si for a couple of years now. It blew its head gasket (his fault really - a pipe came off and he spotted the temp gauge going into the red but ignored it and carried on driving...), and has a persistent slight water leak into the boot, but other than that it's been great. Definitely go for one with PAS - they're very heavy to park without it.
As for how well they last, though, I couldn't say - both of ours are/were under 70K miles. Worth reading HJ's Car-by-Car Breakdown if you haven't already.
Have you considered the later 214SEi, which came with extra goodies - half-leather trim, alloys and some decent metallic colours?
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That 1400 engine is a piece of junk,and if you are unlucky enough to have one thats got hot,scrap it.
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I had a 218 Turbo Diesel and it was fine but some of the spares are Honda sourced and very expensive. I had rear shocks @ £95 each which seemed a lot for a long cylinder with a piston and some oil in it!
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Consider these as cheap, disposable cars and there's only your (low) outlay to worry about.
HJ
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These are far better cars than their Contemporary Astras / Escorts. get one that's been owned by an old dodderer who's looked after it and you'll be laughing
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I'm given to understand by a Rover apprenticed mechanic friend that the 1600 (Honda) engine is the one to go for and the 1400 (Rover K series) is somewhat less so. By some considerable margin in fact!
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The K Series engine is a very durable and reliable unit. All engines have their weak points. The revolutionary design and light weight of the engine made it leagues ahead of anybody else back in 1990. (As D-Dave points out - far better engines than Astra/Escort etc of the time) The engine is so light it can easily be lifted by one person.
Yes, cylinder head gaskets can and do fail but this can occur on any engine.
Any alloy engine these days doesn't like being overheated - the K series engine is no better or worse in this respect than others IMHO.
We have never had to replace a cylinder head due to cracking.
Any overheating damage can usually be welded and machined - usually the head gasket fire-ring marks on the cylinder head are a good indicator of how hot the engine has got.
Quite where you guys have got the impression that the 1400/1600/1800 K series engine is a piece of junk is beyond me.
If it were that bad, then why do many sports 2 seater car manufacturers use this engine??
The 1990/1995 214/414 makes a sound buy - I have bought and sold on many.
David
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