[Flamesuit on] Rover 200 BRM...
Discussion
poledriver Have had a good sniff round a couple, my brother had a 216 of the same vintage and I had a Rover 25.
Underrated cars IMHO. Vastly overpriced at the time, but a real bargain now - I understand they handle very nicely, LSD, air con on some, lovely quilted leather tart's handbag interior, and I like the orange snout.
145 bhp as standard, 160 with a simple throttle body swap.
Make sure it's been well serviced and be wary of crap head gasket jobs.
Would love one as a daily hack!
Underrated cars IMHO. Vastly overpriced at the time, but a real bargain now - I understand they handle very nicely, LSD, air con on some, lovely quilted leather tart's handbag interior, and I like the orange snout.
145 bhp as standard, 160 with a simple throttle body swap.
Make sure it's been well serviced and be wary of crap head gasket jobs.
Would love one as a daily hack!
Brilliant little cars if you can get a good one.
Great revvy engine, and with LSD and well tweaked suspension, a suprisingly fun thing to bomb about in.
Watch for rusty arches, obviously head gasket needs to be sound, back boxes rust out, so most have been replaced with rather fruity souning janspeed systems, and rear claipers on the R200 last about 2-3 years!
But comfy, good build quality, (vastly better than the MG ZRs IME) decent kit on it (aircon is rare but if you can get one with aircon and sunroof, it's got everything a modern hatch has really, more if you like sunroofs!).
Stock wheels can be a pain, lose pressure due to corrosion on the beads, but a ful powder refurb cures it, although the 16 inch tyres mean fewer options, so consider a set of 17's to run about on, (does not seem to kill the ride too much).
Oh and two essential cheapish mods are the 52mil ally throttle body, (placcy one sticks and most have been upgraded), plus, IMO essential to have MAgnecor race leads on the K series to get over all the starting problems you can get on stock leads. I had problems from new on mine for 10k miles, then dealer swapped to Magnecor race leads and they lasted to at least 130k when I got rid of it.
Get as good a one as you can, they are then a great fun and pretty cheap to run, rare little hatch, and best of all a proper British car!!
Great revvy engine, and with LSD and well tweaked suspension, a suprisingly fun thing to bomb about in.
Watch for rusty arches, obviously head gasket needs to be sound, back boxes rust out, so most have been replaced with rather fruity souning janspeed systems, and rear claipers on the R200 last about 2-3 years!
But comfy, good build quality, (vastly better than the MG ZRs IME) decent kit on it (aircon is rare but if you can get one with aircon and sunroof, it's got everything a modern hatch has really, more if you like sunroofs!).
Stock wheels can be a pain, lose pressure due to corrosion on the beads, but a ful powder refurb cures it, although the 16 inch tyres mean fewer options, so consider a set of 17's to run about on, (does not seem to kill the ride too much).
Oh and two essential cheapish mods are the 52mil ally throttle body, (placcy one sticks and most have been upgraded), plus, IMO essential to have MAgnecor race leads on the K series to get over all the starting problems you can get on stock leads. I had problems from new on mine for 10k miles, then dealer swapped to Magnecor race leads and they lasted to at least 130k when I got rid of it.
Get as good a one as you can, they are then a great fun and pretty cheap to run, rare little hatch, and best of all a proper British car!!
I've had one for a couple of years. The only good version of the 200 IMHO.
In the first 6 months I wanted to drive it over Beachy Head. Head gasket failure, bottom end failure and a couple of nurst hoses.
Since these were sorted it's been brilliant!
Quite good performance. Comfortable. great retro interior. Did not put a foot wrong in the snow and ice (thanks to LSD and good driving skills!
) Cheap to run. Parts still available.
Check out http://www.thebrm.co.uk/
PM me if you want to know anything about the cars!
In the first 6 months I wanted to drive it over Beachy Head. Head gasket failure, bottom end failure and a couple of nurst hoses.
Since these were sorted it's been brilliant!
Quite good performance. Comfortable. great retro interior. Did not put a foot wrong in the snow and ice (thanks to LSD and good driving skills!
) Cheap to run. Parts still available. Check out http://www.thebrm.co.uk/
PM me if you want to know anything about the cars!
Daily hack... Boy are we at the real bottom end of the Market here.
HGF, very dated looks, long stopping distance, even low power tdis are notably quicker.
Surely you'd be much better off getting a Clio sport 172 much faster l
better stopping distance air con STD great handling. Cheap too.
Guess if we used cheese and said the brm was like red Leicester but the Clio sport was rockfourt. Only one winner in that competition and frankly id say nose may decide to put the red Leicester into the bin
HGF, very dated looks, long stopping distance, even low power tdis are notably quicker.
Surely you'd be much better off getting a Clio sport 172 much faster l
better stopping distance air con STD great handling. Cheap too.
Guess if we used cheese and said the brm was like red Leicester but the Clio sport was rockfourt. Only one winner in that competition and frankly id say nose may decide to put the red Leicester into the bin
Nowt wrong with the brakes on mine. Owned for 10 years from new and did 140k miles.
Far better driving position that my clio 182, and a nicer interior. On road, I prefered the BRM handling too. And the motor whilst losing a few ponies, (mine had full janspeed and 52mil tb / ITG filter so was nudging 160hp), it was just as quick up to "normal" fast road speeds. Gearing was great, at 50mph on main roads, you could drop to 2nd to overtake, as it would pull about 75mph in 2nd, then very close ratios up to 5th!
When you consider you can get a nice one for £1500, great retro looks, great engine, lightweight, comfy, I reckon they are a real bargain. Keep it in decent nick and hwo much cash can you lose? Getting rarer by the day.
Far better driving position that my clio 182, and a nicer interior. On road, I prefered the BRM handling too. And the motor whilst losing a few ponies, (mine had full janspeed and 52mil tb / ITG filter so was nudging 160hp), it was just as quick up to "normal" fast road speeds. Gearing was great, at 50mph on main roads, you could drop to 2nd to overtake, as it would pull about 75mph in 2nd, then very close ratios up to 5th!
When you consider you can get a nice one for £1500, great retro looks, great engine, lightweight, comfy, I reckon they are a real bargain. Keep it in decent nick and hwo much cash can you lose? Getting rarer by the day.
Mentioned in this month's Practical Classics and, given that they're so rare and cheap and provide so much performance for the money, worth buying and keeping as they can't get much cheaper.
The way cycles of fashion go, once the current '80s nostalgia bug has passed, rare '90s classics are going to be highly desirable IMHO.
The way cycles of fashion go, once the current '80s nostalgia bug has passed, rare '90s classics are going to be highly desirable IMHO.
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