Rover 25 Il 16v (5 Door Hatchback)

Sarah2490

I need to get a new car (you might have read my post about mine being written off by an uninsured driver!)

A friend who owns an MOT test centre has a cheap Rover 25 Il 16v (5 Door Hatchback) for sale so I want to find out about it.

I have checked a few reviews and I know a common problem is the headgasket going. My friend replaced this at 40000 miles and it is now on 51000 miles. It has just been MOT'd again at my friends place and only has 1 previous owner

As I will be going from a 1.4 Polo to this I have already checked and it will cost £125 to transfer the insurance and I have done a dummy renewal quote and it's around £1200. A lot to some but I paid just over £1500 for my current insurance as a first time driver with no NCD

So how do the cars perform? What's the MPG? any good bad points?


I am thankful for any info you can give me

Sgt_Pepper_2

Bad point is.......its a Rover.

s_b

another bad point
its still a rover
thankfully i see less and less of these piles of crap as each week rolls into another week
this time next year rodney they will hopefully all be in china

Sarah2490

Ok if you can offer no real information please don't make silly comments!

As I have said I had my car wrote of by an uninsured driver I have been messed with enough for 1 week thank you very much and I just want help to get back on the road

verityboo

The issues with the headgaskets on petrol cars are reason enough not to buy one. Correctly maintained diesel 25's can do starship mileages but the petrol models are just not worth the risk. There are simply plenty of better cars out there and its a buyers market at the moment

mikey72

Decent enough little car. Headgasket is a good point now it's been done, how much is it?

Sarah2490

Thank you for your more helpful comments. like I said in my OP I am aware of the headgasket issue so checked it out an it has been changed.

It's £450

It's an X reg in good condition. I am not set on a rover or paying that price I just want something that I know has good service history has been checked over and will get me form A-B for then next few months until we can afford better. My only must is 5 door as I have a child and 1 on the way.

verityboo

Just because the gasket has been replaced does not mean it will not fail again! The car also has quite a low mileage which can mean it is worse condition than one that has done the average 10K a year - it indicates lots of short journeys.On the other hand its cheap with a years MOT.

I would search for something different, the worst thing you can do is rush in and buy the first half decent'ish car

mikey72

For £450, with a new headgasket, and a years MOT it sounds decent enough. 1 owner means it will have been looked after fairly well, most original Rover owners weren't boy racers, then the next owners who want to run them into the ground don't buy them because they won't be trendy enough for them, and they won't be seen in a Rover. It's worth it on the insurance alone, if you hang around too long your policy may lapse, or even cancel, so to transfer it for £125 is a bonus. If you are thinking of swopping, I'd keep it until the insurance runs out, then swop the car and re-insure the new one for a year.

Norman_Castle

At £450 any car will be a gamble . If you trust your friend this car may be a good option. If it lasts a year, scrap it for £150. £300 for a years driving.
See Parkers and the Honest John site for more info.
http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/reviews/
http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/

Sarah2490

I do trust my friend as he wouldn't try to sell me anything that wasn't right.

He had said that I can have the car overnight to test drive and if it is not right for me I can borrow it until he finds me something else

I have ready lots of reviews on What Car but I will also check out the above. I am not looking to get anything more than a year out of it I just need a 'for now' car that is practical for a family

Does anyone know the MPG for this type of car?