Would you buy a 2nd hand rover?

mrscruffy

Hello,

In the process of buying a second hand car for travelling to and from work.

If an offer came up to buy a Rover should I at least consider it or should I give it a wide berth?

My main concern would be spare parts but I would assume things like brake pads and spark plugs are going to be available for years to come - Any thoughts?

Servicing is less of a concern as the kind of car my budget (~£1000) will stretch to it would be cheaper to buy a new car if I should have really bad luck and buy a lemon which needs a new head gasket 6 months down the line!

Thanks for all help.

jjames_3

Parts are not an issue, and won't be for the remaining lifetime of a £1000 Rover of that I'm sure.

I'd consider one at the right price.

balsingh

Last year I bought a 1998 Rover 420 Turbo Diesel. My main reason for buying is that is was almost £500 cheaper than the equivalent Ford/Vauxhall/Peugeot of the same year/spec. Never had any trouble getting parts and as I plan to run it into the ground, depreciation is not an issue.

jjames_3

To be honest I think the issue of parts prices and availability is overstated anyway. Very few cars are around these days with parts problems; only a few very obscure companies like Proton, Perodua or some of the older Daewoos can be a problem. And the price of a part is usually dwarfed by the cost of fitting it.

An example; a new clutch for a Mitsubishi Carisma (Mitsubishi are a make which people say avoid due to parts costs) does cost around 50% more than a Laguna equivalent. Yet a new fitted clutch is actually more expensive on the Laguna than the Carisma due to the extra work involved (Laguna is engine-out, Carisma is gearbox only).

Regardless, the Rover is a common sight on British roads and parts won't be an issue for a long time to come.

Silent_Bob_3

jjames wrote:

An example; a new clutch for a Mitsubishi Carisma (Mitsubishi are a make which people say avoid due to parts costs) does cost around 50% more than a Laguna equivalent. Yet a new fitted clutch is actually more expensive on the Laguna than the Carisma due to the extra work involved (Laguna is engine-out, Carisma is gearbox only).

It's true that Mitsubishi parts are darn expensive - but only if you go to a Mitsi dealer, same goes for servicing.

I'm part of the FTO Owners Club and no-one (unless they're a newbie) goes to Mitsubishi for stuff. E.g. an alternator from Mitsubishi is over £400 when the same part can be had from one of the known FTO reputable stockists for as little as £130. The only exception is oil filters are cheaper and official - mainly because they fit a wide range of models e.g. the Galant also.

Anybody that buys parts from official dealers may as well just burn their money, there are always companies that will do the parts cheaper and with better service.

BigAde

mrscruffy wrote:

Hello,

In the process of buying a second hand car for travelling to and from work.

If an offer came up to buy a Rover should I at least consider it or should I give it a wide berth?

My main concern would be spare parts but I would assume things like brake pads and spark plugs are going to be available for years to come - Any thoughts?

Servicing is less of a concern as the kind of car my budget (~£1000) will stretch to it would be cheaper to buy a new car if I should have really bad luck and buy a lemon which needs a new head gasket 6 months down the line!

Thanks for all help.

Hi MrScruffy

Can only go by my own experience.... I've had two Rovers - a 1992 Rover 200 and a 1998 rover 400... combined I've covered around 150,000 miles in them and never had any serious problems. Okay, the range hasn't been updated for years and the Rover 25 and 45 today are commonly described as 'yesterdays lunch reheated' - but this doesn't mean they're bad cars - just not as up to date as those from some other manufacturers. You also have to consider what you can pick these things up for these days - peanuts for what you're getting. One of the car supermarkets is selling a brand new Rover 45 for £6500 and you can pick up second hand ones for silly money.

There's plenty of people out there saying 'I wouldn't buy a Rover these days', that's fine, and I can understand their concern... but this attitude is great for us money savers because it keeps prices low.

mrscruffy

Thanks for all your comments.

Will certainly consider a Rover, should the price be right!!

Norma_Desmond

Get one! - Read my post further down re head gaskets; we paid peanuts for ours 4 years ago, and this is the FIRST problem we've had!