Buying Guide Rover 200 Cabriolet (R8)

A droptop version of Rover’s 200 offers magnificent motoring fun for minimal money. Here’s how to avoid the common pitfalls when buying one

‘The Cabriolet was well-built, well-equipped and nicely designed’

If Honda hadn’t teamed up with British Leyland/ Austin Rover in the late Seventies and early Eighties it’s doubtful that we’d have had a British car industry much beyond those dates. It all started with the rebadged Honda Ballade, first sold as the Triumph Acclaim before the original Rover 200 (codenamed SD3) arrived in 1984 – another rebadged Honda.

Known internally as the R8, the secondgeneration 200 was launched in October

1989 in five-door hatchback form, but the neatly engineered cabriolet didn’t reach the showrooms until

April 1992. Using Honda Concerto underpinnings, the R8 came with either 1.4 K-series or Honda DOHC 1.6-litre D-series petrol engines, but the former was dropped in spring 1996 and the 1.6 K-series engine replaced the Honda unit. This coincided with the arrival of an all-new 200 and 400, which would later become the 25 and 45, and to reduce confusion the opentopped car became known simply as the Cabriolet, which remained on sale. It was at this point that a new dashboard was introduced. Buyers could choose between standard or SE trim levels, the latter bringing such luxuries as a power-operated roof, leather seat facings and alloy wheels.

The Cabriolet was launched at a time when Rover was doing its best to appear upmarket by charging more for its cars than most of its rivals. The ploy didn’t really work because the cars were overpriced – but wellbuilt, well-equipped and nicely designed all the same. To see just how good the Rover was, Car magazine pitched a

214 against four key rivals. Compared with the Ford Escort 1.8, Volkswagen

Golf 2.0 MkIII, Peugeot

306 2.0 and Renault 19 1.8, the Rover’s heating, cabin space, build quality, fun quotient and structural rigidity were all assessed. Aside from cabin ambience (which the Rover won outright), it came no better than mid-table for most criteria and came bottom for dynamics and rigidity. The result was last place, despite having the nicest interior and sharpest looks.

But don’t be swayed by Car’s verdict of 24 years ago – the Cabriolet makes a great classic buy and it’s certainly a lot easier to find than Car’s victor; there are just 20 or so Renault 19 cabriolets still left on the roads in the UK.