2004 ROVER CITYROVER STYLE
Used car addict Keith looks back at his best – and worst – classic buys. This week, the end of the line for Rover should have made this Cityrover a surefire classic…
WHY DID YOU WANT ONE?
Apologies for writing about a 21st century car. And apologies that the Cityrover isn’t really a classic car. It really should be given that it was the last new product that MG Rover launched before it went belly up – at the very least that should ensure it classic car status. I could talk a good talk for the Cityrover before I bought mine – an interesting backstory, a misunderstood life, and limited production numbers. That is probably why I bought this one when I spotted it being offered for sale online for not too much money. It was enthusiast owned and had little more than 10,000 miles on the clock. Surely if any Cityrover deserved saving, it was this one? Well, you’d think so, wouldn’t you?
WAS IT A JOY – OR A NIGHTMARE – TO LIVE WITH?
In real terms, it was a good little car to live with. It never let me down, nothing failed on it and everything worked. It also presented a very positive first impression when I turned up to the seller’s house to collect it, having already paid for it upfront without even seeing it (yeah, this is a bad habit of mine). It shone like a new pin and there wasn’t a mark on it. It burst into life with gusto and idled away willingly as we shook hands, and I prepared myself for the journey home from South Yorkshire in bad weather in a completely unknown car. What could possibly go wrong? Nothing did and aside from an intermittently operating coolant temperature gauge, which shook my confidence a little when I hit the southbound
A1 in the middle of rush hour, it really was faultless, and I soon began to relax. Once home, this reliable first impression held up, and I can honestly say that this 15-year-old budget supermini really didn’t put a foot wrong.
WHAT’S YOUR ABIDING MEMORY OF IT?
Well, this is where things go awry because my memories of driving it are dominated by disappointment and sadness. Disappointment that here was a basic supermini that was about as much fun to drive as attending an insurance seminar. The engine was reluctant to rev and it never felt close to being able to match MG Rover’s performance figures. There was also no escaping its cheapness – the doors clanged shut, the interior plastics were sub-tupperware, and every single touchpoint felt nasty. I could have lived with that if it had driven nicely, but it didn’t. The ride quality was stiff and bouncy and the handling vague and conducted by a steering wheel that felt utterly disconnected from the action. Worst of all it had about as much road presence as the invisible man so I couldn’t even enjoy it in an ironic way. In short, this car made me sad and angry. Sad because of its place in history as MG Rover’s final car and angry because it could have been a good car had a little time and money been spent on refining it for the UK market. I sold it within weeks and was glad to see the back of it…
WHAT ARE YOUR TOP TIPS FOR BUYING ONE?
The Cityrover is based on the Tata Indica so it should be fundamentally solid and dependable. Unfortunately it now suffers from the ill-effects of being built down to a price and as such it has a propensity for the interior to degrade badly and suffer from random electrical issues, especially with engine sensors. It’s not all bad news, though – the engine is tough and can withstand all manner of abuse and it’s easy to fix, assuming that you can find the parts. The biggest issue right now is that Cityrovers effectively have no following so no-one is sourcing and hoarding the necessary parts…