As I mentioned in another post, stopping to shoot a CC in Europe can be a bit challenging, especially in the cities. But I spotted this rather unusual Rover hatchback, which bears more than a passing resemblance to the Ford/Merkur XR4Ti in profile, on the outskirts of a little town. I barely recognized it as I drove by, as these Hovers (Honda-Rover mashups) are not my forte. Which was the main reason I stopped for; it’s not like I’m going to see one again soon, if ever.
The low hood line and cowl give away the the Rover 200’s origins, which was the 4th generation Honda Civic (EC). It was the third generation of Honda-Civic based cars, starting with the Triumph Acclaim. The second generation (SD3) was called Rover 200, and was essentially a badge-engineered version of the Hinda Ballade, a variant of the gen3 Civic. Aspects of its design were collaborated by both company.
This generation (R8) appeared in 1989, as a three and five door hatchback. Perhaps oddly, it was sold alongside Maestro. The sedan version, intended to be a bit more upscale in ambitions, was called the Rover 400.
The badging of the sporty versions (220) reflects the use of Rover’s T-Series 16 valve 2.0 L four instead of the Honda 1.6 in the lesser 200 models. It made a pretty ambitious 136 PS (134 hp), but there was also a Turbo version, which made 200 PS (197 hp), and was perhaps the first small hot hatch with 200 hp.
There was also a coupe version that appeared in 1992, the Rover 200 Coupe (tagged 216 or 220, depending on the engine). Although still based on the fourth-generation Civic, its coupe roof looks somewhat similar to the 5th gen. Civic coupe that also appeared in 1992. But that Civic coupe was not sold in the UK/Europe; just the hatchbacks.
It wouldn’t be hard to misidentify this as a Civic interior, but there are differences too. The UK Integra, if you like.
In fact, that’s what this car is somewhat analogous to, except that its roof is taller, and has that Rover engine instead of the Acura’s little high-winding V-TEC 1.6.
Related reading:
1981 Triumph Acclaim by Roger Carr
No plates, just sitting at the side of the road, I wonder what the story is. I’ve always liked these, the superb Honda detailing of that era shines through and the Rover badge gives it just a wee bit more class. Those seats look quite comfortable, and the dark green color is one that I wish would make a solid comeback on mainstream cars over here.
It was in front of a small little automotive repair shop. I’m not sure what the lack of plates means…hopefully it wasn’t waiting to be hauled off to the scrap yard. The body looks to be in very good shape.
A mate of mine and his brother on the “hump” in Germany had to abandon one of these because no German mechanic would repair it. They never again bought an English car for the roofing season and stuck to buying cheap Opels and the like drive em while they worked then leave em at the airport. I wonder it this is their’s? unlikely as that was in 99/00.
It just might be that the owner has a Wechselkennzeichen (which you might not have had back then), that is, a plate you can share between three vehicles. It costs a bit more than the standard one but it’s very useful if you have a fun car or two, as all you have to do is take the plate from your everyday car and put it on the other vehicle. Insurance and tax is paid on the most expensive vehicle but covers all three.
See here (in German): https://www.help.gv.at/Portal.Node/hlpd/public/content/6/Seite.060200.html
This idea makes too much sense to be available in the US.
I have heard stories of remote towns in the US during the depression years, where one guy would register his car, and lend the plates to one neighbor or another who needed to drive to the big city for any reason. The local cops knowing the economic situation would tend to overlook people driving in the area with no plates, or last year’s plates.
Looks like a fancier Honda Civic. Maybe Honda should have bought the body panels from Rover to make the Canadian market Honda Civic/Acura rebadge cars
I love how this car looks like a horizontally-shrunken Ford Sierra / Merkur XR4ti. Like you, Paul, I noticed that right off the bat.
Visually it also tied in with the Austin Montego saloon, with the bonded glazing over the blackened rear pillars. I recall shortly before this came out (circa 1988) Autocar running an artists’ impression of one with MG badges. It was quite a few years before MG did reappear, but in the form of the MGF.
Interesting find that is now pretty rare in the UK, and was a sales success (the last success?) for Rover. The main volume was in the five door, which had better sorted windows and rear pillars.
Staple of the range was the 1.4 litre 214 with the Rover K series engine, which also came as a 1.6 litre, and later as 2.0 and 2.5 litre V6. IIRC correctly, the Honda 1.6 was only used for the automatic. From the side on photo, I wonder if the engine has been removed?
Rover assembled the Honda Concerto hatch and saloon for the European market, like this one https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-european/curbside-classic-1993-honda-concerto-td-when-is-a-honda-not-a-honda/
Perhaps id better finish the Rover 214/216 CC I have in the skunk works…..
IIRC correctly, the Honda 1.6 was only used for the automatic.
Not according to the sources I found. from what I can tell, all 216s used the Honda engine.
Yes, you’re right Paul. For this generation the 1.6 was a Honda engine but on the replacement cars in 1994 the 1.6 was a Rover K series engine
There was a time when people who were buying one used would look around to find one with the Honda rather than Rover engine.
Reason being you can get Honda engine parts quite readily for when not if it blows a headgasket.
Honda is recognized for its superior engines – that’s for sure.
Some of these Hovers had a Peugeot turbo diesel my BIL ran them as Rover rep cars.
Had a few 214/216/416 hire cars from work in the 90s. To save money they were replaced with Montegos (the BL ones not the Mercury unfortunately). Looking forward to reading this Roger
I had 2 of these, both 214si 16v with the Rover engine. For the time, great cars, well built, not over equipped but very nicely trimmed compared to the alternatives and great fun to drive
Rover Integra?
I thought it was a Plymouth Sundance when the roof started to scroll on to my screen. The wrap hatch window is obviously different, but still sort of startling to momentarily confuse a something with the name Rover in it with a Plymouth econo car!
The 1st car does like a Mini-me Merkur XR4Ti. The 2nd car looks like a 90-93 DA Integra.
Nice cars, but WTF, is up with those corny grilles. What are these econo sport coupe broughams?
Those grilles look like they belong on an 89-92 Mitsubishi Galant.
“Call for Mr. Rover, call for Mr. Rover…
Uh, Daewoo called…….. They want their grilles back.”
The grilles were to hark back to the Rover P4/P5, ie back to when people considered Rover to be a quality car, as they wanted to position Rover slightly more upmarket.
This policy followed the end of Austin, it was like they thought they could bury BL / Austin-Rover’s poor rep along with the Austin name.
The reason the Maestro was sold alongside was that by that time it was only available as a base model at a remarkably low price. No Austin or Rover badging, just Maestro.
Might be a wee bit unfair to compare with Daewoo, I think it’s safe to say Rover (founded 1878) got there first.
Maybe, but…
These are small sporty coupes(ie,.. No chrome, wire wheels, or hood ornaments, etc.)… The usual blacked out trim, a rear spoiler maybe, blackwall tires, usually on a sporty version of an economy car…
Then, you eye the front, then there’s this out of place chrome grille. What the?
It’s like going to a nightclub, seeing a sexy women with a nice outfit, an athletic body… Then she turns around, and she has a huge honker. Eww 🙁
I prefer the Rover, with this version of the grille, more sport, less broughamy-chrome.
Looks like the front of a Sterling 825, in a way. 🙂
The 800 got the grille as well. If I recall correctly, it was conceived for the 800, but some bright sort decided it should be used across the line for identity, so it showed up first on the 200/400.
That definitely has a chunky 2nd-gen Integra vibe going on.
Interesting Euro-CC Paul.
Those were nice anglicized Hondas (I prefer the pre-facelift model). Better looking than the equivalent Honda Concerto sold in Europe and with better features for the price in most countries.
Just two notes on your text:
– I´m not sure the 5-door was ever sold with the turbocharged engine, I think only he coupe did
– the 5-th gen Civic coupe was definitely sold in Europe
These modern colaborations seem a little off to me. Like the Prism in America, I wonder if Rover found that Japanese car buyers wanted their cars really Japanese. To make it look like a Ford Escort while taking on a formally upscale name, how could the buyer be anything but confused. There was such a great tradition of small sporting saloons from Triumph and even Mini. I can see why domestic buyers in the UK might not latch on to this. Who needs Packardbakers.
The Rover dealership my BIL was parts manager at used to import used exJDM Rovers so the Japanese did buy their cars back rebadged from the UK, its not like these were the only way the badges went many Landrover Discoverys were rebadged Honda for the JDM, Honda would be the most prolific rebadging company in Japan by quite a margin followed by Isuzu but thats another story.
Honda was forced by the Japanese government to rebadge Isuzus as Hondas to help Izuzu.
As for Rover, Honda did save them for a time, but the Rover versions of their collaberations were just so unreliable and poorly built. In the US, their version of the Legend was laughed out of the US despite a big rollout w/ Avengers star Patrick MacNee and its Jaguaresque interior scheme.
“Sorry about the poor quality.” The car or the video?
Rover did this because their attempts to build modern cars were even more laughable than early GM attempts. Unlike GM, as modern cars became requiem for sales, Rover (BL, really) was already cash strapped and on the brink of bankruptcy after decades of terrible mismanagement. They couldn’t go it alone- they didn’t have the money. It was Honda or bust. They apparently chose Honda, then BMW, and then bust.
Not that I’d ever want them- a Brit I know told me Hovers have all the emotional charm of a Honda with the reliability you expect from a mass produced British car. But I have to imagine how a relatively torquey 2liter turbo would move a Honda Civic (which ain’t a slug with half that power).
Your mates got it arse about…the 200/400 were cracking little cars…Japanese reliability with British style
I’ve never driven one, but the contemporary reviews of the 220tc concluded that it looked great, had a fine engine (it was certainly quick), and suffered from dire chassis tuning that did nothing really well.
I recall these having rather indifferent write-ups in the motoring press when they were on sale, but my boss had one, which I drove occasionally, and he loved it.
The coupe was one of those cars which was commonly referred to by it’s factory codename; Tomcat. I can’t think of any others off the top of my head, other than another Rover, the SD1. Although fans of imported JDM cars do seem to use factory codes these days.
Rover Tomcats turn up on trademe fairly often, much more often back before the used import rules changed they must have quite popular in Japan.
One of the few FWD hot hatch/coupes that weren’t monstered by chavs and boy racers in the UK though it’s a long time since I’ve seen one.
We had a four-door 214i for a couple of years, and it was an undemonstrative but very acceptable car – build quality and environment were a definite step-up from the Fords and Vauxhalls I’d been stuck in through the 1980s; it felt modern but still had some residual Britishness (whatever that means – plastiwood trim and restrained seat designs, I suppose).
Not the favourite car I’ve ever owned, but it did what it did very well, and had a clear position in the market – the last Rover I guess you could say that for.
Incidentally, I’ve not heard “Hover” before – “Ronda” is the more familiar term!
I had a Rover 214SLI as one of my first company cars and it was fantastic, the Honda versions were so bland in comparison. The interior of the Rover was so superior in colours and finish. RThe Rover K Series was so cutting edge and it was like a race horse. These were the company cars to have in the early 90s in the UK, the Ford Escort competitor appeared so drab and cheap in comparison along with the GM Astra.
These cars were justifiably a success and Rover were really on the rise, what really killed Rover was that the version that super ceded it (Honda HH-R) was so clearly a Honda product that was so insipid, bland and lacking in character that it effectively destroyed them as a company. See http://www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/
+1 on the 214 SLI, I had one for a hire car in 1991 it was superb.
This does look very much like the offspring of an Integra and an XR4(t)i, but it’s quite attractive save for that pasted-on grille. Nice find!
This chassis is really rare… So rare that this is the first one that I ever saw. In 2005 when MG Rover were shut down I have spent some time nearby West-Midlands… But 10 years after: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/11495817/Ten-years-after-MG-Rover-the-West-Midlands-is-back-in-the-fast-lane.html Could it be possible? Quite interesting things are happening around them…
I’ve been trying to persuade my wife that its a fairly rare car. I bought a 220gsi, same colour etc as the first picture late last year, Have replaced the petrol pump and and had the head gasket redone as a O ring was leaking. Needed a couple brake calipers for the Mot other than flew through. Goes well, I like it its a bit different!