Rover 25's
 

Not sure if this is the right forum but here goes.

My youngest is looking to buy his first car to start learning in and he fancies a Rover 25 of all things. He found one on auto trader and it just happend to be a diesel model. Idid not know they made a diesel 25, is it the same 2L Cdt as in the 75's.

Also how good are the 25's in general, he really needs to be looking at a smaller enigine I have told him this and to prove it we looked at some insurance quotes.

For a 1.4Rover 25 valued at £1700, with Ashley doing less than 5000miles per year. He is a learner and only 17 so I knew it was going to cost, but what a shock at £2875.

Andy

The 2 Litre Diesel engine is completely different to the ZT/75. It is not BMW or even Common Rail diesel.
It is generally a Rover unit or some had a Foreign Engine, I stand to be corrected.
The 200 400 600 also had the same 2 Litre Engine.

It is the 2 litre "L" series engine.

Rover 25's
 

Hi John,

Thanks for the reply, so the older Rovers ie., 200, 400 & 600 had BMW diesel power units but the newer 25's didn't?. or are you saying that they did as with the 200's etc.

Cheers,

Andy

No sorry, all the Rovers other than 75 were running the Rover L series Diesel 2 Litre engine.

Rover L series diesel
 

Ok so the big question is are these engines any good?

Cheers,

Andy

Well I have had a 420 and a 620 Diesel and they give very good MPG, are not slow, but can be a bit noisy. I did not have any problems (I have a 620SLDi for shopping now). Rear leg room a bit restricted but on the whole reliable cars. The "00" series were a joint Honda thing at the beginning before updates to the 25 and 45 ranges.
Image wise not generally for younsters (The Ti 620 flys!) the 25 is a nice small car but learning to drive and cost wise the 200's are much better value and there are still some nice ones out there (bubble shape not the early ones) and are very cheap. Still have Airbags, some with A/C etc so can be a good buy imho.

Rover 25's
 

John,

Thanks for all the really great info, never knew that about the 200 series, and yes they do look the part for a small car, we have seen a few round here, they do look ok and it might fit his image ( remember at 17 he's gotta have street cred) as they say. He will not entertain a corsa even though they are cheaper to insure.

Cheers and thanks for the helpfull info.

Andy

The other model to consider is the MG ZR diesel which also has the L series engine. Cracking car, plenty of poke & suber handling and 55 MPG.


Yes the L series engine was and is still pretty robust unit.
They are good for 200k miles as long as both toothed belts are changed before 90,000 miles.

The only major faults I've seen on high miler L series (but cheap to fix) are the following.

1.Large inlet rubber hose (under pressure from turbo) can split. £30 quid.

2.Wiring loom that runs on top of timing belt cover can wear through on a bracket. Causing intermittent or no running ( fuel cut off valve wiring etc)
This was on Rover 600's

Thanks Jules Forgot to mention the MG variant,
Trouble is when you mention MG and 17 year olds some Insurance Companies have kittens!
I'm getting 45 to 52 MPG in the 620 diesel, the higher BHP of the two engines available.