The Rover 200 Series, and later the Rover 25, are a series of small family cars (until 1995) and supermini cars (1995-2005) that were produced by British manufacturer Rover from 1984 to 2005.
There have been three distinct generations of the Rover 200. The first generation was a four-door saloon car based on the Honda Ballade. The second generation was available in three or five-door hatchback forms, as well a coupé and cabriolet (in relatively small numbers). Its sister model, the Honda Concerto was built on the same production line in Rover's Longbridge factory. The final generation was developed independently by Rover on the platform of its predecessor, and was available as a three or five-door hatchback. Just before BMW's sale of Rover in 2000, and following a facelift, the model was renamed and sold as the Rover 25, and the MG ZR was based on the Rover 25 with mechanical changes to the suspension. Production ceased in 2005 when MG Rover went into administration. Production rights and tooling for the model, but not the Rover name, now belong to Chinese car manufacturer Nanjing.
The original Rover 200 (sometimes referred to by the codename SD3) was the replacement for the earlier Triumph Acclaim, and was the second product of the alliance between British Leyland (BL) and Honda. Only available as a four-door saloon, the 200 series was intended to be more upmarket than the company's Maestro and Montego models, which the 200 Series came in between in terms of size. It was launched on 19 June 1984, at which time there was still a high demand for small family saloons, with many manufacturers selling this type of car under a different nameplate to similar-sized hatchbacks. For example, Ford was selling the saloon version of the Escort as the Orion, the saloon version of the Volkswagen Golf was called the Jetta, and Vauxhall would soon launch an Astra-based saloon called the Belmont. The Rover 200 Series, however, was not based on a hatchback.
Earlier in 1984, Austin Rover had confirmed that the successor to the Acclaim would be badged as a Rover rather than a Triumph - a decision which signalled the end for the Triumph brand.
Essentially, the 200 series was a British-built Honda Ballade, the original design of which had been collaborated upon by both companies. Engines employed were either the Honda Civic derived E series 'EV2' 71 PS (52 kW; 70 bhp) 1.3-litre 12-valve engine, or BL's own S-Series engine in 1.6-litre format (both in 86 PS (63 kW; 85 bhp) carburettor and 103 PS (76 kW; 102 bhp) Lucas EFi form). The resulting cars were badged as either Rover 213 or Rover 216.
The 213 used either a Honda five-speed manual gearbox or a Honda three-speed automatic transmission. The British-engined 216 also employed a Honda five-speed manual gearbox, unlike the S-Series engine when fitted in the Maestro and Montego. There was also the option of a German ZF four-speed automatic on some 216 models as well.
The Honda-badged version was the first Honda car to be built in the United Kingdom (the Honda equivalent of the 200 Series' predecessor, the Triumph Acclaim, was never sold in the UK). Ballade bodyshells, and later complete cars, were made in the Longbridge plant alongside the Rover equivalent, with the Ballade models then going to Honda's new Swindon plant for quality-control checks.
Although production ceased in late 1989, stocks of the car continued until early 1990 when it was replaced by the Rover 400.
This model of car is well known as Richard and Hyacinth Bucket's car in the BBC Television sitcom Keeping Up Appearances (1990–1995).
The R8 Rover 200, sometimes referred to as the Mk 2 Rover 200, was launched on 11 October 1989. Unlike the Mk 1, Ballade-based, 200, this model was a five-door hatchback designed to replace the Maestro while the saloon variant, called the 400 Series, was effectively the replacement for the previous Rover 200 Series when it was launched in April 1990. The 400 had a different nomenclature to the 200 because at the time many saloon versions of compact cars were positioned slightly upmarket from their hatchback siblings, often featuring higher specification and prices, in addition to different names - a notable example being the Ford Orion, the saloon version of the Ford Escort.
The Maestro continued alongside the Rover 200 hatchback as a budget option until production finished in December 1994.
The 200 also spawned three-door hatchback, coupé and convertible versions, while the 400 eventually spawned an estate version. These latter variants were solely Rover designed and produced products, with no Honda Concerto versions available. Initial plans to sell the coupe version under the MG marque were abandoned, although the 5-door hatchback was the most popular and common version.
The R8 200 was the first car to be introduced by the newly privatised Rover Group. Once again, the model was designed in collaboration with Honda (who produced the new designed-for-Europe Concerto model) and both models would share production lines at Rover's Longbridge facility. The 200 and Concerto itself were based on the 4th generation Civic (EC), of which the 3-door hatchback, coupé CRX and saloon versions were sold in the United Kingdom (meaning that Honda had effectively two different saloon models of the same car in the same class).
The 200 also saw the introduction of Rover's brand-new K-Series family of engines (appearing in 1.4 L (1396 cc) twin-cam 16-valve form). The 1.6 L (1590 cc) version used either a Honda D16A6 SOHC or D16A8 DOHC powerplant, while the 2.0 L M-Series unit from the 800-series followed soon afterwards (1991) in the sportier versions. Later versions used the Rover T-Series engine, with limited-run turbocharged Rover 220s in GTi and GSi-Turbo trims, boast a power output of 200 PS (147 kW; 197 bhp) as standard. The Rover-engined models drove the front wheels via jointly developed Peugeot/Rover R65 gearboxes (1.4-litre) and Rover PG-1 gearboxes for the 1.6- and 2.0-litre versions. From December 1990, the carburettor-engine 214S (with a 1.4 engine from the Metro) was added to the range, but discontinued within two years due to EEC emissions requirements. Its gap was filled by the 214i, which featured the 1.4 K-Series unit from the 214Si and 214SLi.
Also available were two PSA (non-electronically controlled Lucas CAV injection pumps) Indirect injection diesel engines, with the choice of naturally aspirated 1.9-litre XUD9 or turbocharged 1.8 XUD7T engines. They were class leading in their refinement in Peugeot and Citroen installations, but less refined in the Rovers. These engines were installed instead of the non-electronically controlled Bosch HPVE Direct Injection Rover MDi / Perkins Prima used in the Austin Maestro and Montego, because that engine with its noisy combustion but lower fuel consumption, was deemed too unrefined for the new models.
The Rover 200 was produced alongside the Maestro, which continued to sell in smaller figures alongside it for the next five years. Because the R8 diesel used Lucas fuel injection rather than Bosch, it is less suitable for vegetable oil fuel, even though the XUD itself is one of the best engines for it.
On its launch, the R8 200 was one of the few new designs in the small family car class. For instance, Ford's Escort had been around since 1980, (with a facelift in early 1986) and Vauxhall's Astra was unchanged from its 1984 launch. Indeed, the only major European competitors that had been around for less than five years were the Peugeot 309, Renault 19 and Fiat Tipo. However, the Escort, Astra and Golf had all been replaced by the start of 1992.
On average, up to 110,000 Rover 200 and 400 (R8) models were sold each year, more than half being sold in Britain. The 214 won What Car?'s 1990 "Car of the Year", but was not considered for the 1990 European Car of the Year award as it was not yet available on the required number of European markets for it to be shortlisted.
In the autumn of 1993, the 200 received a mild facelift, featuring redesigned front indicator lights, but unlike its 400 sibling, which was also facelifted at the same time, the car did not feature a new grille (which Rover reintroduced on the 1992 R17 facelift of the Rover 800) or new body coloured bumpers. This led to some owners retro-fitting the 400's new grille on to the 200. In 1993 Rover finally added the new grille and body coloured bumpers to the 200 range.
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