IBO: Rover 416 GSi

Your tales of the latest classic car deals. This week, how one reader got a Rover 416 GSi to replace his 1971 Austin.

What made you want a Rover 400?

I used to own a 1971 Austin 1300 MkIII, but Chrissie, my other half, never really did like that car, and so it was sold earlier this summer - though not before it did a fair bit of travelling up and down the country in connection with a house purchase in the spring. So, what to replace the Austin with? Having lived in America for over 30 years before moving back to the UK about 20 years ago, I wasn’t too familiar with pre-2000 European cars in general, but did decide I wanted something a bit more modern and safer than the Austin.

Tell us about this one.

After looking at various cars (including a lovely Citroën BX that was sold the day I was to view it), I saw this 1993 Rover 416 GSi automatic advertised online with almost 73k miles on the clock. After talking to the owner, and considering it was being sold at a very good price, I went to view the car and bought it on the spot.

I drove it home that same day – a journey of some 200 miles, mostly motorway, and the car performed faultlessly. In particular, the temperature gauge never budged from Normal, even though I was cruising well into motorway speeds – and during the heatwave we had in early August. Air conditioning would have been nice though!

Has it been a joy to own?

As the Rover had been recently serviced, including new belts all round and has a new MoT I have not had to do any repair or maintenance work on it (other than topping up the transmission fluid), although I have fitted a high mounted third brake light and daytime running lights to improve safety. At this point the car is in perfect health, with not a speck of rust anywhere, the interior trim is like new, and everything works as it should. The only future work planned is to touch up a couple of minor scrapes on the bumpers, fix a sagging roof liner, and perhaps upgrade the rather feeble horn.

What are your plans for it now?

I plan on keeping this car as both a classic to take to shows and such (which I already have done), and as a car to use on a regular basis. When I think how well this car has lasted, and how well it is built, to me it begs the question of why now these Rovers are so rare - at the last show I attended, with well over 500 cars on display, mine was the only example of the Rover 200/400 series present.