[Nick214SLi]

I'll start from the top:
My cousin first bought one (214) after driving one of his mates and he wanted one. The gearbox went eventually and he replaced it but then later let his parents (my uncle & auntie) have it after he bought a new car. They then soon realized how much of a good car it was. The gearbox went on it again and they then sold it and bought a newer blue L reg 214. Meanwhile my cousin wrote off his car and bought a 220SLi but then that got stolen (never found). The blue 214 was then sold to my uncles brother and used for work, he then later let his daughter have it and he had her red K reg 214SLi. He used that as works car then eventually bought a van for work and the Rover wasn't used for few months, but he recently bought the business (which is where I also work) and put the car back on the road for work. It was used during the summer then I passed my driving test last week and he gave me the Red 214SLi and bought a Transit.
Long story sorry *laughs*.
I dont think I'd choose any other car for a first run around - there better than small hatchbacks by far, faster and cheaper in the first place.

[Skinny72]

After having my astra burnt out in a multi storey car park, and then snapping the cam belt on my sierra, my boss asked if I was in the market for a car. I ended up with a 214SEi as a company car, well sort of.....I paid the insurance and fuel, he paid for the repairs etc.... fair deal
I finally bought the car off the boss and had it for about 2 years in total until I missed 4th gear on the A331 and found second instead 8 bent valves and a blown head gasket caused me to swap it for a "running" 827 sterling. It drinks like oliver reed and the 214 came back on the market so I bought it back just waiting for the keys so I can pick it up. it hasn't been looked after by the owner who i got it off, so it'll need a bit of tlc, but thats part of the fun of owning 1. I'll get it looking shiny again may even get rid of the dent (small one) and treat her to a re-spray

[Paul_1978_yorks]

My dad bought a year old Rover 214 SLi, reg J259 DSP. It was red and an ex hire car. We had it for a year or so and I remember it being a lovely car.
Then he bought a new 214i in white, reg L143 HCX. This was a bit of a come down because the SLi was much better spec and I remember being disappointed when he brought it home.
His reasoning for the change being that the monthly payments for the new L-reg were cheaper than the J-reg at the time!

The J-reg has not been on the road since 2000 as per the DVLA website, so I suspect it's now scrapped!

L143 HCX no longer exists! In fact after my Dad sold it, he had a call from an insurance company who found out he was the previous keeper. The car had been stolen and written off and they wanted to know a bit about the vehicle.

Then my dad went onto Rover Metros and Vauxhall Corsas!

My first Rover R8 was an SEi in 2002. It was in green and an M reg (M787 OVH), but now carring a private plate and no longer owned by me!
Had 47k on it when I bought it and 98k when sold in 2005.
Had lots of problems with this - head gasket, water pump, central locking probs. I spent nearly £1,700 in repairs/servicing etc whilst I had that one. It's still on the road in Huddersfield somewhere at the moment!

I was Rover-less for a few months, but now have two SEi's which I have discussed elsewhere on the forum.

So that's really how I got into R8's!

Cheers!
Paul, Wakefield

[psychogit]

Long story , short was an area diagnostic technician for MGF from the start, working for a well known Rover/MG main dearler that had been a Rover dearler for over 75 years when someone traded in a very nice and looked after Tahiti 220 Turbo which i purchased for a very nice some and have never looked back.
And When Rover went T#TS up started working for Ferrari/ Maserati then Range Rover and have now finished up being a Jaguar Tech.

But still Love my Rover as you'll see from my pics (hopefully ) when i up load them

[slisteve]

I have always liked the 200 used to have a 213 se auto til jack went through floor and when my rover 100/ metros gearbox got to noisy looked on ebay & found my sli auto lovely car

want a cabbie n a coupe now

[whiskeyonesix]

I got into the R8 by chance really. In november 2005 my `92 Range-Rover had just catastrophically failed the MoT ( still failed, its sitting on my driveway under a cover, waiting for me to ressurect it )

I only worked a few miles away, so a car wasn`t really a necessity BUT I had always liked my workmates rather nice 214i ( You can sort of see where this was going )
Anyhow, the head gasket went on the car, but my mate, lacking the funds to get it sorted, flushed everything through regularly and made sure that it never overheated. I`m told he did around 2000 miles nursing the engine like this.
Anyway, to cut a long story short - He went out and bought an N-plate Vectra rather than sort the 214i out - he`d had it for 2 years and put 40,000 miles on it in that time, and I think he wanted a change. He offered me the 214 for £400 originally, then as the weeks went on, he got more and more desperate to sell it, and I eventually ended up with it for £50!

Done 13,000 miles in it since getting the head done, and its as sweet as a nut now! I`ve had to spend a fair bit on it since getting it, but alot of this really was preventative maintenence - excluding the Alloys and Half-Leather seat of course!
It`s now got 105k on the clock now, and has the usual high-milage battle scars, but I like to think its one of the better "standard" R8s out there!

However, I`ll have to sell it in the next few months sadly, as when I move, I can`t take it with me :(

[Clive216]

I actually wanted a 220 GSi, as my brother had had one, but couldn't find one at the time (October 2001).
Anyhow, after a month or so, on a whim, my girlfriend suggested trying a local used car sales place.
Therein, i saw a '92 216 GTi, in black, with only 77,000 on the clock, for £1500.
Fell in love, bought it, and still have it 20,000 miles later

[j50nde]

Always liked Rover's

When i was growing up there was a Rover dealer about 300 yards from my house,i used to spend hours every week in the show room sitting in the cars dreaming of owning one when i was old enough to drive.

My dad had always had metro's and when i was 8(in 1989)he had a GTa,i loved the car to bits and had made my mind up that one of these would be my first car.I remember being sat at home one saturday afternoon and my mum ringing up to say she had rolled the metro,as you would expect of an 8 year old i was furious with her for 'crashing our car' : ,I remember being in a bad mood for weeks after that until my dad turned up to pick me up in a nearly new racing green 214 Si 8) ,now i did think i was the boy!,this began my love for the R8.my dad kept this 214 for a few years until it was stolen ,a few years passed until he bought another R8,a J reg 214 SLi in flame red,replaced this with an N reg 214 SLi in nightfire red and finally in 1999 replaced this with an R reg 220SD that he still owns....
After passing my test i'd been looking for an R8 but the insurance was ridiculous so i managed to find a 1 owner 39k A-series GTa metro like i'd always wanted ,used this for a year then bought a K reg 214 SLi mpi in ocean blue had this for a few years and used it along with other various cars until the culmination of head gasket failure,a very noisy gearbox and some vandal damage led to me breaking the car for spares :(
up until last december this had been the only R8 i'd owned until a visit to the ex Rover dealer down the road led to me purchasing a J reg flame red 3 door 214 Si for £100 with 3 months tax and m.o.t,as i've got a traders insurance policy i thought it would be an ideal run around however it wasn't without faults: the clutch had started to slip,tickover was uneven,the drivers window mechanism was bent,steering rack had play in it and most of the break pipes were past their best.i did around 1000 miles in the car before the m.o.t ran out and decided that i'd look for a newer 200/400 that needed an engine and use the engine out of this one as it didn't use any oil or water as you would expect from a 70k K-series with full history,searched ebay and found a 68k M reg 214 SLi with a broken cambelt less than 20 miles away,bid blind on it and ended up winning it for £67.went to pick it up a few days later and after a quick look around the car decided it was well worth the effort of an engine change,got the car back to my mates garage and thats where it's been since may...
Until last week when i pulled my finger out and put the engine out of the 3 door in the 5 door,fitted a new cam belt,metal water pipe and clutch,got it all plumbed in and after a little help from the battery charger it started first time,a little clatter from the tappets for 30 seconds as you would expect seeing as the car hadn't been run since may but it all warmed up well with no problems
Going to finish it off this wkend,only need to fit the driveshaft nuts,fill the gearbox up with oil,replace 2 central locking motors and check it over for m.o.t
So the begining of next month i should have it on the road Happy days!

[stringy]

I wanted a honda civic after my saxo died! But i found a rover 214si and fell for it, at first i was like "bah, it's an old mans car" but now i've seen some decent versions of it, i'm gonna keep it and do it up! Maybe go for a 2.0 turbo engine at some point! Turn it into a proper street slag!

[Red Icon]

Even now when I look at a Coupe, they still look as stylish as they ever did. They just don't seem to age style wise. Or perhaps it is just me that thinks this

They do not age their as good looking today as they've always been My wife thinks their the sexiest car ever made, I,m not going to disagree with her CHECK it out.


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