At a party on the other side of Kensington High Street last Saturday I met a lady who was trying to persuade her young nephew to help her get rid of an N reg Rover 416, taxed and MoTed until August I think.
She said it was good and respectable looking and hadn't had any head gasket or overheating problems. She didn't know if the engine was a K series but didn't think it was a Honda. She said she hoped to get £300 for it.
Sounded like my sort of car. I almost arranged to go and look at it but reflected that my K reg Ford, although not pretty, may be less hassle to maintain. But may not of course. And even these late Rovers have interiors that are charming in a way, certainly visually preferable to Ford ones.
Is the 416 a pile of carp, or was I silly to pass it up? The owner said it had covered 80,000 miles, a bit more than half my car's mileage.
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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rover_K_engine#1600
I'm pretty sure that all automatic Rover 400 1600 have the Honda engine, though:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rover_400#Rover_400_Mark_II_...9
Edited by oldnotbold on 20/05/2009 at 17:31
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Looks as if I was silly not to have a look at least. How annoying.
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The engine 1.6 fitted to my 1998 Rover 400 was a K Series. I still maintain that this was one of the most underrated engines out there. It was advanced when it was first released and is still lighter and more advanced than many current engines. Like the Rover (Buick) V8, it was used by other manufacturers because of its lightness and flexibility. Apparently West Surrey Racing said they could squeeze it out to 2 litres and 300 BHP @ a lowly 7000 RPM. Not sure if this ever saw the light of day though.
Signed
An ardent K Series fan.
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Who cares? As longs as its had its coolant changes and not been driven hard the HG should be fine. It was the 1.8 which mainly suffered. I would never pay a lot for a car witha K series engine but at £300 there is a good chance the HG will go on any car you buy.
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I would have had a punt. Thats the era when they were making some OK stuff thanks to the tie up with Honda
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Very good ride comfort but quite low geared steering I seem to recall.
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Lud,
I think you've more or less got it in your original post.
The Rover would be a nicer place to be in, but your Escort is probably simpler to maintain.
Assuming both cars were in similar condition, I'd rather have the Rover, much as I like Fords.
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It woudl also depend on how rusty underneath both cars too. I would imagine the K reg Escort is quite rusty by now.
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>>It woudl also depend on how rusty underneath both cars too.
The 400's seem to rust on the dog leg of the rear arches and thats about it - much the same as the Honda version! Its not all that common though but expect they will all go there eventually!
If it is a bubble 416 - which I think it will be if its a 1996 then it will be the K series if its a manual or a Honda if its an auto. Personally, I think the k series is a great engine and other than poorly maintained ones popping head gaskets they are very reliable - nice and powerful as well as returning good mpg!
I have done over 200,000 miles in varying k series cars and ran our last one to 149,000 and only one headgasket - caused by me driving 400 miles with a radiator leaking like a sieve - lesson learned that no water causes all sorts of problems!!
They are not as bad as people make out and thats a good thing - for me at least - as my TF with the 160 engine is almost as much fun as you can have for the 9K I bought it for at 3 years old!
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I could be talking through my hat here - but wasn't N-reg the time (c. 1995) that the shape changed?
416s that were the saloon version of the 216 had the Honda engine: the 214 / 414 had a BL engine, same as in the Metro / Rover 100. I think the K-series emgfien came in when the 400 was a larger hatchback than the 200, but a differene shape altogether which beczme the 25 and 45.
Am I right or is memory too fickle a thing?
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AFAIK all 89-95 Rover 416 will have an Honda engine as will 95- automatics. Manual versions of 95- will have Rover K series. The Honda engines are installed the opposite way round with the cambelt on passenger side (as viewed from front of car) whereas most transverse cars have cambelt of drivers side.
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