Rover 400 (1995 – 1999) Review
Rover 400 (1995 – 1999) At A Glance
Rover's version of the Honda Civic. Quite well equipped and a reasonable drive in its day.
Head gasket failure on 'K' Series engines. Front suspension bushes wear. Parts, especially some trim, are hard to get.
Model History
January 0001
Honda 'Swindon Civic' in tweed suit, but mostly with Rover's own 'K' Series engines and (Rover claims) better ride and handling. Automatic retained Honda's 1.6 engine and autobox with engine in front of passenger rather than driver.
Available as 5-door hatch or good-looking 4-door saloon (not many good looking saloons in this class).
Falling sales led to cut prices in 1998 with a 1.4Si 16v with alloys selling for £12,000 OTR.
What to watch out for
'K' Series cylinder heads have been known to crack and their head gaskets to fail (look for mayonnaise under oil filler cap).
Timing belt replacement essential on K series every 35,000-40,000 miles or every 3-4 years.
Front suspension bushes tend to wear.
T16 2.0 litre engine apt to coke up its valves if run on cheap petrol with inadequate detergent content.
Misfires on K series commonly caused by failed resistor in rotor arm or by water ingress to coil as well as faulty ECU.
K Series engine water heated inlet manifold 'O' rings tend to perish between 25 - 30,000 miles. Head gasket failure common because very low coolant capacity of engine means small leaks rapidly lead to overheating. 1.8 K Series head gasket failures website link www.shame.4mg.com
R reg cars can suffer from heater switch failures. 1998-2000 petrol models average for breakdowns and problems but poor for faults in 2003 Which survey. Drained batteried may be due to a faulty boot light switch.
A smell of petrol may indicate a rusted and leaking petrol tank - especially on 'N' reg cars (applies to both 'old' and 'new' 'N' reg 400s).
Hatchbacks can rust badly around the hinges of the hatchback.
If has ABS, fuse is on the ABS ECU inside the car and easily dislodged by clothing causing dash to show ABS fault warning.
