USED Rover 45 Saloon (99 - 05)

My car

This car is lifeless and weak unless it is grafted hard, but then fuel consumption is heavy when worked. It has mismatched interior trim quality, horrid column switches, good handling and a fair ride. In all, it's hopelessly outclassed but somehow oddly eye-catching. The saloon is better looking than the wishy-washy five-door version.

My car

I have had this car for over two years now and its a 2004 facelifted model. It's a stylish car to look at, in a fabulous ski blue paint finish, certainly striking against the mass of euro-hatch Gold/Astra/Focus clones. Its been absolutely faultless and its such a shame Rover had gone, plus the 45 was also found to be the 2nd most reliable used car in the UK - some achievement considering the number of more modern rivals. A very good car

My car

What a lot of twaddle is printed about Rover cars. Most of the criticism is purely hearsay from a badly-informed press, or from those who seem to be predjudiced against Rover.

If they took the time to compare Rovers record with other mid-range priced manufacturers (for example, Vauxhall) they would find that problems with these other makers cars abound but are kept low-key. I have had three modern Rovers: a 416Si, a 45 1.8 auto and a 45 1.8 manual.

All of these cars have sharper, more precise steering, a better controlled ride, more comfortable seats, better performance and are more economical on fuel than any Vauxhall I have driven - and that's quite a few. So they have quite a bit going for them for the average motorist.

Yes, I had a few problems with the Rovers, but I also did with the Vauxhalls. I will concede that they don't compare with Audi/Volkswagen, Mercedes and so on (BMW are most overated in my opinion), but neither do the running costs.

My car

I've just got a Rover that's got 6K miles on the clock and its knackered. It's more like a car with 160K on the clock!

The panels dont fit properly with large gaps, it squeaks to high heaven, the gearstick knocks the surrounding panel out the way every time I change gear, the fittings look like they were made in 1975 and the steering wheel is more akin to a rudder than actually steering the car.

It handles like a souffle and the panels / doors feel as though they are made from old beer cans!

No wonder they went out of business.