botach wrote:
Sixy - was he talking about the 1.4/1.6 rover K series. Believe they have a healthy appetite for amongst other things -head gaskets.Daughter has Rover 24(1.4) now looking for second HG and son in law has had similar experiences, and has heard similar tales.
Edit should have been rover 25 -
That's right. Worst cars I've ever owned. I bought two, trying to be patriotic, and the head gasket went on both. In fact, lots of what I call
niggle things went faulty which didn't actually leave me stranded but nonetheless are still faults. The electric wing mirror wouldn't work, the sunroof packed in, the heater wouldn't work on number two so it was all or nothing. I could go on...
The job to get the head done costs £250 but it's a design flaw so it's not a cure but a stay of execution. I got rid of the second Rover, part exchanged it for my Mazda, before I had to put my hand in my pocket yet again. Best thing I ever did.
Britain can't mass produce good reliable products. Never could, never will. I got sick of being burned for buying British and I'm sorry to say it but I am tarnished for life. It's a shame because I understand Triumph, for instance, make fantastic motorbikes by a passionate and dedicated work force but I still daren't buy one any more than I would a Micra made in Sunderland.
The moral of this story - If you want the best in reliability you have to buy Japanese. They take great pride in their work. British people dont, as a generalisation of course. Every year in the league of reliability stats Mazda are in the top and have been so for some twenty years, next to Lexus, Toyota etc...
Glad yours has been good though Sixy
Sorry to have gone off the subject...