J738 UPB
1992 Rover 214Si
Bought: September 2000 for £750, 91,000 miles
Sold: November 2000 for £1,000, 92,000 miles
Silly me though, I thought at £750 I'd made a killing, I could sell it on in six months for over a grand, these Rovers are good cars you know and sell well, and hang on why has the car stopped and I can't start it again?
This was because the cambelt had snapped 20 miles after I bought it. £750 later (yep, that's the same price as the car itself) and I had a working engine again. Damn good working engine as it happens - fastest 1.4 I'd ever driven at the time, smooth and relatively economical. Nice wood trim on the dashboard too, and someone had fitted a decent Kenwood stereo.
These Rovers are quite good cars (helluva lot better than an Escort of the same age anyway, not much of a recommendation though), but don't buy a three door (unless it's a sporty one, as no-one wants to buy them), don't get one without power steering and don't get one that's not been looked after, because you'll have lots of niggly little problems with things like the central locking. No problems with rust though.
So bizarrely when I bought the Civic I still had the Prelude as well as this Rover. Ever tried trading in two cars at a dealer? They quoted £700 for the Rover which I thought was too low, so I bunged it in the Freeads at £1,195 and eventually found someone who bought it for a bag of sand. At last I was back to one car again, and everyone was happy for a bit. Especially Jo when I came back home and stuck fifty £20 notes on the dining room table! So I know what to do next time I need to get her in a really good mood...