Rover 100 series

rover
Rover 114 GTi (1990-1994)
100
Production period:	1990-1998
Class :	Small car
Body versions :	Station wagon , convertible
Engines:	Otto engines : 1.1–1.4 liters (44–76 kW) Diesel engines : 1.4–1.5 liters (37–40 kW)
Length:	3521-3565 mm
Width:	1550-1562 mm
Height:	1370-1395 mm
Wheelbase :	2270 mm
Empty weight :	790-930 kg
Previous model	Austin Metro
successor	City Rover

Rover 100 series is the name for small cars that the British car manufacturer MG Rover Group brought onto the market in the spring of 1990. They replaced the Rover Metro and were manufactured until the end of 1998. The series consisted of three- and five-door hatchback sedans , which were joined by a two-door convertible in the spring of 1994 .

technology

The mechanics of the vehicles were partially taken over by the Metro, which had already lost the Austin brand name in 1984. The innovations were a 1.1-liter machine with 44 kW (60 PS) and 8 valves, a 1.4-liter machine with 8 valves and 55 kW (75 PS) and a 1.4-liter machine with 16 valves, 66 kW (90 PS) and later 76 kW (103 PS). The engines came from the newly developed Rover K series, which had been introduced in 1990. The 5-speed gearbox and the diesel engines with initially 1.4 and later 1.5 liter displacement, as in the Citroën AX , came from Peugeot . The petrol engines were available with electronic petrol injection (single point / multipoint) and regulated 3-way catalytic converters.

The wheels, suspended at the front on double wishbones and at the rear on swing arms, were suspended by a nitrogen- filled spring ball on each wheel , the rear suspension elements were connected to one another by a hydraulic line. This "hydragas" system was maintenance-free and could be raised or lowered by any rover workshop as required by draining or filling hydraulic fluid. It was the successor to BMC's Hydrolastic , which was introduced in 1962 with the Morris 1100 ( BMC ADO16 ). The system was so simple and reliable that it was still used in the 1995 MG F. The more powerfully motorized versions also had stabilizers at the front and rear and gas pressure shock absorbers at the front.

Facelift

In the spring of 1994, the exterior also underwent some changes to hide the age of the basic construction. There were new bumpers at the front with recessed cooling air intake, new headlights with clear glass indicators, plastic wheel arch linings at the front, rocker panels on the sporty GTa and the later GTI models, a new rear bumper, a new trunk handle, as well as new rear lights and a new tailgate and new moldings. A new color palette and chrome applications for the higher-quality models, which were provided as GS versions with wood on the thoroughly revised dashboard, as well as wood on the door panels and leather seats.

The interior had also been redesigned. The car had been given larger and more comfortable seats from the Rover 200 at the front , as well as new door panels and a new fabric headliner to convey quality and luxury, and to match the car with the other models in the Rover range. The seating position had been improved, as the track width had been changed slightly and the distances between the pedals had been increased a little. This also meant that the position of the steering wheel became steeper, as is usual in modern cars, so that the flat, almost horizontal, steering wheel position of the Mini was a thing of the past. However, since nothing fundamentally changed in the basic concept, the car was already considered too small compared to most of its more modern competitors.

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  Rover 111 three-door (1994-1998)

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  Rear view

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  Rover 114 GSi five-door (1994-1998)

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  Rover 114 Convertible (1994-1998)

Overall, the Rover 100 series was seen as a makeover of a limited-budget car that was the leader in its class when it originally appeared. At the beginning of the 100 series, the model was temporarily able to keep up with other models, especially in terms of driving behavior, maneuverability, liveliness and economy. In the course of its “second life”, however, it was pushed out of the market by more modern competitors. The deficits became visible in areas such as rust protection, processing, space utilization and ultimately accident safety.

Security issues and production cessation

In February 1998 the Rover 100 series reached catastrophic values ​​in the EuroNCAP crash test. In the offset crash , the passenger cell was severely deformed and the driver's airbag in the steering wheel, which had been pushed into the interior, would have pressed the driver's head against the A-pillar. This made it clear that the car couldn't keep up with the more modern competition, which wasn't surprising for a 1970s design.

After the report was released, sales collapsed within a few days and cars that had already been ordered were canceled by customers. Then Rover took the 100 series off the market. It was the end of almost 18 years of production, during which the Rover Metro had been one of the most important British cars and had made a significant contribution to keeping the manufacturer running under various company names alive. The original Rover goal of replacing its ancestor, the Mini, was never achieved by the Rover 100, which debuted under British-Leyland in 1981 as the Austin Mini-Metro. This was produced for another two years until the summer of 2000, but no crash tests were carried out here either.

After the car was discontinued, there was no direct successor to the Rover Metro / Rover 100 series, even if the Rover 200 could have filled this gap from mid-1995. The fact that the car was too big for the targeted clientele and marketed too expensively meant that the model series 100 and 200 were sold in parallel for a while until the 100 series was discontinued at the end of 1998.

After the Rover 200 had been revised at the end of 1999 and renamed the Rover 25 , it was sold as a small car and thus the successor to the 100 series. But only the City Rover , which came on the market in autumn 2003, was comparable in size to the 100.

See also

PSA-TU engine

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/2011/07/23/the-cars-austinmg-metro-development-history/

Web links

Commons : Rover 100 (1995)  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files