If you have found a genie, and for some unimaginable reason, wound up wishing for an infinite supply of head gaskets, you should probably get yourself a Rover 25.

Back in 1999, when Britain was still producing cars, the Rover 25 arrived on the scene, and was a British gentlemen’s car. Not necessarily a car for British gentlemen, but it’s slow, full of plastic, occasionally breaks down and wheezes like a smoker, just like your average British gentleman.

Despite being owned by the German automotive company BMW, when the Rover 25 was released, Rover was always one of the few brands of cars your racist family member would actually still get into. This is because Rover has always been quintessentially British and sits up on a pedestal with other British icons, like Ant and Dec, the King or H from Steps.

The Rover 25 then paved the way for another icon, especially within the hot hatch scene, the Rover 25 GTi.

Back in 1999, when the hot hatch scene was littered with Peugeot 106 GTis, 306 GTis and Citroen Saxos, the 25 GTi could definitely hold its ground with its sharp chassis and responsive steering. Even with its engine’s seemingly endless issues.

The Rover 25 GTi was fitted with a 1.8-litre K-Series engine with Variable Valve Control which was prone to more mechanical failures than stars in the sky. These issues included cylinder head gasket failure, a noisy VVC mechanism, the potential for overheating from coolant system issues, faulty coil packs leading to misfires and poor acceleration and so much more. 

These issues were also present within the original Rover 25, but with the GTi version being more of a laddish hot hatch the way they were being driven made them more susceptible to these problems. 

The Rover 25 GTi was therefore just a souped up hot hatch version of the Rover 25, which in turn was just a facelifted Rover 200, but its creation likely came about in an attempt to sell more cars at a higher rate in face of growing financial concerns Rover was experiencing at the start of the 2000s. Ultimately, it failed to save the company as it went bust in 2005.

Top speed	126 mph
0-60 mph	13.5 seconds
How many units were sold	115,000
Cost when new	£12,000
Head gasket failures per mile	3.8

Therefore, the Rover 25 is our car of the week. I was reminded of it after watching the kettle boil over, which reminded me of how frequently this car overheats. But the Rover 25 is proof that steam power can still work.

“2001 Rover 25 1.6 Club” by peterolthof is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.

Tags

dan, boland, dan boland, rover, 25, head gasket, british, gentleman, h, king, ant, dec, gti, citroen, saxo, peugeot, 306, 106, vvc, variable valve control, k-series, engine problems, issues, hot hatch, over heating