Trader Dreamer: Rover 200 BRM LE

This time around ‘Trader Dreamer’ is one rather personal to me. This is a car I’ve wanted for several years now, and with prices obscenely low at the moment, this appears to be the time to buy a car that could very well appreciate. What this limited edition car desperately needs is more caring owners, while some have such luxury, many turn up for breaking or with questionable engine conversions. The car is the Rover 200 BRM LE and my plea to you is save one for me, and sell it for the current price in a few years, ta. 

This special edition Rover has a lot going for it, can you really argue a 142bhp hot hatch equipped with an limited slip differential for under a grand? You certainly could at the cars £18,000 original asking price it seemed. Rover had great difficulty shifting the cars, with many left unsold when the 25 appeared in 1999. Impressively bad when production was limited to just 795 units, 350 of which went abroad. Why didn’t it sell? Well like every other Rover since the R8 200/400 a combination of factors deprived it the sales it could have achieved. Probably one of the biggest was the price, a common problem for Rovers at the time. Management had deluded themselves that every car they made could compete with the class above, so the supermini sized 200 fought cars like the 306 and the Ford Focus sized 400 battled the Mondeo. For less than the BRM you could drive the well respected 306 GTI-6 out of the showroom, not only that but the French hatchback came with more equipment, Rover had the cheek of charging extra for air conditioning, CD player and a passenger airbag. Inevitably the price fell, eventually to a more realistic £14,000.

Of course you did get the lovely 16 valve 142bhp Variable Valve Control engine combined with the TorSen Limited Slip Differential, from the earlier 2.0 turbo Rovers. Unlike the 2.0 turbo, the 1.8 k-series is a light, all aluminium engine with an appealing 7000 rpm red line, it was good enough for the Lotus Elise. While in isolation the Rover 200 was a tidy handling car, thrust into the hot hatch category it found itself up against cars like the Peugeot 106 Rallye, and the 306 GTi-6, so when the inevitable group tests came, the Rover lost out. It’s worthy of note that the BRM concept shown at the 1997 Frankfurt Motor Show featured noticeably lower suspension and fatter tyres. Whether the removal of these from the production car was a result of cost saving or BMW’s belief that Rover should not be making sporty cars is open to debate. Perhaps for the same reasons, the BRM also received next to zero marketing.

The later MG ZR would prove that with the right suspension settings the car could have been sportier, but while the MG came from an era of heavy handed cost cutting the BRM came from rather healthier times. The Rovers interior was one of fine quality materials, the most obvious being the red quilted leather that adorned much of the interior. Perhaps an ‘acquired’ taste, but one that to my eyes looks great. Aluminum adorned the heater controls, their surround and the dashboard, it would be hard to call the interior dark. Externally the changes included sliver rubbing strips and wing mirrors, and the unique orange lower grille that harked back to 1960’s racing cars that many could not remember. Several dealers thought this was robbing sales, as a result many grilles were resprayed silver or British Racing Green, the only body colour available on the BRM.

With only 750 manufactured the car has failed thus far to become a collectors item, when I first looked at getting one a few years back prices were around £2k for a decent one, reflecting the cars rarity. Now there are only a couple of cars available at that price, which seems optimistic against the majority priced at around £800. Yet the car is only getting rarer, howmanyleft.co.uk reckons on only 358 still licensed. At this price point many owners will not be bothered with proper maintenance, and we all know what often becomes of the K-series engine if not looked after. So why not obtain one of these rare cars, at some point the prices must surely go up! While in the meantime you can enjoy ownership of a very rare and capable hot hatch.

Here’s Some I Found

Theoretically the cheapest currently available this eBay auction sits at £600 at the time of writing. It’s certainly cleaned up nicely and has an average 86k miles showing on the clock. Rusty arches are common on these cars, and will need attention, while the head gasket has been replaced. Regardless of this make sure to check for any signs of head gasket failure, ‘mayo’ under the oil or water filling caps being an easy static check. While the longer the test drive the better to expose any temperature issues. The seller does not mention the cam belt either, so check this has been done. Adding to the cars appeal is the fitment of air con and a passenger air bag.

Equally cheap is this spares or repair BRM. Unfortunately the cam belt has slipped, leading to engine damage. The rest of the car is in average condition. The price seems heady, especially as, if the sticker on the boot is to believed, the car has something to do with a garage which clearly considers it too much grief to repair. If i were to buy it I'd be budgeting for a new engine, or at least a significant portion of one, so one only for the brave and experienced hagglers. It also comes with some mods that may or may not be your taste, but could be easily undone.

A mere £750 gets you this relatively low mileage car, with 66k showing on the clock. Seller seems honest, and describes a ‘brake pulse’ problem that would need further investigation. No mention of servicing, belt, or gasket replacement so look out for that. The car does appear clean and original however.

At £795 this car from a dealer seems to be good value. Having been in the last owners hands for 9 years is encouraging, the dealer claims the head gasket and cambelt has been done, check on when and make sure you get an extra long test drive.

For a £1,495 asking price you’d hope for a better description than this ad provides. The car does have a lower mileage of 58k however, and looks to be tidy from the photo’s. Do all the checks but even if it is good you should be able to get the price down.

The two cars i mentioned at the £2k mark are seemingly worse than the cars at half the price, but if you want you can view them here and here.

Specifications

Rover 200 BRM LE
0-60 7.5 seconds
0-100 22.2 seconds
Top Speed 127mph
Power 142bhp @ 6900rpm
Torque 128lb ft @ 4500rpm
Weight 1080kg
Insurance Group 14
MPG 37
Warranty Direct Reliability Index N/A
How Many Left 358