Hi guys.

Having never owned a rover I dont know this is a good deal or not? He's asking 3,000 for a BRM.

PLEASE SEE: http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/59231.htm

(Technically I have owned a rover as my last car was a civic vti 1.8 which is basically a rover 400 engine with a fast ******* honda engine. hehe)


Price wise is this good? I have visited parkers and they say it should be a lot less, I think he has up'd the price due to the modifications, but should I travel the 70 miles to view it or just walk past?

The miles are quite low however when I spoke to the owner he has had it for 7 months and not serviced it throughout this period nor doesnt know if the head gasket has ever been replaced in its life. I forgot to ask about the cambelt and water pump as i've been told these are vital for a BRM to survive...

Its had some mods done so could have been thrashed??? I know its hard to tell if it has just by the desc and picture os im not asking should I buy it or not, but using your rover BRM experience does this look a worthwhile purchase???

Thank you!

If you cannot display the link then here it is below:

ROVER BRM 1.8 16V VVC.
Remote Central Locking,
Electric Windows/Sunroof/Mirrors.
Full Service History,
MOT til Sept 06. Taxed til may 06
1.8vvc K-Series engine,
160 Throttle Body (alloy 52mm),
Janspeed Exhaust,
ITG Box Filter,
Strut Brace,
4x new Dunlop tyres,
Still have original Throttle Body, AirBox & Filter etc, which will go with the car.
Has the original orange nose... and the usual Blood Red Leather interior with Alloy trimmings.

56,000 miles.
3,000 GBP.

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/images/59231-1.jpg

Hi, and welcome to the boards :) To be honest, I would be wary of buying any car where the last owner has only kept it a matter of months. If the car has a full service history (as stated) & has been serviced in line with manufacturers recommendations then the cambelt will have been done already. The K-series head gasket issue.... it's not like they all go bang you know. If I was searching for a used Rover I would ask whether the gasket had been done but I wouldn't take a yes or no answer as good news - just check for any cross contamination of the oil/coolant.

Thanks for the quick reply. When I asked him why he only had it for a short period he stated that he travelled to work in it doing 40 miles a day so was getting rather expensive. I actually forgot to ask him if he had done the modifications himself, I think that would be a deciding factor on whether or not the sale was 100% ler-jit (spelling?).

I once bought a modified clio 16v. Only had induction kit mind and exhaust, but I needed to replaced the gearbox and brakes after three weeks. Im still wary on buying anything with a modification.

Whats an 'ITG Box Filter'. First thoughts say 'panel filter' but then at the end he says he including the original airbox and filter, so does it have some sort of forced air box similar to a viper?

Sorry for all the questions, but I've fallen in love with the BRMs and I don't want to waste all my money on a lemon..

Hi,
Price seems pretty high to me, mods never add anything pricewise they just make it awkward to insure. Plenty of VVC coupes on autotrader for less (virtually identical performance bar LSD and slightly quicker (0.3secs?) to 60 in BRM).

Bye,
-- Andrew

Hi,
Price seems pretty high to me, mods never add anything pricewise they just make it awkward to insure. Plenty of VVC coupes on autotrader for less (virtually identical performance bar LSD and slightly quicker (0.3secs?) to 60 in BRM).

Bye,
-- Andrew

I hate the coupes. I want something cheap but something that stands out. A classic you could say....BRM! And o.3 seconds means nothing to me. Im coming from a smart car so couldnt give a hoot about traffic light grand prix status.

I hate the coupes. I want something cheap but something that stands out. A classic you could say....BRM! And o.3 seconds means nothing to me. Im coming from a smart car so couldnt give a hoot about traffic light grand prix status.

Fair enough if you know what you want. I like my VVC coupe too! Luggage and rear seating is admittedly rubbish though!

Good luck with the BRM. If you're really not sure, £100ish will get an inspection of it from the AA/RAC...and don't forget the HPI check (£40 from the AA I think).

Bye,
-- Andrew

The private sale price seems to be all over the place with BRMs. I've been looking now for around a month and they are few and far between. There was one the other week for 2,995 with 74k on the clock, this is 3,000 with 56k, both private sales. Its crazy...I thought 3k for this on was cheap?

as long as its been looked after then it should be fine there are no reall isues with a brm as its runing with the stronger gearbox of the 2 fited to the bubles.

main things to look for is oil/water contamination
engine noise the VVC use the presher of the oil in the engine to power the VVc system so if its missed services or oil changes they can clog up the mechernisums makeing them noise but they do make more nose than a normal K i belive.
check the rear washer jet still works and that all the electric still work at the back as they can rubtroughin the boot hatch.

the service history needs checking as at 56K it may have had its belts forgoton as they are 6years 60K i think not the cheepest job as its a twin belt set up.
the fact he has said its not had a service is a good bargening chip if you still like the car to cut the price.


try finding the neares MGR dealer to the bloke then on the day ask if he minds if you take the car there for an inspection as they all useually do a Vehical Condition Report (VCR) and these are ueually nice and cheep as they are after work insit that they do an under body insepction and a break report. this has other advantages as well as they should be abel to give feedback on the engine as they shhould be fermilier with it and if the car is local it may have been servised there befor so they will have the record there if it hasent use the dealer stamp in the book and phone the serviceing dealer up and check that the work was carred out and not facked as this will be loged on ther PC.

as for being raged the K series engine loves revs and the VVc loves them even more so it fairly hard to kill them from being driven enthusiatically as long as they are maintaned.

so is it worth 3K?? if it passes a HPI and an inspection of some kind (AA/RAC/MGR) and has had the belts changed, proberly not but not far off im saying this just down to the servising issue as its will proberly east 2-400 for a service out of that so 3K-a service is not way off as they are rare as rocking horse poo

I wonder if that's john_w's old car, he's on this forum and has a ZS180 now but used to have a BRM and is from North Wales I think, he sold it roughly that time ago too.

Try sending him a PM, if it was his car he can tell you about it.

I would be checking the gasket situation very carefully though seeing as it's being sold on after being with the current owner a very short time. Probably just paranoia, but you never know...

£3k is expensive for a BRM.

that car looks very familiar - with the dtm pipes too.

yeah, 3k is too much :(

sad really as they are sooooooo nice!

Well just by looking at the car it looks like its been looked aftered at one time cuz the foot mats it has are custom made mats and are quite expencive at £100+ i do belive i want a set for mine. It all depends on how much you want the car dont it, but Ebay does have some proper cheep ones with low milage.

and indeed it is jon_w's old one - just checked my e-mails and I did an insurance quote on it - I was arranging to go up and view it at the weekend but it sold a few days before :(

here http://forums.mg-rover.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=17884 if you are interested!

Does anyone have john_w's email? msn? phone number? Would be interesting to find out a little more about the car.

send him a PM and he should get a notification via e-mail

OOo found this by john_w...

"I sold mine this summer to a lad at work, & it really depresses me to see it in the car park when he doesn't look after it anything like I used to. It is just another car to him! I miss driving it loads, it is such great fun to drive, but having replaced it with a ZS 180 makes it a bit easier to bare!
ECU is the same as Vi although the brake master cylinder is uprated over the Vi's. Poly Tie bar bushes removes the small amount of standard torque steer.
They should be run on the standard Dunlop SP9000's as it is a different car with different rubber!
Very few (rumoured only 75) were produced with air con so good luck finding one. Insurance is group 16 so can be expensive if your young, although the lad at work is 21, no NCB, payin just under £1300 FC. so not too bad. Just make sure it has a sound service history if you do find a good one as the VVC engine can be costly to repair if you have problems. So make sure the cambelts (yes both of 'em) have been changed (due at 60,000/5 yrs)"

Cant wait to get mine :D

OOo found this by john_w...

"I sold mine this summer to a lad at work, & it really depresses me to see it in the car park when he doesn't look after it anything like I used to. It is just another car to him! I miss driving it loads, it is such great fun to drive, but having replaced it with a ZS 180 makes it a bit easier to bare!
ECU is the same as Vi although the brake master cylinder is uprated over the Vi's. Poly Tie bar bushes removes the small amount of standard torque steer.
They should be run on the standard Dunlop SP9000's as it is a different car with different rubber!
Very few (rumoured only 75) were produced with air con so good luck finding one. Insurance is group 16 so can be expensive if your young, although the lad at work is 21, no NCB, payin just under £1300 FC. so not too bad. Just make sure it has a sound service history if you do find a good one as the VVC engine can be costly to repair if you have problems. So make sure the cambelts (yes both of 'em) have been changed (due at 60,000/5 yrs)"


I'm sure that was from my thread a couple of months ago. The BRMs look quality cars and are quite special, 795 made i think. If finances allow i'll be looking for one in june.

The ones on autotrader with low milage, 30k and under are going for 3.5k to just over 4k. there was a thread on here a couple of days ago about a mint one with only 2.5k on the clock, completely standard!!!! The way it was going it looked as if it was gonna go for over 5k.

I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that they'll be some decent ones in june!

Advertised price and selling price are two completely different things.

3 in the last 6 months have been advertised in my area. All for 3-4k and none sold for more than £2.5k in fact one still hasn't sold as the best offer was £2k for a V plater.

There seems to be a few people after these at the moment, I wouldn't mind one myself they have grown on me over the years :)

Can't really justify one as well as the ZS though :doh: