Category: City Cars 
Price Range: No data available
Cheap, roomy, lively engine, your chance to support a struggling British company.
Citroen C2, Skoda Fabia, Fiat Panda... even the aged Ford Ka and Rover's own 25 are much nicer to drive, and feel more modern. And it's not even that cheap once you start adding essential "options" like power steering and ABS brakes.
MG Rover desperately needs a new small car. But not this one.
The cabin's roomy, but even in top-spec versions, it's basic and spartan, and dismal and dreary in its drab greyness. Nasty. The seats are narrow, thinly cushioned and unsupportive to the back and thighs, and there's a constant whine from the transmission. Noise - wind, tyre, engine - is poorly suppressed, and vibrations are not absorbed well at all. It's all rather crude, like being in an early '80s supermini. The ride is better than expected, but the chassis and suspension (specifically tuned by MG Rover engineers for European roads) still doesn't cope that well with broken and rutted surfaces or pot holes, with a tendency towards rattle and bounce. There is more rear legroom in the CityRover than in the Ka, latest Daihatsu Charade or Citroen C2, for example, and no shortage of headroom, either. The boot is a respectable size, and although the cabin is narrow, there's more elbowroom than in, say, a Daewoo Matiz. Not bad on this score. The CityRover is considerably shorter than the Rover 25, but feels much roomier inside. We couldn't check this out, as the stereo in the car we tested hadn't been properly wired or tuned-in. But we're not holding out much hope... Solo models get a radio/cassette player with four speakers, Select, Sprite and Style get a single-slot CD. No sat-nav, no other gadgets or telecoms kit.
