Those who are fond of older British cars and prefer not to stretch their wallets too often will quickly end up with Rovers from the 80s and 90s. After all, there was a collaboration with Honda at the time and this 213 from 1989 is a good example of this.
You have to search quite a bit to find another third-generation Honda Civic, or one of its relatives, such as the CRX or Shuttle. It’s even more special when you meet his British cousin; a Rover from the first 200 series, Techzle reader Koen Smit experienced it! The 200 series was one of Rover’s last achievements under British Leyland and the thinking behind it made sense. The British understood that you could turn to the Japanese for reliable technology and that the Honda Civic was also a huge success, offered good hope for a Rover that shared its base with it. That idea was already put into practice with the Triumph Acclaim and also with its successor.
The first-generation Rover 200 series, which, unlike the Civic, only came on the market as a sedan, had some similarities with the Honda, but Rover had definitely done more with it than simply sticking its own logos on the Honda. Compared to the Honda Civic sedan (or Ballade) of the third generation, which is not available here, the Rover got its own nose and butt, for Rover enough to speak of a development in collaboration with Honda. Rover also did not just grab the same engine list as Honda. The Rover came with only two options: a 1.3 or a 1.6.
The copy that we see here in the photos has the 1.3 under the hood, so the ‘name’ 213 immediately gives away. A modest petrol power source from the shelves of Honda, which provides the Rover with 71 hp of power, weighing just under 900 kilos. Shifting is done with a manual gearbox (again from Honda) with five gears. A pleasant yet modest drivetrain. Those who wanted a little more could go for the 216, then you got a 1.6 in the nose that was developed by the Austin Rover Group itself. Incidentally, it was available with the same manual gearbox as with the 213, but in various markets also with a four-speed automatic from ZF. Anyone who wanted an automatic transmission in the 213 had to rely on a three-speed Honda. In the Netherlands you had the 213 SE.
The Rover we see here is the 213 S, the entry-level version. It is clear that it ended up with a loving owner. It looks almost spotless and otherwise the ‘I love British automobiles’ sticker makes that clear. He or she is certainly not the only one who is crazy about that, but perhaps the only one with such a nice 213!