Rover 400 / 45

The Rover 400 Series, and later the Rover 45, are a series of

Honda petrol engines were used in some Rover models, while the market competitive Rover L-series diesel engine was used from the mid-1990s in Hondas, before they designed their own diesel engine.^[1]

Rover 400 (R8; 1990–1998)

The original 400 Series, launched in 1990 as a four-door

An estate — or station wagon — version was subsequently developed by Rover Special Products and introduced in the summer of 1994.^[2] Badged as the Rover 400 Tourer, this remained in production alongside the second-generation 400 until 1998, as no estate version of the latter car was built. Many of the 400 Tourers were exported to Japan.

The R8 Rover 200 and 400 were the first applications of Rover's

These engines were installed instead of the non-electronically controlled Bosch HPVE Direct Injection Rover MDi / Perkins Prima used in the Austin Maestro and Montego, as that engine, with its noisy combustion but lower fuel consumption, was deemed too unrefined for the new models.

A mid-life facelift in September 1993 (also applied to the Rover 200) saw the reintroduction of the Rover grille, which first reappeared on the R17 facelift of the

The second-generation 400 Series, codenamed Theta or HH-R, was launched in 1995 as a hatchback and later as a saloon. It was based on the Honda Domani, which had been released in Japan in 1992, and was sold as part of the European Honda Civic range in five-door hatchback form. It was no longer as closely related to the 200 Series, which was revised independently by Rover but still shared many components with the 400. It would prove to be the final collaborative model between Rover and Honda, ending a partnership that had begun with the Triumph Acclaim in 1981.

Power came from 1.4- and 1.6-litre

The Rover 400 might have been marketed as a small family car, as it compared closely in size and engine range with contemporary models such as the

The related Honda Civic was not sold as a saloon in the UK, although a four-door version was available in other markets. This helped to expand the appeal of the Rover model into the executive car segment, and to better differentiate the two cars.

The second-generation 400 was initially popular, being one of Britain's best-selling cars between 1995 and 1997. However, within three years it was being outsold by traditionally poorer-selling cars, such as the Volkswagen Passat and Renault Laguna.

Rover 45 (1999–2005)

The Rover 400 was given a facelift in 1999, becoming the Rover 45. It was repositioned and priced to compete with the

The 1.4- and 1.6-litre K series petrol and 2.0-litre L series diesel engines were carried over from the 400 Series, along with the introduction of a 1.8 K series and a 2.0-litre V6 from the larger Rover 75 (replacing the 2.0 T series four-cylinder petrol unit) – although this power unit was only available on saloon versions. The 45 came equipped with the better seating of the 75 and whilst the 400 models handled very well, the suspension was tuned to give much better controlled ride characteristics with quicker steering.

The 45 was available with

Production of the car stopped in April 2005, due to MG Rover's bankruptcy. Honda swiftly terminated the licensing agreement with MG Rover - (thus ending the last vestiges of the alliance between the two companies that had begun in 1980 with the Triumph Acclaim) and removed the remaining tooling and assembly lines for the car from Longbridge prior to its sale to Nanjing Automotive, which meant that no versions of the Rover 45/MG ZS were ever produced by Nanjing Automotive.

Security Ratings

Rover 45 models were tested on three occasions by Thatcham's New Vehicle Security Ratings (NVSR) organisation, and achieved the following ratings:^[3]

01/00–12/02	Rating
Theft of car:
Theft from car:

01/03–03/04	Rating
Theft of car:
Theft from car:

04/04–05/05	Rating
Theft of car:
Theft from car:

Powertrain

These were the engines available for the Rover 400 (1995–1999) and Rover 45 (2000–2005):^[4][5]

Replacement model projects

R30

During the end of the 1990s, replacements for the

It is possible that some of the development work may eventually have benefited the BMW 1 Series.^[7]

RD/X60

Following the termination of the R30 Project, from 2001,

During the design process, MG Rover's design partner Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) went into administration. MG Rover lost access to most of the computer aided design work for their new vehicle. Efforts were made to reclaim these from the administrators, however, the resulting uncertainty and delays made it impossible to progress with the project.

The abortive

Media related to Rover 400 and Rover 45 at Wikimedia Commons