Rover 45

Rover 45 Review (2000)

The Rover 45 is a small front wheel drive family car, first introduced by the British car company Rover in 1999. In fact, this is one of the versions of the 400th series model line, which was launched in 1990. The car is based on the platform of the Japanese Honda Domani sedan, which has been produced since 1992. The predecessor of the Rover 45 was the second generation Rover 400 Mark II. In 1999, the Rover 400 was updated and received the name "45". Initially, the Rover 45 was offered in a 4-door sedan. The wheelbase of the car was 2,620 mm, length - 4,520 mm, width - 1,700 mm, height - 1,390 mm.

For the car Rover 45 was offered several engine options. Inline four-cylinder petrol power units K-Series l4 with volumes of 1.4, 1.6 and 1.8 liters, as well as a 2-liter KV6 V6 gasoline engine with a volume of 2.0 liters and a diesel four-cylinder power unit with a volume of 2.0 liters. As for the transmission, the cars were offered both with a 5-speed manual gearbox and with an automatic transmission Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT, CVT), which was supplied by the German company ZF Sachs AG.

The suspension design with transverse stabilizers for the Rover 45 was also borrowed from its predecessor. However, she received new settings that allowed to significantly improve the handling and reduce the response time to the driver's actions. The brake system of the car included front disc and rear drum brakes.

In the summer of 2001, the Rover 45 version was introduced in a 5-door hatchback body, which went on sale under the name MG ZS.

Until 2003, the Rover 45 was in quite high demand due to a good level of technical equipment, comfort and a nice design. But with the release of new, more modern cars, like the Peugeot 307 and Renault Megane, the 45th, based on the 1992 Honda Domani model, quickly began to lose its popularity.

In 2004, the Rover 45 underwent some external and internal changes. The car received a new design of the front and rear, a new dashboard, as well as some adjustments to the suspension settings. At the same time, the production of the Honda Domani model in Japan was completed.

In April 2005, the production of the Rover 45 was discontinued due to the bankruptcy of MG Rover. Later, MG Rover acquired a Chinese company called Nanjing Automobile.