Tata's Ironic Gift - 2003 CityRover

The CityRover was the last car to be launched under the once aspirational Rover brand. It's also widely considered to be terrible, so what was it actually like?
The CityRover was a mildly facelifted Tata Indica, but the Indian supermini didn't fare well in Britain.
Patreon: / twincam
Would you like your car to be in a video?
If so, contact me via the links below!
Email: [e-mail]
Instagram: / twincam_vids
Twitter: / ed_westby
TikTok: / twincam_vids
Facebook: / twincamvids

[@jayfo4950]

When I worked for MG Rover I spent 2 months in India at the Tata factory working on a much improved version.... unfortunately it never made it here

[@TwinCam]

Was that what became the CityRover Mk2 that was on its way to Britain when MG Rover went under?

[@jayfo4950]

Twin-Cam yes that’s exactly right. A lot of our time in Pune was spent persuading our Indian colleagues that people actually cared about the way their car looks. They couldn’t comprehend that people washed their own car at the weekend and therefore found all of the imperfections etc. Most Indicars were sold as taxis at the time.....

[@jayfo4950]

W could no longer sell the Rover 100 (Metro) due to the cost of making it crash test compliant and so needed something to fill the gap for volume

[@ivan747100]

@@TwinCam From the AROnline forum blog about the CityRover Mk.2: MG Rover had pencilled in 18 May (2005) for the car’s press debut. That was before black Thursday in early April - by then the first batch of cars had arrived at Portbury docks and were left standing there as MG Rover imploded. Despite that, some 300 of the Mk2 models crept into the UK - later shipments en route were returned to Pune, on the orders of worried Tata management. To cut a long story short, it’s these cars that have now resurfaced with Motorpoint, for instance, buying 900 models from Tata.

[@aakarshchaudhary7359]

I am Indian I can attest to that, while we have talent, skills our management and governance is infamous for being parasitic and stupid

[@tommys1678]

In my opinion especially by 2003 standards this looks like a fine car especially for the price point, you can’t bash a car for not the having interior quality of a Mercedes Benz E class when it doesn’t even cost a quarter of what the E class does. The interior reminds me of a Focus from the same era.

[@moundain4220]

The car was already almost 10 years old and was half the price in India so ya it was a very bad deal the only thing this version had was higher safety but even that dosent fix the pricing .

[@TheAllMightyGodofCod]

Tommy S are you serious? You are just making a joke, right? I sure hope you are... Or that would imply you never set your eyes in a Yaris, Clio, Punto, Polo, Ibiza, c3, 206, Corsa or Micra from the same year..... And I am sure I didn't list all the cars that were far better than this and from the same segment (more or less the same segment.... Like....small cars)

[@TheAllMightyGodofCod]

Ups... I forgot about the Fiesta.... The Colt..... The Forfour....the Ypsilon and the Swift.

[@TheAllMightyGodofCod]

Wait! And there was also the Sirion....and Mazda 2 or Demio or whatever it was called.... Well, I could go on but o think you get the point.

[@tommys1678]

@@TheAllMightyGodofCod I’m in the US - in 2003 the cheapest car we could buy was a Kia Rio with a starting price of 9,995 USD - the highlighted features for this car were “trunk light, seat back storage, front door pockets, front cupholders” - in comparison to our options in the US this is an appealing car - I stand by my comment - please pay attention to where I said “at this price point” and think of it as “for this price and this price only” it seems like your thought process is for a few thousand more look at what you can get lol but I am saying at this price that’s pretty respectable since head rest and a trunk light we’re considered a luxury on a car more expensive sold where I live

[@6ettinold]

Love how they tacked that passenger airbag on the shelf and not behind the expanse of plastic above the glove box.

[@karanbirsinghbhullar]

The one in india never even had a airbag

[@davidw6469]

It is ironic that Tata owns the Rover brand following its acquisition of Jaguar Land Rover from Ford in 2008. Excellent review.

[@aston-martin-internationalist]

I did find the options list hilarious with a leather seat option at more than 10% the cost of the base model. 🤣 I worked as a ships agent at Portbury and remember seeing these new being driven off the ships. They sat in the storage depot for ages and ages. In fact I left the company I was working for and they were still there.

[@saurabhponkshe]

i need one

[@autumnmatthews3179]

I really like your videos. You’re honest about the good and the bad but never insulting. The driving media could learn a lot from you

[@TwinCam]

Thanks!

[@joshbacon8241]

Who remembers when James May secretly filmed a road test on the CityRover during a test drive at a Rover dealer on Top Gear in 2004?

[@andrewstones2921]

There is a very good reason that it’s much nicer in the back than in the front. This is an Indian car that was designed for the Indian market, in much of Asia the members of the family that make financial decisions sit in the back of the car. This is the reason why BMW make a long wheelbase version of the 3 series for the Asia market that is never seen in Europe. Nice review, I was going a bit dizzy in the first half with the same scenes repeating again and again with different voiceover and it would have been good to see the engine.

[@TwinCam]

Unfortunately, I had to do more voice over than I expected due to background noise. So I couldn’t really speak over video of myself talking, necessitating the replaying of the same bit of video 3 times 😬

[@rudolphguarnacci197]

That's quite an interesting cultural point. Probably had the use as taxi in thought design as well for large back

[@dlwarren5340]

Good idea but it didn’t quite work when it was released. The mentality of it all would have worked ten years before it came out and it could have saved Rover. Good idea, but was too late.

[@RoadCone411]

You could drive around Britain all day and not see a CityRover. You're probably more likely to see an older Metro/R100 than a CityRover.

[@casualagent7250]

BloomingOnion Very true, there are 3 Metro/R100’s running around Petersfield, I have the only City Rover, bought it late October last year, still haven’t seen another 😔

[@RetroTalk]

I know this car very well as I'm currently rebuilding her (YES this very car in this video!) for charity. I'll be posting some videos up on my channel very soon!

[@Hrodn]

As usual, an entertaining and informative video from Twin-Cam. Just the thing for a lazy Sunday morning. I like the look of the pedal car parked on the garage roof. What about doing a spoof appraisal on something like that for an April fool joke?

[@anthonyperkins7556]

The first Cityrovers were riddled with build quality faults, but by the time they got better, the damage to the Cityrover's reputation had been done which didn't do much for their sales.. Also, Rover did the wrongfootingly bad idea of pricing the car at a premium, over the competition and by giving the car a makeover rounding the light clusters thinking that few would notice, but when other rivals cars were far more reasonably priced and better value, the baseline Cityrover Studio model was very sparsely equipped.

[@bootlegrecordingsbootlegre8139]

This guy kept it more real than furious driving!

[@rudolphguarnacci197]

I like it. Seems practical, economical. Very interesting history. Never heard of Tata before. Too bad it was assembled so poorly, especially the gear shifting.

[@TwinCam]

Tata is an Indian conglomerate with a number of subsidiaries. One is Tata Steel, which is one of the largest steel manufacturers in the world, and one is Tata Motors, which made the CityRover and Indica. They now own Jaguar Land Rover.

[@swamiboo9375]

This car is of 1996 vintage no less! That was the first time Tata teased the looks in India for the first time.. it was called The Tata Mint Project and was suppose to be the ultimate VFM car.. And they launched it in India in '98... So the looks are definitely not bad for a nineties car..

[@juancasidis4387]

but for 2003 no

[@namithlokesh2481]

My neighbour in india has one of these car tata indica he's a taxi driver. It had 70000km on odo I asked how's a 15 year old taxi car has only 70k on odo. He said it got zero when it reached 10Lakh kilometer. It only got regular service and clutch changed once. You can see see much of these cars in india. In india unreliable cars are never used by taxi's

[@pastytit]

Why do top gear sabotage all our small car manufacturers? Started years ago when Quentin Wilson ruined the Austin name.

[@TheCounty90]

They would argue that they were giving consumer advice. If the Panda was a better car, then they had to say so. In their opinion, it was a bad product. I agree, it wasn't a good move by Rover in the medium term but their intentions were good. Desperate times desperate measures.

[@retrooutput]

I think the Hammond, Clarkson and May era of Top Gear in particular was more a comedy trio rather than serious journalism, half of their cool factor was making the British and French car industry the butt of their jokes. The only presenter that seemed genuinely interested in showing you a decent affordable car was Craig Goffey back in the 80's and 90's.

[@CortinasAndClassics]

I see an invacar in the background? You are getting more like hubnut 🙂

[@TwinCam]

Correction: TWO Invacars! 😁

[@CortinasAndClassics]

@@TwinCam nice, are there plans to restore them?

[@TwinCam]

Yes, one has a terrible body and one has a rotten chassis. So one good Invacar will hopefully come out!

[@seventhree7538]

Tata Makes some real Beautiful cars now. Check out the Harrier , HX5 and the Nexon. That too with a 5 star safety rank.

[@mpa1931]

I had a 2002 Kia Rio here in the States back in the day, looked very similar in terms of cheapness but it builds a lot of character in the driver lol.

[@alexandreb.1101]

Shocked to find out you can buy the MK2 instrument cluster brand new for 20 quid at Rimmer bros

[@chloeysuslocuras1157]

1:25 In Spain they did, an it worked terribly, mainly because most of the Indicas sold here ended up in the junkyard before 100000km with serious problems after 50000km, also because despite being sold at 6000€ (under 5500 pounds) the car looked really badly built, it consumed a lot of petrol (even the diesels consumed more than most petrol citycars), and confusing pricing policies made the decently equiped versions more expensive than the basic Panda and Matiz (better built) and just a few hundreds of euros shy of the Atos (Amica there in the UK), and many people just spent those 300€ in upgrading to the €8200 reliable boxy korean rather than staying with the €7900 trim of the Indica. A close friend bought a diesel Indica and it was her worst choice in life so far.

[@oliverstemp9132]

It looks like a car from 1995 too. It’s amazing they thought they could sell it in 2003

[@keithe8449]

Not a bad car in my opinion, just priced way too high at launch

[@terrificspokesman7416]

In India it was much cheaper. That's why it sold so well.

[@TheJonno1968]

Had they priced it at £4995 and called it the metro they could have sold loads or considerably more but as you say it’s not a Rover and it was way too expensive. Rover being no more deeply saddens me, I’ve owned many and still would buy one if I could. If only Honda would have bought them. I imagine jazz badge engineered to be a metro would have sold very well.

[@TwinCam]

Unfortunately BMW kept the rights to the Metro name, so Rover were unable to use it.

[@lokeshwaranvr]

Families did buy it in 1998 but it went on to become a taxi car and even Indians started to see it the same way Americans see the Toyota Prius.

[@tylert6573]

9:04 these remind me of 90s Vauxhall dials, these look.lkke there straight from a calibra lol

[@mfitzy100]

Fiat Panda, Daihatsu Charade etc offered modern well finished better specced cars for the same money. Crazy

[@confusedredditor1660]

because the panda/charade weren't fiat/daihatsu's third production car

[@karanbirsinghbhullar]

I just converted the price and it costed more than four times than it did in india

[@sierrachief117]

They really ripped off them brits who were miserable enough to buy it

[@MUKUL760]

If the 1998 car is launched in 2003, there will be similar problems. Tata Indica 1998 to MG CITYROVER2003

[@harshithsadhana7475]

mate even today that version of the city rover aka tata indica still runs barely rust issues yes it quite nosiey and rufish. but current tata are better than past.

[@paulillingworth1242]

You’re absolutely right about Rover and BMW asset stripping ( mini and LR) total shame and irony of Tata taking over the company in the end, the worst Rovers in 70/80s compared to most of today’s modern garbage that fails at 20k -30k and people seem to accept it nor question it and the proceed to buy another from the same manufacturer 🧐 The odometer and binnacle in the City Rover remind me of a mk3 cavalier Ones.

[@Crazytesseract]

The instrument panel was made by Pricol, an Indian company.

[@SimonIngram]

I've had the misfortune to have driven a couple of these, they are without doubt terrible and the worst car I've ever driven. And I've driven a Yugo Zastava. A mate of mine worked for a local Rover dealer at the time of the launch. Always remember him telling me he took one customer for a test drive, and they asked to get out!

[@grayfool]

When all the bits you have to touch feel so cheap, the whole car suffers. It doesn't matter if it has the best greasy bits underneath, the "user interface" is what you notice First. Certainly built to a price, about £9.99 apparently. Another really good video. Thanks. Have you done a vid on the SD1? The Vitesse would be very interesting .

[@TwinCam]

I'd love to do an SD1, but unfortunately haven't yet. It would be really interesting to be able to do a comparison with a '76 3500 and an '86 Vitesse.

[@TwinCam]

Also, the interior is by far the worst part of the car. If, somehow, everything could be replaced with Metro items, it would be okay. Very outdated, but at least a Metro feels screwed together well, all the buttons click satisfyingly, and it feels as if Rover didn't opt for the cheapest plastic available like Tata did.

[@grayfool]

@@TwinCam My point exactly.

[@vishakhks915]

Top gear is one over rated, arrogant 'car content' creators usually destroy cars

[@HerrBjork]

Cool that you got hold of one! That has to be Rover's biggest mis-step. They must've known that it would be the nail in the coffin for Rover, but a desperate situation calls for desperate measures. I think it would've gone far better if they badged it as an MG and knocked down the price by £1,000 or £1,500. I feel that the MG badge is closer to (though still quite far from) what you get with this one than Rover is, and had it started at £4,995 I think the buyers would've been slightly happier. The whole story is quite akin to the Aston Martin Cygnet. Both were quite good cars, but way overpriced and obviously a rather lazy rebadge of a lesser car, and both became laughing stocks

[@lloydtucker]

Tata still sell them here in SouthAfrica as the Tata Indica, I had a 2014 model and I agree with you. I told the dealer that Tata put their name to this junk how could they expect me to later upgrade to a LandRover or jaguar After 4 months of ownership the door fell off the problems just piled up under warranty and 9 months later I decided enough and traded it in on another brand of vehicle Cost me a huge loss in bank finance because the trade in was less than I owed bank never again

[@nigelcharlton-wright1747]

Are sure Top Gear didn't borrow your car, they had a dab hand making doors full off Rover SD1, and drop pianos on top of Marinas, and now the idiots are wrecking Allegros.

[@confusedredditor1660]

I think you got scammed lol, I have one of these from 2000, no doors fallen off yet

[@UncleJoeLITE]

Even in 2024 I struggle to get the hatred for this car. It's perfectly fine imho

[@karansinhjadejavlogs3310]

in past i dont like tata but now tata moter cars are becoming best selling cars.. and now tata harrier is my dream car... i hope tata lounch tata harrier tata nexon tata altroz to other market like UK ,USA

[@DFWM091]

I never liked the looked of these compared to something like the metro! Either it was my aunt who won one or someone related to her won one in a raffle and she ended up having it anyway. Long story short she hated it and said at the time it burned a lot of petrol for a small car, so she got shot of it and bought a Opel Corsa instead which she still has to this day! (14 years ago) I can't recall remembering seeing many of them on the roads here in Ireland either, just as well!

[@uzaiyaro]

Yikes. My 2004 Holden Calais feels like a spaceship in comparison. Although, it was only, what, 4-5 times the price when new? Although it’ll have 4-5x the miles this thing has and it’ll still soldier on.

[@willswheels283]

Great Video and review Ed, In itself and taking the Rover out of it and judging the car on its own merit it’s not a bad car, it’s roomy, practical and does the job it was intended for. I borrowed one for a week in 2007, I found it nippy and good to drive but you are right the interior is below par for a Rover. If Tata had launched the car themselves then yes it may have fared better as you said.

[@nigelcharlton-wright1747]

I used to know a garage owner who brought his wife a City Rover and he thought it was a very good car. He also had a thing for real Minis and had a load of models in his office until some low life stole them, and also had a cracking Mercedes 250SL that was also nicked. He was a nice chap sadly died. Wonder if his wife still owns the City Rover? Interesting video, only one thing is why did keep showing the same bits of the car over and over again, I know it's not your cup of tea, but at least show the engine and the boot and other bits of the car rather than the Sprite badge, Practical Classic sticker and scabby rear wheel.

[@TwinCam]

Unfortunately, I had to do more voice over than I expected due to background noise. So I couldn’t really speak over video of myself talking, necessitating the replaying of the same bit of video 3 times 😬

[@nigelcharlton-wright1747]

@@TwinCam That's understandable. I guess if you were making a video near to where I live, I would have been a pain in the bum with all that grinding and cutting out the rust on my old car, (and a little bit of swearing to boot, when the Mig welder played up again! Resulting in another rebuild.) Thank's for the reply.

[@timepasshandle]

This car was a pretty good car for the market it was designed for, India. It was cheap, spacious and had great features for the price, like he said. But UK had a car market far more developed and competitive, plus the overpricing by Rover did not help the matters. Plus this was the first attempt by TATA, previously a truck maker, at making a proper passenger car, which makes this car even better

[@GavrellAmbrosius]

Never knew there was such kind of "reimagined" City Rover design... Still seeing some of the original ones around. Those are robust. Just based on what I've seen about the reimagined one... honestly a disgrace for the Rover name/brand.

[@zinthakur1642]

It is tata indica Most successful tata car in india 🇮🇳 I love this car Company has relaunched this car as tata tiago

[@mithunatp1638]

IN INDIA CALL his model Tata Indica HATCHBACK SENDAN MODEL CELL IN INDIA INDICA V2 MODEL IN TATA INDIA USED HIS MOSTLY IN CABS IN INDIA

[@robcorrente6065]

Here in Madrid ... a new subscriber

[@georgebamber6871]

A perodua kelisa vs daewoo matiz would be a great comparison. Two economy cars. The kelisa was the cheapest available car in the UK for a while and had great reviews. the daewoo matiz has a cult following around the world even though there pretty bad

[@sameyers2670]

The top of the rear light clusters reminds me of the Nissan Almera Tino

[@sameyers2670]

The steering wheel reminds me of the one on the Plaxton Primo bus

[@smithaanilkumar7991]

In 1998 this car is first disel hatchback

[@car9723]

Enjoyed your review! I felt that CityRover was the last chance that's ruined by MGR themselves. After reading ARonline's CityRover article, I thought MGR were too defensive to sell it properly - this made better-than-perception-car into national laughingstock. Better localization and more aggressive & accurate marketing could have earned their days I think.

[@TwinCam]

Thanks mate :) There were so many problems with MGR's approach to the CityRover. Not only the car itself but the launch as well as you mentioned. I don't think it was ever going to work.

[@aaronaaron6196]

I’m Absloutley certain the steering wheels in these were knicked of saab anyway great video great content keep it up

[@robedwrds3879]

Great informative presentation and i think you are correct about the fact it would have been better as a tata.

[@Richard-Bullock]

If the CityRover had been launched with a base price of £4995, and badged Austin Metro, I believe it would have brought back many former Metro and Rover 100 drivers. It would also have gained new buyers to the marque, who just wanted "A" car, and the convenience of a new car with a new car warranty.

[@TwinCam]

To be honest I don’t think putting the Austin name on would’ve worked, as it’s a marque from a bygone era that had no appeal anymore. Additionally, the Metro name is owned by BMW.

[@TwinCam]

Although at £4995 it would’ve stood a much better chance.

[@elliotroles7502]

@@TwinCam I reckon they should of just named it 'Sprite', from MG Rover, its a sporty, modern sounding name that wouldnt of ruined the Rover brand image. It would of also made the car sound more appealing as it wouldn't of seemed such a poor effort as it wouldnt be from a 'premium' brand. Regardless, I believe in 2020 the CityRover offers a great deal, a style or select gets you all you really need with about 30k miles, immaculate condition, pretty mechanically reliable and ultra low sub £900 price. They also look pretty good in Sprite or Style trim. It's why I'm so undecided about getting either a CityRover Sprite or style for my first car as I believe they offer alot for a first time driver. It also means I can own something different which Is what I'm looking for. My other option is a 25, which is probably more reliable, definitely better quality, and nicer to drive although I find that finding a good condition one with a decent head-life left for under £1400 is sometimes rare. (I'm also very picky with them as my family has owned alot of MG's and Rovers, so I wont have a 'bad' one.

[@mg-roveradverts]

im toying with a new project next year a MG City (CityRover) in drag and was wondering do you know if Mg rover wheels fit the city?

[@TwinCam]

As far as I know, no other MG Rover wheels fit the CityRover as the PCD is that used by Tata, not MG-R.

[@ravenouself4181]

I will say it now - the main problem was the price. Dacia has already proven that affordable cars sell like hotcakes.

[@Danny_Boel]

the overall design reminds me a bit of Citroen Saxo...

[@skimmingstoness]

The styling at the front looks quite smart but it's when you get to the back it's just mid 90's dullness you would expect from KIA, Hyundai or Suzuki at the time. I don't understand why they didn't just use quality serviceable parts and engineering from other Rovers like the 25 and put a bit of money into styling the whole car not just grafting on the grill.

[@TwinCam]

The problem was Rover did want to change quite a lot. They couldn’t because it wasn’t their car and Tata didn’t want them changing anything substantial.

[@yanuchiuchihaanimegamesand3907]

as a first car it's more than good enough, trough, i do prefer the yugo over the cityrover solely for the design and ease of working on. and yes, i am talking about using it as a project car and doing crazy stuff, like engine swapping. and the yugo is, in general, better put together. and, no, i am not trolling. just... don't go after the 2003-2008 yugo, they ruined the design with plastic stuck-on junk. edit_1: speaking of cars, my dad has a 1995 kia pride glxi, that thing is of rather surprisingly high build quality.

[@baddrivingsouthwales4789]

£6,495 on the road for the Sprite? In 2004 I paid £6,100 for a superior Fiesta 1.25 Finesse. 🤷‍♂️

[@vishantvitorie7212]

These were mostly used by taxi operators in India.

[@sen5908]

The next shmee 150 of KZbin Can you find and do a review of the rover 200 coupe my dad had one of these around 1993. The one with the targa roof his was the one with cream leather and a red pearlescent paint

[@miniminimi12]

They were scraping the barrel with this one weren't they. If it was £ 3000.00 Uk it would have been a bargain. Nice review though.

[@ih5687]

Cheap and cheerful..it would get you from a to b ..I guess if does its job ..like a flip flop ..👍🤘

[@TheAllMightyGodofCod]

Wait, the wrong car, in the wrong time, by the wrong company? Was it a wrong move also?

[@wessexTim]

The car was crap,but your videos are very good!

[@TwinCam]

Thanks Tim :)

[@naturetravelandcooking6398]

2022 TATA is your FATHER NOW

[@jpsingh1764]

TATA ❤️

[@eatridereview7733]

❤ Super Car

[@zerocool5395]

It was a press car, and it wasn't even a fully loaded model lol.

[@TwinCam]

Press cars usually aren't usually fully loaded. They have a range of equipment levels so journalists can see an overview of the range.

[@mfitzy100]

The pricing, branding and spec was completely wrong.

[@Simon-ui6db]

I'd rather have a Saxo over one of these.

[@kierancurtis8545]

*starts looking on ebay*

[@jgh548]

I had one of these as a hire car just after Rover went bust. I was a fan of the brand and my Dad still.had a 620Ti at the time. I can say with absolute certainty that the City Rover is the worst car I have ever driven. It was absolutely dreadful in absolutely every way bar interior space. A horrible end to a once great marque.

[@ashamsgkrishnan7962]

No sharp edge

[@bootlegrecordingsbootlegre8139]

City rover sounds to close to sh*ty rover

[@parulkulshrestha2274]

It is not city rover it is tata indica

[@TwinCam]

Can you listen?

[@adarsh.m1999]

Lol UK tata indica has total speed of 125 🤣🤣🤣😔🤣

[@stealth1474]

The Tata indica was not a great car it was decent put for the price it was a steel where rover fucked up was the price and the facelifts it was plain ugly

[@TwinCam]

I personally think the Tata is much uglier than the Rover.

[@stealth1474]

@@TwinCam fair enough however it was really cheap though for that price I couldn't give two fucks about the looks what rover were charging I would expect at least a better facelift my opinion it actually looks worse than the tata and that's a lot because the tata was pretty fucking hideous 😂

[@jamescaley9942]

3rd world car at 1st world prices. This is a company that absolutely deserved to fail.

[@barryjackson8512]

I had one while I rebuilt my engine. It was a great little car drove well nippy. 6 month 10k never had a problem.

[@arjuna03]

You forgot to mention this: "It was the first passenger car from Tata Motors and it is also considered to have been India's first indigenously developed passenger car." Not bad for a truck manufacturer.

[@arjuna03]

@@aliismine I have a video for Pakistanis trying to pull down anything Indian.. watch it, and here's a quote for you: “Failing doesn't make us a failure. But not trying to do better, to be better, does make us fools.” kzbin.info/www/bejne/nJXGmnmLbt-cnrM

[@amityandigeri97]

Totally agree with u bro,Eventhough they didn't succeed in long run in PV market except the taxi market with Indica and Aria due to reasons like Tata's image back then poor aftersalsesBut we should applaud the dedication and effort they did that they kept on trying when in finally in 2015 with launch of Tiago along with new CEO and MD of Tata Motors Guenter and the time time and their table turned towards them and from that day they never looked back.Big Hatsoff Grateful to Ratan Sir,Chandrashekar sir,Guenter sir and Pareek sir helping and Bringing Tata Motors back to the track❤️🇮🇳

[@darrensmith6999]

Sad end to a once great marque ):

[@carsonbarclay5360]

I remember looking at one of those after I sold my rover 100. Even new it screamed cheap and nasty. Bought a rover 200 instead..

[@sidthescenic09]

its Tata's budget car. was a bad move by rover to source partnership from Tata for this car.

[@rogerking7258]

Call me weird, but I quite like the look of the interior and exterior. The problem comes when you touch or try to use anything - and you realise that it is completely cheap and nasty. And Rover tried to charge a premium price for it! I seem to remember them doing the same with the 600 which was a perfectly competent, but not outstanding car. The philosophy seems to have been "this car is expensive, therefore it is a quality vehicle" rather than "this car is genuinely good quality and therefore it can justify a higher price".

[@TwinCam]

Exactly! This idea seems to have been the curse of a Rover between 1993 and 2005.

[@paulqueripel3493]

The garage opposite me at work had one in a few years ago. I think it had to be scrapped as the part needed wasn't available anywhere. The rest of the car was fine (as in worked,not as in good).

[@casualagent7250]

Paul Queripel Wonder what that part was? Am currently looking for front shock absorbers, to no avail ☹️

[@paulqueripel3493]

@@casualagent7250 I think it was a water pump, but that was about 5 years ago, maybe more, so my memory may be faulty. Possibly a fuel pump.

[@benzinapaul7416]

Took a few of these in px years ago, they were falling to pieces at 3 to 4 years old. Performance probably the only redeeming feature. The 'Shitty Rover' nickname the trade bestowed on it was I'm afraid fully justified.

[@MacklandsMotors]

Another great video again Ed! It's such a shame that the CityRover never worked out, Rover's final push out of dispare

[@roydavies7010]

By anonymous on 16 Feb '11 I am currently learning to drive and i wanted some extra practice outside of my driving lessons in a relatives car. My nan offered to help me out by letting me use her car to practice in, but she has a CityRover, which has had extremely bad reviews because its basically a Rover badged Tata Indica! Firstly i would like to say that considering she has owned the car for a year, not much has actually gone wrong so far (lets hope it stays that way!) When you first get into a CityRover, you notice the sheer amount of head and legroom for such a small car. Its tardis-like So, after reading the reviews of what its like to drive i was fully expecting it to be a complete dog for a learner to use. I was surprised. It is actually really easy to drive maybe even more so at first than my driving instructors fiesta which has overly light accelerator and clutch pedals. After we got out on the open road i opened it up a bit and although the engine is noisy beyond 3500 rpm, it pulls much better than the 1.25 fiesta even though it only has 9 more bhp. Once i got used to driving it i started treating it more aggressively and i must say it stood up well. It seems like it has a high up driving position, but around the corners, there is little body roll and its actually quite a performer. I was impressed. But its around town that it really impressed me. The gear box is close ratio, so its nippy and nimble and you can drive it with verve around tight bends which makes it quite a fun car to do small trips in. It lives up to its CityRover name very well. The only faults are that the pedals are awkwardly high up so after a while your feet begin to ache, and also the heater takes ages to heat up in the winter so short trips are quite cold at first. Its not the most economical car either with the 1.4 engine using more petrol than other city cars however they lack the same performance. Its really not a bad car at all like the top gear review made it out to be. Infact i think its a good car because it is, just, a simple car. I would never have even considered one of these cars before but after driving it and seeing how it performs on a day to day basis, i would gladly consider one and for this reason i'm glad i got the chance to drive it. Show less Practicality5 Reliability4 Running Costs3 How it drives4 Thank you for your feedback. Your vote will be processed within 24 hours. Written by somebody who actually used one for a while.

[@rudolphguarnacci197]

Great to read what my impression was of this car from TC's video. I would love this as a daily just around town.

[@casualagent7250]

I deliver pizzas 🍕 in one, it ain’t that bad, quite like the looks, Italian styling by I.D.E.A 😎

[@MissionCA101]

More power to you

[@mickles1975]

I spy with my little eye, something beginning with Invacar.

[@nigelcharlton-wright1747]

I thought the venue reminded me of Hub Nut… Yes, he has a City Rover and an Invacar, but no Rover 25 or 200!

[@mickles1975]

He had a 45. That's close enough for me.

[@SimonBarnsley]

Really informative. Be careful with your editing though, as when you are reusing the same footage again and again, it makes the video difficult to watch because elements you are describing aren’t always onscreen at the time.

[@allanwainwright3056]

While I agree with everything you say and indeed liked your video, it is essentially a badge engineered car. So nowadays can't expect the same quality. I agree Rover made some bad decisions, especially the price, but it was designed and built in India and therefore primative by our standards. Maybe Rover would have made a better hash of it if they were given more freedom by Tata. Unfortunately we will never know. Great video, keep them coming.

[@arjunarun3033]

it was designed and built in india by a company that had no prior experience with cars...indian engineering is not inferior to british engineering by any means our space program should be proof enough..plus tata launched the harrier check it out its amazing

[@vishalvenu6839]

Quite a biased review - would not hear the same degraded rant for the boring European or Japanese/Korean cars even in the same price or segment.

[@TwinCam]

Yes you would. The CityRover was virtually the same price as the Fiat Panda, which was on a different planet in every single regard. The conclusion may be different if the car had been marketed at half the price, but it wasn’t. The CityRover was cheap, nasty, and expensive.

[@vishalvenu6839]

@@TwinCam if the car was keenly priced when new. They could have sold plenty if cheaper than ford ka, fiat panda, due to its shortcomings. The problem was that MG rovers management were greedy and arrogant. Lacked the awareness of rovers brand perception, poorly made poorly marketed and over priced, basically made it unsellable. Point is rover was a dwindling high class car brand selling altered budget indian car at a hefty price tag.

[@TwinCam]

Change of tune from your initial reply, hey?

[@triodehexode]

This is a Great video informed commentary not traveling salesman carpark snobbery hype, what Top gear should have been like.

[@owenh1713]

Thanks for this one.. Its well up to your usual very watchable standard, but with even more tongue in cheek, quirky humour and bags of well-researched information. I loved it - keep them coming.

[@mikecawood]

The City Rover had one thing in common with Meghan Markle, both were cheap.

[@TwinCam]

That’s a very weird comment.