Rover 100 Knightsbridge SE

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The Rover 100 burst on to an unsuspecting car market in 1994 as a replacement for the ageing Metro: ‘A British car to beat the world’, as the ad men had it.

Needless to say, the world remained steadfastly unbeaten but the Metro did impress UK motorists and it was proclaimed ‘Car of The Year’ by What Car? magazine in 1983, a trick it pulled off again 1991. However, by the time the Rover 100 version came along in 1995, there was no denying that it was getting a bit long in the tooth and could not compete with the Teutonically efficient Polo, the tres chic Clio (merci beaucoup, Nicole), or even – heaven help us – the pastatastic Fiat Punto.

This 1996 Rover 100 did try to bring a touch of class to the range with its Knightsbridge trim and 5-speed gears, but the Great British Public were less than receptive. How often do you see a Rover 100 these days? Not only is this quite a rare survivor, it has also only covered 2,702 miles in its 23 years to date which makes it even more extraordinary than the other Rover 100 elsewhere in this catalogue.

Those miles have been racked up by only three owners who have managed not to molest or mess up the car too much (slight scrape on the bumper, minor ding on the driver’s door) and it survives today much as it would have looked 20+ years ago. How many of us can say that?

Perhaps the lowest mileage example in existence, it comes with an MOT until October 2019 with no advisories recorded, the original owner’s handbook and a few invoices for maintenance over the years.