A Grand Monday: Rover 100 Ascot

'They’ve rebadged it, you fool,' so said Steve Coogan’s Alan Partridge character when forced to drive a Rover 100. 

Today, however, the car that forced Alan to declare: 'I’m not driving a Mini Metro' has a cult following all of its own - a side effect of widespread Metro Mania among younger enthusiasts, who seem to have taken the pint-sized Rover to heart.

As a result, we really don’t think this example will be on the market for long. It has covered just 13,000 miles from new with a near-immaculate interior, while the asking price of £895 reflects the fact it has a few cosmetic blemishes.

Being an ‘Ascot’, it’s a fairly basic trim. If you wanted electric windows and a plank of wood on the dash, you needed to move further inside the M25 and bag yourself a ‘Knightsbridge’, but like all Rovers of the era it’s plush and well-trimmed inside, while the 55bhp 1.1-litre 8v K-Series engine will make it cheap to insure.

As a timewarp 1990s classic, it has a lot going for it - one that you could bring up to show-winning condition very easily, and for a very modest outlay.

• Read our Rover 100 review and buyer's guide
• How many Rover 100 survived? Find out
• Find a Rover 100 for sale