Rover has a history of building cars renowned for their quiet, assured performance. The Rover 100 is powered by one of the finest engines the Company has ever built. Your first impression will probably be surprise at how lively even the 1.1 K-Series engine is for its size. Then you're likely to be still more surprised, and delighted, by its quietness. Even revved hard ' it never sounds harsh or overworked. And you'll get the best of both worlds - sparkling performance with excellent fuel efficiency.

The K-Series engine is the envy of the motor industry because of a design which re-wrote the rule book, and soon after won the Queen's Award for Technological Achievement. One of the most ingenious features is the way the cylinder head, cylinder block and sump are secured together. Whereas most engines have separate sets of fixings top and bottom, the K-Series engine has just one set of long 'through- bolts'. This gives it great strength and durability; which means that you can expect the same, spirited performance and good economy after tens of thousands of miles as you enjoyed on your first drive home from the showroom.

All Rover 100 models have electronic multipoint fuel injection, with clever microprocessor control working wonders with both mph and mpg.

You'll also notice how quickly the engine warms up, even on arctic mornings; so the heater thaws you out more quickly too, and the fuel economy will warm your heart in the most freezing weather.

In fact, you could be surprised at how far the Rover 100 will take you on a tankful. The 1.1 litre models deliver Extra Urban economy of up to 57.4 miles per gallon; and the more powerful 1.4 litre models are not far behind, with up to 56 miles per gallon.

On every Rover 100 you'll enjoy a smooth fivespeed gearbox which helps to make motorway cruising pleasantly quiet. And if you like the relaxed style of automatic transmission, the SLi and GSi models are available with one of the most refined and responsive automatics to be found. Known as CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission), it changes ratios with remarkable smoothness.

On the road, small cars often betray their modest size when the going gets a bit rough. The same can't be said of the Rover 100. The quality of the ride is the kind you'd only normally expect of a larger car, swallowing up bumps with an uncanny smoothness. The Rover 100 doesn't get rattled in these conditions because it's fitted with suspension units which are connected front to rear. Very cleverly, they use the energy generated from a front wheel hitting a bump to keep the car riding level and its occupants unruffled.

In addition to these traditional Rover qualities you can also count on a great deal of entertainment when you drive the Rover 100. It steers and handles with pinpoint accuracy, and grips the road with confidence. With such sporting agility at your disposal, it's impossible not to have fun.

This is all good stuff, actually.

The K Series engine was and is a very smart piece of kit. A tuned up version of it powers the Lotus Elise, for goodness sake!

And Hydragas suspension is kind of like a cheap and cheerful version of the expensive, elaborate and excellent suspensions that Citroen have produced over the years.

So well done Rover all round. The only problem was that the engine didn't fit in the car - they had to make it bigger. The TV advert boasted of the fact. Of course, making the car bigger didn't help passenger space, and didn't help the Metro's claim to have one of the biggest interiors relative to the amount of space it took up on the road.

Ah well.