By Duane Boodasingh
Photography by Duane Boodasingh
Owner: Shiva Manocha

Some advice, never judge a book by it's cover. Yeah, I know you've heard that before and it's about as cliched as it gets, but there is a story behind this.

You see I spotted this particular Rover a few weeks ago at the intersection of the Uriah Buttler and Churchill Roosevelt Highways and was breakin' my neck tryin' to scope out the cool white 17" rims. I was thinking: 17" rims, lowered - a Rover??? This car had to be a want-to-be racer with a puny 1400cc engine and automatic transmission, easy prey. I was wrong...Well let's just say that I never got to see the rims until this photoshoot.

I had ignored the major fact that the car was a 2 door and was sporting the 200Vi badge, meaning that this was really a 1800cc twin cam machine with VVC (variable valve control). Add to this the fact that it sported up sized wheels and a lowered stance and you can just automatically assume that it was also souped up under the hood. Later on I found out that this little pocket rocket can zip down the quarter mile at a healthy 15.2secs.

With nothing more than the 215/40/17 GoodYear Eagle F1's pumped up around some very light weight League 17"x7 wheels and a set of fully adjustable Skunk2 coilovers this hot hatch can handle just about any aggressive turn you can throw it into. Surprisingly the engine bay was in bone stock form. I was impressed by this fact, but Shiva insists that there are no mods there, not even a cone filter or a free flowing exhaust (might I add that the car is unusually quiet for a 15 seconds car).

With a showroom floor price of TT$115,000 Shiva got his Rover 200Vi with factory extractors, a 5 speed manual gearbox and four wheel disc brakes with ABS which all help to set this ride apart from the average grocery getter. And trust me, space in this car's cabin is limited. Shiva said that he wanted to get away from the usual Civic type street racer and opted for the similarly based British badge because he found the car to be both a performer and a sporty looker.

This is his second 200Vi and he says that he is more than happy with the car's performance so far. However, like most of us, enough is definitely never enough. But with aftermarket parts for any Rover being few and far between, bolt-on mods come at a hefty price - if they even exist at all.

Shiva showed me the unusual Japanese markings on the engine and on other parts of the car which suggest far-eastern influence. So this is a good incentive to keep hunting for viable mods, which never seem to leave his mind. Always thinking of some way to go faster or handle better, there are many plans for this hatch, some of which include reworking the suspension with shorter, stiffer struts and installing a VVC controller to bring in the wilder cams at the desired RPM.

So if you happen to spot this sweet looking and conservative sounding ride down at the track, don't underestimate it, it can hold it's own - and then some.