Leading fromthe front

In the 1990s coupé boom, Toyota, Rover and Mazda scrabbled for power with race-inspired tuning, turbocharging and a sophisticated V6

- CHARLIE CALDERWOOD

As insurers killed off the hot hatches of the late 1980s, manufacturers returned to the coupé en masse in the early 1990s, encouraging a new wave of powertrain innovation to squeeze lots of horsepower into compact front-drive cars. Regular eight-valve four-pots from the featherweights of the past, such as Peugeot's 205 GTI, wouldn't cut it. Rover, Mazda and Toyota - none of which were probably the first names off the tongue when considering a sports coupé in early 1990s Britain - chose turbocharging, a relatively tiny V6 and a highly tuned twin-cam to stake their claims.

Two Japanese and one Brit - except, of course, there's some sniggering from the back of the class when describing this Rover as British. That's not without reason, because the R8-generation 200-series was largely developed in Japan - and it was built by robots imported from there, too. In the case of the latter, that was to the relief of all involved. But this 200 is perhaps the most British of all the R8s. Not only is the engine all Rover, unlike the early 216, but the 'Tomcat' coupé bodyshell was unique to the marque, while the 220 turbo model was developed here, too. Anglo-Japanese, then.

The Rover does have a slightly disjointed look to it, but not because of its mixed origins. Its curvaceous, sweeping C-pillar and rounded boot spoiler don't quite fit with its angular front end, or the strong horizontal lines of its side strips and bumpers. Its top half is a coupé of late 1992, slammed on to the lower body of a car that made its debut in 1989. Rover knew it, too. The R8 was facelifted along with the rest of the 200 range in 1994, just two years after its launch, with the addition of a rounded grille although this only slightly softened the effect. Here in pre-facelift form, as it would have gone up against the Mazda and Toyota, the Rover sticks out as looking the oldest.