"This is important; that is the worst car I've driven on this programme."
- James May on the CityRover
The Rover CityRover was an Indian-built British supermini produced between 2003 and 2005. Based on the Tata Indica, the car was notable for being the recipient of a covert road test at the beginning of Series 4 of Top Gear.
Appearances[]
Series 4, Episode 1[]
Due to the prior treatment that British Leyland products had faced on both iterations of Top Gear, alongside strong resentment towards Jeremy Clarkson in particular due to his publicized apathy with regards to BMW's takeover of the traditionally British manufacturer in the 1990s, meant that Rover simply refused to lend Top Gear a CityRover and forbade any of its dealers from complying with the show's requests. Due to this, James May went undercover at an MG Rover dealership pretending to be an interested customer, with cameras hidden in his tie and on his 'girlfriend'. He then drove the car down a specific route where various cameramen had set up smaller digital cameras to pick up the road test as they drove down the predetermined route, with a camera car following in front and behind. May was successfully able to complete a road test despite the dealer being present in the car.
In October 2013, Top Gear Magazine placed the CityRover #2 on its list of 'The thirteen worst cars ever made', second only to the Perodua Kelisa.