Some people claim that the Rover Streetwise is a modern take on the Matra Rancho. A car with the look of an off-roader, but with the ability to do little more than climb every speed bump and ford every puddle. Forget following every rainbow if there are mountains and streams in your way.
I beg to differ. Although the Rancho was created using existing Simca architecture to carve out a new ‘soft-roader’ territory, the Streetwise was little more than a mildly reheated Rover 25, a car launched in 1999, but based on the 200 of 1995. In my book, this makes it the automotive equivalent of bread and butter pudding, a dish created to make use of stale, leftover bread, instead of letting it go to waste. You need a few extra ingredients to make it work, but the foundation is virtually unchanged. The bosses at MG Rover were looking at something with a soggy bottom, a bit crusty around the edges, with a slight whiff of obsolesce. But enough about the Rover 25 owners…
Young people didn’t buy Rovers, so the company needed a car to appeal to the ‘yoof’ market. The MG ZR was proof that you could make something a trifle good out of the 25, but not every atomic kitten wanted a full fat, high caffeine, maximum strength hot hatch. Which was why Peter Stevens was tasked with designing the Streetwise, a car that looked at odds with pretty much everything else available at the time. Sure, you could buy a rufty tufty Renault Kangoo Trekka 4x4 or a high-riding Ford Fusion, but the ‘urban on-roader’ – no laughing at the back – didn’t exist. The Streetwise predates other urban junglers like the Volkswagen Polo Dune and Citroën C3 XTR, with their Lucha Libre face masks and lofty suspension, which makes it an unlikely pioneer of the noughties. MG Rover was just years away from going bang, but the Streetwise ensured it went out with more than a whimper.
It was billed as ‘The New Streetwise by Rover’, with the model name given greater prominence than the make. A wise move, given the fact that the Rover name was hardly down with the kids. The Streetwise also showcased a new, simpler Rover logo, viewed as dumbing down in some quarters, but rather prescient when you see what the major manufacturers have done to adapt their logos for the digital age.
Not that a new logo would be enough to convince Rover sceptics. To this end, the Streetwise sported plastic body armour in the areas most likely to run into bollards or be hit by runaway shopping trolleys and Honda Jazz drivers with questionable parking skills. The suspension was raised an inch, roof bars were plonked on the roof and the interior was given a subtle but effective makeover. Almost every mainstream manufacturer builds a car like the Streetwise today because that’s what the modern motorist wants.
The motoring press was divided. Top Gear magazine labelled the Streetwise ‘the least cool car of all time’, while Top Gear on the box ridiculed the car and its press release. Others were more enlightened, including Steve Cropley of Autocar. He ended a positive review by concluding: ‘It’s a pleasant package, and four younger drivers I showed it to definitely liked it, so Streetwise appears to have decent prospects.’ Which was precisely the point of the Streetwise. Designer Peter Stevens and the international bright young things under his tutelage created something younger people actually fancied, rather than something the marketing team thought they wanted. Stevens himself commented on a 2007 Honest John article about the MG ZR and appeared to suggest the Streetwise is a shoo-in as a future classic. He said: ‘People should look out for a low-mileage, good condition, black Streetwise’. Still want that McLaren F1?
According to official figures, MG Rover shifted 2688 units in 2003, 8182 in 2004 and 1977 in 2005, the year the company went pop. It did pretty well in Europe, which is why there’s always a ready supply of examples for sale on the AutoScout24 website. At the time of writing, there were more for sale in the Netherlands than there were on Car & Classic and Auto Trader combined.
It launched in 2003 with a choice of three trim levels, five engines and a range of accessories. If the 15-inch steel wheels or 16-inch ‘Blade’ alloys weren’t to your liking, you could upgrade to fancy 17-inch ‘Addendum’ wheels with rubber bands for tyres. Other cosmetic enhancements included a rear spoiler, Land Rover-style light guards, side runners and roof cross bars. Who cared that the Streetwise couldn’t walk the walk? It talked a good talk and that’s what matters to most buyers. It even enjoyed a second life in China as the MG3 SW.
Nobody could claim that the Streetwise was the best thing since sliced bread, but it gave MG Rover some hope in its eleventh flour.
This article first appeared in issue 19 of Classic.Retro.Modern. magazine.