BL R-series engine fitted to the Maestro with the carburettor facing the front of the car, which also led to a reputation for carburettor icing in cold weather. The endemic problem of crankshaft failure was later attributed to flexing of the crankcase – because the E series relied upon the heavy sump/transmission unit to give additional strength to the cylinder block casting, this caused problems when a plain sump was bolted in its place. The R series was superseded in 1984 by the S series. BL R-series engine The R series is a line of petrol engines introduced by British Leyland in 1983
Economy car was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro's ItalDesign. The tall, square body utilising a Kamm tail achieved a drag coefficient of 0.34, and it won much praise for an airy interior space and fuel economy. It incorporated many packaging lessons learnt from Giugiaro's 1978 Lancia Megagamma concept car, (the first modern people carrier-MPV-mini-van)—but miniaturised. Its tall car, high-seating packaging is imitated by every small car today. It showed that not just low sleek cars could be aerodynamic, but small boxy well packaged cars could be too. It was voted Car of the Year in 1984. Also in 1983 Peugeot launched the Pininfarina-styled