The car was a reasonable success, but not as much as beleaguered BL had hoped. It was Britain's sixth best selling car in 1983 and 1984, with more than 80,000 sales in its second year. After the "boom" years of 1986 and 1987, Maestro sales went into decline. An early reputation for poor build quality and unreliability did not help. The biggest problems centred around the 1.6-litre R-series engine, which was a hurriedly modified BMC E-series engine from the Austin Maxi because the under-developed S-series unit was not yet ready for production. R-series units suffered from hot starting problems and premature crankshaft failure. This was particularly evident in the MG Maestro 1600, which was included in the original 1983 model range but discontinued the following year.