"Rover Cars" revisited

Good to see you back herm.

Is this a flying visit or are you going to hang around for a while?

This place could do with an injection of intelligent comment and humour.

Thank you, Seagull, but I don't quite get it - I don't see the connection between me and this strange "injection" you're referring to.

I thought there were plenty of medical folks on board. (Not so many nurses in stockings, though...)

Rover 45 to Freelander ... hmmmmm ...

Frying pan to fire?

So why is the Rover 75 not a real car? Not foreign enough?

Perhaps it's time to bin the Naim and get some real US muscle amps?

The English language is a wonderful thing with all its shades of meaning, nuances and such like – and replete with myriad possibilities for misinterpretation.

By way of example, I refer to one of the posts above that includes the statement: “This place could do with an injection of intelligent comment and humour.”

Hmmmm. I’m not exactly sure how to read that one. Should I:

(i) apologise for having been so dim-witted and humourless in the past and promise to try harder;

(ii) offer congratulations on a strong early entry for the “Sweeping Slur of the Year” Award; or

(iii) take my tongue out of my cheek and acknowledge that this is one of the cases where it just didn’t come out the way it was intended.

I’m sure no offence was intended (and I certainly didn’t take any), but I was amused by the potential for (possibly wilful) misconstruction.

To quote Lewis Carroll (I think), “when you say what you mean … do you mean what you say?”

Dan

quote:

Originally posted by cider glider:
So why is the Rover 75 not a real car?

Ok - it will fall apart, the automatic gearbox implodes, the suspension is suspect (it handles like a boat), there is a known issue of piston slap which will require the engine to have an expensive repair, it has next to no resale value........

Need I go on ?

quote:

Originally posted by long-time-dead:

quote:

Originally posted by cider glider:
So why is the Rover 75 not a real car?

Ok - it will fall apart, the automatic gearbox implodes, the suspension is suspect (it handles like a boat), there is a known issue of piston slap which will require the engine to have an expensive repair, it has next to no resale value........

Need I go on ?

and those are its good points

You can get a Rover with a huge yank motor in it.

Howard

quote:

Originally posted by long-time-dead:Ok - it will fall apart, the automatic gearbox implodes, the suspension is suspect (it handles like a boat), there is a known issue of piston slap which will require the engine to have an expensive repair, it has next to no resale value........

Need I go on ?

You guys are indefatigable, aren't you? Let me say one more time that contrary to predictions Rosie was never left stranded in those seven months of driving the Rover 45. The thing rode just fine. It's just not a very well-appointed kind of vehicle, with bad seats, crummy dash, and a rather counterintuitive set of controls - but then of course Britain is the land of counterintuitivity.

I should perhaps add that one of the ironic nice things of driving a Rover in Holland is that no one else does, so you're able to spot your car immediately in the carpark.

But once more, I'm going to do everything I can to dissuade her from getting a 75 next time.

Maybe you experts should start trashing the Audi A6 or A8 (haven't checked the pricetags yet) so as to make us sufficiently scared to get that one.

PS I have to confess I don't quite get Traveling Dan's post, but I'm sure it's wildly funny and / or smart.

Dan,

No offence intended to anyone, hopefully none taken either.

Herm is just one of those guys, you know. He used to post a lot here and is one of the few who have made me laugh out loud (the 'Airport Scene' still makes me smile).

Also his English is better than most people here (he's Dutch so its his second language)

quote:

Originally posted by seagull:
Herm is just one of those guys, you know. He used to post a lot here and is one of the few who have made me laugh out loud (the 'Airport Scene' still makes me smile).

I believe the proper term was Aero Porto. This was after all in Portugal. Dramatis personae included two little dogs, if memory serves.

And how about the tale of Giant Dutch Woman? Every word of it was true.

quote:

Originally posted by BigH47:
You can get a Rover with a huge yank motor in it.

Howard

Indeed so. And according to the last Autocar report the heater doesn't work, the on board computer outputs gibberish and one of the door handles fell off. Not a bad tally compared to the last Rover I drove. Things are obviously improving!

And it does an amazing 19mpg, giving it a range of around 200 miles. Start queuing now....

Should be very good value second hand though - if you don't mind living dangerously.

Cheers

Harry

quote:

Originally posted by HTK:
And according to the last Autocar report the heater doesn't work, the on board computer outputs gibberish...

Aren't those the bits that BMW supplied when they owned the company??

Steve

I wouldn't be suprpised if they were. Don't know if they still are. I think what's more likely is that Rover source the parts from the same supplier as BMW used.

Cheers

Harry

quote:

Originally posted by herm:
Maybe you experts should start trashing the Audi A6 or A8 (haven't checked the pricetags yet) so as to make us sufficiently scared to get that one.

Ok Herm, I'll bite.

All 3 Rover 75s known to me have had the problems I listed - and all handle crap and are virtually worthless now.

I will add here that at the same time an Audi A6 with 200,000+ miles exhibited no major issues other than a replacement clutch, exhaust and necessary service items such as brake pads etc.

I know which I would buy .........

PS: The Rover 45 was a facelift of the 400 which was a Honda derivative. I am not surprised it lasted well.

The 75, mmm - another story altogether.......

.......and the rover 75 known to me had ten visits to the dealer with warranty issues in 12 months, one of which lasted over 2months thanks to a gearbox problem probably not disimilar to the one LTD describes... on the bright side the service loan car for those 2 months was an Accord which was head and shoulders better in just about every way..

I had a rover 75 company car three or so years ago.Didn't have any problems other than the fact it was so goddamn awful to drive (smooth but no performance or handling whatsoever). Currently drive a Civic (2 Litre 5 door Type S) and it's just so much better it's not true!

I own the Honda, too - is there any reason nowadays to have a company car given the tax cost?

Funny. So in many ways the 75 sounds even worse than the 45?

I'm going to push for that Audi. First however we'll have to complete the Freelander lease.

Man, that thing is noisy! It's useless to put a cd in the player. However women's reactions to a pseudo jeep like that are intriguing. Sitting this high makes 'em feel safer, even though they know it's not true. No doubt there is some bio-evolutionary reason for this delusion.

Ah yes, old Herm, ersatz wit.

Well, Herm,

some fascinating opinions from some of the contributors on the Rover 75.

The launch report of the Rover 75 by Autocar magazine compared it with the competition from BMW, Audi and something else. The Rover 75 won that test.

Editors from the technical press have consistently said that the R75 is a great car - these are people who testdrive cars every day.

The suspension of the R75 was designed to be soft to provide a comfortable ride for 99% of the time it's being used. So, no, it won't be as fast as a Ferrari around a racing track.

The autogearbox is bought in form a supplier, I think it's Aisin, a Japanese company (Rana will probably know), so if there is a fundamental problem with the gearbox then it will show up in Japanese cars also.

A door handle fell off a Rover75? The door handle on my brand new BMW jammed.

Search the internet. You'll find plenty of people who will never buy another Mercedes or Audi because of quality problems.

There are two ways of deciding whether one likes the interior, seats and overall feel of a car, just as there are two ways to decide whether you like a certain CD player - follow advice on a forum or go test one.

The choice is yours.

Brian

quote:

these are people who testdrive cars every day

They usually only test EACH for ONE day though.


My firm supplies replacement cars for Mercedes breakdown,. A surprising number of pissed off people with non-functioning £40K+ cars. One guy was insensed his fan belt had broken, but the car had to be collected in one of these coverall vans and was going to be away "about" 5 days. He pointed out it was just the fan belt could they not just replace it? No they said it had to "go on the computer".
We deal with Audi "test" cars and there are sometimes upset owners there trying to get problems sorted. (Audi salesmen are bloody rude as well).
Of all the cars on the fleet (family type motors) the VAG cars definately feel better quality wise than the offerings from Ford and GM. The french stuff in the main is FUGLY and feel like crap.The Japanese stuff is really boring. We don't have Rover group cars any more but they did handle like barges. I wasn't too impressed after a short spin in a Range Rover either.

Howard

quote:

Originally posted by Brian OReilly:
There are two ways of deciding whether one likes the interior, seats and overall feel of a car, just as there are two ways to decide whether you like a certain CD player - follow advice on a forum or go test one.

The choice is yours.

Brian

Of course you're right, Brian. It is rather amusing (in an ersatz way) how I could probably post a query about any kind of car and people would come out to say it was the worst vehicle ever produced.

The thing with this Rover business is we drove one for seven months and though it never broke down (as was predicted) it wasn't the world's most comfortable ride either. Chances are the 75 will do better than that, but I just have the feeling that other cars in the sme price range will offer more comfort and solidity. Remember, too, Rosie was so pleased with the looks of the 2003 R45 she never even looked at another car.

I'd expect a 75 to have a good ride, hence the poor (or at least soft - which is not the same thing) handling. Relevant to that (albeit from the opposite direction), I have a BMW 525D touring with 17 inch alloys - I'd much rather have the regular wheels and better ride, with reduced tramlining. Why are wheels continuing to get bigger on cars? Because people like the look, and the ride gets spoiled. Some people prefer comfort to handling / looks, and there is nothing wrong with that.

In my opinion there are still plenty of reasons to have a company car - eg,

1. avoidance of risk - any kind of accident, breakdown, theft or other incident will be deal with at my employer's cost, and I'll be provided with a replacement when necessary
2. I can have amuch better company car than I could buy with the cash allowance
3. I get the same pence per business mile wherther it's my car or a company car (although if it were my car I'd get tax relief on business miles
4. if you get the "right" car, you can pay far less tax on having a company car than you would on having the cash alternative - eg, get a BMW 320D and you'll pay tax on about one sixth of the list price
5. I have a very low boredom threshold and, if I have my own car it will probably not stay with me for more than 1-2 years. Changing your car that often is expensive and having a company car means I can't change more than once every three years.
6. If I end up doing very high mileage it costs my employer more not me (apart from the fuel). Particularly important with high business miles - at the moment I'm doing about 15k business miles a year.

Advantages of your own car include being able to pick pretty much what you like (subject to any rules imposed by your employer on opting out) and can in certain circumstances run a much cheaper car thereby making a substantial profit/saving over the company car

In my experience, you need to have a test drive to find out whether or not you like the car. If I'd done that with a Golf in 1998 I would not have had one as a company car. yecch.

quote:

In my experience, you need to have a test drive to find out whether or not you like the car. If I'd done that with a Golf in 1998 I would not have had one as a company car. yecch.

Oh of course we definitely will. The funny thing was the previous time (with the Rover 45) all she test-drove was the 45, and not any other comparable car, which doesn't make a lot of sense.

I have to say this blasted Freelander we're driving in between is making such an infernal motor / wheel noise it's pretty much impossible to listen to any music except stuff with a lot of high notes, such as violin music.