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Omg Rover 75!

pinkaardvark said:
Bodywork is only made on the production line or shoddily by pattern part manufacturers. These parts will dry up and when gone you only be able to use pattern parts.

A production line puts cars together by assembly parts, it doesnt make any.
 
Dogbreath said:
Friends dad has the MG ZT 260 which has the Mustang V8 and RWD. He's just had a supercharger conversion as well so up to 400bhp!

Vastly underrated cars IMO, but the smaller engined ones are distinctly underpowered. If you like wafting along in supreme comfort on a small budget they are hard to beat.

I've been in the V8 version and it does sound and go pretty nicely. I thought it was rather comfy myself....

I bet it's awesome with 400+bhp :D What's the chassis like for that much power?

I happen to like the looks, especially the quad exhaust version of the ZT260 :cool: with all the lovely mesh grille like I had on my Mondy - looks subtle but menacing at the same time.
 
Freefaller said:
I've been in the V8 version and it does sound and go pretty nicely. I thought it was rather comfy myself....

I bet it's awesome with 400+bhp :D What's the chassis like for that much power?

I happen to like the looks, especially the quad exhaust version of the ZT260 :cool: with all the lovely mesh grille like I had on my Mondy - looks subtle but menacing at the same time.

Adapted 5 series chassis. I reckon it goes pretty well
 
Freefaller said:
I've been in the V8 version and it does sound and go pretty nicely. I thought it was rather comfy myself....

I bet it's awesome with 400+bhp :D What's the chassis like for that much power?

The chassis was crying out for more power, it was entertaining with 260PS but he reckons the extra power has actualy made it better to drive in every way, apart from running costs (rear tyre consumtpion is now almost as bad as fuel consumption).

The odd thing is that he's now thinking about more power. The ride is so refined that it doesn't feel violently quick in the way a smaller car does, but it certainly doesn't hang around. The owner reckons it's like taking off in a in a 747, just a continuous hard push that doesn't seem to reduce. The gearbox and back axle are good for about 600bhp apparently, which is obtainable.

He has the XPower exhaust on it as well, and it sounds absolutely fantastic. Truly a car for the more mature hooligan.
 
Fantana said:
Compared to what? A 3 series that also comes with only a tape player and a CD changer in the boot?
No, compared to what £5-7k and up to 5 year old market can offer. And it can offer pretty much anything from Mondeo Ghia X, through Volvo S80 to Jaguar X-Type and every single one of them will be better equipped and more luxurious than 75 in Classic trim with white steering wheel, tape player and manual aircon.

MG ZTs and Rover 75s are brilliant cars, I wouldn't mind one myself, but there are no bargains. They cost now more than before Rover went under and it's a fact. That's because everyone looks so frantically for the rumoured bargain they are willing to overpay just to get on the wagon.
 
As an ex owner of a 75 CDT, might aswell add my thoughts. Owned mine for one year, never experienced a single hiccup with it.
Certainly wasn't a sportscar, but then that's why I replaced it with a 5. On top of that straightline performance was yawnable, but that's only to be expected with all of 115hp dragging 1.6 tons of car around.

Excluding that, was about as good as a normal car gets. LOTS of toys, including a standard fit Alpine symphony CD changer (sounded pretty good for a car stereo), cruise, split air con, eleccy everything, heated memory leather seats, parking sensors. I've no idea how any can complain about the interior, was IMO on par with a cheaper Jag and massively more classy than anything from the Germans or Japanese. As it wasn't trying to be a sportscar, also had one of the most lovely and smooth rides of anything I've been in.

In other words, take it on as a luxury cruiser, and it blitzes anything from any of the mainstream manufacturers and whilst it doesn't have the performance of say a 530D, has the ride side of it sewn up.

Just to finish it off, averaged around 45mpg, which is the side effect of bugger all straightline performance.
 
Dogbreath said:
He has the XPower exhaust on it as well, and it sounds absolutely fantastic. Truly a car for the more mature hooligan.

What's the guys name?

It's not a Silver ZT is it?

edit... Ahh, I just read it has a 'charger.

Someone I know recently got a 260 and has the XPower exhausts on. Not seen/heard it yet but am hoping to go and have a gander in the near future.
 
v0n said:
There is no such car available via autotrader, no sub 60k CDTIs for less than 5 grand. Which, anyhow, I would say is a lot of money for a nearly 5 year old car with radio casette as luxury item and license for panels and parts sold to Chinese. 5k is Ghia X sector.

I found that on the Ebay classifieds, so it's from a dealer not private.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ROVER-75-CDT-...262QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item300031537069

There are a couple of TDCi Ghia Mondeos for around the same price, all with 100k or more on them, but I couldn't find a Ghia X for that money. The cheapest diesel S80 I could fine was 3995, and it was 3 years older. There are no diesel X-Types for comparable money.
 
Dogbreath said:
The chassis was crying out for more power, it was entertaining with 260PS but he reckons the extra power has actualy made it better to drive in every way, apart from running costs (rear tyre consumtpion is now almost as bad as fuel consumption).

The odd thing is that he's now thinking about more power. The ride is so refined that it doesn't feel violently quick in the way a smaller car does, but it certainly doesn't hang around. The owner reckons it's like taking off in a in a 747, just a continuous hard push that doesn't seem to reduce. The gearbox and back axle are good for about 600bhp apparently, which is obtainable.

He has the XPower exhaust on it as well, and it sounds absolutely fantastic. Truly a car for the more mature hooligan.

Fantastic! :D Sounds a bit like the mx5 which cries for more power than stock - so I had to listen to it's whimpers ;)

Sounds like it could very much be a wolf in sheeps clothing. Oh how I do love V8s.....
 
v0n said:
No, compared to what £5-7k and up to 5 year old market can offer. And it can offer pretty much anything from Mondeo Ghia X, through Volvo S80 to Jaguar X-Type and every single one of them will be better equipped and more luxurious than 75 in Classic trim with white steering wheel, tape player and manual aircon.

MG ZTs and Rover 75s are brilliant cars, I wouldn't mind one myself, but there are no bargains. They cost now more than before Rover went under and it's a fact. That's because everyone looks so frantically for the rumoured bargain they are willing to overpay just to get on the wagon.

You'd quite easily pick up an E46 3 series for that price range thats 5 years old. They have crap stereos with tape players and single zone CC, I dont see the difference. Its possible to pick up a 3 year old ZT for £7k, bearing in mind its was a £23k 3 years ago.
 
ElRazur said:
The one i saw was the 2litre v6....am impressed. Please tell me more. Parkers gave it 4 out of five stars overall and states that it is better than a mondeo (eat you heart fox)! Anyone driven one and your thoughts please...

Whether it is better than a Mondeo depends entirely on what you use the car for.

The Rover 75 was designed to be an affordable luxurious long distance cruiser. If you buy it specifically for this, then yes, it is better than a Mondeo. It was one of the few cars Rover made that was actually any good - infact, pretty damn good.

Unfortunately, comfort often comes at a price - the 75 has very soft suspension setup which means brilliant ride on the Motorway but it isn't much, if at all, a drivers car. For general day to day use you can argue the Mondeo is better, but if your primary use for the car is to get in, drove a long way then get out, you would be mad to discount the 75.

Real shame as it was one of the proper casualities of the MG Rover debacle. Great car, marketed by idiots. In ZT form it goes a long way towards becoming a decent Sport saloon - trading the soft ride for half decent handling.

The problem the 75 had was that it was confused as to where it was on the market.
 
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Fantana said:
Adapted 5 series chassis. I reckon it goes pretty well

This was a rumour but it was never true. The Rover 75/MG ZT is NOT based on a modified E39 platform. This is why it required extensive re-working for the RWD versions. It is not, and never was, a native RWD platform.

The only major BMW component share in the 75 range was the diesel engines.
 
[TW]Fox said:
This was a rumour but it was never true. The Rover 75/MG ZT is NOT based on a modified E39 platform. This is why it required extensive re-working for the RWD versions. It is not, and never was, a native RWD platform.

The only major BMW component share in the 75 range was the diesel engines.
You're partly right, The 260 was far better than the 5 series, and it didn't need 'extensive reworking', it was practically already in place from the FWD 75s and ZTs

The requirement for body stiffness would be the reason for the large transmission tunnel and structural cross-member under the bonnet. Many members of the motoring press concluded the “transmission tunnel” belied the fact that the R40’s floorpan was an adapted version of BMW’s 5-Series. According to one insider, this was never more than an unfounded rumour. The cost of adapting the rear-wheel drive BMW’s floorpan for a front-wheel drive Rover would have been prohibitive, if not somewhat pointless. However, the large transmission tunnel would allow relatively easy conversion to rear wheel drive (barring the lack of space for a rear differential).
 
v0n said:
White steering wheel attracted you to Rover? Really?
Doesn't KV6 suffer from HGF too?

And where are those "bargain cheap" Rovers everyone keeps talking about, there are none in autotrader or in my local papers.

Actually, mine is green and white, and I love it. Looks are a matter of opinion, obviously you don’t like the looks of the interior, which is fine, but you are very much in the minority.

The KV6 in the Rover 800 did have numerous problems, one of which included the HGF, but the KV6 in the 75 is much improved, and although its not impossible for the HG to go, its no more likely than any other car.

As for the price, maybe its changed since I bought mine 3 months ago, but I paid what is the equivalent (taking in glasses guide trade in price) of £3500 for mine with 62,000 on the clock. It has heated electric adjustable leather memory seats, dual zone climate, electric everything (windows, mirrors, roof, blind), cd changer, parking sensors and much more. You find me a mondeo for that price, mileage and spec level in good condition. Even if you do, it will be one of the (in my opinion) hideous mark 2s.
 
The V8's are meant to be excellent cars - not long back EVO rated them as being as good as the EVO8 260...and thats some serious praise.
 
Redrum said:
As for the price, maybe its changed since I bought mine 3 months ago, but I paid what is the equivalent (taking in glasses guide trade in price) of £3500 for mine with 62,000 on the clock.

Why "equivalent"? It wasn't set price in sterling or...? At £3500 I would agree it's a bargain. But as I said, at the moment you will be hard pressed to find low mileage less than 5 year old 75 with leather and climate control for less than £5k. And that's not a bargain. That's more than what you would pay 2 years ago for 3 year old 75 in good nick.
 
v0n said:
Why "equivalent"? It wasn't set price in sterling or...? At £3500 I would agree it's a bargain. But as I said, at the moment you will be hard pressed to find low mileage less than 5 year old 75 with leather and climate control for less than £5k. And that's not a bargain. That's more than what you would pay 2 years ago for 3 year old 75 in good nick.
Oh you mean like this shockingly old, uber high mileage, poverty spec example which will probably only go for £5500? ;) :D

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ROVER-75-CONN...ryZ18262QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
 
v0n said:
Why "equivalent"?

Because I traded a car in, therefore the amount of money I parted with does not show what I paid for the car.

I can't comment on what they cost 2 years ago, as I didn't look then, but all I can say is I think they are very hard to beat now at that price bracket for that style of car.
 
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