I'm thinking of buying a Rover 75, seems like you get a lot of car for your money.
What advice would you give me?
Also I've never bought 2nd hand from a dealer before. Is it better to buy from a speclist dealer, what are their haggling margins, is a warranty worth anything?
My dad had a 51-plate 1.8 Club from new for a year or so, absolutely cracking car if the looks are your thing. Very solidly put together and the ride quality was exceptional - although don't expect it to be particularly chuckable round corners, get the MG version if that's what you're after.
Now that you can pick them up for near banger money, I think they're one of the most overlooked used bargains out there.
I think you could be right. Way too conservative but when I've been in 'em, not all that bad at all. The V8 will stand as the last proper Brit-bruiser saloon.
Would love one as a Q-car in 10 years or so when they're long forgotten. Ford have fitted that 4.6 V8 to so many cars the parts will be available for probably the rest of time.
_________________________ "Forward", he cried, from the rear, and the front rank died. And the General sat, and the lines on the map moved from side to side.
good cars..ignore the knockers, they are cosseting like a good rover should be....and cheap as nowdays...get a bmw engined 2.5 td with full wood and leather for ultimate pipe n slippers appeal.....
I ran a 2002 1.8 Classic SE tourer from new for 18 months and 46,000 miles. Loved it.
Few things to watch: Head Gasket failure. The K series engine is prone to this. Especailly the 1.8 turbo. However keep an eye on the coolant levels and top up when required and you should be fine. Should it go then not that big a deal. £300 to get fixed at a good garage properly
Wheel alignment. Some cars can suffer uneven tyre wear. Mine did. Get it set at a garage with the correct kit and all will be fine
Fuel sender in the tank. Some 2003/4 models can be prone to this failing
Later cars are not as well built as ealier ones. I would stick to pre facelift models. From around 2003 there was a drive to reduce costs and this had an impact on build quality
The 75 is basically a well built and reliable car that stands out from the crowd and has a touch of class
I am looking for another one too, So good luck in your search
I'm thinking of buying a Rover 75, seems like you get a lot of car for your money.
What advice would you give me?
Also I've never bought 2nd hand from a dealer before. Is it better to buy from a speclist dealer, what are their haggling margins, is a warranty worth anything?
Whatever you do, please do NOT buy a Rover 75, or any Rover of any kind.
The 75 lags a huge distance behind its rivals, depreciates like a stone and is a thoroughly old-fashioned driving and ownership experience. They have a gormless image so other road users will expect to see you doing 50mph in the middle lane on the motorway, and will not be kind toward you.
There is very little dealer support, as Rover have spent the last 30 years explaining to their bank why they shouldnt be made bankrupt, then being bailed out, only to make the same mistakes over & over again & end up in terrible trouble. The workforce who cobbled the 75 together had terrible staff morale, they all faced redundancy and were working in a terrible, 1970s factory with no modern machinery.
Buy a 2 to 3 year old saloon made by absolutely anyone else, but dont buy a 75.
jeez its like goin back in time..i had this debazte with you before palmy....each to their own...i aint a fan of the poverty spec cars, and the k series engine hg problems are well documented..i wouldnt even say that when these cars were new they were class leaders, or anything like it, but they were amongst the nicest cars to sit in and drive in the highrer spec versions...and now the ar..erm, bottom, is out the rover used market, they make stonking used buys, particulalry if you buy the bmw diesel engined versions orr the turbine smooth v6...like sitting in yoiur grannies parlour, wood, leather, nice, smooth loping ride...i rate em, as do a few of my friends who have bought mega milers very cheaply and had not one problem....i remeber you saying you had a mate who had been extremely unlucky in his purchase of a 75...c'est la vie......sometimes its the luck of the draw wi used cars, and, unfortunately, the luck you get can form a lifetime of opinions..
Yes he did, he retired about a year ago & got a Mercedes C280 instead.
A lifetime of opinions can certainly be formed from one bad experience but gevalt geshreeyeh, my disdain for their products is based on the utter rot that has been coming out of their factories for the last 25 years!
He-he, good ole Palmy and his refusal to see beyond the three-pointed star.
None of the many Rovers I've driven or been in has been a truly bad car, even though they soldiered on with them a bit too long and gave them one too many facelifts. Their biggest problem has been folk who amuse themselves by propogating the old man image of them.
At least none of the ones I know of have spontaneously combusted!
see thats anothe case of memorys making an opion seem valid..im a huge fan of sd1 rovers having owned and loved a 3500se auto, one of my favourite cars..but the sd1 build quality was absolutely dreadful..leaking windscreens, cars coming off the production line with crap paint, 6 month old cars neding ful resprays etc..etc..the design and driving experience were wonderful, an almost iconic design, but the production reality was laughable..no wonder aunti rover lost their rabid demographic, used to the impeccable quality of the p4/p5/p6 etc..
Thats exactly the same model as my dad had in 82. It was a company car and brand new at the time, 3500SE automatic. Lovely series 2 model and nothing went wrong with it in 3 years.
I know alot of them did go wrong, and they were built at a time when build quality didnt really exist, but at least they were desirable, had proper performance and styling.
Rover somehow managed to stop making desirable cars, instead making nasty Japanese rust boxes with paisley trim and awful chrome grills, but they didnt improve their quality.
The 75 is a ghastly monstrosity with no build integrity, switchgear from a 1980s Honda Civic, hideous, old fashioned looks (or even worse, garish looks if you go for the MG) and an interior which smells of the kind of plastics and glue which would even disgrace an airfix kit.
Cannot stress enough: Go for a Citroen C6 instead.
At the risk of pointing out the fecking obvious. He isn'nt buying new - that much can be worked out from the thread. Anyway - even if it WERE a new one, the C6 would be atleast twice the price so . . . . . . How about a good 166 for something different. Or indeed and IS300 or GS300? Accord? S type? Now't wrong with the 75 in my eyes but the MG version looked a mile better and ain't much dearer. Either way. Lot of car for the money and worthy of consideration IMHO. PS vowed never to post again on here, but just had to. This once . . . .
Depression is only anger without enthusiasm . . . .
a 5 year old 75 is pretty cheap for what you get. a nice waftmobile. as an alternative those ford cougars are also @£3k which seems pretty nice for a full levver cruise machine.
If your OK with the pipe and slippers image and the slighly dodgy quality control underneath you will find a competent saloon. Go for the 2.5 v6 with the auto in the best spec you can find. They look nice and retro in black with cream leather but too many are in that horrible light blue colour, whatever you do dont buy one of those!
ice blue mettallic with cream leather and blue piping..lovely...and a carriage clock and tartan blanket fitted free...pass me the ovaltine jeeves, im off for my afternoon nap..be sure to shoot any trespassers whilst im asleep, there's a good chap...
Well I'm looking to buy a Rover as well. I'm after a 2.0 CDTI. I'm not looking for advice, I'm just looking for a car. Decent ones are like hens teeth in N.E.Scotland. The reason I'm not looking for advice is simple, everyone has their own opinion on what they like, and nothing will change that. A certain anti-Rover poster is so far up himself, it's laughable. Personaly, I couldn't care less what anyone thinks of my choice of car, as I doubt whether I will ever invite them to share it with me. If anyone buying a car needs to get opinions on what other people think of it ( except for technical data and possible mechanical problems obviously )then maybe they should buy a car that someone else likes! Oh, to reply to the original post, get what you like mate, ,it's your money, and it will be your car.
Originally posted by qprdude: Well I'm looking to buy a Rover as well. I'm after a 2.0 CDTI. I'm not looking for advice, I'm just looking for a car. Decent ones are like hens teeth in N.E.Scotland. The reason I'm not looking for advice is simple, everyone has their own opinion on what they like, and nothing will change that. A certain anti-Rover poster is so far up himself, it's laughable. Personaly, I couldn't care less what anyone thinks of my choice of car, as I doubt whether I will ever invite them to share it with me. If anyone buying a car needs to get opinions on what other people think of it ( except for technical data and possible mechanical problems obviously )then maybe they should buy a car that someone else likes! Oh, to reply to the original post, get what you like mate, ,it's your money, and it will be your car.
I think they are different (and not in a bad way) from the usual suspects. I know a couple of owners who rate them highly. One's a minicab on 54 plate with just 180 K on the clock. The body is holding well and the owner has no complaints of the mechanicals. If i was in the market for an large estate i would definitely have a look.
