RE: SOTW: Rover 825i Sterling
Discussion
Riggers said:
fido said:
"Honda's insistence .. that the front suspension should be a double-wishbone affair in order to allow a lower bonnet line stymied the 800's ability to produce a pillow-soft ride."
Yes, that inferior double-wishbone design .. it was Honda's fault!
I'm no engineer, but isn't a double-wishbone front suspension layout unusual in exec cars, owing to generally reduced suspension travel?Yes, that inferior double-wishbone design .. it was Honda's fault!
Please educate me if I'm misguided/misinformed/generally a bit thick...
I did the initial design of the KV6 cylinderhead, back in the early '90's. I say "designed" but all I did was chop out a cylinder from the existing K-Series head, and import the inlet and exhaust ports that someone else had designed for the forthcoming K1800.
I was particularly proud of holding the first casting of the cam carrier in my hand. I remember showing it to the rest of the design team, in fact I remember showing it to each and every person in the design office. One day, I entered a suspiciously quiet office, and on my desk, was my cam carrier which someone had taken to the workshop, and melted with a welding torch. How we laughed.
s.
Maybe I had gone on about it a bit toooo much. Anyway, I'm slightly cross that it's reached Shed status, rather than classic.
I was particularly proud of holding the first casting of the cam carrier in my hand. I remember showing it to the rest of the design team, in fact I remember showing it to each and every person in the design office. One day, I entered a suspiciously quiet office, and on my desk, was my cam carrier which someone had taken to the workshop, and melted with a welding torch. How we laughed.
s.Maybe I had gone on about it a bit toooo much. Anyway, I'm slightly cross that it's reached Shed status, rather than classic.
The company my younger brother worked for had a buy British policy, and they bought a lot of 800s. Apparently they were very troublesome. My brother remarked recently when we drove past one that "they were sheds when they left the factory...".
But I have to say hat the coupe's did at least look handsome, and to my eyes still do.
Not my cup of char.
But I have to say hat the coupe's did at least look handsome, and to my eyes still do.
Not my cup of char.
king arthur said:
SWoll said:
For me the 800 is the perfect example of buyers desperately attempting to buy British, even if far superior machinery was available elsewhere for cheaper.
You have to remember it was conceived in the time of the Ford Granada and Vauxhall Carlton, and at the time was arguably a better car (in some ways, not in every way). It just failed to move with the times through lack of investment.Lack of investement, always Rover's biggest problem.
king arthur said:
SWoll said:
For me the 800 is the perfect example of buyers desperately attempting to buy British, even if far superior machinery was available elsewhere for cheaper.
You have to remember it was conceived in the time of the Ford Granada and Vauxhall Carlton, and at the time was arguably a better car (in some ways, not in every way). It just failed to move with the times through lack of investment.300bhp/ton said:
king arthur said:
SWoll said:
For me the 800 is the perfect example of buyers desperately attempting to buy British, even if far superior machinery was available elsewhere for cheaper.
You have to remember it was conceived in the time of the Ford Granada and Vauxhall Carlton, and at the time was arguably a better car (in some ways, not in every way). It just failed to move with the times through lack of investment.
Checked those prices yet 3?
It's OK to admit when you are wrong you know, it's character building.
300bhp/ton said:
king arthur said:
SWoll said:
For me the 800 is the perfect example of buyers desperately attempting to buy British, even if far superior machinery was available elsewhere for cheaper.
You have to remember it was conceived in the time of the Ford Granada and Vauxhall Carlton, and at the time was arguably a better car (in some ways, not in every way). It just failed to move with the times through lack of investment.
Just been back to Auto Express again. The Granda 2.9 Ghia, which would have been more than a match for the SLi in terms of spec was over £5,000 cheaper than the 827 SLi...
Flipping it back to what was said about the spec of the 525i SE earlier, remember I was comparing it with the SLi, not the Sterling. The Sterling's list price was £27995. That extra £2,500 would have gone quite some way to speccing up the 5-series.
plfrench said:
Oh the Irony 300
Just been back to Auto Express again. The Granda 2.9 Ghia, which would have been more than a match for the SLi in terms of spec was over £5,000 cheaper than the 827 SLi...
Flipping it back to what was said about the spec of the 525i SE earlier, remember I was comparing it with the SLi, not the Sterling. The Sterling's list price was £27995. That extra £2,500 would have gone quite some way to speccing up the 5-series.
Just been back to Auto Express again. The Granda 2.9 Ghia, which would have been more than a match for the SLi in terms of spec was over £5,000 cheaper than the 827 SLi...
Flipping it back to what was said about the spec of the 525i SE earlier, remember I was comparing it with the SLi, not the Sterling. The Sterling's list price was £27995. That extra £2,500 would have gone quite some way to speccing up the 5-series.
Thanks for that plf. Kind of assumed that Rover had been "overreaching" with their pricing on the 800. It was when they still had those ideas about being a "prestigous" brand that they no longer deserved.
I had an 820 Vitesse for about 3 years and loved it. Quick in a way most people wouldn't expect and very comfortable for long journeys. Largely reliable, I never got stuck anywhere although there were a few issues but nothing unexpected for a car which had 135k on the clock when I sold it. I picked up a torsen diff gearbox for it at the time it needed a new clutch and it made the handling really good - really helped the traction through corners.
By the end of its life the 800 was out of date, but for much of the time it was on sale it was competitive in the class as a browse of any magazines from the time would demonstrate.
The issue of pulling to the left on this car - http://pistonheads.com/sales/3305180.htm - mentioned earlier in the thread could be unmatched front tyres. For a while I had slightly different variations of the same make and type of tyre on the front and it did pull to one side quite badly. It was also quite sensitive to tracking in terms of wandering so might only be a small issue as the seller says.
By the end of its life the 800 was out of date, but for much of the time it was on sale it was competitive in the class as a browse of any magazines from the time would demonstrate.
The issue of pulling to the left on this car - http://pistonheads.com/sales/3305180.htm - mentioned earlier in the thread could be unmatched front tyres. For a while I had slightly different variations of the same make and type of tyre on the front and it did pull to one side quite badly. It was also quite sensitive to tracking in terms of wandering so might only be a small issue as the seller says.
I bought a 827 fastback sterling thingy from a friend, was on LPG. i hated it, for a car with luxury pretentions (sp?) it rode terribly and was thrown together with wreckless abandon. the whole thing rattled like a skeleton having a wk in a biscuit tin. the V6 was smooth i'll give it that. felt like it cost more to run it on LPG than it did on petrol.
but each to their own!!!
k in a biscuit tin. the V6 was smooth i'll give it that. felt like it cost more to run it on LPG than it did on petrol.but each to their own!!!
I had two 800's , both company cars . The first was a factory misbuild , it was an 820 SLI saloon in Tahiti Blue but had the 2.0 Turbo Vitesse engine ( M65 MOV ). I beleive about 100 were made , the key difference to a standard Vitesse being that it had the 'FatBoy' seats instead on Recaros . I ran that car for 90,000 miles without any issues .
I replaced it with a 820 Vitesse Sport , P73 DPC where are you know ? Great car for it's day , again that one did about 90,000 without any issues . I replaced it with a Mondeo ST200 , which was nowhere near as quick .
I replaced it with a 820 Vitesse Sport , P73 DPC where are you know ? Great car for it's day , again that one did about 90,000 without any issues . I replaced it with a Mondeo ST200 , which was nowhere near as quick .
davemac250 said:
We were given one as a pursuit car - ex-trafpol when I worked at Croydon nick.
At the time we were going through a spate of cash point thefts - mostly the ahole thing by some of the travelling community.
Their car of choice at the time was a quick 3 series or a 'borrowed' Cosworth.
The Rover was good in a straight line but through a curve (corners were not to bad) and they started to pitch front to back. Expansion joints on the Croydon Flyover were arse clenching moments over 100mph, where as in the 220gti that followed it wasn't a problem.
On a quick run, it was pretty common for the brakes to be on fire on arrival - not that they faded that much. They tended to ignite when the car had been stopped for a few minutes.
The worst thing was the autobox - it was a pig and the cars spent more time in the workshops for the gearbox breaking than on the road.
In the end they were replaced in the shortterm by 216 and 220 GTi's which were pretty good and then VW VR6's, Cavaliers and Vectra V6 before the BMW's took over.
I'm not sure what the brake pad material busting into flames has to do with anything? my GT3 used to do that, if it was a problem change the pad type / material.At the time we were going through a spate of cash point thefts - mostly the ahole thing by some of the travelling community.
Their car of choice at the time was a quick 3 series or a 'borrowed' Cosworth.
The Rover was good in a straight line but through a curve (corners were not to bad) and they started to pitch front to back. Expansion joints on the Croydon Flyover were arse clenching moments over 100mph, where as in the 220gti that followed it wasn't a problem.
On a quick run, it was pretty common for the brakes to be on fire on arrival - not that they faded that much. They tended to ignite when the car had been stopped for a few minutes.
The worst thing was the autobox - it was a pig and the cars spent more time in the workshops for the gearbox breaking than on the road.
In the end they were replaced in the shortterm by 216 and 220 GTi's which were pretty good and then VW VR6's, Cavaliers and Vectra V6 before the BMW's took over.
SWoll said:
No.
My dad had an 827SLI many moons ago and will happily admit that for the money he paid it is the worst car he has ever owned..
Unreliable, badly built, wheezy V6, bad gearbox, drank like a fish and wallowed around through corners.
Had the misfortune of driving it a couple of times myself as a young un. primary memory is of it feeling like piloting a stenna ferry...
He replaced it with a similar vintage 5 Series. Like night and day.
swap the 5 series for a mitsubishi legnum and its the same story I have. I also hated it. Still do. My dad had an 827SLI many moons ago and will happily admit that for the money he paid it is the worst car he has ever owned..
Unreliable, badly built, wheezy V6, bad gearbox, drank like a fish and wallowed around through corners.
Had the misfortune of driving it a couple of times myself as a young un. primary memory is of it feeling like piloting a stenna ferry...
He replaced it with a similar vintage 5 Series. Like night and day.
The legnum was far from amazing but compared to the 827 (vitesse!) it was superb.
These were quite appealing (design wise) when they were new. A decent enough car to drive but the woeful quality had no excuse and killed the reputation. Even worse when the sister car was the Honda Legend. If I recall correctly, Rover built Legends for a time, but Honda pulled them out because of the poor build standards. Sadly, for me that means Rover 800 = Garbage
Awful car. Worst car I have ever driven, dangerous in fact. Auto box would often downshift mid corner in an attempt to send you into the nearest ditch...
I worked a summer for Europcar in 1999 in between studies and ending up delivering one of these to a Mr. R Schumacher at Williams HQ, Grove. I could not have thought of any worse advert for the british car industry than handing over the keys to one of these. Ralf prob left his E39 M5 at the airport in germany and then into this......good god!
I worked a summer for Europcar in 1999 in between studies and ending up delivering one of these to a Mr. R Schumacher at Williams HQ, Grove. I could not have thought of any worse advert for the british car industry than handing over the keys to one of these. Ralf prob left his E39 M5 at the airport in germany and then into this......good god!
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