RE: Shed Of The Week: Rover 820Si
Discussion
St John Smythe said:
daytona365 said:
0 to 60 in 7.3 ? That's as quick as a flippin Jensen interceptor !!
That was probably recorded off a cliff when it was new 
ked. 262mm discs or something minuscule like that.I wouldn't touch a ratty old 820i with a barge pole though. I ran a Vitesse Sport Coupe for a year and it was a labor of love with the constant faults. This is a car fundamentally from the 80s and the component quality and longevity belies that. The T series is also dog rough by any modern standard and without a turbocharger to give it purpose I see no reason to buy one now.
Edited by dme123 on Friday 17th April 11:44
J4CKO said:
Geoffcapes said:
The 2 litre engine is woefully small for a car of this weight.
Putting your foot down in one reminds me of Roland Browning doing sports day in Grange Hill many moons ago.
It does 0-60 in bang on ten seconds, that isnt super quick but neither is it glacial, perfectly adequate for its job and on par with other 2 litre large saloons of the time, it was the cheapest variant and things have moved on, not sure you can get large N/A petrol 2 litre saloons anymore.Putting your foot down in one reminds me of Roland Browning doing sports day in Grange Hill many moons ago.
With 4 6ft teenagers (and beer) in there it felt like double! And probably was!
I once had to travel long distances every day with one of our sales guys who'd chosen a late model 800 for reasons we never established - bigger engine than this, but all the significant stuff will be the same.
Upsides: it was quick (this won't be) and rode reasonably
Downsides: In a year it broke down 11 times - twice in the few weeks I was forced into it!! It dumped all it's oil in a hotel carpark for "reasons never fully established". It leaked water from everywhere, the interior rattled so much than when you hit a bump you could watch all the bits of the dashboard falling back into place like dominos - it leaked more water - it's brakes were terrifyingly poor - more water was still leaking in when I last walked away from it.
This was one of the LAST ones they ever made - fk help anyone with an earlier model - there's not a long enough bargepole.
Upsides: it was quick (this won't be) and rode reasonably
Downsides: In a year it broke down 11 times - twice in the few weeks I was forced into it!! It dumped all it's oil in a hotel carpark for "reasons never fully established". It leaked water from everywhere, the interior rattled so much than when you hit a bump you could watch all the bits of the dashboard falling back into place like dominos - it leaked more water - it's brakes were terrifyingly poor - more water was still leaking in when I last walked away from it.
This was one of the LAST ones they ever made - f
k help anyone with an earlier model - there's not a long enough bargepole.Geoffcapes said:
J4CKO said:
Geoffcapes said:
The 2 litre engine is woefully small for a car of this weight.
Putting your foot down in one reminds me of Roland Browning doing sports day in Grange Hill many moons ago.
It does 0-60 in bang on ten seconds, that isnt super quick but neither is it glacial, perfectly adequate for its job and on par with other 2 litre large saloons of the time, it was the cheapest variant and things have moved on, not sure you can get large N/A petrol 2 litre saloons anymore.Putting your foot down in one reminds me of Roland Browning doing sports day in Grange Hill many moons ago.
With 4 6ft teenagers (and beer) in there it felt like double! And probably was!
dbdb said:
They're decent cars and quite handsome. The earlier version with its razor sharp lines deserves to be seen as a classic in my view. Nothing looks more eighties.
Still, any Rover will always suffer the problem that people seek out and highlight the negative stories, whilst shunning or disbelieving the positive. In reality, whilst the Rover was not a paragon of Japanese style reliability, it was not the definitive 'bad car' either.
The opposite is true for their German competitors - whose cars will seemingly be forgiven almost anything. Truly odd, but PH strangely reflects society's car prejudices whereas I would expect the average PHer to be able to see that Audi and BMW and Mercedes-Benz are not the only cars worth having.
This x100 ^ Still, any Rover will always suffer the problem that people seek out and highlight the negative stories, whilst shunning or disbelieving the positive. In reality, whilst the Rover was not a paragon of Japanese style reliability, it was not the definitive 'bad car' either.
The opposite is true for their German competitors - whose cars will seemingly be forgiven almost anything. Truly odd, but PH strangely reflects society's car prejudices whereas I would expect the average PHer to be able to see that Audi and BMW and Mercedes-Benz are not the only cars worth having.
V8forweekends said:
dbdb said:
They're decent cars and quite handsome. The earlier version with its razor sharp lines deserves to be seen as a classic in my view. Nothing looks more eighties.
Still, any Rover will always suffer the problem that people seek out and highlight the negative stories, whilst shunning or disbelieving the positive. In reality, whilst the Rover was not a paragon of Japanese style reliability, it was not the definitive 'bad car' either.
The opposite is true for their German competitors - whose cars will seemingly be forgiven almost anything. Truly odd, but PH strangely reflects society's car prejudices whereas I would expect the average PHer to be able to see that Audi and BMW and Mercedes-Benz are not the only cars worth having.
This x100 ^ Still, any Rover will always suffer the problem that people seek out and highlight the negative stories, whilst shunning or disbelieving the positive. In reality, whilst the Rover was not a paragon of Japanese style reliability, it was not the definitive 'bad car' either.
The opposite is true for their German competitors - whose cars will seemingly be forgiven almost anything. Truly odd, but PH strangely reflects society's car prejudices whereas I would expect the average PHer to be able to see that Audi and BMW and Mercedes-Benz are not the only cars worth having.
Phil303 said:
And if you stand back and squint, you can see echoes of the SD1 in it. Does that make a redeeming feature or not?
I remember seeing a large billboard advert for these at the entrance to the 1988 Motorshow at the NEC; Fast there, fast back. That's quite clever, I thought at the time.
The ad copy made more of an impression than the car ever did.
"Britischer architekt"I remember seeing a large billboard advert for these at the entrance to the 1988 Motorshow at the NEC; Fast there, fast back. That's quite clever, I thought at the time.
The ad copy made more of an impression than the car ever did.
dbdb said:
They're decent cars and quite handsome. The earlier version with its razor sharp lines deserves to be seen as a classic in my view. Nothing looks more eighties.
Still, any Rover will always suffer the problem that people seek out and highlight the negative stories, whilst shunning or disbelieving the positive. In reality, whilst the Rover was not a paragon of Japanese style reliability, it was not the definitive 'bad car' either.
The opposite is true for their German competitors - whose cars will seemingly be forgiven almost anything. Truly odd, but PH strangely reflects society's car prejudices whereas I would expect the average PHer to be able to see that Audi and BMW and Mercedes-Benz are not the only cars worth having.
No, honestly these were stinkers...Still, any Rover will always suffer the problem that people seek out and highlight the negative stories, whilst shunning or disbelieving the positive. In reality, whilst the Rover was not a paragon of Japanese style reliability, it was not the definitive 'bad car' either.
The opposite is true for their German competitors - whose cars will seemingly be forgiven almost anything. Truly odd, but PH strangely reflects society's car prejudices whereas I would expect the average PHer to be able to see that Audi and BMW and Mercedes-Benz are not the only cars worth having.
St John Smythe said:
daytona365 said:
0 to 60 in 7.3 ? That's as quick as a flippin Jensen interceptor !!
That was probably recorded off a cliff when it was new http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/reviews/facts-and-fi...
V8forweekends said:
dbdb said:
They're decent cars and quite handsome. The earlier version with its razor sharp lines deserves to be seen as a classic in my view. Nothing looks more eighties.
Still, any Rover will always suffer the problem that people seek out and highlight the negative stories, whilst shunning or disbelieving the positive. In reality, whilst the Rover was not a paragon of Japanese style reliability, it was not the definitive 'bad car' either.
The opposite is true for their German competitors - whose cars will seemingly be forgiven almost anything. Truly odd, but PH strangely reflects society's car prejudices whereas I would expect the average PHer to be able to see that Audi and BMW and Mercedes-Benz are not the only cars worth having.
This x100 ^ Still, any Rover will always suffer the problem that people seek out and highlight the negative stories, whilst shunning or disbelieving the positive. In reality, whilst the Rover was not a paragon of Japanese style reliability, it was not the definitive 'bad car' either.
The opposite is true for their German competitors - whose cars will seemingly be forgiven almost anything. Truly odd, but PH strangely reflects society's car prejudices whereas I would expect the average PHer to be able to see that Audi and BMW and Mercedes-Benz are not the only cars worth having.
Anyway.
The 800 we had was the standard lump, nothing to write home about apart from it was huge. The Vitesse Coupe I was lent was pretty rapid and I seem to remember the kick from the turbo being quite addictive. Apart from Tony Pond, and that was in a V6, the reason they're cheap and less well regarded than other period cars from Audi and BMW and Mercedes-Benz is simply because they are a s
te. Not 820s but I had two 827 Sli. First one was a really great solid car which I loved and regretted selling so I purchased another one. That was crap. Poor electrics, poor quality paintwork and an alarm that kept immobilising the car to the point I scrapped it with 6 months still left on it.
Shame as now I think it could a future classic.
Shame as now I think it could a future classic.
When I worked for Royal Ordnance in the early 90's we had Rovers for company cars and the policy was new cars at 10,000 miles or 10 months old, I did many many miles in 1990 and become an admin burden for the fleet guy, I ended up being put into Avis rental cars in the end and every monday morning as I tipped up in Chorley the Avis rep was waiting and gave me another car - The 800's where a great car on the motorway eating the miles up well. One well used car on our fleet was a 820si which it was decided to keep and not go back to Rover for reasons I did not know had 73000 miles at a year old, many years later I saw it parked in covent garden and you guessed it old it had had a hair cut and had about 40,000 on the clock when I looked through the window!
7DWM said:
Got a soft spot for these my Dad had 2 of them. both 820 fastbacks, a 90 'G' and a 95 'M' facelift.
Both ex-Rover management cars bought cheap under a year old at about 40% less than list price. They were tough old things, managed to withstand a me and my brother as teenagers trying to destroy them with our driving antics.....apart from the headgasket on the 'G' plate one!
Ex BAE or RO man then?Both ex-Rover management cars bought cheap under a year old at about 40% less than list price. They were tough old things, managed to withstand a me and my brother as teenagers trying to destroy them with our driving antics.....apart from the headgasket on the 'G' plate one!
My Dad had an early 825 Sterling that went well enough and was perfectly reliable (unlike his SD1's), but the interior quality and creeking was shocking. It had been in Gibraltar, so maybe it had been pulled apart at the boarder guards, or maybe the build quality was really st 
The engine was quiet and the car comfy, with a nice floaty ride, although it did have an odd side to side wobble when going over bumps.
Later my Dad came close to buying a 827 Vitesse, now that was fast, even now the memory of taking off after pulling out onto a A-road and being pined to the passenger seat is still as vivid as it was then. Around the same time he looked at an E34 530i, which didn't seem anywhere near as fast as the Vitesse. The interor of the BMW looked very spartan and dull by comparision to the Vitesse but felt much more solid, and I guess would feel much the same today, unlike the Rover.
I never liked the restyled 800 with the nasty stuck on traditional grill, where as I think the original 800 saloon/ fast back looked very good. This thread has even brought about a questionable desire for a 827 Sterling in two-tone silver/grey, as it appeared in the broucher
.
t The engine was quiet and the car comfy, with a nice floaty ride, although it did have an odd side to side wobble when going over bumps.
Later my Dad came close to buying a 827 Vitesse, now that was fast, even now the memory of taking off after pulling out onto a A-road and being pined to the passenger seat is still as vivid as it was then. Around the same time he looked at an E34 530i, which didn't seem anywhere near as fast as the Vitesse. The interor of the BMW looked very spartan and dull by comparision to the Vitesse but felt much more solid, and I guess would feel much the same today, unlike the Rover.
I never liked the restyled 800 with the nasty stuck on traditional grill, where as I think the original 800 saloon/ fast back looked very good. This thread has even brought about a questionable desire for a 827 Sterling in two-tone silver/grey, as it appeared in the broucher
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