RE: Rover 75 V8: Guilty Pleasures
Discussion
sjc said:
If they'd done it on the early cars, it could indeed be called a junior Bentley refinement and nvh wise.The fact that they did it on the facelift cars with their dreadful cost-cutting of materials and quality just about everywhere, leaves the description a long long way wide of the mark.
Hey, I said 'like to think of it' as a mini Bentley, not that is actually was. Happy to have my belief proved otherwise!
I wanted to love these at the time and I just couldn't. There was a time when 256BHP, a four speed auto and 21MPG were acceptable and that time was 1986, maybe that fits in with the cheesy retro look. Hopeless and pointless, and at this point it does nothing that a V8 S-Type or an XJ8 can't do so very much better.
It never ceases to amaze me the amount of people that feel they have to almost apologise or try to make an excuse for what were some very good cars, no they weren't the best but they were good. it was lack of investment, greed and bad decisions latterly that was cause of MG Rover's demise and also the reason that they got left behind. The 75/MGZT was a great car and drove beautifully as it was based on the BMW 5 series platform of the time so had a good start in the first place. Style wise It looked great for it's time though I could never,and still can't bring myself to like, the face lifted front end of this model, namely the headlights. The Audi=esque grill of the model shown I think looked cool though and remember something or other being said about it in the media at the time as the Audi grill had just grown in size too. (If I remember correctly...!)
There is one of these in the family, owned from new, bought for a very good price soon after the demise of MG Rover. It handles well, makes a nice noise, and is quick enough. The gearbox could maybe do with another gear, but it's not really a problem. Brakes are ok. The car gets lots of compliments, it's small by today's standards and so pretty practical for town centres and so on, and is generally quite a pleasant car. I think people get a bit preoccupied about fuel economy; it doesn't seem that bad on fuel and it still has under 30,000 miles so is hardly being used as a taxi. It's no M3, but neither is it meant to be; I think users of this site would find it a better car than they might expect.
My early V6 75 was driven by Tiff Needell against an S-type and turbo R in a bargain basement (what can you get for IK/5K/10K)road-test for the Fifth Gear program in 2013,it's on youtube somewhere.
He loved the thing, more so than the other two, not that he could say it in the edit. Not just the NVH levels, but the little stuff like the "proper leather" the felt on the door rubbers and real the rather than fake walnut, all the stuff they downgraded or removed later.
Somewhere I've actually got him saying "I want one,it's lovely isn't it!" in his inimitable way.
He loved the thing, more so than the other two, not that he could say it in the edit. Not just the NVH levels, but the little stuff like the "proper leather" the felt on the door rubbers and real the rather than fake walnut, all the stuff they downgraded or removed later.
Somewhere I've actually got him saying "I want one,it's lovely isn't it!" in his inimitable way.
I'm with the article on that one - I've quite liked Rovers ever since I bought my 45.
Not exactly the most exciting car in the world, but there's just something indescribably satisfying about the old thing. Completely outclassed by its competition of the time, I'm sure, but quite happy to exist in its own uniquely Rovery world where big velour seats and lots of fake wood can co-exist quite happily with wind-up windows and a sodding tape deck in 2003. It has a rather strange charm to it.
Not exactly the most exciting car in the world, but there's just something indescribably satisfying about the old thing. Completely outclassed by its competition of the time, I'm sure, but quite happy to exist in its own uniquely Rovery world where big velour seats and lots of fake wood can co-exist quite happily with wind-up windows and a sodding tape deck in 2003. It has a rather strange charm to it.
Usget said:
grindmunky said:
Love this! Proper sleeper. How cheaply could one be brought to 350-400bhp, do we think? All of the ZT tuning pages on Google seem to be from 2004...Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff