MG will no longer screw cars together at Longbridge.

[KTF]

Lifted from here by the looks of it: http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/mg-rover-longbridge-s...

[iSore]

The 75 was a good car, and the only good thing Rover made at that time. The 75 used a lot of BMW parts - the rear z axle (minus diff) and front struts come directly from the E46 3 Series as do bits like calipers. The V6 was nice, but the 1.8 was the best one imo with very lively performance and excellent economy - shame that had so many head gasket problems. An MG Touring with the old M47 diesel is a very good car.

[amstrange1]

king arthur said:

kambites said:

It's derived from the Roewe 550 which is basically a rebadged, facelifted Rover 75.

I think it's a bit more than that, I think it's what became of the mid-sized car MG Rover were trying to get developed. As I recall, some of the engineers that ended up at MG under SAIC came from Ricardo who were working on the project. Or was it Prodrive?

It was Ricardo.

They'd had ex-Rover staff on-boarded to deliver the new MINI (ex-Rover) project for BMW, which paved the way for Ricardo 2010. That was a specifically created Ricardo subsidiary, which provided engineering services into SAIC - then in 2007ish SAIC exercised the right to buy R2010 for £1. SAIC were based at Ricardo's MTC site on the outskirts of Leamington Spa, but the building's now occupied by General Dynamics Europe.

I thought the Roewe 750 was the direct Rover 75 derivative, whereas the 550 was based on the mid-size platform (Rover 45 replacement) - though the latter was itself a spin-off from the 75. Or something like that. I'm sure someone more involved than I was will correct me!

[davepoth]

iSore said:

The 75 was a good car, and the only good thing Rover made at that time. The 75 used a lot of BMW parts - the rear z axle (minus diff) and front struts come directly from the E46 3 Series as do bits like calipers. The V6 was nice, but the 1.8 was the best one imo with very lively performance and excellent economy - shame that had so many head gasket problems. An MG Touring with the old M47 diesel is a very good car.

I have a 75 1.8 on the driveway. I got it at 50,000 miles, and it's now just shy of 130,000. Head gasket did blow but after throwing some money at fixing all of the other coolant leaks as well as the had gasket it's been as good as gold.

It's a really nice steer - maybe the steering could do with being a bit quicker but the chassis is really quite sweet for a big soft car, and the K series loves to rev - even though it seems a bit undignified in a car that reminds me of my Nan's front room.