RE: SOTW: Rover 800 Vitesse Coupe

[newdogg06]

tombstone said:

just look out for oil leaks from the head gasket, smokey turbos and noisy gearboxes! (They chew the gearbox bearings up!)
Elec window fault is really common, normally dry joints on switch panel and iffy connection in fuse box, other than that, great shed!!!

I may be wrong but I think the very last PG1 gearbox from the 620Ti had stronger internals and will go straight in? Should handle 250+bhp

[Jeffmaniac]

An old fast Rover doesn't interest me as it has no uniqueness or charecter.

[WorAl]

Jeffmaniac said:

An old fast Rover doesn't interest me as it has no uniqueness or charecter.

Did anyone else read that in a very boring way, like the boring Vicar from Father Ted??

[TOENHEEL]

A friend of my dads has a mint example sitting left on his drive, never used..

[dwilkie]

Jeffmaniac said:

An old fast Rover doesn't interest me as it has no uniqueness or charecter.

Volvo V40?

The wheels did indeed used to be on the Vit Sport Lux, they changed the specs after 96 though iirc, and there was just the Vit (prior to that there was a 180/200bhp versions too which where the vit and the vit sport respectively).

[moetmoet]

varsas said:

Nardies said:

MarJay said:

200ish BHP, tuneable-ish, rear drive, LSD.

Me likey. Better than that awful mini thing.

FWD.

really? oh, i've just lost all interest. Next!

ha ha - me too.

[CDP]

B'stard Child said:

J4CKO said:

They were, regardless of parentage a handsome thing, ok a Granada or Senator was a better car but better looking, no.

In your opinion - in mine the Senator was much better looking than both Rover 800 and Granada - esp that bug eyed abomination Scorpio

I had a 1989 820Si and (later) a 1989 Granada 2.9 Scorpio.

They were both very pleasant for cruising round in but the Scorpio was just a big car while the 800 had some class to it, especially with it's modern take on the wooden dash while the Ford made do with stuck on grain. Interestingly the 2.0 Rover was significantly faster than the (automatic) 2.9 Ford and despite FWD handled far better. The RWD didn't make much difference on the Granny.

Never tried a Senator but always suspected it would be the best of the three.

[king arthur]

These are Good Cars. They suffer from the usual Rover problem of having finally been sorted just as everyone lost interest and stopped buying them. If they'd sorted them like that properly in the first place Rover might still be here. The 200bhp turbo is deceptively quick and will surprise a lot of more respected motors!

[godders75]

Nardies said:

No they didn't do a v8, there were a couple of Honda v6 variants, I think there was Rover KV6 version too.

Good car for the money, I'd love to have one if I could justify it!

Yup, at first you got the 2.7 Honda V6, then the T-Series 4 cylinder turbo was added and finally the Honda lump was replaced by a quicker 2.5 Rover KV6. The Honda and Rover T-Series engines are good but beware of the K-Series V6. It's a K (head gasket misery) after all.................

[newdogg06]

dwilkie said:

Jeffmaniac said:

An old fast Rover doesn't interest me as it has no uniqueness or charecter.

Volvo V40?

The wheels did indeed used to be on the Vit Sport Lux, they changed the specs after 96 though iirc, and there was just the Vit (prior to that there was a 180/200bhp versions too which where the vit and the vit sport respectively).

Loved them! (The Vits) If The Professionals ran to the 90's, Cowley would have hooned around in a Vit Sport Lux in Charcoal Grey with the grey leather Recaros.

[rob1234]

All I can think of when I see these is him:



doing the TT at an average of over 100mph in one of these (I think - or some 800 anyway).

Hero.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnKyMgry9iQ

[poing]

rob1234 said:

All I can think of when I see these is him:



doing the TT at an average of over 100mph in one of these (I think - or some 800 anyway).

Hero.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnKyMgry9iQ

+1

[qube_TA]

My Dad had one of those, not a bad looking thing but it was constantly breaking, always with massive faults. Ate 2 gearboxes and an engine.

[Gizmo!]

godders75 said:

Nardies said:

No they didn't do a v8, there were a couple of Honda v6 variants, I think there was Rover KV6 version too.

Good car for the money, I'd love to have one if I could justify it!

Yup, at first you got the 2.7 Honda V6, then the T-Series 4 cylinder turbo was added and finally the Honda lump was replaced by a quicker 2.5 Rover KV6. The Honda and Rover T-Series engines are good but beware of the K-Series V6. It's a K (head gasket misery) after all.................

KV6 doesn't have the HGF problem.

The cambelt, however...

Great Shed. Shame about the FWD, but the torquesteer isn't a problem because the steering's so slow on these you can't tell.

[S7Paul]

Nice looking old bus, BUT having looked after all the maintenance on my Dad's 827SLi for many years I'd be very wary of the electrics.

Many of the electrical problems can be sorted by re-flowing all the soldered joints in the main fuse box. However, if it does need a new window switch panel the last time I looked (admittedly years ago) they were about £130. They are very hard to find in breakers (for obvious reasons) and not cheap there either.

On balance, I think my imaginary shed fund would go towards a Granada or Senator before an 800 series of any sort.

[J4CKO]

B'stard Child said:

J4CKO said:

They were, regardless of parentage a handsome thing, ok a Granada or Senator was a better car but better looking, no.

In your opinion - in mine the Senator was much better looking than both Rover 800 and Granada - esp that bug eyed abomination Scorpio

Obviously its subjective and we all have our preferences but I always thought the Carlton got the looks in that family, I do have a soft spot for Senators but surely even its most ardent fan couldnt say the front end was handsome



or,

[Hub]

I think they look great... but you just wouldn't!

[Oddball RS]

There sure are a lot of rose tinted specs on here today.

Stories of Hondas being pulled from the line and built correctly.

Electrical faults that only effect the Rover brand.

Fords and Vauxhalls being better.

They were built together, they did have electrical faults but they were often Honda inherited, same on the 200/400 too, rarely powertrain electrics.

Can they have been that bad? Plod used to use a lot of them, along with the Senators, and i remeber around this time the Granada was a joke, old fashioned with wayward handling and the usual aesmatic ford engines.

Lets just keep it balanced.

[B'stard Child]

J4CKO said:

B'stard Child said:

J4CKO said:

They were, regardless of parentage a handsome thing, ok a Granada or Senator was a better car but better looking, no.

In your opinion - in mine the Senator was much better looking than both Rover 800 and Granada - esp that bug eyed abomination Scorpio

Obviously its subjective and we all have our preferences but I always thought the Carlton got the looks in that family, I do have a soft spot for Senators but surely even its most ardent fan couldnt say the front end was handsome

I'm an Ardent Fan...............

To me they are one of the best looking cars ever made - the chip cutter grill does it for me

Although you can get them with a more subtle look



I've owned a lot of them see page 4 of this thread

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[Nardies]

bob1179 said:

IIRC you have to have the gearbox rebuilt with stronger bearings etc. to withstand the increased forces. I've also heard you can't do a great deal with the Rover MEMS so they can't really be 'remapped'.

More the pistons, the earlier (pre 95' I think) came with Mahle pistons, and would be good for around 15psi (up from the 9-10psi IIRC). The later models came with some cheaper components, people still used to up the boost and melt internals though. That's what I'd be looking at for on these, evidence of tinkerage and bodgery. Much like the 620Ti or the 220T's they're affordable power so are all getting a bit ruined.