Shed Of The Week: Rover 820Si

Two British cars on the trot? Seemingly Shed's patriotic fervour has no end!

Last week's Jag XJ was a prime example of the 'British effect' - buyers shying away from a superb car because they thought it would be a financial sinkhole.

Ooh, is that Nightfire Red?

This week's Shed follows on in that glorious tradition. Some might query the presence of the word 'superb' within javelin-throwing distance of a Rover 800 and, like the javelin, they may have a point. But, as with the Jaguar, myth often trumps the truth. This is a better car than you might think. Launched in 1986, the 800 was a joint venture with Honda. Its version was the Legend. Contrary to popular belief, 800s and Legends were never built on the same production line. The Rover was put together at Longbridge, the Legend saloon at Cowley (the 2.7 Coupe being all Japanese).

The 800 hit its sales peak of 54,000 cars one year after launch. From then on, sales followed the normal steady decline to 1998, when it was discontinued. During that 12-year period it found over 317,000 buyers - not too shabby. Seeing an 800 like this one on the road now will give you a clue as to why. They have genuine presence. Our Shed's condition belies its age, suggesting a car that's been garaged all its life and hopefully therefore free of the car-killing rust that would normally make each visit to the MoT station an exercise in tremor control. Paint was very good on post-'96 cars, as was the underseal.

Snow suggests it's been for sale a while!

But what about under the bonnet? Isn't that where all the trouble is? Well, on one level the 820Si isn't as desirable as a Vitesse Turbo Coupe with its 197hp lump, 0-60 in 7.3sec performance and Torsen LSD. But on another it is, in that its normally-aspirated T-Series (a development of the M-Series four that was a DOHC development of the O-Series from the 70s - keep up) isn't a KV6 motor with its well-documented head gasket problems.

Cambelt replacement is every 60,000 miles/five years on the four-cylinder T engines. It would be surprising if it hadn't already been done on this well-tended car. These engines can develop minor oil leaks from the bottom end, but surely the odd small black stain on the drive is all part of the 20th century retro motoring experience? Better lying there than being crudely burnt by the fairly terrible VM Motori-engined 825SD diesel, anyway.

800s are front wheel drive, but they handle pretty well. Six years before our Shed was built, Tony Pond banged out a 100mph+ lap of the IoM TT course in a standard (allegedly/nearly) Vitesse. It almost certainly had modded suspension and it certainly made a non-standard noise but it was an admirable effort nonetheless.

Immerse yourself in the luxury

Electrics were notoriously dodgy on 800s. Immobilisers immobilising at the wrong time, alarms going off alarmingly, ECUs not ECUing like they're supposed to. It's not that hard to dig up owners' tales of cruising down the motorway at night and all the electrics going off. But, again, the reality is less scary than the legend. Window problems were usually down to a dry joint on the switch panel or a poor connection at the fuse box. Reflowing the soldered joints in that box will nip more than a few potential electrical issues in the bud. One upside of Rover's flakiness in this department is that flickering electrics can sometimes be re-engaged by nothing more technical than a sharp Fonz-like tap in the right place.

Like the Granada that's up as a YKYWT car just now, this Rover is from an age of high-friction velour upholstery that never quite managed to stay in the place it was meant to, so there's a bit of a rumpled-bed look going on with the parlour-style seats. Corduroy pant wearers, once in, might never get out, but they might be perfectly happy to stay there because those seats are squishily luxurious.

Passengers can enjoy the velour too

This ad's been up for a while now, so that five-month MoT isn't going to apply, but Shed reckons that a quick renewal should not be an issue. Judging by pictures alone is never going to tell the full story, as Shed found to his own lasting cost after responding to Mrs Shed's lonely hearts ad, but this specimen does look rather splendid. Keeping any 800 running used to be something of a trial, but nowadays there are plenty of spares around from such as Rimmer Bros.

In the long and sad story of Rover's demise, there's no shortage of scuttlebutt pointing the finger of blame in Munich's direction. Rover model replacements being mysteriously canned by BMW, expensively-developed new Rover and LR platforms being removed, the KV6 redesign of '98 replacing critical metal parts with plastic German ones, and lots of X-Files type theories about brand sabotage and the origin of the 1 Series.

What you choose to believe is down to you, but many industry savants remain of the opinion that Rover's know-how was good enough to bring the company through the murk and back into the light as a thriving marque. With that in mind Shed is disinclined to give this 800 a hearty boot in the privates by categorising it as nothing more than 'Alan Partridge's car'. It's better than that. It's a rolling reminder of a future that could have been. The dealer describes it as a collector's car or a simple low-miler runaround. Both descriptions are fair. It's certainly more than a trash rally car or Le Mans barge, though it would be perfect for either: it's a true five-seater with acres of beer space under that smirk-inducing boot spoiler.

For the uninformed, anything called Rover must be a dog. Even among the less ignorant, many will prefer the Grannie or the Senator. But there's a pleasing grace about the Rover five-door liftback that neither of those had. Against a 10-grand Granada, it's a steal.

Here's the ad.

Red, HPI CLEAR WITH THE SAME GENTLEMAN OWNER FOR THE LAST 17 YEARS WITH GENUINE WARRANTED 60,000 MILES, 5 MONTHS MOT READY TO DRIVE AWAY, 2 owners, Alloy wheels, Central locking, Electric door mirrors, Electric windows, Power steering, Radio, Immobiliser, Airbags. VERY RARE FINE IDEAL COLLECTORS CAR OR JUST A GENUINE LOW MILEAGE CHEAP CAR AT ONLY, £750