Tuesday 5th May 2015

Rover 75 V8: Guilty Pleasures

Closet Rover fan Matt attempts to explain his fascination with a very rare 75

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Well if Dan thought the SLK was going to be a controversial choice! Here I am as a relatively young car enthusiast attempting to defend the Rover 75 V8. Having never driven one. I'm not sure I've ever seen one to be entirely honest. So here goes...

Is that Nightfire Red?

Firstly I'd like to pass the buck slightly. As in blaming my dad. Back in 1998 he bought a secondhand Rover 600, just a few months before the 75 was being shown at the Birmingham motor show. He was excited about seeing the 75 but back then the whole world was excited about the 75. As a seven-year-old car nerd counting down the days to my first motor show I was cramming in as much about the show stars as possible. Which wasn't a lot given the attention span of a seven-year-old but the effort was there. And it seemed every front cover was either Rover 75 or Jaguar S-Type for weeks and weeks. Perhaps a Ford Focus comfortably winning a group test for a bit of variety. But there was tangible optimism then about the 75's prospects and I suppose that rubbed off.

Then the MG Z-cars came along and when you're 10 yellow cars with big spoilers are about the coolest things in the entire universe. Dad's penchant for saloons, plus the BTCC success, meant I really wanted a four-door ZS 180 for a while. Still do, in fact.

Bentley on a budget. Hopefully

So there's some context. There's also the Rover 25 I owned as my first car which turned out to be a very bad Cat D but that's a story for another time... I quite like Rovers, seemingly just because my dad did.

But why the 75 V8? Why not a ZT? Especially given there's an example of the latter in my £100K Garage? Truth is I like them both but there's nothing especially shameful about liking the MG version... The 75's appeal for me lies in the old Roverness of it. Wood and leather and V8 torque, just the sort of things that very much weren't popular in the mid-2000s. Indeed if you want that you would probably just by an old Rover but something about this 21st century reimagination appeals a lot. By most accounts it's not brilliant to drive but I'm not that fussed; I like to look on it as a mini Bentley, a big and luxurious saloon with the sole priority of driver and passenger comfort. Perhaps the reality would ruin that but until then I can covet one.

I like the rarity, the looks (no, really) and the thought of going out for a pub lunch with pops in the Rover V8. It's daft and not exactly living the PH dream but then that's kind of the point of these blogs. Lord knows where they're going from here. I await your feedback with some considerable trepidation!

[J4SON88]

Don't blame you. Everyone likes an oddball. Add in an emotional attachment and there you go.

I shouldn't like the Proton Satria GTI, but i do for quite similar reasons.