Tales of a serial Roverist.

[SebastienClement]

I've had threads for my previous Rover 75s here, but haven't started one for my current vehicle as yet. All my past examples have been bought at the bottom end of the market and have been a tad sheddy - although scrub up well and all were maintained well. This time I've actually spent time looking for the right car, in the right condition and have paid a bit more than I'm used to!

Details:
2001 Rover 75 Connoisseur SE
2.0 CDT Automatic
57,000 Miles
Full Service History With One Owner
Purchase Price: £1750

I picked it up in Feburary and put it straight in for an MOT (still had 6 months on, but thought it was a good general check). Passed with no advisories. Result. Here it is the day I got it:


And scrubbed up well after a wash:




Spent some time on the inside as well. It's a 14 year old car with a cream interior, although it didn't look particularly grubby a couple of days with some cleaning stuff made a vast difference:




Other than the MOT, I have put two new rear tyres on and while I've been on holiday I have had some preventative work done which includes: drop links, front strut top mounts, 4 wheel laser wheel alignment, engine oil change, autobox fluid change, and a good session on diagnostics to make sure everything is honkeydorey - which it is! While the T4 diagnostics were plugged in, it may have seen a slight remap too. Total maintenance cost is currently at £345.

Just awaiting a good wash now before being eased back in to daily service!

One final picture that I quite like:

[SebastienClement]

Thanks for the comments guys

And John, the plate didn't come with the car, it is my own - the T4 reference is purely coincidental!

I've just been on holiday for a few days, so booked the car in with my friendly (Rover 75 only) mechanic for him to give it a good going over and sort a few niggles out for me.

£200 saw the front suspension topmounts, droplinks, and an oil & filter change done. When I went to pick it up I had some questions for him about the performance of the car - it felt livelier than I expected 114bhp in a large car to be. A quick go on the T4 machine showed that at some point it had had a dodgy remap as it was showing no power figure for the car at all. I wonder what my insurance company would have made of that! All sorted now though with an official map uploaded to the ECU.

The bit of work on the suspension has made the car feel really tight at the front again and it just rides oh so well. Having a 'proper' ECU map on also seems to have made the autobox a bit smoother especially at lower speeds which is nice too!

[SebastienClement]

Now 9 months into ownership and I honestly couldn't ask anything more of a car. It's now sporting 160hp, I've also added a 'textable' switch for the webasto parking heater so I can text it to warm the car up before I go out on cold mornings, had a couple of bits done to the front suspension (top mounts and droplinks) and generally driven it!

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[SebastienClement]

myvision said:

How much was the parking Heater?

The heater was fitted to the car from new. I purchased a mobile receiver switch thing from eBay for about £8

[SebastienClement]

Jabosoc said:

Lovely example, and rare wheels. I've been toying with the idea of one myself - what route did you take to achieve 160bhp?

There's a remap available through a couple of guys who have Rover's T4 diagnostic kit. They don't change much either

[SebastienClement]

Still Rovering on, couple of bits and bobs done this year.

Full service / going over at MGR specialist (drop links (again!), suspension bushes, brakes fettling, gearbox fluid change)
Unfortunately the fluid change brought a gearbox issue to light. The early cars had an issue with weak reverse pistons which were prone to cracking - just bad luck my car was fitted with the earlier part. All sorted and not too costly, thank goodness!

Now topped 71,000 miles & feels great to drive! Probably the 'tightest' car I've ever owned.