RE: Rover 75 V8: Spotted
Discussion
The Rover 75 was properly "mullioned PVC windows" tasteless when it came out, but the interior and the car were at least well made and high quality. After the ironically named Phoenix group decontented the hell out of the poor thing it really was a very cheap and nasty car indeed. The facelift was absolutely tragic, with it's 10mm shutline gap right on the leading edge of the bonnet where it was impossible not to notice,
At least it got to keep it's wheel arch liners right up until the end, unlike the 25. This car is objectively s
t, a cynical distraction from an inept gang of men who can generously be described as misguided and more accurately described as crooks.
At least it got to keep it's wheel arch liners right up until the end, unlike the 25. This car is objectively s
t, a cynical distraction from an inept gang of men who can generously be described as misguided and more accurately described as crooks.111SLi said:
gweaver said:
Barchettaman said:
R400TVR said:
The diesel in the 75/ZT was,a Rover evolution of the M47 engine, hence M47R. It was more advanced than the unit used in the 3-Series at the time.
Interesting - I've read that the M47R evolution for transverse installation was heavier, had cooling issues and was more expensive to produce. Thoughts?However, after having driven a low mileage late model 131 ps Diesel, I can categorically say that the chugging Diesel engine really does the rest of the car few favours - the vibration and noise were very much at odds with the 'quality/solid' feel of the earlier V6 versions.
As for the car itself, I really like the idea of these with the low stressed V8. Ironically, the engine, which is what made it an uncompetitive new car (high CO2, poor fuel consumption) is what makes it a great classic car (low maintenance/iron block/heads/tough as old boots/simple to fix).
What is a reall shame is that the 75 V8s were all built at the end of project drive. Therefore they have the 'orange' fake wood (reminds me of an E39 5 series - only the Germans can make real wood look fake) on everything and lost a lot of the bits that made them feel a more plush vehicle inside. This car retro-fitted with an earlier model interior (real wood dash) and sound deadening put back in would be really nice. Silver would not be my colour of choice but the car itself looks to be in great condition.
As for the performance, yes it is slow compared with a V8 S-type or 5-series etc. but it was also much cheaper new. However it is certainly quicker than all V8 engined Range Rovers except the later 5.0 and supercharged and will be a much better example for the money than you will get if you but a LR product. It will also probably ride better and will be much cheaper to maintain.
Best way to think of it is as a newer (not rusty) P5b or P6. Then it makes sense.
What is a reall shame is that the 75 V8s were all built at the end of project drive. Therefore they have the 'orange' fake wood (reminds me of an E39 5 series - only the Germans can make real wood look fake) on everything and lost a lot of the bits that made them feel a more plush vehicle inside. This car retro-fitted with an earlier model interior (real wood dash) and sound deadening put back in would be really nice. Silver would not be my colour of choice but the car itself looks to be in great condition.
As for the performance, yes it is slow compared with a V8 S-type or 5-series etc. but it was also much cheaper new. However it is certainly quicker than all V8 engined Range Rovers except the later 5.0 and supercharged and will be a much better example for the money than you will get if you but a LR product. It will also probably ride better and will be much cheaper to maintain.
Best way to think of it is as a newer (not rusty) P5b or P6. Then it makes sense.
Well, unfortunately I am just coming to this thread now. Having owned no 631 a few years back I don't understand what all this fuss is about. It was a fabulous car, entertaining to drive, great sound, affordable and lost me no money over the course of ownership. I sold it for 300 quid more than what I had paid for it.
If all you are after is power, just so, 0-60 and stuff, then neither this one nor the MG are for you. Simple as that. Move on. Buy an S-Type (who wants one of THOSE?) or a BMW or whatever. It's 2017 and people don't buy one of these (anymore) for the performance alone. The thing people are interested in is the rarity of the car, the importance (or lack thereof) in the MG Rover history and subsequent demise, the madness of doing this in the first place, and with that the unique position in automotive history.
If that is not for you, it's totally fine, but for many people it is attractive. And for those harking on about the auto, they made about 650 or so in manual and only 166 in auto as Rovers. People - like myself - who buy the much rarer and slightly more expensive auto do so because they want to, so it is pointless to complain about "it's only an auto". Don't buy one if that is what you get hooked up on. And as per four speeds. A V8 of this flexibility basically only needs two gears, one to get going and one for cruising altitude. If you have two more, fine. As long as fourth is low enough to be good for long distance cruising and keeping the fuel consumption in check, all this nonsense about six gears and eight and ten is lost on people who understand V8s in a context like this.
There.
If all you are after is power, just so, 0-60 and stuff, then neither this one nor the MG are for you. Simple as that. Move on. Buy an S-Type (who wants one of THOSE?) or a BMW or whatever. It's 2017 and people don't buy one of these (anymore) for the performance alone. The thing people are interested in is the rarity of the car, the importance (or lack thereof) in the MG Rover history and subsequent demise, the madness of doing this in the first place, and with that the unique position in automotive history.
If that is not for you, it's totally fine, but for many people it is attractive. And for those harking on about the auto, they made about 650 or so in manual and only 166 in auto as Rovers. People - like myself - who buy the much rarer and slightly more expensive auto do so because they want to, so it is pointless to complain about "it's only an auto". Don't buy one if that is what you get hooked up on. And as per four speeds. A V8 of this flexibility basically only needs two gears, one to get going and one for cruising altitude. If you have two more, fine. As long as fourth is low enough to be good for long distance cruising and keeping the fuel consumption in check, all this nonsense about six gears and eight and ten is lost on people who understand V8s in a context like this.
There.
And as per the "green" interior. I am not sure why nobody noticed, but it's a silver car with a black leather interior. While the picture might not be the best one, the color combo is actually quite attractive. Light grey around, grey carpets, black leather seats. Nothing to see here, moving on.
Barchettaman said:
I don't think SAAB used the M51 BMW engine. Vauxhall/Opel did in the Omega.
SAAB (and Opel and Renault) used an Isuzu V6 CDTi engine, in the 9-5, Vectra/Signum, Espace/Vel Satis.
Correct.SAAB (and Opel and Renault) used an Isuzu V6 CDTi engine, in the 9-5, Vectra/Signum, Espace/Vel Satis.
MG Rover considered using the 3.0 DMAX V6 in the 75 post-BMW break-up:
Former MG Rover homolgation engineer Nic Fasci said:
MGR toyed with the idea of a 3.0L Isuzu diesel into R75. I went to many package meetings to discuss this – not really sure why it died – maybe the proposed tie up with Fiat killed it
TooMany2cvs said:
Five different colours - green seats/doors, cream dash/doors/piping, black dash, plastiplank dash, grey carpets.
This is green (Deepsea Green):
TwoMany2cvs said:
The cream just makes that airbag wheel look nine months pregnant.
Failing to see the gestation...Edited by AppleJuice on Friday 15th December 13:10
)
AppleJuice said:
TooMany2cvs said:
Five different colours - green seats/doors, cream dash/doors/piping, black dash, plastiplank dash, grey carpets.
This is green (Deepsea Green):
The actual green is even worse.
But as for that purple. Dear lord.
TooMany2cvs said:
Furry muff. I can see that the darker green might be black with a slightly odd greenish cast...
The actual green is even worse.
But as for that purple. Dear lord.
The official photo makes it look teal! Oops.The actual green is even worse.
But as for that purple. Dear lord.
TooMany2cvs said:
But as for that purple. Dear lord.
Better than walking...
Neptune Blue is probably the best of the bunch:
Having seen Aubergine in the flesh it looks nothing like on screen and is quite stunning against some of the Rover 75 paint colour schemes (yes there must have been about 100 different colour options). Its rarity amongst connoisseurs (get the joke?) is that it was dincontnued in 2001. But then sea green and neptune blue are also very marmite and some folks will pay a lot to reskin a base model car with a scrapped Personal line coloured interior.
swerni said:
The engine was great but not optimised at all.
In standard form in the s197 it was 300bhp. Stick a supercharger on ( as I did ) and you’re at 470bhp
The ZT260 and 75 V8 used the 2v SOHC engine from the SN-95 Mustang. The quad cam engines wouldn't have fitted without expensive reworking of the platform. Dreadnought fitted a quad cam modular V8 to their ZT520 race car, and it involved a lot of work.In standard form in the s197 it was 300bhp. Stick a supercharger on ( as I did ) and you’re at 470bhp
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