RE: Rover 75 Tourer | Shed of the Week

RE: Rover 75 Tourer | Shed of the Week

Friday 24th June 2022

Rover 75 Tourer | Shed of the Week

A big blue bargain. One for the Connoisseur...


Some people will never eat what they consider to be weird foods like semolina, oysters, cabbage or whelks. Shed knows that this is an illogical hatred because the most delicious thing he ever ate turned out to be cow's brains. He ordered it by mistake because the menu was written in French and he thought cerveau was some sort of lamb dish. Today, even though he knows just how delicious cow's brains can be, he also knows that he will never, ever order it again. 

That's the weird thing about brains. They make us do funny things. Take buying a Rover 75. Many would never do that when they were new, and many more will never do it now that they're used, despite perfectly decent examples being both plentiful and cheap in the used market. Either it's because they don't respect the badge, they can't stand the gap between the bonnet and the slam panel, the oval instruments makes them feel queasy, or they've got it into their head that the interior is always going to smell of wee. 

If you're looking at them with a little more objectivity, actual reasons to hate a Rover 75 are quite hard to pin down, especially when it's a top spec Connoisseur Tourer estate with the BMW-sourced 2.0 litre diesel like today's shed. 

The 2.5 petrol V6s are smooth and cultured, but like your Uncle Harry at a wedding they are known to like a drink, returning everyday mpg figures in the low 20s or high teens. A turbodiesel CDT is a different kettle of shellfish altogether. The headline horsepower figure of under 115hp in our first-year 2001 Tourer looks puny, and wasn't much better than puny when they hoisted it to 129hp in 2002, but it was all irrelevant because you had 192lb ft of torque at 2,000rpm. 

This gave the Rover very acceptable real-world numbers like 120mph and fuel consumptions in the high 40s, turning it into an exceptional long-distance cruising machine and, in estate form, a fine holiday vehicle. There was a hefty 680 litres of space even before you dropped the back seats. The Tourer's separately openable rear window was a nice touch, as was the siting of the emergency triangle in the tailgate. This meant you could comfortably break down on a Route Nationale on a stinking hot July day and erect your triangle without having to go to all the bother of emptying your luggage all over the hard shoulder, or épaule dure as it is almost certainly not called.   

Dark blue can be the death of many a car but it's a good colour for a 75, especially with the chunky alloys you get with a Connoisseur. The dealer tells us that lacquer is missing from the upper facing panels, by which Shed presumes he means the bonnet and roof. Mrs Shed used to put lacquer on her barnet, which is her version of a roof, but she stopped after Shed absent-mindedly tapped out the embers of his pipe on her head thinking it was an ashtray, and there was a small but thankfully easily managed conflagration. 

As per everything, even Rover 75 prices have gone up. This time last year you might well have secured a car like this for not much more than a grand. Today you're looking at £1,495 for something which, as the ad says, is no garage queen - but there's worthiness in a workhorse, especially one that's been as diligently serviced as this one appears to have been. The last MOT test in March was a clean pass, and the history leading up to that was all consumables related with nothing to scare you. Okay, so the cruise control might play up, the parking sensors and other electronic fripperies might go a bit haywire and the odd piece of trim might fall off, but that sort of thing can happen to any car. 

Badge snobs should remember that BMW was heavily involved in the development of the 75 at a time when their own vehicles were riding high in the public's estimation. Which they still are of course. If you can set aside your prejudices you might be very pleasantly surprised by a Rover 75 Connoisseur CDT. If you do spring for one and then take your family off to France in it, do try the cerveau, it's delish.


See the full ad here

Author
Discussion

Tyre Smoke

Original Poster:

23,018 posts

260 months

Friday 24th June 2022
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No. Just no.

Not aged well. Whiff of BNP and I'd (almost) rather take the bus.

PSB1967

273 posts

155 months

Friday 24th June 2022
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Reminds me of my Dad. I can imagine him leathering this off on a Sunday morning.

Global Nomad

79 posts

80 months

Friday 24th June 2022
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was always the retro nostalgic interior that put me off...a false sense that everything was better in the good old days.

Billy_Whizzzz

1,989 posts

142 months

Friday 24th June 2022
quotequote all
Hideous, rubbish and desperate and that’s just the politics of the people that buy them. Best forgotten forever, along with all other post SD1 Rovers.

waynedear

2,157 posts

166 months

Friday 24th June 2022
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Diesel, automatic, long roof, that interior, a huge YES from me, love them.

can't remember

1,077 posts

127 months

Friday 24th June 2022
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Tip runner. Perfect if you are renovating a house, just take the back seats out. Cheaper to insure than a van, a bit more comfy and no awkward questions at the council tip,

Basically a shed.

SirGriffin

177 posts

67 months

Friday 24th June 2022
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Global Nomad said:
was always the retro nostalgic interior that put me off...a false sense that everything was better in the good old days.
And given the intolerant state of things today, indeed it was.

I had a number of 75's, and while personally I didn't care for the looks of the tourer version, the saloon was a handsome design. Retro? Well if designing something that has character and good looks is what passes for retro these days, then yes it was. It reminded us of a time when people could have different tastes and not be made fun of for it.

How sad that even James May sneeringly said it was a car for "people to clean a lot" as if enjoying something something that brings you pleasure is something to be derided.

I was always amazed by the amount of people who had a ride in my 75's and said "This is lovely, I didn't realise they were like this!" Nope, that's because they were swept along by the scornful mass who drive gopingly ugly vehicles that look as if they have been in a collision on their way to the showroom, with concrete ride and handling, because they dare not admit that they actually like something different, in case they lose face.

The 75 was a comfortable car designed for the rubbish roads we actually have, instead of something that pandered to the 'ring dreams of the ad men.

Having had both the X-type and S-type, the 75 was head and shoulders above them for build quality, particularly the early interiors.

Lovely cars, and not a hateful touch screen in sight.

Edited by SirGriffin on Friday 24th June 06:54

Pflanzgarten

3,806 posts

24 months

Friday 24th June 2022
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Top shed, great cars too. Just the image problem I guess, even now you either expect an octogenarian or a Nigel Mansell look alike driving one.

Limpet

6,293 posts

160 months

Friday 24th June 2022
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Neighbour had 3 of them and apart from the last one which was a late car that’d had all the cost (read quality) engineered out of it, loved them.

Useful big estate car as well. Good shed.

Tin Hat

1,370 posts

208 months

Friday 24th June 2022
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There are some great threads in Readers Cars on these, as a result I have grown to like them - They seem to be a bit of a hidden gem.

Cambs_Stuart

2,833 posts

83 months

Friday 24th June 2022
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Good shed. It's an interesting car. Most of the people that own them really rate them, hold on to them and then buy another, so I suspect that underneath the retro styling they're pretty good cars.
From memory BMW spent a good chunk of money developing the 75.

Rob 131 Sport

2,476 posts

51 months

Friday 24th June 2022
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I always thought this was the car that finished Rover. How they possibly thought it could compete with Alfa, Audi, BMW and Mercedes is beyond me.

Awful styling, dynamics and image. Whilst the Rover 800 was a dreadful car, and I should know having owned an 827 Vitesse Unreliable Rot Box, it did at least have a tiny bit of image and desirability.

sjabrown

1,910 posts

159 months

Friday 24th June 2022
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I’ve mixed views on these. Part of me admires the styling for being different but also quite timeless (compare how these are ageing with same age Mondeo or Vectra). But there’s also that impression they were owned by Brexiteers before the omnishambles that is Brexit existed.

I wonder what parts supply is like and how fixable they are for some home tinkering? If I was to buy a Rover it would be one of these or something from the 1960s.

Earl of Hazzard

3,601 posts

157 months

Friday 24th June 2022
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My mate owned an MG version of one of these a few years ago. Felt very well built.. it's my understanding that they're a BMW E36 underneath?
I like this example..has all the necessary toys...

andyA700

2,607 posts

36 months

Friday 24th June 2022
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I have absolutely nothing bad to say about this car, because it makes perfect sense. If you want a shed which will take you on a good European road trip, return good MPG, leave you feeling comfortable after 500 miles, then this is it.

Turbobanana

6,160 posts

200 months

Friday 24th June 2022
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I always think of these as a large, comfy sofa on wheels. The boot is huge, so you can lose a load of stuff down there just like a real sofa.

Oh, and a French hard shoulder is a "band d'urgence".

BadOrangePete

616 posts

43 months

Friday 24th June 2022
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Prefer the ZT variants as you dont get the chrome chintz but really like these, think they've aged well. I'd smoke about it that quite happily TBH!

Mikebentley

6,035 posts

139 months

Friday 24th June 2022
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Great shed and entertaining read. Always liked these. What’s all the Brexit nonsense in the replies? Get over it.

cerb4.5lee

30,185 posts

179 months

Friday 24th June 2022
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I'm odd and I've always liked the Rover 75(especially the interior) and this is a very good shed I reckon. This one lacks performance for my taste, so I'd personally prefer the petrol V6 version instead(even though they are thirsty sods).

anonymous-user

53 months

Friday 24th June 2022
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They are great cars, The styling was woefully misjudged, but they ride exceptionally well.

There is absolutely nothing “sporty” about them whatsoever but they are all the better for it.