RE: Rover 825 Sterling: Shed of the Week

[blueg33]

JamesRR said:

blueg33 said:

I used to have an 827 Vitesse (pre the horrid facelift). In British Racing Green Metallic it looked great and it went very well. Toured Europe with 4 adults and would do 120mph on the autoroute with the same 4 adults and a boot full of wine.

Here it is



In its day it was quick, potential max speed of 137mph and 0-60 in 8 seconds. Not bad for a large luxury car 30 years ago. Plenty of exec saloons today that are no faster and have less space.

It was also the first production car to lap the Isle of Man TT course at over 100mph. It averaged 102mph.

Edited by blueg33 on Friday 24th August 11:10

I’ve seen you post this picture on here before, and every time you do, the want is unbelievable. I agree, it looks better pre-facelift. There’s an 80s-ness about the nose that’s just brilliant. Would be hard pressed to choose between one of these, or a Sierra Sapphire for my favourite car of the 80s.

My company car at the time was a Sierra Sapphire. There was no comparison, I would take the Rover every day. Mind you my Sspphire was the 1.8, properly slow and the car felt very heavy.

[LouD86]

My father ran a Rover dealership for nigh on 13 years, and a 800 Sterling Fastback was his car, day in day out. We must have had in excess of 50 of them, and I loved them. I think one or two Vitesse's snuck in, but mainly all Sterlings. Smooth, Comfy, and the first car I learnt to drive at the tender age of 8, I almost put my dad through the windscreen left foot breaking.

I have sent the link to the advert to him, I have a feeling he may well purchase!

[dunnoreally]

That's lovely! God, I wish I could justify buying another car because I'd have that one in a heartbeat. I've loved old Rovers since my old 45

[sean ie3]

Having owned a number of these all 2 litre from Si to Vitesse I would have to disagree with all the problems mentioned but one thing strangely not mentioned...the brakes were crap!

[Tony B2]

Numeric said:

and as someone with no love for this Rover it would still somehow be a shame to see someone like me rack the miles in it. This has clearly been someone's last car, probably kept in a neat garage by a bungalow - it'd last a year parked on my driveway.

That assessment is almost certainly correct, and quite sad, really.

I had a Sterling 825, with the useless auto gearbox (I seem to recall that it was 3 speed....!) which I inherited as a company car, following the original user leaving the company.

I enjoyed the refinement for about a year, but boy was it gutless, clearly not helped by the useless transmission. Had aircon, though, which was a desirable rarity then.

Then another leaver departed, abandoning an 827Si fastback, which was passed on to me, and it was sooo much better, feeling quite quick (by the standards of the day) on its 177hp.....and 4 speed auto. With sport setting....wow.

Didn't like corners too much, and shed plastic wheel trims faster than I could count.

When I was made redundant, I actually bought the car as a bit of a smoker, and my wife took it on for dog driving duties.

Kept it for another 9 years, before the flaky electronics got to be way too much to live with.

The engine was still going strong at nearly 100k miles though.

[Tony B2]

ballans said:

I had a white sterling coupe as a temporary company car. It was the most unreliable car I have ever driven and can only assume that the electrics were possessed by something utterly evil!
Memorable moments include having to use a chisel to get the Petrol flap open after the electric release failed and the emergency string release came off in my hand, the electric seats pinning me to the steering wheel in rush hour M25 traffic, all windows and sunroof opening in a downpour, total electric failure on the Dartford crossing and the final straw being locked into the car by the central locking and having to get a bystander to put a brick through the window. All that happened in a 2 week period and when I (angrily) called the feet manager to take it away his response was “we were hoping it would have totalled itself by now as we’ve already had it back 4 times”.
On the plus side it turns out the windows are stronger than most bricks.

That is - by far - the funniest post (or anything, actually) that I have read in a very long time!

I just tried to read it out to my wife, but had to stop due to a medical incident.

And it does bring back long lost (supressed) memories of my 827.

[ambuletz]

as a little kid in the early 90s I got into one of these owned by a friend of my parents. dark green exterior with cream leather interior, I thought it was the poshest thing ever.

[Wildcat45]

I love that video. It demi fed me of the 1986 launch event me and my Dad went to in 1986.

As folks have said, it's a great shed and I hope it finds an enthusiast rather than someone after a cheap motor

[SirGriffin]

I loved my 820, never mind the lack of image, they were lovely, comfortable cars.

But sadly I'd pass on this - the first KV6's such as fitted to this were hand built, and utter disasters, and although BMW provided cash to build it properly for the 75, there's actually quite a few differences between 800 and 75 KV6's.

And the car itself isn't worth enough to repair when the engine inevitably trashes itself.

I love Rovers, but it would have to be the Honda V6 - tappetty but indestructible.

[mfmman]

mrbarnett said:

Will94 said:

I remember watching a video of Tony Pond drive an 800 Vitesse round the IOM TT circuit in 1988. He was attempting an average speed of 100mph but only managed 99.58.

Here it is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeIfgNUDG1k

That's a great video. I've heard that, whilst the car was generally standard, the engineers had been out with their spanners and tweaked it a bit

Both that car and the later version that was built were surprisingly successful on tarmac rallies around the south of England after the IOM use

[JimbobVFR]

My Dad had a G reg one just like that except for being bright red. Absolutely loved driving it as a 17 year old, especially when compared to the X reg Maxi I had as my first car. I realise they're a bit st really but it didn't feel it at the time.

blueg33 said:

I used to have an 827 Vitesse (pre the horrid facelift). In British Racing Green Metallic it looked great and it went very well. Toured Europe with 4 adults and would do 120mph on the autoroute with the same 4 adults and a boot full of wine.

Here it is



In its day it was quick, potential max speed of 137mph and 0-60 in 8 seconds. Not bad for a large luxury car 30 years ago. Plenty of exec saloons today that are no faster and have less space.

It was also the first production car to lap the Isle of Man TT course at over 100mph. It averaged 102mph.

Edited by blueg33 on Friday 24th August 11:10

[rallycross]

The Tony Pond film of him round the TT circuit trying to break 100 mph average is worth a watch - amazing driver.

I briefly had a 2.0 vitesse turbo as a company car in 95 and it was surprisingly good for such a big car, I didn’t know they had an lsd that would explain why it coped so well with the power, the thing I remember most about it was the seats they were excellent, as good as my Sierra cosworth seats.

[Buff Mchugelarge]

I once bought an 820si from a trader in did a bit if work for for £200. The plan was to valet it and flog it on.
I loved it so much I ended up keeping it for 3 months and smoking around in it. It had a lot of money spent on suspension components by the previous owner and handled surprisingly well, pretending I was Tony Pond was order of the day

[rallycross]

Buff Mchugelarge said:

I handled surprisingly well, pretending I was Tony Pond was order of the day

here you go:

[Limpet]

I've always had a soft spot for the 800. Gremlins aside, they drove nicely, and handled really well for a big car. Most were in shed budget by the time they got to about 6 years old as well, and were among the best used bargains of the 90s.

Fond memories of ragging my boss's old Vitesse Sport about whenever I got the chance. Lovely half -eather Recaros too.

[cml]

Nice.

I had an earlyish 2.7 Sterling for a couple of years.Excellent wafting,smooth and comfortable, lovely interior (if you like leather and wood anyway). Long and low with good lines, and a little faster than most would suspect.

I did have problems with the electrics though...

Another badge on it, and it may well have got more love. As a cruiser it wasn't bad at all.

[aaron_2000]

I think I prefer the 2.9 Granada, I never realised just how rare the pre facelift 800 is now.

[stongle]

J4CKO said:

What the hell has an old Rover got to do with Brexit ? Seems to be a trait these days to try and turn various conversations to Brexit, however inappropriate and crowbarred in like Micheal Parkinson and over fifties life cover.

I had a 2.0 saloon in Tahiti blue with some lovely leather recaro seats, they were better if you saw them as a big 200 rather than say a 5 series alternative, Granada’s and Carlton’s were generally better but they did the job.

Looks a good example, bordering on being a classic and still banger money, worth saving.

But we sent ourselves up in the "schnell?, vas shtent" ads. Prophetic genius.

[Douglas Quaid]

JamesRR said:

I’ve seen you post this picture on here before, and every time you do, the want is unbelievable. I agree, it looks better pre-facelift. There’s an 80s-ness about the nose that’s just brilliant. Would be hard pressed to choose between one of these, or a Sierra Sapphire for my favourite car of the 80s.

I had one. Exactly the same. It was pretty crap. I burned my dinner as I went to the shops in it to get something while my dinner was cooking and the damn thing wouldn’t start when I came out.

[g3org3y]

Alan Partridge Rover.



Because Banger Rally