RE: Rover 220 Coupe Turbo | Spotted
Discussion
BRR said:
I remember seeing these as a kid and thought they looked amazing and was adamant that I'd get one when I grew up. looking at it now I have zero desire for one.
I'm sure it will sell though as there can't be many in such immaculate condition
Exactly how I feel too. I recall seeing some tastefully modded ones that looked the dogs danglies back in my yoof. Sad times, another classic from back in the day that is no more!I'm sure it will sell though as there can't be many in such immaculate condition
Edited by VR99 on Tuesday 25th February 19:06
I'd rather the racecar tomcat someone is selling on ebay atm;
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/rover-220-coupe-turbo-D...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/rover-220-coupe-turbo-D...
Arsecati said:
Before I start reading these 'Spotted' articles, I usually try amuse myself by guessing what price it is up for. I'm usually quite good: I guessed 8 grand for the Accord, before scrolling down to see it was up for £8990, so I was pretty pleased with myself there.
For this, I went..... 'hmmmm, I reckon about £3/4k'.
Sweet jaysus did I get this one wrong (though I still think my estimate is more accurate!!!).
In all fairness guessing Accord's price wasn't too difficult since fresh import Euro-Rs have been going for 7 to 9k for quite a few years For this, I went..... 'hmmmm, I reckon about £3/4k'.
Sweet jaysus did I get this one wrong (though I still think my estimate is more accurate!!!).
PTF said:
They're asking crazy prices for cars that were never sought after even in their prime.
I don't know where you were in the early-mid 90s but the Rover Tomcat was very much sought-after in its prime. What would you regard as contemporaries that were sought after at that time? I don't think the price is sensible but this is no different to old Ford Escorts commanding serious money. If someone will pay it, the dealers will ask it.
f1nn said:
I don’t believe this is for sale at KGF, having sold many, many months ago suggesting there was at least one person willing to pay (or close to) the asking price.
I think you're right, this did sell. I remember seeing a picture of the new owner collecting it....I'm pretty sure I spotted this for sale recently on a classic car site, so perhaps he's come to his senses and it's now back with KGF on a SOR?....
I had one as a Rover Group company car. It was a huge step up from the Metro GTA I came out of but....that's not saying a lot. It was of its time - a parts-bin car to give some showroom appeal to the 200 and 400 which were competent but dull. Mine had lots of niggles during the 6-months I ran it, the most critical a complete inability to get the roof to seal again if you took out the targa panels. Mine leaked like a sieve. I resorted to rolled-up blutac in the seal channel (after a new set of seals) and never opening it again. This at the recommendation of a friend who'd already had one. I guess it flexed enough to make the resealing hard. The coolest thing was the Tomcat codename which everyone used for the car at the time. Trying to turn this into a modern classic is laughable. Like the MG Metro advertised by the same dealer, it was sh*t then and it still is.
Another insanely priced modern "classic". Another reason why right now, I think the early 2000s cars are a much better bet. You could pick up a lowish mileage Civic EP3 or Golf GTI Mk5 for half the price of this and it would be a far better all arounder.
That said, I have a weird soft spot for the Rover 216/416GTI of this era - the Honda engined one. No idea why, perhaps partly due to the one that Richard Hammond bought all those year ago for a bargain cars feature. Paid about £200 for it and it lapped the TG track faster than the reasonably priced star car of the day. I was quite impressed at the time!
That said, I have a weird soft spot for the Rover 216/416GTI of this era - the Honda engined one. No idea why, perhaps partly due to the one that Richard Hammond bought all those year ago for a bargain cars feature. Paid about £200 for it and it lapped the TG track faster than the reasonably priced star car of the day. I was quite impressed at the time!
Pinkie15 said:
Hmm, nice looking example, but 16k
And the T16 turbo’s power was 197 horses. Still with less than 7k on it the front chassis legs shouldn’t have cracked, ..... yet.
Still fancy one mind, but hear the 218 was better drive as the k series vvc was a better matched to the chassis
While I've never driven any other engine in one of these I've loved my VVC equipped Coupe over the past sixteen years, an engine with a nice balance between power and weight if you look after them.And the T16 turbo’s power was 197 horses. Still with less than 7k on it the front chassis legs shouldn’t have cracked, ..... yet.
Still fancy one mind, but hear the 218 was better drive as the k series vvc was a better matched to the chassis
I've driven in all kinds of weather and around corners at speeds that have left some far more modern cars behind (admittedly probably more down to lack of ability of the following driver who never the less would weld their bumper to my rear on the preceeding straight) and I've never experienced any kind of unsettled rear end action, mine or the cars.
I'm rather hoping for some decent weather this Easter and summer to make a start on the body restoration/suspesion refresh and borrow my works new hand held 3D scanner for a bit of 3D printing body panel bits (I'm no panel beater, a skill I've not had the opportunity to pick up, though I fancy having a go at lead loading for the leading edge of the bonnet).
Surprising article, as I was talking this morning about the 220 Turbo with a colleague.
I had one in the early 2000's -I think I bought it in 2001- and as a youngster I was eager about it.
The car was however plagued by several problems. One being the (in)famous head gasket, soon followed by a blown differential. With hindsight the chassis was an absolute joke, I think there was more chassis torque than torque steer, on every speedbump you could hear the targa-roof and the side-windows squeaking on the gaskets. Oh yes, cornering was somehow always a surprise, you couldn't ever predict if you were awarded with understeer (most of the times) or by a sudden oversteer.
I think that journalists would describe it as "temperamental"...
Despite these issues, I loved -and still do- the look of the car, I rarely see one around and I still think that it's spot on even after all these years, when its contemporary such as the Calibre look far more dated to me.
Driving with the roof off was great, although it was impossible to remove it if you had parked the car in the sun (I was living in southern France at the time) as you could not touch it. The result was that in summer you were boiling and in winter freezing in the car .
I replaced it then with a Clio RS 1 and despite 50 bhp less (my Tomcat was measured at 220 bhp), the driving experience was a world apart.
Was good to have owned one? definitely yes.
Would I own another one? absolutely not.
Frankly at that price tag they're taking the piss: I paid about half of that when I bought it second hand back then...
I had one in the early 2000's -I think I bought it in 2001- and as a youngster I was eager about it.
The car was however plagued by several problems. One being the (in)famous head gasket, soon followed by a blown differential. With hindsight the chassis was an absolute joke, I think there was more chassis torque than torque steer, on every speedbump you could hear the targa-roof and the side-windows squeaking on the gaskets. Oh yes, cornering was somehow always a surprise, you couldn't ever predict if you were awarded with understeer (most of the times) or by a sudden oversteer.
I think that journalists would describe it as "temperamental"...
Despite these issues, I loved -and still do- the look of the car, I rarely see one around and I still think that it's spot on even after all these years, when its contemporary such as the Calibre look far more dated to me.
Driving with the roof off was great, although it was impossible to remove it if you had parked the car in the sun (I was living in southern France at the time) as you could not touch it. The result was that in summer you were boiling and in winter freezing in the car .
I replaced it then with a Clio RS 1 and despite 50 bhp less (my Tomcat was measured at 220 bhp), the driving experience was a world apart.
Was good to have owned one? definitely yes.
Would I own another one? absolutely not.
Frankly at that price tag they're taking the piss: I paid about half of that when I bought it second hand back then...
Gary29 said:
Many moons ago, a guy a year or two older than me, in a purple tomcat nicked the girl I fancied in sixth form, I was heart broken, and have loved/hated these cars ever since.
Never driven one though.
I had a purple tomcat many moons ago.... Never driven one though.
Anyway, these are great cars and I agree with Supacool about the lift off oversteer. Very unpredictable, which made it rather exciting.
Whilst the turbo was always the one on everyone's wish list, I feel that the 1.8 VVC K series was the sweet spot in the tomcats. It sounded great too. I bought mine in 2004 with 80K on the clock for £1500. It never went wrong, was driven hard all of the time and it was such a cool car to have at 18 years old. People out of the know would always turn their heads up at my Rover, but people in the know always had nice things to say about it.
The face lift dashboard is much, much nicer too.
I have a huge soft spot for these but like the Renault 21 turbo these are cool because they are sub £1k rocket ships. At 15k it just makes no sense. Weight needs to be in the spec of articles like this. It was key to what made the thing go like stink!
I once chased one of these in my Mk2 golf GTI with 2.0 16v lump down a b-road. I was rubbing paint off his bumper through the bends, got to the straight and it just went! It looked like a cat spooked. I felt like I'd stamped on the brakes. I could have sworn it'd give an F40 a run for its money.
Making a wider point, why buy a 35k Cossie? A 911 turbo for 35k is 3 times the car, always was always will be.
Cars like this legendary because they allow <20yr olds with testicles of depleted uranium a chance to chase supercars with a sub 5k budget, a boot full of spare head gaskets and da boost wound up to 11!
I once chased one of these in my Mk2 golf GTI with 2.0 16v lump down a b-road. I was rubbing paint off his bumper through the bends, got to the straight and it just went! It looked like a cat spooked. I felt like I'd stamped on the brakes. I could have sworn it'd give an F40 a run for its money.
Making a wider point, why buy a 35k Cossie? A 911 turbo for 35k is 3 times the car, always was always will be.
Cars like this legendary because they allow <20yr olds with testicles of depleted uranium a chance to chase supercars with a sub 5k budget, a boot full of spare head gaskets and da boost wound up to 11!
RobEB said:
Funny this should come up now as only a couple of days ago my Youtube feed put a video from a Tomcat owner.
It was about a guy who has one, and the rear window just shattered in the cold weather. Literally...Cracked massively, and then shattered completely.
And the trouble he had to go to to get a replacement glass - impossible as no one makes the rear window glass for this vehicle, so if it happens to you, your only recourse is to hope someone has a used one for sale.
He must have been furious.It was about a guy who has one, and the rear window just shattered in the cold weather. Literally...Cracked massively, and then shattered completely.
And the trouble he had to go to to get a replacement glass - impossible as no one makes the rear window glass for this vehicle, so if it happens to you, your only recourse is to hope someone has a used one for sale.
I always really liked these. The first car I ever bought when I was about 20 was a 220 GSI 16V 3dr hatch (which also came in turbo form as well as the coupe), I remember buying it off a mate for £1k and the insurance being somewhat more than what I paid for the car even back then. The non-turbo was pretty lively as well, around 140 horse and didn't weight that much.
Yes the handling was a bit ponderous. I put lowering springs on it which didn't really do much for the handling and gave it a bone-shaking ride, but it did look the part though on 17's.
Not even I'm nostalgic enough to want to pay anything like £16k for a coupe turbo though, jesus.
Yes the handling was a bit ponderous. I put lowering springs on it which didn't really do much for the handling and gave it a bone-shaking ride, but it did look the part though on 17's.
Not even I'm nostalgic enough to want to pay anything like £16k for a coupe turbo though, jesus.
The 216 Coupe I had a go in I remember thinking how nice the seats were to sit in and how eager the engine felt(I wasn't expecting that to be fair). I remember the gearchange being nice and I liked the look of the speedo/rev counter.
Maybe its my rose tints...but I seriously lusted after one of these and I presumed that it would be so much better than the 216 Coupe I'd had a go in.
Maybe its my rose tints...but I seriously lusted after one of these and I presumed that it would be so much better than the 216 Coupe I'd had a go in.
We used to have a Tomcat in our garage, dirty b
d used to slink in and claim my paper bag with its arse glands
We also had one on the path, same colour, my dad had it for a bit, same colour but only the 16 valve Honda 1.6 engine, always a decent looking car and my dad seemed to like it, sold it to a friends daughter as a minty fresh well looked after example and she destroyed it inside 18 months.
I had a bright green auto one I bought cheap to make a profit, replaced it with a 200 BRM which promptly went tits up Headgasket wise, was a decent little car the 216 coupe, different rear suspension to the saloons and hatches I believe.
d used to slink in and claim my paper bag with its arse glands We also had one on the path, same colour, my dad had it for a bit, same colour but only the 16 valve Honda 1.6 engine, always a decent looking car and my dad seemed to like it, sold it to a friends daughter as a minty fresh well looked after example and she destroyed it inside 18 months.
I had a bright green auto one I bought cheap to make a profit, replaced it with a 200 BRM which promptly went tits up Headgasket wise, was a decent little car the 216 coupe, different rear suspension to the saloons and hatches I believe.
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