RE: Rover 200 BRM | Spotted

[suffolk009]

Wheel_Turned_Out said:

How many people are going to be coming up to chat at the petrol station with this? I like this car a lot, but let's be reasonable here.

From experince, I can tell you: exactly none.

[Wheel_Turned_Out]

Trevor555 said:

We'll have to ask who ever buys it I guess.

But if I saw a mint one I'd say something to the owner.

I've owned loads of modern classics.

The one i got the most comments on was a Renault Spider, not surprisingly.

But the one that did surprise me was a lowly white Z3 in mint condition. Plenty of people said they loved that car.

And let's take that Z3 for an example.

Not rare, but 37,000 miles in white.

4 years ago I sold it to a prestige car dealer for £6700

They put it up for £9995 and sold it.

I don't get the people on here saying the BRM is £3,000 worth.

Have they actually been out car shopping recently to see what £2995 buys you?

I guess I'm biased though I'll admit.

I'm one of those silly people who'll pay strong money for a low mileage, mint example, of an interesting car from the 80's, 90's, 2000's

But funnily enough, I've made a profit on most of them.

Edited by Trevor555 on Thursday 4th March 17:02

Edited by Trevor555 on Thursday 4th March 17:07

Difference with that example though is the Z3 is a very good looking sportscar, it doesn't have to be high spec for people to appreciate that it's a good looking car. Similarly a good looking sportscar, even one as relatively common as the Z3, is going to be reasonably easy to find a buyer for.

The BRM still looks like any other Rover 200 for the most part, barring the splash of orange, the roof scoop, and interior colour. It's an ultra-niche. To paraphrase, "it's rare, but who really cares?" Again, I like these plenty, I'm sure they're good fun to drive too, and if someone wants to pay the best part of £11k for one fair play to them. I don't think it's unreasonable of people to presume that price is somewhat steep - even if we take the point that ALL cars are expensive now, which is true, that still means this is too.

[Exhaust Ted]

A limited edition. Classic colour. Free revving engine that was a for runner to Honda's VVT power plants, used by Lotus for their cars. Close ratio gear box. Limited slid diff. Interior that looks like a mini Bentley which is , apparently, as long lasting as the more expensive original. Polished aluminium trim. Its British, yes! It's not like every other hot hatch.
What's not to like!?

[s m]

Exhaust Ted said:

A limited edition. Classic colour. Free revving engine that was a for runner to Honda's VVT power plants, used by Lotus for their cars. Close ratio gear box. Limited slid diff. Interior that looks like a mini Bentley which is , apparently, as long lasting as the more expensive original. Polished aluminium trim. Its British, yes! It's not like every other hot hatch.
What's not to like!?

Well said, everyone is so hung up on the asking price - obviously any seller will try and get as much as they can just like the Merc 190 3.6 on here they’ve had to chop 30k off to try and sell it at 100k.

Like you and a few others here Ted, I’m more interested in the car itself - a quirky little thing with 306 Gti-6 performance. We all know that this example is for the collector, we can go and buy a driveable example for a tenth. Good to hear from some past and present owners about the car itself. As said, if it was a slower 205 Gti/Golf Gti no one would blink an eye

[ddom]

Exhaust Ted said:

A limited edition. Classic colour. Free revving engine that was a for runner to Honda's VVT power plants, used by Lotus for their cars. Close ratio gear box. Limited slid diff. Interior that looks like a mini Bentley which is , apparently, as long lasting as the more expensive original. Polished aluminium trim. Its British, yes! It's not like every other hot hatch.
What's not to like!?

Have to ask, given you joined yesterday....your car?

[oedipus]

“ Though seen by some as a slightly cynical marketing ploy to sell more 200s ”

Looking forward to the PH article on cars made for altruistic reasons (which I guess would have to feature the new BMWs which exist to stop people picking on the X6)

[E63eeeeee...]

Exhaust Ted said:

What's not to like!?

Stupid, nostalgically exploitative, orange plastic bit.

Also, yet to see anyone who likes the price.

[novus]

9k rpm said:

Was an over priced slow piece of crap in 1998 and still no different. 145bhp for goodness sake..... a MK5 escort RS2000 had 150bhp in 1992. To think some wonder why Rover went under!

You’ve got to be joking right to put the mk5 RS2000 as a barometer for anything at all . It’s only trick was keeping you dry if raining

[suffolk009]

Exhaust Ted said:

A limited edition. Classic colour. Free revving engine that was a for runner to Honda's VVT power plants, used by Lotus for their cars. Close ratio gear box. Limited slid diff. Interior that looks like a mini Bentley which is , apparently, as long lasting as the more expensive original. Polished aluminium trim. Its British, yes! It's not like every other hot hatch.
What's not to like!?

Mine was a nice shade of green - with plentiful rust bubbles.
The engine was nothing special, even for it's time.
The interior was red leather. There the comparisons end. The leather was crap, the stitching poor and the carpet quickly faded to orange.
I don't recall Lotus* using Honda engines.
The long first gear was , frankly, too long for driving in traffic.
The aluminium gear knob required a little knitted tea-cosy in the winter.

When my £925 car died slowly of failing electrics I did not, for one second, consider buying another.

• on a plus note, it does have the wing mirrors from a Lotus Exige.

Edited by suffolk009 on Friday 5th March 06:38

Edited by suffolk009 on Friday 5th March 09:04

[s m]

novus said:

9k rpm said:

Was an over priced slow piece of crap in 1998 and still no different. 145bhp for goodness sake..... a MK5 escort RS2000 had 150bhp in 1992. To think some wonder why Rover went under!

You’ve got to be joking right to put the mk5 RS2000 as a barometer for anything at all . It’s only trick was keeping you dry if raining

Don’t think it was slower than the RS .....or Alfa Cloverleaf for that matter, unless you mean top speed
By hot hatch metrics of the time it was fast





They just needed to paint it blue and put gold wheels on it rather than red leather maybe

Edited by s m on Friday 5th March 13:16

[Noah EV]

I like it. It looks some what JDM inside though.

You cannot beat some diamond stitched leather decoration.

From experience from younger years these cars do drive well. My opinion anyway.

[pacdes]

I very nearly bought one of these. One of the last in the dealership. Handling and performance was brilliant and it was a great looking car that stood out. Very close call but went with an Ibiza GTI Cupra Sport 16v instead.

[selym]

E63eeeeee... said:

Exhaust Ted said:

What's not to like!?

Stupid, nostalgically exploitative, orange plastic bit.

Also, yet to see anyone who likes the price.

It says a lot when it doesn't look as stupid as the current BMW grille setup. BRM 1 BMW 0.

[Ultrafunkula]

I had the non vvc version of the vi (218iS) in the early noughties, very nice car. It was better than the Civic sohc vtec that was my other choice and I only sold it to stop myself having a 2.0 t series turbo engine put in for more poke

[s m]

pacdes said:

I very nearly bought one of these. One of the last in the dealership. Handling and performance was brilliant and it was a great looking car that stood out. Very close call but went with an Ibiza GTI Cupra Sport 16v instead.

There wasn’t very much between the 200vi and Ibiza Gti 16v in terms of performance and handling when they group tested them - both fairly rare now though

They did some good deals though on the Seat at the time.
I went to look at the Seat dealership around the turn of the century as I’d been impressed following Bill Brockbank’s 20v Cupra R round Combe

[Aiminghigh123]

s m said:

novus said:

9k rpm said:

Was an over priced slow piece of crap in 1998 and still no different. 145bhp for goodness sake..... a MK5 escort RS2000 had 150bhp in 1992. To think some wonder why Rover went under!

You’ve got to be joking right to put the mk5 RS2000 as a barometer for anything at all . It’s only trick was keeping you dry if raining

Don’t think it was slower than the RS .....or Alfa Cloverleaf for that matter, unless you mean top speed
By hot hatch metrics of the time it was fast





They just needed to paint it blue and put gold wheels on it rather than red leather maybe

Edited by s m on Friday 5th March 13:16

Interesting. Didn’t know they were that fast. I remember overtaking an RS1800 and we were 3 up him he was on his own. The guy went crazy trying to overtake me back and I just kept pulling.

Would have thought an RS2000 would have been quicker that that.

[s m]

Aiminghigh123 said:

Interesting. Didn’t know they were that fast. I remember overtaking an RS1800 and we were 3 up him he was on his own. The guy went crazy trying to overtake me back and I just kept pulling.

I think people regard them as pretty slow reading the comments. I’ve always seen them as fairly rapid for the time but maybe I only saw the press demo ones

[ballswing]

Augustus Windsock said:

As an aside, was this the car that sold for £7300 on ‘The Market’ or ‘Collecting Cars’ just over 6 months ago for £7300...?

Edited by Augustus Windsock on Wednesday 3rd March 17:55

I bought this from CC 9 months ago, but haven't driven it yet.

[595Heaven]

This was a friend’s car, and he sold through Collecting Cars for £8k, which wasn’t a bad price, considering it is without doubt the best example of a 200 BRM left, and he made a good profit on it.

I think Targa Florio had it at £15k to begin with...

It’s an automotive oddity, and there’s nothing wrong with that

[s m]

ballswing said:

I bought this from CC 9 months ago, but haven't driven it yet.

I think you have one of the best car collections on here as a lover of 80s/90s stuff