Do you miss MG Rover?
Discussion
I know I'll regret this thread but do you miss MG Rover and British names which have disappeared? Driving home earlier in my 75 I mused for a moment about how I was driving something which no longer exists. I was driving the past.
Slightly depressing moment really. I know the 75 was made under German ownership but I don't like all cars looking the same. Everything being a grey German diesel with batcave black minimalist interiors.
Slightly depressing moment really. I know the 75 was made under German ownership but I don't like all cars looking the same. Everything being a grey German diesel with batcave black minimalist interiors.
It's sad that they're no longer around as there was some real innovation there over the years and some great cars. I have to say that they would have gone to the wall sooner or later though. There were some appalling attitudes from dealers and the awful CityRover. I don't think their reputation would ever have recovered though even if the stillborn new Rover 45 had ever come to fruition. Would have been good to see them live on as a niche company - RWD V8 saloon with a sporty MG version and a decent MGF replacement.
king massive. I miss those cars.Driven three Rovers over the years, enjoyed every one, so yes I miss them
Learned to drive in a 3.5litre SD1 (my old man hated letting me loose in it)
First car I ever got the back end to drift in
Then had a 200bhp Vitesse Turbo before I went company car and a 525BMW. Really disliked the BMW after driving the Vitesse. Rover was twice the fun. (edit 10 times the fun)
Finally my OH had a MG ZR for 5 years and she absolutely loved it until it came a cropper on some black ice and a high kerb. The insurance company wrote it off because Rover had just gone bust and they felt the parts would be to expensive to make repair economical. She was gutted, still has the badge she prised from the bonnet somewhere.
Still see lots of them in great condition on the road, so there is a lot of people who love them.
Learned to drive in a 3.5litre SD1 (my old man hated letting me loose in it)
First car I ever got the back end to drift in
Then had a 200bhp Vitesse Turbo before I went company car and a 525BMW. Really disliked the BMW after driving the Vitesse. Rover was twice the fun. (edit 10 times the fun)
Finally my OH had a MG ZR for 5 years and she absolutely loved it until it came a cropper on some black ice and a high kerb. The insurance company wrote it off because Rover had just gone bust and they felt the parts would be to expensive to make repair economical. She was gutted, still has the badge she prised from the bonnet somewhere.
Still see lots of them in great condition on the road, so there is a lot of people who love them.
I miss them, they made some decent cars that also had a bit of character.
It's never good when any car manufacturer goes bust, having a choice of different cars has always interested me...and that choice is slowly dwindling due to platform sharing and collaborations as well as the constant threat of bankruptcy.
It's never good when any car manufacturer goes bust, having a choice of different cars has always interested me...and that choice is slowly dwindling due to platform sharing and collaborations as well as the constant threat of bankruptcy.
I miss the days of individualistic car companies for the masses. Rover was the marque of choice for all my family whilst I was growing up. Various Allegro, Marina, Maxi, Princess, Montego, Maestro, 200, 800, Mini, Metro etc..one of the most surprisingly fun cars I have driven was my brothers 114Gsi he had whilst at Uni. It was a graphite grey colour with tiny alloys, very high spec with wood dash etc. He got it from a mate of parents at 6 years old with about 11k on the clock. Sensational little motor till some ape in a Transit drove into the back of it. He then replaced it with a low mileage MGF, which was also great fun...
..on balance I do miss MG Rover, very nostalgic about the company and it's influence on my formative years
..on balance I do miss MG Rover, very nostalgic about the company and it's influence on my formative years
F1GTRUeno said:
I would never have bought one of their cars but I do feel sorry for the workforce that went.
Theoretically yes, but since the "workforce" was half the problem at BL/ARG/Rover/MG or whatever they were calling themselves that particular day I'll save my sympathy for Saab. BL/Rover made outdated cars expensively and badly, and had been allowed to do so for far too long. Not a popular opinion with their apologists maybe but the truth is that the last good car they made went out of production in 1977.
martin84 said:
I know the 75 was made under German ownership
Maybe, but it was British engineered with very little interference from Germany. Indeed, BMW were seriously bricking it that the 75 would hit 3 series sales over here. It was/is a decent car, but we're just not patriarchal enough to buy them in preference to the German stuff.Also the R50 mini (including the supercharged cooper) was all totally British engineered by Rover, and that is still a cracking car despite BMW's attempts to tweak/refine and milk the brand (that Countryman thing looks bloody awful) ever since. One of the main reasons that Rover was in such as state at the end of BMW's ownership was because Rover sunk all their resources/money into R&D of the new mini, and just at the stage Rover would have started to make their money back BMW poached all their hard work and left Rover in a sorry mess with no new models in the cycle and no cash.
Not sure that I miss 'MG Rover' as it ended up specifically, but more what it represented as the withered remains of the British car industry - all the brands and heritage that it had behind them: Triumph, Riley, Morris, Wolseley, Standard, Alvis, etc. Many of those brand names are now owned by BMW, either because they think that they might want to use them in the future, or because they don't want anyone else to use them.
My Dad had a Rover 600ti and in my opinion it was the best car he ever had. It was so funny when he used to make people believe it was a normal slow OAPs Rover and then suddenly put his foot down and blast past them. Their faces of shock, awe and embarrassment were priceless.
It was knackered at 85,000 miles though. It would struggle to start, the dash rattled, the lights would come on when he braked resulting in people thinking they were being flashed out of junctions, it made an awful grinding noise, etc etc. It was a company car so it didn't bother him but it's a very low mileage to be ready for the scrappers.
It's a shame they went bust but I never would have bought one of their cars new with my own money. The 25 and 45 were what? A design 2 decades old towards the end? I looked at buying a 200 for shed money once and would love a 600ti myself but I would have never bought one new, except for the MG ZTV8.
Rover's always have a certain interior smell to them too, which I love.
It was knackered at 85,000 miles though. It would struggle to start, the dash rattled, the lights would come on when he braked resulting in people thinking they were being flashed out of junctions, it made an awful grinding noise, etc etc. It was a company car so it didn't bother him but it's a very low mileage to be ready for the scrappers.
It's a shame they went bust but I never would have bought one of their cars new with my own money. The 25 and 45 were what? A design 2 decades old towards the end? I looked at buying a 200 for shed money once and would love a 600ti myself but I would have never bought one new, except for the MG ZTV8.
Rover's always have a certain interior smell to them too, which I love.
Edited by TheTurbonator on Wednesday 21st November 04:53
Edited by TheTurbonator on Wednesday 21st November 04:54
Rover seemed to have a strong range in the early-to-mid 1990s, when I guess the Honda bond was coming to fruition (in terms of reliability and product appeal) and they were selling cars in big numbers.
The Metro / 100, Maestro and Montego took care of what is now Kia / Dacia territory; the 2/4/6/800 range covered most of the semi-premium market that has developed so strongly since that time; and Land Rover / Range Rover was also in a good position to exploit a growing market. The MG-F, Mini, 800 Coupe and others had exploited quite a few niches and the Rover Group was sat on a bulging back-catalogue of solid brands and designs.
You can see why it was such an attraction to BMW...
The Metro / 100, Maestro and Montego took care of what is now Kia / Dacia territory; the 2/4/6/800 range covered most of the semi-premium market that has developed so strongly since that time; and Land Rover / Range Rover was also in a good position to exploit a growing market. The MG-F, Mini, 800 Coupe and others had exploited quite a few niches and the Rover Group was sat on a bulging back-catalogue of solid brands and designs.
You can see why it was such an attraction to BMW...
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