Latest purchases (and a near miss)

[wuvvum]

 

OK, you all know about this one, but I thought I'd post it again as I'm still rather excited about it...

 

 

Are these shite yet? If they aren't yet they soon will be, being Rovers an' all. It's a 214i; bought because being the last ever 100% British mass-produced car it was on my "must own one day" list. Plus I needed something small and modern to run around in. A completely unremarkable car really. I've sold it straight on again due to a) need for cash and too much duplication in the fleet - now that the Subaru is up and running again I don't really need another small modern hatchback. I might have another, but it'd have to be either a 218Vi or a 220SDi.

 

 

Tranny van, bought for towing shite. This one's a 2-litre petrol so it's quite quick. Whiny gearbox though so that will need to be replaced at some point - pretty straightforward job on these. I'm hoping the existing box will cope with trailering the R6 back from Kent - otherwise I'll have to drive the Renner back, which will take me about a week.

 

Also just won this:

 

 

Everyone I've spoken to says these Leganzas are very pleasant cars to drive, and this is a CDX so it's got all the gadgets. Year's MoT, 75K from new, needs a new battery but otherwise drives fine, all for £186.18.

 

And one which got away:

 

 

It finished while I was busy selling the Rover, and I was outbid at the last minute. Probably a good thing to be honest - it's a non-runner and it's a fuel-injected automatic so it would be even more of a nightmare to work on than my old carburetted manual version. It was bloody cheap at £360 though...

[retrogeezer]

Are these shite yet? If they aren't yet they soon will be, being Rovers an' all. It's a 214i

they were shite from the moment they rolled off the production line!Mate of mine had a Leganza - seemed like a fairly nice motor - plastics are a bit hard on the dash. It had a GM engine I think.

[docker]

Hello first time post.great site2.0 and 2.2 leganzas have Holden (aust GM) motors so should be pretty reliable if maybe a bit underpowered

[pogweasel]

Top haulage, Wuvstopher. Bloke at my old firm had a Leganza, he was on like £100k or somesuch but chopped in his Grand Cherokee for the Daewoo. Why? Because it was indestructable and he loved it. Hero.Transhit looks canny. Can't think I've seen a petty one as late as that... all diseasels round here. Seems fairly straight for one that age too. My dad had one on the L, LWB derv beast... he got it at 5 years old and even then was constantly plating up the floors. Much nicer to drive than the Midi he had though.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Excellent work as always Wuvzatron_524. That Maserati looks like a right load of grief, as you say cheap at £360, but just looking at it is making me want to get a 04-plate Vectra. Have you ever driven one of these Biturbos? I test-drove one once from that 'Classic Cars' place at Thorney, it was bloody awful I thought. So disappointing, cause I had fancied one for ages, although admittedly theirs was a very mediocre example. Heavy and clunky and felt appallingly screwed together. Felt like the kind of car on which you would be constantly battling with broken door catches/electric windows/fuel gauge wiring etc etc. Sounded nice though I suppose.I had planned to pick up my SUBARU 1800 WAGON tonight, the seller seems to be a difficult man to catch though, annoying seeing as I have now paid by paypal. Looks like i'll be cracking on with the integra instead this evening, its nearly sorted out now after sitting around for months. Very satisfying to overcome that inertia these cars seem to accumulate if you dont crack on with them straight away.

[Volksy]

I always fancied one of those Bi-Turdbo's too, there sooo understated. However good ones arn't that expensive, and if i'm honest, that one at £360 looks like a vast yawning chasm in which to throw huge amounts of reddies into.

[wuvvum]

Have you ever driven one of these Biturbos?

Yup. Had a left-hook 420 last year. Bought for £720 with 4 months' T&T. It was OK to drive, at least once the turbos kicked in, but it was no quicker than the 9000 2.3 Turbo I'd had previously (although it did make a much nicer noise), and it wasn't all that special to drive really. Not unpleasant, just not as exciting as I'd been hoping. Plus first gear was ridiculously high and the turning circle was appalling, which meant it wasn't the most practical thing to drive. Electrics were all fine though, apart from the starter motor which occasionally refused to play ball due to a loose connection somewhere. All the windows worked, as did the central locking, the electric aerial and even the motorised pop-out mechanism for the stereo. Apparently though this was a bit of an exception - from speaking to other Biturbo owners most of them make an Alfa 166 sound like an almost Honda-esque paragon of electrical reliability. 430s are supposed to be the pick of the bunch to drive though - very, very fast - although I'm not sure about the autobox on that one. All in all though I think the Daewoo was a much more sensible purchase...See that's why I never pay for a car by Paypal any more. One - if it turns out to be a completely misdescribed heap (as the last two vehicles I paid for in advance did) you're pretty much screwed; and two - a lot of sellers become much less willing to go out of their way to be helpful regarding collection once they've got the money in their paws. Good luck sorting it, anyway - they're a rare beast these days and quite nice to drive in their way.

[Milford Cubicle]

I'm surprised how good the Mk3 Rover 200 is considering the pennies Rover had to spend on its development.The 'Di' ones are especially good, clattery Perkins Prima style engine note but warm hatch performance, the handling suffers a wee bit with that big lump in the nose though. Would love to roll around in a 5-door Vi and ditch the alloys for steelies and hubcaps. People would be none the wiser.

[nigel bickle]

In agreement here. I tried a BiTurbo 3-4 years ago. No sills was really a problem -but the car wasjust horrible to test drive -and ran out of fuel in 6 miles- despite having watched vendor put a gallon in. Disappointing.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

It's a 214i; bought because being the last ever 100% British mass-produced car

In fact, the floorpan, inner wings + bulkhead (and therefore front/rear suspension) of these cars is the same as the earlier Honda Concerto-flavoured Rover 200. They even share a dashboard. I once saw a Rover 420 tourer with MG ZR front outer panels fitted, the guy had just had to trim the front wings at their top corners next to the screen, to get the whole lot to just bolt together. Naturally, it looked shite.

[wuvvum]

It's a 214i; bought because being the last ever 100% British mass-produced car

In fact, the floorpan, inner wings + bulkhead (and therefore front/rear suspension) of these cars is the same as the earlier Honda Concerto-flavoured Rover 200. They even share a dashboard. I once saw a Rover 420 tourer with MG ZR front outer panels fitted, the guy had just had to trim the front wings at their top corners next to the screen, to get the whole lot to just bolt together. Naturally, it looked shite.

Right. Looks like I need a Montego then.

 

Yup, I've seen the later 400 Tourers and 200 Tomcats fitted with the "bubble" 200 dashboard, but I didn't realise the inner wings etc. were all the same. I might have to buy a Tomcat and fit a "bubble" front end to it - now that really would look shite...

[stoterstangen90]

It's a 214i; bought because being the last ever 100% British mass-produced car

In fact, the floorpan, inner wings + bulkhead (and therefore front/rear suspension) of these cars is the same as the earlier Honda Concerto-flavoured Rover 200. They even share a dashboard. I once saw a Rover 420 tourer with MG ZR front outer panels fitted, the guy had just had to trim the front wings at their top corners next to the screen, to get the whole lot to just bolt together. Naturally, it looked shite.

Right. Looks like I need a Montego then.

 

Yup, I've seen the later 400 Tourers and 200 Tomcats fitted with the "bubble" 200 dashboard, but I didn't realise the inner wings etc. were all the same. I might have to buy a Tomcat and fit a "bubble" front end to it - now that really would look shite...

or put a tomcat or even a concerto frontend to you Bubble

[wuvvum]

Transhit looks canny. Can't think I've seen a petty one as late as that... all diseasels round here.

They actually carried on doing a petrol Transit right up until the end of the Mk3. The later "smiley" versions were fitted with the 8-valve Twink out of the last Sierras and went like poo off a spade. Mine's a good old-fashioned Pinto, though seemingly in a higher state of tune than the detuned 75bhp lumps fitted to Mk2s and early Mk3s. They also did a 1600 Pinto version in the early days of the Mk3, which I suspect would have been quite appalling to drive fully laden.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

 

Found it!

[Milford Cubicle]

Wow, it gels together so well!!!

[wuvvum]

 

Found it!

You're right, that looks absolutely dreadful.

[mk2_craig]

This is so much more like it

 

[wuvvum]

This is so much more like it

 

I agree. That actually looks quite good. Maybe because that later front end is squarer, maybe because it's still got its original front wings, or maybe because the rest of the car has been updated a bit too rather than just bunging the later panels on the front, but I rather like it.

[mk2_craig]

Not that we're comparing like with like here of course - the red one being a Civic Aerodeck that's had a facelift MG ZS front chucked on, as opposed to an R8 Tourer with the original style MG ZR panels added. Quite like the idea of a 400-fronted Aerodeck with a KV6 under the hood

[wuvvum]

Oh right, I hadn't realised it was a Civic. I knew it looked different somehow, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it... Presumably that generation of Civic must be the same underneath as the 400/45/ZS then? Wonder why Rover didn't do a tourer version of that rather than carrying on with the old shape one...

[r.welfare]

That 400/ZR is truly bad (although some matching paint may help) - the ZS/Aerodeck much more pleasing, although one wonders...why?Nowt wrong with a 214i (is that 8 valve at that age, then?) if the HG behaves. My only experience of these little bubbles is a rather shagged R-plate 220DS (non-intercooler) I was asked to sell a few months back (linked to my piss-coloured Xsara sale); despite not having been serviced in years and 140k miles up it started first time, no smoke and pulled like a good'un. Tiny cabin though - I'm not tall but I still felt like I was sitting in the back, when I had the driver's seat adjusted comfortably...