Alan would approve: Rover 800 NOW FOR SALE OR SWAP

[HMC]

I gradually grew to tire of driving around the various issues my w124 300 diesel estate had: get in. get out. Pull the window down to engage the non worn teeth on the window quadrant and allow window to open. Startup. drive very gingerly to avoid the autobox flaring untill it was warm etc etc. Also a few more toys to play with would be nice rather than the povo spec that my car had. Plus I had too many cars anyway (seems to be a familiar theme on here at the mo!) It was swiftly Put on E bay for a reasonable buy it now. My painfully honest appraisal of the car put off all takers! Hey ho. Few days after the listing I had an E mail from a chap- would consider a swap (eyes glaze over).... for a 1995 rover sterling. I have always had interest in having one of those. After driving around in a povo spec diesel the idea of a spot of Luxobarge motoring was quite tempting. Just driving an auto which didnt have to be nursed into gearchanges would be a welcome change itself. So we met this evening, kicked tyres, sucked air through our teeth and agreed on the swap.....

 

 

First thoughts initially were disappointing, once I had got around the vast difference in build quality (even a 360,000 mile merc feels indestructable) I soon saw the good in these likeable barges. I had an amusing drive back over some local a and b roads. Definitely much more fun to drive and much nicer steering feel. A v6 petrol on song also beats a diesel straight six acoustically, if not economically. I had expected to discover electrical misbehaviour, but everything that should move and adjust at the press of a button does so.

 

Is the dash peeling open above the clocks a common problem?

 

If i was ticking the options box i may have chosen jewish racing yellow, but the ubiquitous 90s rover nightfire red isnt bad in my book either. No laquer peel, im suprised to see. N35VRB still has its original Jack Hopewell, Nottingham dealer plates, window sticker and Tax disc holder. This and the tightness of the drive makes me think the 64,000 showing may be accurate, but i've not ever driven one of these before to compare.

 

 

Those with sharper eyes can probably see the grot at the leading edge of the rear arches, with after spending time recently looking over some late 90s mercs, it seems to have held up well in comparison.

 

 

The fastback shape is probably my favourite, but the saloons lines are growing on me. My first thoughts are oil/ filter change, and to investigate the idle which seems to be around 1500rpm. Could anyone point me in the right direction in sorting the idle?

[Shep Shepherd]

Great swap! I think that you got the better end of the deal

 

As for the peeling dashboard, it's a very common problem on 800s. Apparently, it can be fixed using strong glue and G-clamps

[dollywobbler]

That Merc was tempting me. I'm rather glad I didn't go near it now! Mind you, you're winning now. That looks lovely.

 

Dash lift is VERY common on these. Idle issue? No doubt there's an Idle Control Valve somewhere, though I've had more than one car where this has been knackered/missing and someone's just cranked up the idle speed/mixture to try and compensate...

[warren t claim]

That Merc was tempting me. I'm rather glad I didn't go near it now!

 

You can have mine for weighbridge value!

[Lord Sterling]

YUM!!!

 

What a lovely car. Honestly man, if your ever thinking of getting rid, please let me have first dibs.

 

Now, your is a 1995 Sterling, basically like mine:

 

 

Albeit a different colour. Comes as standard with full leather interior, leccy seats front with memory and heaters, 16" Prestige alloys, S4 sports mode on the 4-speed automatic gearbox, 6-CD changer. As has been said, dash lift is a common issue, nothing that cant be sorted with some very string glue and G-clamps. Check the rover 800 site for some tips and tricks. Some lad on there is breaking a similar sterling in the same colour in cash you need a few parts.

 

Idle issues could be due to the idle control valve (ICV) I once had one that had broken peices of plastic from the air filter blocking up the channels hence making the car idle eratically.

 

The V6 Honda engines are pretty robust, they can be a bit annoying with tappet noises making themselves heard, this can be sorted by either an oil change or re-seating the tappets.

 

My 1995 Sterling was one of the nicest Sterlings I've ever owned, great for relaxed cruising. Please get more pics up for me to drool over.

[Cavcraft]

Brilliant stuff, also the last picture (the one with the lights on) is almost brochure worthy.

[Pete-M]

It's a nice colour.

[purplebargeken]

Both are really nice cars. Maybe one day!

[RoadworkUK]

Jolly good show. I ought to point out that I can confirm that these really aren't terribly good cars, yet I wouldn't part with mine for all the tea in Ed China.

[HMC]

Sadly this rover is one too many for me at the moment. It drives well, has good tyres, tax till end of april, mot untill end of november. Had a new bosch battery in november by the looks of things, paint very good, no laquer lift. no dents, but a slight graze on the passenger door, front nearside bumper corner and a snall crack in the offside rear bumper, the top black bit, not the body colour bit. All in all a nice old barge with, as far as i can tell, all electrics working- elec heated grey leather front seats, cruise, mirrors, windows, origial rover radio cassette, rover dealer window sticker and tax disc holder, and number plates (most things that have covered a fair few miles since the plate change in 2001 end up with the new font front plates) 64000 miles, no history but i'd imagine genuine as it drives tightly and i'd guess these dont hide big mileages well. 300 pounds, located in devon, or swap why

 

ps still idling at 1400rpm but im told its probably the idle controll valve that needs cleaning out

[eddyramrod]

Oh bugger, six months too early.... Looks lovely though, someone here must lap it up! Good luck.

[HMC]

Had a productive morning. Took a look at the vacuum hoses and so on under the bonnet, tightened up a few, and now the idle is down to around 800 rpm. Then went for a nice drive in the sunshine....

 

 

Bit more detail of the door...

 

 

Might have a go with some t cut as it doesnt look like its broken the paint

 

Nice original dealer plate, tax disc holder and window sticker....

 

[eddyramrod]

I must be incredibly slow... I've just realised who "Alan" is! A-ha! Rover looks even lovelier in daylight.

[Lord Sterling]

Oh man, I thought you'd have this for at least a few months giving me time to save up and secure some storage for this or my current motah.

 

Try and advertise up on Rover800.info, you might have more success there. Good luck with sale.

[Lufthansa-Terminal]

Looks a good barge of which I expected Lord Stirling to be over it like a rash. Shame he's nowhere to keep it.

[scooters]

I'd take it but Devon is a tad far!

[HMC]

Now provisionally sold. I wont be without an 800 for long, however, as I've acquired a project. It ticks a few more shite boxes than this 800, as its a gold coupe with, for extra shite points, the infamous KV6 engine: for people who thought one head gasket to fail per car wasnt enough, rover group give you the KV6- twice the fun

[Skizzer]

Nice one! I'd love a gold 800 coupe, and have now done literally hundreds of miles behind a KV6 with no sign of steam.

 

Get some pictures up

[scooters]

Ah Mr Skizzer ...the KV6 in your 75 is a different bucket of prawns from the one in the 800! The one that went into the 800 was a case of a cleverly designed engine let down by cost engineering...they made key components out of caramac and had to replace hundreds on warranty. By the time they put it in the 75 this had been sorted.

 

Taking on a KV6 800.is just about the most legendary shite thing you can do...a bit like taking ona RoRo or a Citroen Bijou....huge respect!

[RoadworkUK]

Taking on a KV6 800.is just about the most legendary shite thing you can do...a bit like taking ona RoRo or a Citroen Bijou....huge respect!

 

I've been waiting for the dramas to begin on mine, as it goes none of the bits that have gone wrong have been KV6 related. It's currently Hibernating in my Nans garage during the house move.

 

Good luck, Jim.

[Lord Sterling]

Now provisionally sold. I wont be without an 800 for long, however, as I've acquired a project. It ticks a few more shite boxes than this 800, as its a gold coupe with, for extra shite points, the infamous KV6 engine: for people who thought one head gasket to fail per car wasnt enough, rover group give you the KV6- twice the fun

 

Brilliant stuff Brooks, you've got to get some pics up. There is a small possibility that I may be tagging along with the buyer of your Sterling, if so, I'll get to drive it up!

[Lord Sterling]

RIGHT!

 

Well, yesterday proved to be a very good and very interesting day...

 

Not long after I bashed my knee, I received a call from a very good friend of whom had agreed to purchase this car. He needed a spare driver taking the train would be expensive and pretty unreliable. After the Hospital visit I kind of knew that my knee would cause problems and that I wouldnt be able to return to work for at least a few of days. Driving the car wouldnt have been a problem as it was an auto so my left leg is pretty redundant anyway.

 

The day came yesterday and after a good sleep, I donned on some wears and made my way down to my mates house. We'd take his car to Devon to meet Matthew (Brookjm) and I'd drive the Sterling back up to the Midlands. I couldnt wait as it ws a N-reg 827 Sterling, almost exactly like my other N-reg Sterling bar the colour.

 

The journey took us about 3 and half hours to get there, traffic was pretty much flowing. Didnt see much in the way of interest as such except for some shitey Mk3 Fiesta and a P38 Range Rover with a broken suspension:

 

 

The P38 Rangy was actually leaning quite badly at the r-h side, certainly more than it looked in my (crap) pic.

 

Anyhow, we managed to arrive in a lovely little market town in Devon around 7pm. We went and met Matthew, a thoroughly nice bloke, most polite guy I've met! whom took us to the Rover Sterling:

 

 

It was great to see a mk2 827 Sterling in the metal again, and even better to see one that I'd admired through this website. The fact that I'd be driving this lovely motor up a few hundred miles hadnt even begun to sink in.

 

The paintwork was very shiney, my mate had informed us that it was definiately been repainted. The bodywork was just so glossy, I really did like it, it reminded me of the pre-production Rover 827 Coupe I had seen a few times. The Pre-production Rover 827 COupes were a bit of a cheat. The finishing products, paints/laquar/leather seat covering were Rolls-Royce Mulliner-Park-Ward stuff. The paint of this 827 Sterling just reminded me of that.

 

Once the deal done, money/docs/keys handed over and hand been shook, we took Matthew over to his house, I sat in the back pretending to be Ian Richardson in

 

We got to Matthews house were my phone decided to give up, not having a (car) charger didnt do me any favours, not of course when there was some seriously nice old cars to snap pics of (Not that I seem to be very good at them anyway)

 

Anyhow, after admiring Matthews lovely stash of old cars, it was time to head back up to the Midlands. I hobbled my way to the car, placed myself behind the steering wheel where I would be commendeering this lovely old motor for a few hours.

 

I dropped my mate off to his car, played with the radio until I settled on Classic FM (It just felt right in this car) and as my mate took lead in his car, off we set.....

 

The first thing I noticed about the car was the exhaust note, it was a little louder (in a good way) than normal, the engine also had a chav-tastic air-filter installed (which will probably be binned) but the car was pretty good on pick up anyway.

 

Out onto the motorway and it was immidiately obvious how refined this car was to my own mk1. It certainly reminded me of my mk2 and spurned me on to actually get it sorted. This car lovely with its softer suspension set-up and general comfort of ride. The seats hugged me and the lovely little *ding* note of the seat postion memory took me back to when I had my own mk2 on the road, it just made me smile.

 

Overtaking a few cars gave me the chance to see if the S4 kick-down mode on the autobox was working, alas it did with no hesitation whatsoever.

 

Later on we pulled into a services, though it was closed, but it give my mate a chance to remind me of the headlamp washers that were installed on the car - The Mk2 Rover 800s never got headlamp washers, in fact, after the mk1 a lot of frivalous stuff was dropped such as trip computer, rear electric seats, headlamp washers and so on, so this was a homebrew job, albeit pretty professionally done. Just loke the washer on my mk1 they worked perfectly, very powerfully.

 

Off we set again to another services located just after the River Parrett. The serives looked a bit strange, unlike the usual set-up of a normal services, this had a 3-level small multi-story and was quite a wiered set-up, but hey-ho, it was a services and somewhere to rest and have myself a nice hot-chocolate.

 

Back onto the motorway and it wasnt long before we realised that the highways agency had decided to shut the M5 at junction 18 Avonmouth. So from Bristol all the way up to the Midlands, we drove through winding country side roads. With Smooth classics on Classic FM soothing through the speakers we wafted through these countryside A-roads, from time to time despite being rather cold outside I pressed the drivers window down just to listen to that exhaust note.

 

Eventually after the long and winding drive from Chipping Sodbury through Stroud/Gloucester/Cheltenham/Cotswolds and finally into the Midlands, I knew that my excellent drive of this lovely motor was to come to an end, I'd have to turn off the Classic FM and peel myself out of the opulent cabin and sit myself back into my cold car, gone the radio, gone the lovely exhaust note for my own journey back to my house.

 

I absolutely adored this car. How I only wish it were mine.

 

Now, you might very well think that, but of course, I couldnt possibly comment...............

[HMC]

Glad to hear you had a good trip back! It was a pleasure to meet both you and Brad, and hope to see you soon.

Matthew