Any love for the Rover 75 here?

[cms206]

My ex-gaffer had several (think he's on nine Rovers atm, four of which are 75s) and I didn't really see what the fuss was about; drove his 2.0 diesel auto estate and found it to be asthmatic to the point I thought the handbrake was on and it was bloody terrifying in traffic. I found it pretty claustrophobic too but that was maybe just me. Thankfully he had excellent taste in music so Robert Goulet on cassette more than made up for it.

I'd still love to try a ZT-T 260 though...

[meggersdog]

I had a Connoisseur CDT Tourer that I sold a few weeks ago.Very nice car, I'd have another.

[HH-R]

I had an early 2.0 V6 a couple of years ago, only had 50 odd k on the clock. I loved it but got treat like shite on the roads so flogged it. It was starting to get a couple of niggly little faults but on the whole never let me down, it was 13 years old so niggles were to be expected! I occasionally see it in my local ASDA car park, and was driving behind it the other day. Still looks spot on.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Just been looking at what 260s are going for and apart from one for £3795, they're all £5/7k upwards. I can't make up my mind whether this is cheap for a potential 'classic' or expensive compared to Supercharged Jags, 540s etc most of which are a lot faster, you can get an e39 M5 for this sort of money 400bhp,manual and almost guaranteed to be worth more in 10 years, pretty sure that you won't have to have exhausts made or £500 brake discs either.

I know there's more to it than performance but if I'm funding a 15mpg thirst I don't want a fuckin S-Line Tdi Audi putting me down at the lights.

[Split_Pin]

I'd love to try one, any spec. Cracking looking cars with a great looking dash, even in base Classic trim level.

[Pete-M]

The ZT-T 260 wasn't spectacularly quick but if the engine blows up in one it ain't gonna cost M5 money to fix. Chassis is designed for 400 bhp, I imagine the ZT-T 380 would have been the car I wouldn't have been able to bring myself to sell.

 

Jaaaag XJRs are a magnificent thing, but they're not as much fun.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Yes, I hadn't really thought about the 'barn door engineering' aspect of the Mustang engine,or for that matter the cheap tuning potential .

I'm half looking for Hemi 300c to replace my diesel one when I get another Krautdervwagen for work duties, and part of the attraction there is cheap tuning potential so perhaps I should look mor closely at ZtTs.

 

How cramped is the footwell? I'm a 6'3" fat bastard with size 12 feet, will I fit?

[Pete-M]

I'm 6'2" with size 11s.

 

There's no foot rest in the 260. You'll fit the car but the foot well is narrower than in other 75s.

[trigger]

I was looking at buying one years ago and test drove a MG ZT CDTi one. I really liked the way it drove but for me I found the windscreen area too small and it reminded me of looking out of a pillarbox.

[carlo]

How do they drive, autoshiters? It's one of those cars I quite like yet have never even ridden in. What's the ride and handling? Are they softly sprung and well-damped? Does it all feel generic Euro-norm or something genuinely different, as it looks? And what's the quality of the switchgear like - a Rover with cheap switches just doesn't work for me.

 

Having had Peugeots for years I was very intrigued about these and bought one earlier in the year just to see how they did drive, and in particular to compare to my 405s in the ride/handling/steering stakes (very important to me!)

 

Pros:

 

Absolutely brilliant and quiet ride comfort, nearly kept it for that alone.  As good if not better better than 405s/406s

Soft if tidy handling, steering light but quite sharp

Nice sounding V6

Good on the motorway

Good looking car

Cheap to buy

All the toys I needed

Great cabin

 

Cons:

 

Cabin feels very claustrophobic to me, but I suppose that's just the more modern car design

Seats flat and uncomfortable, in leather form anyway

Lousy stereo

Refined but not particularly swift in the 2.5 V6 auto I had, and that's the quickest one

Mechanical complexity, cost of certain jobs

Mine also happened to leak like a sieve, which is apparently not uncommon

 

Was tempted to MOT and run it for at least a year but wasn't quite what I wanted, although credit to the car it did have its own, 'different' sort of feel.

[EssDeeWon]

I would like a 2.5 V6 Connoisseur, I saw one yesterday drive past me it sounded lovely but I wouldn't wanna spend much on one.

 

I really like em, but never had the guts to attempt running one. Would HAVE to be a pre face lift though, 1999-2002 model I believe?

[Six-cylinder]

I still love mind after almost one year, it’s a MG badged one if that makes any difference. Problems have been a new clutch master cylinder, metal water transfer pipe, rear road springs. The dream is of course a V8!   

 

[Wilko220]

I have a 2.5V6 Connoisseur and absolutely love it. Problem is that it's due a cambelt change and I'm not a millionaire...

[Jim Bell]

Finally!

A thread that contains refference to the biting off of dicks.

 

I'd rock a 75. I like the little oval dash clock.

[cort16]

I see these guys do a fixed price KV6 belt change. £465 + £65 for the water pump.

Still a lot of money mind you.

 

http://www.mgroversolutions.com/price-list/kv6-cam-belts

[Partridge]

Welcome, Rick!

 

I'm a fan, but like Sterling says I'm more of an 800 person. But a pre Project Dive 75 Connie Tourer on serpants with a V6, in silver, dark blue or green is on my want list.

[CortinaDave]

I've got the ZT as well.. Identical to six-cylinders one above. Its a 53 plate, and I paid £1000 for it.

 

Mine's the CDTi. I've done 25,000 in it since I bought it with 130k on the clock last august.

 

Its needed a new clutch ( which cost me £250 fitted) and a new in tank fuel pump pickup thing which was a tenner.

 

I bloody love it, although I may try and cash it in for a lower mileage one soon ish. I really fancy the KV6 on lpg.

 

Mine has a lot of the optional goodies on it like the Harman Kardon sound system, the parking sensors, rain sensitive wipers and the auto dim mirror, plus the xenon headlights.... the only thing it noticeably lacks is the crusie control. I did buy the kit as if your car is wired for it (as 75% of them are from the factory) its a plug and play job.

 

Guess what? mine doesnt have the wiring, so the cruise set up is going back on ebay!

 

I've been pleased with it overall though

[cort16]

I really should have bought a good diesel one of these instead of that BMW. Oh well.

Does anyone else go on here and perv at the v8's?

 

http://www9.mg-cars.org.uk/mgoc260/f0rum/forumdisplay.php?90-Items-for-sale&s=1497a609bc2c9bd2f75d1a7a878b5825

[EssDeeWon]

I have a 2.5V6 Connoisseur and absolutely love it. Problem is that it's due a cambelt change and I'm not a millionaire...

 

Belt driven V6? That's bit poo, thought they'd have chains in them.

[RichardMoss]

Changing all 3 belts typically costs around £500 including labour

[Hendry]

One of my school mates' dads bought a brand new 54 plate facelift ZT 2.5 V6 190+ in black and it was cool as fuck IMO, big multispoke wheels, black leather, black dash cappings instead of wood, cd multichanger in the boot, auto dim rear view mirror, sunroof, climate control it was loaded, however I'm sure his dad said he paid something stupid like £30K for it and got £12K trade in a year later (bought just before Rovet went tits up and sold just after when the values were plummeting like a stone)

[vulgalour]

They're one of a tiny number of modern cars I'd entertaining owning.  I remember sitting in a brand new one in our local Rover showroom, metallic black diesel estate with cream interior, dark wood and cream dials.  Perfect.  It was one of those rare moments when I sat in a car and it felt right.

 

Trouble is, if I buy one in my price range it'll be knackered/trouble/both and it's not the sort of car I'd want to own unless it was tip top mechanically.

[forddeliveryboy]

£500 may sound like a mega silly sum for the cam drivebelts for those of us who can change a belt on a simple car in half an hour, or who are used to pushrods, proper big chains or gears (as I am) but there are few members of the pubic who'd get much change from £300 for a belt and pump change on an Octavia diesel. It's one of those nasty things about modern motor cars - and if they've got 'old fashioned chains', they'll be about as robust as a Ratners necklace and need replacing for just as much or more money as a belt.

 

How bad and how common is the water ingress (to the interior) and where does it get in?

 

And lastly, how much about them is BMW (for whom I have a minor loathing, engineering-wise) despite the B rummy design?  Is it all canbus wiring? I know the diesel's all BMW, with the associated problems, I've a hunch the back axle is too, but what are other nightmares?

 

I do love the massive two fingers to modern shite up attitude these cars possess.

[Pete-M]

I've a hunch the back axle is too,

BMW aren't known for FWD rear axles, that's for sure.

[gtd2000]

I've only ever been in one solitary Rover 75 and that was at the Newport Car Auction (Wales) about 4 years ago. I really like the look of them and had briefly considered getting one of the diesel variants.

 

As the lone fish against the tide here, I was actually pretty disappointed with the interior quality, sure it gave the appearance of being higher class but in reality it all looked low grade and somewhat cheesy.

 

Perhaps the version I sat in was a lower trim model that gave that feeling?

 

In other news, I actually saw the Rowe variant turn off the King Faisal Road earlier this week - first one ever!

 

Then I passed 2 Chinese Emgrand cars on the way to work today - they look thoroughly miserable cars..

[HH-R]

Some of the plastics in the 75 I thought were a bit cheap and nasty, especially compared to the 400/45, which until about 2003 had superb quality plastics (my 02 model was already suffering from project drive inside).

 

The door handles inside and out were a bit flimsy, and the silver surround used to fall off mine. The switchgear looked and felt nice enough. Mine was supposed to be real wood on the dash being an early one but I honestly couldn't tell the difference between that and the plakka in my 45. I never had a full set of plastic kick plated under the doors, which stood proud and were easy to catch with your foot when getting in or out. They were held on with three or four brittle clips that looked like christmas trees and caused no end of foul language when I tried to get them back on (which was every week).

[Skizzer]

How bad and how common is the water ingress (to the interior) and where does it get in?

Very common, I gather. Mine leaked from a driver's door seal (80-odd bloody quid from Rippoff Bros) and still does from under the back window - the seals go on the clips that hold the chrome trim. This is a fiddly but doable repair, but I'm getting by on gaffer tape for now. Front screens can leak too, apparently. The other water-related favourite is the plenum drain holes getting blocked with leaves, which floods the sensibly* placed ECU. Mine's just done that too, I think.

 

Dunno about your BMW question, sorry.

 

http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/ is a mine of information.

 

HH-R, you're right about the plastic trims on the sills, mine are all kicking around in the footwells. The plastics aren't nearly as good as in a 1998 Audi A4 I used to have. Interior looks nice though.

[CortinaDave]

Saw this facelift ZT in U pull it in inverkeithing today. In the "for sale" as a going concern bit. Other than the ex autoshite BX which is still there clinging on by its fingernails for I doubt much longer, it was all that floated my boat today.

 

Sadly it's the 1.8 non turbo so it would be a sluggish beast. 72k however, half leather in great nick. It's a "plus" so had the climate control etc although none of the tasty optional goodies had been ticked by the original buyer sadly so no reverse sensors, heated seats, auto dim mirror etc.

 

Looked bloody straight bar a scuff on the o/s rear and a broken bit at the bottom of the front bumper which looked easily repairable.

 

I asked for the keys and gave it a good poke about, no sign of hgf or any ills other than a blow at the join onto the back box. Tax to end of the month but no ticket. Didn't look like it needed anything I could see other than the exhaust welded. 4 good dunlops on it.

 

They told me 595 "roughly "... Didn't seem a bad shout if you could get it down a bit.

[Split_Pin]

The back axle is in fact a BMW design, Z something or other, albeit in 'dead' form.

[Skizzer]

Shit the bed Dave, your boat must me seriously unseaworthy if that Honda Quint Integra didn't float it!