The Rover 45 of Happiness

[purplebargeken]

Two owners from new, low 50 something thousand miles, a big folder of receipts, no oil/water interface......

 

Meet the Rover 45 of Happiness 1.8 Twin Cam CVT model with added extras (to be listed).

 

It starts on the button, drives beautifully and stops very well indeed. It is smoother than a bucket of warm butter.

 

Lovely and comfy, original Rover radio/CD player which was used for the first time last year!

 

It was bought new by an old boy who was a friend of my ex-bosses family. He was advancing in years and was less able to drive and sold it to my boss. The poor chap was starting to experience dementia and sadly died 4 months after selling the car.

 

The rear bumper has a few marks on it where he caught the rose bushes, etc. Nothing major. 

 

The interior is very nice but will need a bit of valeting. The boot contains a fists aid kit, jump leads and so on, including a disposable camera for accidents. Bless him.

 

So there you have it, The Rover 45 of Happiness with 9 months MOT, two new tyres and tax until the end of the month. Mine for £200. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still not entirely sure what spec it is. She has heated front 

seats, A/C, S/R. 'lecky mirrors, rear parking sensors.

 

Whaddya reckon?

[Asimo]

Very nice for £200! Good colour, proper saloon. Should scrub up lovely!

Mrs Me had a 414 from new, terrific ride for a small car. Hers was dead reliable too until the end at 145,000.

[Grundig]

I like - these are starting to move up my want list 

[phil_lihp]

Top purchasing skills, in fact that would have been a good buy at 3x that price, absolute bargain.  You can't go wrong with these cars, they're excellent all-rounders beset with a terrible image among the general public which means that they cost buttons to buy - win-win situation.

[DVee8]

That is a mighty fine looking car

[retrogeezer]

  £200?

 

No wonder I couldn't sell that Cavalier!

[AnthonyG]

Totally bargainous. A lovely colour too.

[Lord Sterling]

I AM JEALOUS.

 

I had the pleasure of having the use of this for a week or so last year:

 

 

It is a 45 Connoisseur TD. I UTTERLY enjoyed using this, so much so that I was very reluctant to give it back, I nearly made a serious offer it and wish I'd gone through with it.

 

I say, get that interior cleaned up, fit some proper Rover mats in it, give it a good polish and enjoy driving it whilst wearing a trilby and smoking a pipe and reminiscing the good auld days.

 

I reckon your 45 could be a Club spec or summat as they were pretty scarcely kitted out, the Connoisseur was the top spec with full leather and what have you, you could tell by the chrome on the door handles and wing mirror covers.

[purplebargeken]

45 seats are truly comfy. I wish I had managed to get the seats from ebay. Oh well, never mind. Club eh, thanks for that. I just wasn't sure.

 

Lots of 45 love here. Fabulous!

[wuvvum]

Wow, that is a proper barg.  What's the rubber band gearbox like on these?  My only experience with a modern CVT was a Primera, and that was rubbish.

[phil_lihp]

Not surprised about the seats, Rover really knew their stuff when it came to interiors.  The seats in my 200 are 20 years old and have had 138,000 miles of bottoms on them yet they are by far the most comfortable seats I have ever found in any car.  They're a wonderful place to be after a rather uncomfortable week doing mega miles in a 2013 Focus.

[brickwall]

top bargain mate! I can attest the the comfy snug fit of Rover seats to bottoms and spines.

[purplebargeken]

I've had Dafs, I've driven a CVT Micra and this is a good'un. Nice and smooth, no snatchiness or horrible noises. Just smoooooth. 

[TRW]

Coronets FTW!

 

I didn't think Club's had Headlamp wash, Heated seats and standard Aircon/Sunroof. This car looks more closer to a Connoisseur spec.

 

TBH, MG Rover would give you any spec you wanted, provided that you were prepared to pay for it and then wait for it to drop off the line from Longbridge. Something that I don't chastise.

 

More Rover tin in Autoshite. Sir, if you were here in person I would shake your hand. One does approve.

[purplebargeken]

Ah, now that makes sense. My mate said that the chap had all of the extra's available added to the car. So it may well have been a Club model but with added yumminess. 

 

Whatever spec it is it drives beautifully. 

[phil_lihp]

It's a shame these were never available in a tourer shape, would have looked fantastic.  The Civic these shared their design with had an estate variant so you'd think it would have been viable and I've seen an MG ZS conversion done on one, never a 400/45 though.

[purplebargeken]

A tourer would have been very cool I agree. Mind you, the boot on this is cavernous!

[Doctormop]

A quick check of the reg no with we buy any car (for no money).com confirms the model as a club, although by the time all the options had been added the original purchaser probably spent more than he would have on a connoisseur, sad to hear that he has passed away but hope he enjoyed the car while he had it,

My Grandad only had one new car in his life, he waited until he had retired so he could really enjoy owning it and keeping it in as new condition, he always used to say the best things in life were worth waiting for.

 Sorry to ramble on, looks a lovely car and deserves to be looked after.

[TRW]

@ Doctormop, was your folks car a 45?

[saucedoctor]

Lovely stuff. That is indeed a Club spec (basic steering wheel is a tell) with some options ticked. As TRW says, MG-R would give you pretty much any spec you wished. I've seen 25s with leather seats, electric roofs and keep-fit windows, for example. My mate's late father had a 25 with the 84BHP restricted throttle body engine and aircon.

 

Well played, sir.

[purplebargeken]

It is indeed a lovely car and will be cleaned and cared for. 

 

Maybe he didn't want the leather of the Connie. Who knows.

 

I would heartily recommend it to folks who have the itch. 

[Doctormop]

No TRW, a 216 Vitesse EFI 4 door saloon in British Racing Green.

[purplebargeken]

The steering wheel has controls for the stereo on it. At the 7 o'clock position.

[vulgalour]

I'm surprisingly jealous.  That's one of my favourite modern Rover colours and those seats look like someone took a look in a P6 and modernised what they found.

[Barry Cade]

Watch out with those seats- don't lean back too far in them! They fitted 75 seats in later 45's and the front mounting points are a little (lot) too weak and rip out the floor. Had to weld up the mountings on my last 2 45's...

[gadgetgricey]

Very nice. If you ever decide to sell can I have first dibs, as it looks like the ideal "second" car for my wife.

 

(Parking sensors being the main factor   )

 

Cheers

 

- Dave -

[gordonbennet]

Lovey car, an icy blue like that is one of my favourite car colours.

[Sigmund Fraud]

Giffer-tastic ! Evidence that you're really looking forward to your retirement, sir

[Simon M]

Nice!  My 45's an 03 reg, but it doesn't have the ultra comfy Rover 75 seats for some reason, it's got the Honda Civic-style ones instead.  I can only assume mine is some kind of ultra povvo version.

[saucedoctor]

^ for whatever reason, MG-R seemed to lob parts on in a rather haphazard fashion in this period. Supposedly post-Project Drive cars with some of the "deleted" parts fitted, some not. I was told by a saleswoman that by the time MG-R was on it's last legs, they (the dealer) had given up trying to figure out any of the specs as delivered.

I got my 25 new in 2002, and a chap I know bought one as well, that should have been the same. Nope. Quite a few differences. His had rear speakers, mine didn't. Same head unit, same, seats, same keep fit windows. Mine has a volumetric alarm, his didn't. Other wee things too.