Rovers Return UPDATE NEW ROVER!

[Guest]

It'll look better when you get those bumpers sorted! Come on man, you did it with the blue one and it looked ace afterwards. That thing is a disgrace, etc.

[Mash]

Excellent Mr_B, in giffer-spec that's a quite a sleeper. I love 90s Rovers, I don't really know why I don't have another TBH. I never had a moment's trouble with my 414, should have got another instead of a crappy Dolomite and then a Sunny with an even more HGF prone engine!

[mnde]

Another great write up of a great save; your enthusiasm is infectious Bol, and I'd quite like one of these R8s now! My dad part ex'd a MK3 Escort for a brand new 214 Si on an 'L' in dark green metallic, and I remember it being a competent, refined, comfortable car.Mark.

[155V6]

My brother had a brand new 420 SLi back in '92. Even though I had an RS2000 Mk2 at the time I was still surprised by how perky the Rover was.. rather swift for a 'sensible' car, quiet and not too shite on fuel.The 420 GSi Turbo has made it onto my "I'd have one of those" lists a couple of times, and I'm not a fan of the Rondas normally. Has anyone done a 420 GSi Turbo Estate? I'd quite like that. In black preferably, with AC and leather.As for 3000 rpm at 75, that's actually longer geared than my '82 SD1 - which is doing 3000 rpm at a real (and speedo accurate) 70.

A couple of people on Rovertech have built Turbo Estates

[Station]

Those 80's/90's Rovers are under-rated, probably the best all-rounder mobile out there, does ANYONE in the motoring press recognise this?

[Mr Lobster]

Those 80's/90's Rovers are under-rated, probably the best all-rounder mobile out there, does ANYONE in the motoring press recognise this?

No, but then they spent the '90's telling us that we should all be driving BMWs and that to do otherwise was to be some sort of social misfit.

 

Sounds ace though Snr_Bo11ox. I'd been keeping an eye on the Tat Blog on RR for updates so I'm pleased to see this. Years ago I woildn't have given one a second glance, now I do find these to be pretty desirable and certainly on my list of cars I should own at some point.

[Quintus]

My dad had an H reg 214GSI some years back and it was a fantastic car. The K series was so perky and quite brisk for a relatively small engine. I've had a soft spot for Rovers ever since.

[ProgRocker]

Friends of my parents had a dark grey 220 once (N-reg I think) and they were considering selling it, so I expressed an interest. I quite liked the idea of a big engined car in a compact body - but without the 'hot hatch' insurance premium. The deal never came off though - can't remember why it didn't.

[garethj]

Sounds like you've got a good 'un there, I'm sure it'll do fine service for years and years. A bad one is a thing of agony for ever; when I used to work for a Rover supplier there were a few dotted around and they got used as pool cars. They didn't stand up as well as the Cavs or (very) early Mondeos.

 

Does yours have the ICE and cruise switches on the steering wheel? I was briefly involved in the design and build of those. I went to visit the steering wheel supplier once and the assembly workers were lighting their fags off the welds

 

You got the feeling that it was a decent car under there, if you got one that was built well. Why Rover didn't get the message after making the same mistake from the '70s I don't know

[Rocket88]

Why did the Austin/ Morris / Rover / Austin Rover /Rover [etc, etc etc] did such perverse pleasure in almost making great cars. The past 40 years is littered with missed opportunities, [mostly caused by penny pinching, internal rivalries, and sheer bloody stupidity] The K series is a prime example, a powerful, fuel efficient, compact engine, but they had to make sure it had an Achilles heel somewhere , just to keep the lads in the workshop busy. The fact that uprated head gasket sets pretty much solve the problem of the kettle impersonations prove my point. If they'd have got it right the first time...........

[ashmicro]

Why did the Austin/ Morris / Rover / Austin Rover /Rover [etc, etc etc] did such perverse pleasure in almost making great cars. The past 40 years is littered with missed opportunities, [mostly caused by penny pinching, internal rivalries, and sheer bloody stupidity] The K series is a prime example, a powerful, fuel efficient, compact engine, but they had to make sure it had an Achilles heel somewhere , just to keep the lads in the workshop busy. The fact that uprated head gasket sets pretty much solve the problem of the kettle impersonations prove my point. If they'd have got it right the first time...........

That post sums it all up in a very neat nutshell. Defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory on SO many occasions. I bloody love my wee Rover (Mrs Ash thinks I'm weird) but even in a 2002 R25 there is the essence of the brilliance that existed at Rover. The "proper" Rover Company was an engineer's company.My little 25 is worth neither half of jack shit money wise, but it imbues a sense of well-being that I have not experienced even in my pal's Aston Martin Vanquish S (sorry Alan).I'm not saying it's a better car, that would be silly. What I'm saying is, and I hope I'm agreeing with the OP's sentiment, it could have been so good. I lent the 25 to my Vanquish-owning friend while I sorted the software issue on the A-M. He caned it, and loved the cars nimbleness and the flexibility of the K Series

[Gompo]

Nice write up, and as others have said it does make me want an early 90s Rover. I think my favourites on the 400 Tourings, but they're all a nice design.

[Rod/b]

Excellent work Bol! My current steer is a 1991 216SLi that has been fitted at some point with a GTi twin cam, and I love it. I gave £100 for it with 6 months ticket back in February. It's got a similar power output to the 2 litre M series but seriously lacks the torque, and consequently is much lower geared and drinks the fuel if you tool around in it too much.Looks like you've done well there mind.As an aside the previous owner of my car swears by smooth peanut butter for keeping grey bumpers looking good. Seems to have worked well on my car so whilst it sounds mental it might be worth getting a tub of ASDA SAVERS PEANUT SPREAD SUBSTITUTE PASTE or whatever.

[vicsmith]

Nice to see this parked up in the middle of nowhere. Not sure I`ve ever seen a 220 in the flesh, but I had a 420 so I know exactly what you are talking about. This is probably the pinnacle of R8s really, I know there are Turbo ones, Coupes and stuff but that is only adding risk and complication to what is already a very fast car but also a much safer bet.Getting a bit rare all of a sudden, the R8, me and Hirst had 3 of them in August `09 but I haven`t seen one for months.

[Guest]

I bet half of them die when the battery inevitably goes flat and no one knows how to knock the immobiliser back off without getting someone out to look at it. If I had an one, I think I'd actually pay someone to bypass and disconnect the entire system just to save me grief later - wonder how much longer the battery would last if you did that? I'm convinced the alarms suck all the power out of the battery, I bet the AA/RAC had to jump start loads of these in airport car parks. Certainly had to do my dad's one sometime in the mid 90s.Despite this irritant (and a few others), I am pretty fond of the old R8. They look good, they're a great drive and overall they do feel like a high-quality product. It's just annoying that unless you're using it every day, they seem to get a sulk on.

[retrogeezer]

Hey Mr B, do you need a proper Rover radio/cassette for this?? I have one in the garage if you do.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Cheers RG, its still got the pukka Rover radio in actually. I like it and it looks the part, however it sounds teh shatpank so I am thinking of evicting it in favour of something with more fiddly buttons, flashing lights, spacky graphic displays and bluetooth connectivity with my 'George Foreman Lean mean Grilling machine'

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Hey would anybody like a Rover 220?

 

Mine is seriously pissing me off, and making me look at rovers in a different light. Bear in mind that its done a genuine 70k with one old boy and has a complete and thorough service history (semi-synth oil every 6k etc).

 

Basically everything on it is or has been, fooked. Its on its third head gasket already (last one done by me) and the gearbox has already been completely rebuilt. I've done about 6 k in it and the following items need attention:

 

Both rear calipers are shot (HB not working)

Catalytic convertor knackered.

rust hole in the sill and blebs along the top of the windscreen.

Impressive array of oil leaks from the engine, despite me replacing all gaskets in the top end (inc doing the cam seals twice).

 

On top of all that, the engine drinks oil. I'm talking 2 litres per week, i.e about 400-450 miles or so. Having had the enigne to bits, replaced all the valve stem seals and seen the immaculate cylinder bores, I have thought there must be something funny going on with the breather system cos theres no way this engine could burn so much oil. But having run it for a couple of weeks with a DIY open breather system, I am now convinced that its just burning the lot. F**k knows why, but whatever it is, all the efffort that i put into replacing the head gasket would be undone if I investigated it properly.

 

Some new modern diesel chugga shite is joinging the fleet in a few weeks and when it does i have a feeling that the days of this Rover will be numbered. Its probably the nicest car to drive i have ever had, but unfortunatley at the same time its also a complete steaming pile of shit.

 

F**K YOU ROVER, I'M GLAD YOU WENT BUST

[ChinaTom]

 

You can probably tell that I seriously love this car.

 

Its naturally fast, without being frantic or making you feel like its a fuggin liability.

 

In fact, as i'm sat here typing this, i am itching to just stoke it up and go for a blezz, and its not often that I feel like doing that due to being a tightwad. In short I fuggin love it!

Bit like a bird you'd fancied for ages, then found yourself googling fish-odour-syndrome then.

 

Win some, lose some. What's next then?

[Lord Sterling]

F**K YOU ROVER, I'M GLAD YOU WENT BUST

I know how you feel mr Bol I really do........

 

My Honda engined Sterling, had its head gasket go a few days back. Its sitting forlorn outside until I do something about it.

 

What it needs:

 

1 - New headgasket set

2 - Cambelt and Waterpump

3 - Handbrake restting (Handbrake doesnt work)

3 - New tyres

4 - New Climate pack

5 - Various bits of bodywork doing, ideally, strip back, welding and repaint

etc........

 

As rare as it is, I really can hear the scrapman calling.

 

Hope whatever you get will see you in good steed.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

 

 

You can probably tell that I seriously love this car.

 

Its naturally fast, without being frantic or making you feel like its a fuggin liability.

 

In fact, as i'm sat here typing this, i am itching to just stoke it up and go for a blezz, and its not often that I feel like doing that due to being a tightwad. In short I fuggin love it!

Bit like a bird you'd fancied for ages, then found yourself googling fish-odour-syndrome then.

 

Win some, lose some. What's next then?

LOL, so true!!!!

 

Having drunk a cup of tea and mulled it over, I'm not sure I can bear to chuck it away as yet, i think it might find itself living at farma_franx for a couple of years first, (then getting chucked).

[Rod/b]

*cough* http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0633861530

[Guest]

The most irritating point about those "R8" Rovers is that when they work well, they completely outclass any of their rivals, but something always seems to go wrong. Even if something isn't going wrong, there's always some feeling of dread, like something will go wrong. Really takes the enjoyment out of them.

 

It's annoying, because they're such a great car - I've driven 214 8V, 16V and the XUD Turbodiesel and all drove absolutely great, nice ride and handling, comfortable, felt classy inside, even look really smart. But then something will happen and you just feel uneasy about using them in case something else goes wrong, but then if you don't use them, they'll flatten the battery or lose their keyfob code or something. I genuinely would not be able to own one now, just knowing it was on the driveway would give me bad headaches. But they're so GOOD! If they were completely rubbish, you could completely avoid them, but you just can't do it! It's impossible!

 

Does sound like you're having a particularly bum deal with that one though, Mr B. Is Pa_Bollox's 214 still alright? That was a right nice thing.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Infuriatingly fatha_bol's early 214 is 110% relliable, starts first turn of the key, doesnt leak or burn a drop of oil and every time he drives it he feels the need to tell me what a great car it is.

[Rod/b]

I'd say if you're going to have one, the earlier the better. I looked at a couple of late ones earlier this year and the quality was well off compared to my 1990 one. It's a 216 sli but somewhere in the past it ended up with a Twin cam from a GTi. I bought it to take banger rallying but it was too good for that so it's my daily now. It looks shit but that doesn't bother me too much.

[AnthonyG]

The Honda engined ones mean you can enjoy these without worrying about checking the coolant every 5 minutes.

 

Mr B, I would just put it to one side and leave it for a while, then have a go at it later on. Could you chuck in a good s/h engine?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Could do, but like the gearboxes, any s/h engine could very well be just as shit as the one thats in there, which sounds and pulls great, but just drinks/pisses out gallons of oil while its doing it. You just never know what you're gonna get with these old things, specially the ones that are 100% brummie.

 

I thnk I might keep an eye open for another cheap one, and maybe even turn myself into a 220SLi collector. Looking at 'completed items' it seems a really nice one went through the bay a week ago for £150!!! They are great cars alright, just seemingly a lottery as to whether you get a decent one or a fuggin lemon.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Hey checkl this out! A blast from the past. Its the Rover from the beginning of this thread, still owned by fatha bo11ox and still going strong 5 years later. Must be the best £70 i ever spent! Just got a snap of it today as Fatha_Ba11s has made the trip oop North to see us

[Lord Sterling]

Like it! I absolutely love these early 200s. Glad to see its still going.

[AndyW201]

Flipping 'eck!, an early one in Henley Blue, my favourite type of R8. Nice buy.