Project 2000 Rover 45 1.8 CVT

[purplebargeken]

Hahaha, done that already in a Daf.

 

It feels like a slightly smaller 75, although I love the dash in the 75, the 45 does not offend in any way. Side to side comparison is the way forward

[Lacquer Peel]

  On 29/01/2019 at 17:15, LightBulbFun said:

How about in reverse? (aka cuz CVT can it do top speed in reverse?)

 

I quite like these Late 90s early 2000s pre face lift Rovers

 

just from a never driven one point of view, I think the 75 is my favourite out of the lineup

They're pretty good to drive, nice steering, ride and handling well set up for British roads.

[purplebargeken]

I have to agree ^^. It does feel pretty sorted on the road, really comfy and 'planted'. An actual pleasure to drive. 

 

Mine has reversing sensors which are a boon as it is a little difficult to tell where it is all at distance-wise as the back end of the car is quite high for a saloon. 

[purplebargeken]

Back box is bolloxed, couple of big holes.

 

Replacement and gasket all bought via ebay for 49 quid.

 

Did the weeping rocker cover gasket and replaced the coolant bottle cap just because. 

[purplebargeken]

Took the 45 of Waftiness down to my mates yard. Up on the 4 post lift and knackered back box removal ensued. 

 

All went swimmingly apart from the two bolts connecting the rear box to the mid section. Hacksaw... nope, 1mm cutting disk, a tad better but not enough room, heat... helpful but awfully close to the petrol tank. 

 

Took me 45 minutes to get the bolts off. Cunts.

 

Anyway, back box on, lovely quite Rover happening. Much happiness.

 

Outlay: £49 including the gasket. Local factor wanted £60 plus gasket.

 

Sorry local factor. 

[purplebargeken]

[purplebargeken]

I went up to Coventry in this last weekend, the Rover performed faultlessly, a good, relaxing and engaging drive.

 

The hopeful sale of the i10 will fund the remaining mechanical and fiddly stuff on the Toledo. It will then likely become my 'daily' as retirement will see my actual driving be reduced to just two commute days a week. 

 

This will mean that the Rover will be sold on, this will truly be a very sad and reluctant sale. This truly is a beautiful car that is comfy and so nice to drive.

 

It will go back on the X reg plate at sale.

 

Any provisional interest? The price will be around the £595 mark. 

[LightBulbFun]

hows the ULEZy of it?

 

if I was being sensible* about things this is probably what I should buy for tootling around London and the great beyond...

 

but everyone here knows me by now  so GLWTS

 

(tho I do wonder if I could convince my mum to buy it for "herself"... but dont get yer hopes up its a bloody far fetched idea)

[purplebargeken]

Not ULEZ compliant. I did get a bit wobbly about ULEZ stuff but now don't care as will try and avoid, plus Triumphs are exempt. Whoohoo.

[purplebargeken]

Fuel consumption isn't quite as good as it was despite everything being lovely. I had a quick mooch round the car when I got home last night, the rear N/S back brake was hot. So, bit of binding going on eh? Likely just need a good clean up, I will do this on Friday when off. i10 pressed back into service until then.

[purplebargeken]

Well, as per the general plan, the Rover is now up for sale. 

 

You can see the pictures which I think speak for themselves.

 

This is a very, very nice 45, there are some scuffs on the bumpers - giffer scuffs as the original owner had dementia and gave up driving after said scrapes. 

 

The car has had a shed load of money spent on it, seriously so. I have done the following since I bought it from Ben on this very forum.

 

New rocker cover gasket, coolant cap (treat as a service item), new front tyre, couple of rear light bulbs, new heater resister (only had two working speeds, now all working happily), the CVT gearbox fluid was drained and refilled by the Rover specialist in St. Albans about a month ago. I fitted a new battery when I got the car. New rear silencer fitted a few weeks ago. Coolant is fresh, clean and rock solid on the level. 

 

What it needs? 

 

Hardly anything at all really. For the really fussy there is a small ding in the passenger front wing, right by the headlight. This was done prior to my ownership via a car park bump I believe. I have a rust free wing to go with the car, sadly not in the correct colour. There is a set of Rover alloys to go with the car, the tyres have good tread but there are cracks in the tread. The rear N/S wheel is binding slightly but I will have this looked at, most likely  the brakes just need a good clean up. 

 

The interior is lovely, utterly lovely. Possibly the most comfortable car I have ever had. Sunroof works, everything works bar the drivers heated seat, the switch illuminates but no heat is felt, the seats are cloth anyway, so kind of unnecessary. One key and one remote fob. 

 

The car is lovely and solid feeling, comfy as hell and easy to drive.

[Marm Toastsmith]

Just showed this to the missus. Looks perfect for her. Here's what she said,

 

"Is it a car? Is it a Rover? Not interested. I want a 5 series"

 

Me: "It's not really as big as a 5 series. More like a Golf size really."

 

"Why would you get a Rover when you can get a BMW?"

 

She's a become a bit of a car snob over the years. Sorry, I think it looks nice. And a bargain to boot. GLWTS.

[Fabergé Greggs]

Nice this. Trying to think of some need to back up the want but sadly coming up blank...

[Rod/b]

  On 02/03/2019 at 13:52, marm said:

Just showed this to the missus. Looks perfect for her. Here's what she said,

 

"Is it a car? Is it a Rover? Not interested. I want a 5 series"

 

Me: "It's not really as big as a 5 series. More like a Golf size really."

 

"Why would you get a Rover when you can get a BMW?"

 

She's a become a bit of a car snob over the years. Sorry, I think it looks nice. And a bargain to boot. GLWTS.

Buy her a BMW that you know is almost cery expensively fucked, and put paid to this nonsense.

[sierraman]

Stick some BMW badges on it.

[purplebargeken]

Whilst BMW's in this price range are still BMW's, they aren't as nice as this car by a long chalk. 

 

This truly is a lovely, lovely car. Massive boot too!

[Marm Toastsmith]

  On 02/03/2019 at 14:14, Rod/b said:

Buy her a BMW that you know is almost cery expensively fucked, and put paid to this nonsense.

 

I've done that before. An E30 325i touring. She didn't like it. It was horrible to drive in town. Heavy clutch and crap handbrake made it impossible on hill starts. The rough idle didn't help, and the knackered thermostat and constantly half-running radiator fan meant the heating only just worked, at which point it was moments from overheating. This obviously made it all the more appealing from a feminine perspective.

 

A shame, cos it was a total blast on A-roads etc.

 

In the end it was me that got bored of spending money on it. I fixed a grands worth of stuff but barely scratched the surface and new things kept breaking.

 

It put me off buying cars with problems... especially BMWs.

 

It put her off manual gearboxes... but not BMWs. 

 

  On 02/03/2019 at 15:42, purplebargeken said:

Whilst BMW's in this price range are still BMW's, they aren't as nice as this car by a long chalk. 

 

You can buy a pretty nice beemer for £500 with a little luck, especially if you don't mind a slow one, undesirable spec, or scruffy bodywork. A 4 cyl auto saloon with a cloth interior, a few dents, and full service history sounds ideal. They are out there. In fact the one you sold recently sounded pretty nice! Both of our good BMWs were slow and £400, the shit one was fast and a grand. The extra cost was all down to spec, not condition.

 

Which is nicer would have to be in the eye of the beholder, but I agree, the Rover looks very nice. So GLWTS!

[purplebargeken]

The blue Touring was rather nice in all honesty.

[purplebargeken]

Roffle? £9.50 a number?

[purplebargeken]

Roffle or sale folks?

[purplebargeken]

Going to keep hold of this for a wee while yet. Just too nice to get rid until I really have to.

[pauldoubleyou]

Ive had a few of these and as usual with Rovers theres anecdotes.. every k series one i have had needed a new HG. Fact. It got to the stage that i could do them in an afternoon such is the access. 

 

I bought a blue facelift one a few years ago for £50, put it in the garage and did the HG. So by that point it owed me about £125 once you factored in ASDA oil. Anyway i didnt actually drive it but my mate wanted to go fishing, so off we trot up to Loch Leven through Glencoe. In march sometime, cant actually remember. 

 

The car is fucking freezing all the way over the mountains, in snow, it was horrendous. Minus 6 over the top of Glencoe and could i fuck clear the windows or get any heat into the car.. Airlocked i presumed. So anyway we bumbled around for the day with all the windows open and my mate moaning that this piece of shit Rover was freezing. 

 

When i got home i put the heater on full and stepped out to check under the bonnet. Wierdly, it was really loud from the passenger vents under the windscreen. I then noticed it was BLOWING and not sucking. So we had been out all day with the heaters on and it was sucking all the nice warm air out and heating up Scotland instead. 

 

I cut the wires to the fan, reversed them and it worked fine. 

 

No ideas how the fan managed to be wired up in reverse. 

 

Sold it for £500 to a local old bloke and its still running. I even got a text off them about 3 month ago saying the car was fine but they couldn't find the sunroof manual winder key. 

[purplebargeken]

Now that was funny ^^