Rover 75 launch car

[Heinzy]

Does anybody know if the good examples of  R75s are  going up in value ?

[Kiltox]

Ah, the famous black sills. Already been suggested I should paint them on my car instead of trying to match the original colour where it’s been welded. 

[Microwave]

Only ones most people seemed to be arsed about are still the diesels, “reliable BMW engine” etc.

[Cooper1]

The 75 along with it other medium sized luxury compatriots seem to be at the bottom of the market.. 

 

And to be honest it's predecessor the 800 is still worth 3 fifths of fuck all,

 

So it is unlikely to earn you a big bag of cash...  

 

is it a v6 or diseasel? 

[sierraman]

You see some offered up at comedy prices presumably by optimistic Rover enthusiasts but I doubt they sell for what they’re asking. Rough guess a good one is a grand maybe. One day they’ll be worth a few quid in much the same way people are paying three grand for Ford Sierras but I wouldn’t look at it as an investment. 

[montytom]

I love launch cars having had 2 before. I will say the same people stating they are worth thousands of pounds will definitely not put there hands in pockets come to sale time.

 

They are lovely cars but at the moment unless you find someone desperate for one then it's worth £1000 on a good day really depending on condition and if all the toys work and cambelts(theres 3 of them) history.

[Kiltox]

9 hours ago, Microwave said:

Only ones most people seemed to be arsed about are still the diesels, “reliable BMW engine” etc.

Yeah damn right. Especially high mileage ones. Worth a fortune. Buy now before prices increase. 

[Dan_ZTT]

I sold my ZTT for £1250 a year ago but that was obviously MG version tourer, was a petrol V6 with recent belt change, + spec, generally good condition, etc. And it still took a few months to find a buyer. 

I love 75's too, but no it seems that to the vast majority they are still just an 'old man car', a long way off being a classic. 

[lesapandre]

I think they will eventually take their place with the P4, 2000, 3500 and SD1 as interesting nice cars but for whatever reason not being greatly in demand or super-valuable. 

Funny really Land Rover and Range Rover super valuable but the cars that accompanied them just considered a bit meh. Image? Usability? 

I think the tourers will be most in demand because they are useful and nice looking. They were really well developed and should have had a longer production span. 

[Crispian_J_Hotson]

What is a launch car? I have visions of the handfuls of cars used at motor shows to display the new releases of a particular manufacturer or vehicles used as press cars. Believe I have missed something, please enlighten.

[lesapandre]

I think this means the very earliest design iteration? The first cars as at launch - they were modified pretty comprehensively by MGR over their short life as they scrambled to keep them selling and to shave build costs whilst looking to find a partner for the company.

[Yoss]

The launch cars were sent to dealers to show them off before general release. They were all Wedgwood Blue with Neptune (dark blue) leather and V6's (the only engine to have. Says me anyway, the which engine is best topic is one that seems to rumble on endlessly on the 75/ZT forum but everyone else is wrong) 

 

^^That looks nice. Being a launch car should make it more valuable but as only a couple of dozen Rover lickers know or understand the significance it won't make a lot of difference unless you can find someone who knows what is and wants one. 

As already mentioned it seems old Rovers take a long time to appreciate, P4's still seem very cheap for what they are. Having said that the 75/ZT already has a strong following and active owners club so they may climb higher sooner. Probably not though. 

[montytom]

13 minutes ago, BoggyMires said:

What is a launch car? I have visions of the handfuls of cars used at motor shows to display the new releases of a particular manufacturer or vehicles used as press cars. Believe I have missed something, please enlighten.

A launch car was a set of cars delivered to dealerships to showcase the model.

 

They were in wedgwood blue. 2.5v6 autos with Neptune blue leather interior. High line instrument cluster(computer)

High line sat nav and tv(tv now defunct with digital takeover) 5 bar ie heated seats,traction control,cruise control and an electric rear blind. 

They normally came with crown 15 inch wheels but sometimes they were changed as these have serpents on them.

They have a sunroof aswell.

 

Very nice cars

[Crispian_J_Hotson]

Wow, thanks. Learn something every day.

[montytom]

There are more bits on the launch cars I didnt mention but they are the major things other things include headlight washers but no xenon lights and a volumetric alarm. One of mine had parking sensors but that was done at the dealership 

[lesapandre]

Thats all pretty cutting edge at the time. Shows what could be done with plentiful supply of development costs to design this.

[Mally]

Gave just over £600 for my tourer 3 years ago. It's still worth £500 according to kiltox

I don't get the launch, /pre prodrive crap. More toys equals more to go wrong. Nice place to be if it all works though.

They are worth between £300 and £1,300 to me. V6 are thirsty, diesel is BMW innit.

Anything over that I'd  expect a new clutch and top and bottom rear suspension arms as a minimum.

[BorniteIdentity]

I found my (this) v6 to be most favourable MPG wise. I never got it below 32 mixed use and will properly do 36 brim to brim on a run. 

It’s a lovely car. I only sold it because I wanted a bright yellow 306 cabriolet. It’s good to know both of those cars are still in the fold!

[Split_Pin]

Launch cars are for the fanboys only, the preserve of the big-talkers at car shows.

As Mally said for us normal people, if you can get one that has had upper arms and a has a decent clutch then go for it. They are sensitive to what types of stuff you fit clutch wise and there doesn't seem to be a commonly held belief on what is best.

I paid £600 for my 106k mile 2003 Classic Diesel with mainly everything working as it should and 9 months MOT. I paid half that for one with 6 months MOT but with clutch issues and needing 2 rear arms.

Both those jobs can be quite expensive so any car needing those means that its a £300 quid car, in my opinion.

Diesels are decent setups, not too much thats expensive or hard to fix can go wrong other than the HP fuel pump but there are pathways to a less expensive solution. Good Mpg too.

Never tried a petrol, they have their fans though and at this age, surely lots will have had their issues ironed out.

I'm always on the lookout for a Diesel one that jumps out at me.

[HH-R]

Love a 75, Wedgwood is one of the best colours along with black IMO.

I wanted a 75 from when they were launched as an 11 year old and got one when I was 21, a 2.0 v6. Was a case of not meeting your heroes for me, I was a bit underwhelmed with it. Traded in an early 45 for it which I did about 20 or 30k in. Had the 75 a year and did about 5k in it before trading it in for a Fiat Panda. I deffo got more fun out of the 45 and Panda than the 75. They're supposed to have legendary handling but I found it big and boatlike, having said that I mustn't really like driving big cars. The Getrag box didn't like being hurried or it would baulk and the 2 litre isn't that quick anyway. I used to get 25 MPG driving like a saint or 20 hooning it/around town. Sounded glorious though and looked great, it was really a car I was proud of owning.

Was a good car though, the only thing that went wrong was bits of trim falling off (driver's door handle surround and kick plates all round). The build quality of the 45 was actually better.

[Yoss]

I had a ZT-T 190 and it was fabulous on nice open roads but I spend far more time in town for which it was a bit heavy. A friend at work still has a 75 tourer diesel and given any chance I will mock his choice of engine. He will counter with his mpg which I would say wasn't the point of a luxury(ish) car. 

In reality now they are all at least 15 years old I would go for the best condition overall regardless of engine or spec. 

[sierraman]

I used to work at a place years ago and we had one a 2.0D, not sure what spec it was but it had leather. It had a really low first gear, second was probably a better gear to set off in. Other than that I quite liked it, it wallowed like an old bed but it was fitting with the car, outside it looked fantastic for the time when everything was a bit dull. Despite liking the wood and leather it wasn’t a good choice going down that route, fewer and fewer buyers were plumping for fake wood and digital clocks inlaid in sepia tinted dials. 

The V8 ones were pretty much an instant classic, I don’t understand why they didn’t introduce them earlier and at a lower price point, the 4.6 unit isn’t expensive, but from memory it was priced at £40 odd thousand. But then that was typical Rover, delusions of grandeur and wasting time, money and resources on the completely pointless Qvale based Xpower. Meddling whilst Rome burns.

[Tam]

I think the launch cars will and do already carry a premium. When the 75 gets more classic the 2.5 V6 will be preferred engine. Also the quirky spec of the launch cars with blue interior sets them apart. 

[NorfolkNWeigh]

1 hour ago, sierraman said:

I used to work at a place years ago and we had one a 2.0D, not sure what spec it was but it had leather. It had a really low first gear, second was probably a better gear to set off in. Other than that I quite liked it, it wallowed like an old bed but it was fitting with the car, outside it looked fantastic for the time when everything was a bit dull. Despite liking the wood and leather it wasn’t a good choice going down that route, fewer and fewer buyers were plumping for fake wood and digital clocks inlaid in sepia tinted dials. 

The V8 ones were pretty much an instant classic, I don’t understand why they didn’t introduce them earlier and at a lower price point, the 4.6 unit isn’t expensive, but from memory it was priced at £40 odd thousand. But then that was typical Rover, delusions of grandeur and wasting time, money and resources on the completely pointless Qvale based Xpower. Meddling whilst Rome burns.

But even these instant classic ZT260s are only worth about the same as a new Dacia Sandero, which is admittedly a bargain for a practically hand built fun car with a nice simple bullet proof V8 . Although in common with other weird V8 saloons;  Thema 8.32, Passat WR8, S80 V8 etc they're not actually very fast.

My point is that until these and 75 V8s are worth £20k , cooking V6es and diesels will never be worth more than a couple of grand, maybe the Kettle engined ones will have a rarity value and overtake the others ...

[Peter C]

Which version of the 75 has that incredibly posh interior? Someone here had one, green and cream, IIRC.

[adw1977]

There was an optional extra called Personal Line that gave you colour coordinated interior trim in some rather odd colour combinations, with the door panels, gear knob etc. matching the seats.

[Bobthebeard]

17 hours ago, Peter C said:

Which version of the 75 has that incredibly posh interior? Someone here had one, green and cream, IIRC.

Me possibly. Still on the road.

[Peter C]

1 hour ago, Bobthebeard said:

Me possibly. Still on the road.

Show us a pic then!

What version is it?

[vaughant]

Had a few of these in when I had the garage and i did like them, a nice solid feeling when the door clunked but they just never caught on really. I think they were in the wrong market, too much BMW influence but without the badge and I'm sure they weren't that cheap either, I don't think rovers ever were. 

A nice enough car to smoke about in but only at banger money for me like the Kiltox estate, keep it until a big bill arrives then let it go. 

When the R8 model came out it transformed that sector as an overall package but these didn't, they just fitted in well. I suppose looking back they did model the next generation of car shape and if you get up to the British motor museum in Gaydon they have a few prototypes of a coupe and a cabby which look incredible. 

They're were a few odd low capacity v6 engines at the time along with the x type 2.1. They sounded great but weren't quick and were heavy on fuel. 

[Heinzy]

Thanks for all the comments to my launch car, l realise lam in it for the long haul and won’t make anything on it now... definitely won’t be selling as it’s a keeper. I bought an identical  car when l was in my 30s and loved it. I have spent about 2k on this one over the last few months.....Sills where naggy cut out and repaired, front and back bumpers repainted, all  underneath wax oiled ....chrome bumper inserts all round replaced with new ones along with  chrome step trims. Colour tv restored to working. I live close to Rimmers in Lincoln so some stuff pretty easy to get. I have changed the Y spoke 15” wheels for Serpents as l prefer the look!

Classic cars are a labour of love, but worth it I reckon...

Edited March 30, 2020 by Heinzy
Forgot to say something