My new Rover 75 - old man's car innit?

[ChinaTom]

 

This one will be popping up at a Norfolk auction house at the back end of November when I part exchange it. Robinsons gave me £2k value, which wasn't too bad for a 61k mile 2.0 cdti Conn SE auto. What do these usually fetch at auctions?

[Rover414]

I love 75s, ours is sitting on the drive waiting for better days though sadly. Recently in a local auction a 2004 (I think) top spec one went for £700.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

This one will be popping up at a Norfolk auction house at the back end of November when I part exchange it. Robinsons gave me £2k value, which wasn't too bad for a 61k mile 2.0 cdti Conn SE auto. What do these usually fetch at auctions?

 

I would be surprised if they made any profit on it!

[overheadvalve]

Great car Mr Wobbler,

When i was looking for a 75 i found several with lower than average mileage and steering wheel wear like the pic below.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1999-Rover-75-Standard-1951cc-Diesel-/180734957392?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item2a14a49750

 

Your car has done more miles and the steering wheel seems to have less wear. Maybe one of the two previous owners of the car at Radcliffe auctions drove whilst wearing chainmail gloves

Still for £900 maybe it's worth a look

[AnthonyG]

A lot of that could be dirt - look at the centre console. Looks like Pigpen drove it!

[MK5 Escort]

call me Mildred but I prefer the pre facelift 75's which look properly British - not these sausage eating, jackboot wearing, Poland yearning aggressive looking later cars!

 

That makes of two us – and probably many more to hazard a guess. The original pre-revised one is a gorgeous looking thing from most angles both inside and out. The twin headlamps always gave it that ‘authoritative’ look to me. Rover, like they did with both the 25 and 45, ruined it later on.

 

If I ever had a 75, it would have to come with cream leather. It suits it best, I think… Saloon or estate – I wouldn’t really mind either way. It would have to be the diesel too. I don't fancy skimming more heads and replacing head gaskets, thanks. I had enough of that a few years ago when my brother had two 1.8’s on the bounce.

 

Does anyone remember that creamy, off-white Rover done? Aran White or something? Some people hated it – I thought it suited the 75 very well…!

[r.welfare]

IIRC AnthonyG's was Old English White, with bottle green leather, and it looked the dogs.

[ashmicro]

That green T reg one above is pre-Project Dive so doesn't have the cheapass steering wheel. Meguiars Leather Treatment sorts the discolouration. Usually caused by rings. If it's really bad, Autoglym do a leather shampoo which will clean it first, followed by said Meguiars. My mate bought an XJ-R like Pete M, and the driver's seat looked like it had been shat on, several times. Autoglym+Meguiars and a bit of elbow grease sorted it out.

[AnthonyG]

IIRC AnthonyG's was Old English White, with bottle green leather, and it looked the dogs.

 

Not mine Mr Welf, my car was White Gold(?) (same colour as Ians) with black leather!

[r.welfare]

Apologies - it was dark when I saw it at the pub near Watford, and also getting on for 5 years ago...! Anywhichway, I thought it was a cracking colour.

[dollywobbler]

Back home after clocking up 531 miles in two days, and have spent about 11 hours at the wheel! Have encountered a right mixture of roads, from single-track Welsh mountain roads, to fast A roads, dual carriageways, motorways and the worst that Croydon's streets could hurl at us. I didn't get any pictures because we pretty much didn't stop, and the car is filthy. It now deserves a wash - hoping to lavish some love upon it tomorrow and then I WILL get some fresh pics up.

 

Conclusions? Well, for covering that sort of mileage at speed, the Rover's pretty hard to beat. Our calculations reckon it delivered an average of 49mpg (computer said 53, so we've got our margin error identified!) with an awful lot of indicated 80mph (realistically probably 73-75) when we got the chance. If I'd taken it easy, I would have stood a chance of nudging the 55mpg that is generally expected of these on a long run. Did a fill on the way back, so look forward to number-crunching the next tank.

 

At an indicated 75mph, the engine is still doing just under 2500rpm. It's incredibly relaxing, the air con (even with low gas) is very efficient at maintaining temperature and the stereo is pretty good if lacking in bass. The ride absorbs most things and the only real issue I had was with the driving position. I can't quite get it how I want it, though the lack of backache suggests that maybe the car knows better than I do...

 

There are some annoying trim rattles, but the worst one disappears when you lock the doors. That's pretty common and I'll be looking for a better bodge.

 

On lesser roads though, it's less good. The clutch is quite heavy, as is the gearlever springing. The steering lightens up nicely around town, but there's no feel at all. Quick cornering is best avoided as it feels like taking your gran nightclubbing, but it did hurtle quite nicely along the Welsh mountain roads once I'd got used to it.

 

Visibility is typically rather poor and the cheapo wiper blades the previous owner fitted are dreadful. They CHUNK every time they change direction, though perhaps this wasn't helped by the fact that he hadn't fitted them properly. Glad we didn't lose one in the horrific rain yesterday...

 

Automatic wipers are great though. They reacted really well to the ever-changing rain of yesterday.

 

Problems to resolve are the trim rattles but, rather more urgently, it needs a set of front discs. Hitting the brakes at motorway speeds (which I don't like doing anyway, but the M4 got really bunched up at times) causes a major judder. There's also some clunking from the front end to look into, and a wheel bearing might be on its way out. The third gear synchromesh failure is a pain as I keep forgetting! When I don't forget, double-declutching (with a throttle blip on downshifts) works beautifully - gets quite complicated trying to operate all three pedals at once though!

 

The gearbox woes are lessened by the fabulous engine. BMW really did get this one right. For a modern diesel, it's amazingly tractable below 2000rpm. It pulls fairly well, though this is no super-quick repmobile. 115bhp perhaps isn't enough for this much weight. I'm not going to bother tuning it up though - well, not before I've sorted out some more urgent needs!

 

Another minor grumble is the gearing. Yes, it's marvellous on motorways but 5th is no use below about 50mph, which means a lot of downshifting on twisty roads where I would have stayed in top in something like the BX. There's also quite a gap between 4th and 5th, so at 40mph, you feel in need of another gear, but 5th is too tall!

 

So, the Rover has done exactly what was needed of it - including transporting three 2.4 metre long curtain rails on the way back home - these passed beautifully through the ski-hatch in the back seat. If I need to get back to England for any reason, I've got the ideal steed. Living with here in Wales? I'm not sure yet. It's ok on the Welsh mountain roads, but the 2CV is far better!

[scooters]

Back home after clocking up 531 miles in two days, and have spent about 11 hours at the wheel! Have encountered a right mixture of roads, from single-track Welsh mountain roads, to fast A roads, dual carriageways, motorways and the worst that Croydon's streets could hurl at us. I didn't get any pictures because we pretty much didn't stop, and the car is filthy. It now deserves a wash - hoping to lavish some love upon it tomorrow and then I WILL get some fresh pics up.

 

Conclusions? Well, for covering that sort of mileage at speed, the Rover's pretty hard to beat. Our calculations reckon it delivered an average of 49mpg (computer said 53, so we've got our margin error identified!) with an awful lot of indicated 80mph (realistically probably 73-75) when we got the chance. If I'd taken it easy, I would have stood a chance of nudging the 55mpg that is generally expected of these on a long run. Did a fill on the way back, so look forward to number-crunching the next tank.

 

At an indicated 75mph, the engine is still doing just under 2500rpm. It's incredibly relaxing, the air con (even with low gas) is very efficient at maintaining temperature and the stereo is pretty good if lacking in bass. The ride absorbs most things and the only real issue I had was with the driving position. I can't quite get it how I want it, though the lack of backache suggests that maybe the car knows better than I do...

 

There are some annoying trim rattles, but the worst one disappears when you lock the doors. That's pretty common and I'll be looking for a better bodge.

 

On lesser roads though, it's less good. The clutch is quite heavy, as is the gearlever springing. The steering lightens up nicely around town, but there's no feel at all. Quick cornering is best avoided as it feels like taking your gran nightclubbing, but it did hurtle quite nicely along the Welsh mountain roads once I'd got used to it.

 

Visibility is typically rather poor and the cheapo wiper blades the previous owner fitted are dreadful. They CHUNK every time they change direction, though perhaps this wasn't helped by the fact that he hadn't fitted them properly. Glad we didn't lose one in the horrific rain yesterday...

 

Automatic wipers are great though. They reacted really well to the ever-changing rain of yesterday.

 

Problems to resolve are the trim rattles but, rather more urgently, it needs a set of front discs. Hitting the brakes at motorway speeds (which I don't like doing anyway, but the M4 got really bunched up at times) causes a major judder. There's also some clunking from the front end to look into, and a wheel bearing might be on its way out. The third gear synchromesh failure is a pain as I keep forgetting! When I don't forget, double-declutching (with a throttle blip on downshifts) works beautifully - gets quite complicated trying to operate all three pedals at once though!

 

The gearbox woes are lessened by the fabulous engine. BMW really did get this one right. For a modern diesel, it's amazingly tractable below 2000rpm. It pulls fairly well, though this is no super-quick repmobile. 115bhp perhaps isn't enough for this much weight. I'm not going to bother tuning it up though - well, not before I've sorted out some more urgent needs!

 

Another minor grumble is the gearing. Yes, it's marvellous on motorways but 5th is no use below about 50mph, which means a lot of downshifting on twisty roads where I would have stayed in top in something like the BX. There's also quite a gap between 4th and 5th, so at 40mph, you feel in need of another gear, but 5th is too tall!

 

So, the Rover has done exactly what was needed of it - including transporting three 2.4 metre long curtain rails on the way back home - these passed beautifully through the ski-hatch in the back seat. If I need to get back to England for any reason, I've got the ideal steed. Living with here in Wales? I'm not sure yet. It's ok on the Welsh mountain roads, but the 2CV is far better!

 

the gearing is always going to annoy an XUD fan - it is the same with most modern diesels!

 

I'm a fan of the automatic 75

[AnthonyG]

Apologies - it was dark when I saw it at the pub near Watford, and also getting on for 5 years ago...! Anywhichway, I thought it was a cracking colour.

 

Fair enough Richard. God was it really 5 years ago? . It was a good colour. I haven't got the Rover anymore, but I still have the AA road atlas I bought at a petrol station to actually find that pub in Watford!

[dollywobbler]

Sun came out today, just about shining on the Rover so I didn't have to move it (well, aside from some shadow on the front bumper).

 

General house chaos means that I haven't had chance to start tackling some of this car's issues, but I really do need to crack on with sorting the front brake discs. Doesn't sound a tricky job, though I need to add lots of Torx bits to my toolkit. I remember the good old days when things were held together with nice, normal bolts...