cctaylor
pfm Member
We had one, very thirsty, 15mpg in our case. When the petrol gauge pointed at "E" it meant you had no fuel. Most people who drove it ran out of petrol on at least one occasion.
Two Rover Cars that I would happily own ...
- Thread starter George J
- Start date
We had one, very thirsty, 15mpg in our case. When the petrol gauge pointed at "E" it meant you had no fuel. Most people who drove it ran out of petrol on at least one occasion.
My 'almost a Rover but actually a BMW':
No BMW in that, it was pretty much all Rover bits. Decent sports car developed on a relatively small budget., Was resurrected for a short time in TF form by Nanjing when they took over the remnants of MG Rover.
Martyn Miles
pfm Member
I have fond memories of a Rover 3500s in which o had many a fine time. Lovel car to drive, though just a tad thirsty
One of the best-looking cars ever made.
Just compare it with a Nissan Joke.
Sorry, Juke.
robs
should know how this works by no
BMW owned them (the Rover Group) from 1995.
But yes, the MGF was based on two metro chassis back to back. Fun to drive (in summer at least!).
davidsrsb
pfm Member
I had a Mondeo 2.3 that had chronic overheating problems.
The difference between the Ford and the closely related Mazda 6 is the cooling fans, the Mazda has two.
Ford have cut corners on cooling and only have one, along with a dodgy wire joint in the wheel arch that means the variable speed fan is running off 5V, not 12V.
Ford have four design errors that they refuse to fix through the years, this wiring, the void bushes, warped brake discs and the dual mass clutch
Space is the Place
pfm Member
There's another two films on the development of the Morris Marina too! I like the bit in the second film where they're wasting sheets of 10 x 8 film photographing it!
Look at the art direction sketch at 31 seconds! strait from the studio's of Pininfarina!
Look at the art direction sketch at 31 seconds! strait from the studio's of Pininfarina!
Not a Rover man by a long stretch. But did have a couple of the MG Maestros and whilst they were definitely cheap as hell they did perform very well for the money!.
Had Golf Gtis too which I much preferred but as others have stated I can concur that the MG would be swifter from A to B - certainly against an 8v.
All that said, I wouldn’t push a 6R4 out of bed!!! Mmmmmmm Laverley!!
Had Golf Gtis too which I much preferred but as others have stated I can concur that the MG would be swifter from A to B - certainly against an 8v.
All that said, I wouldn’t push a 6R4 out of bed!!! Mmmmmmm Laverley!!
It’s very sad that we have been far better at designing cars than building them. The original Allegro design was very good, way ahead of its time but the actual finished product was terrible due to shoddy build quality. They were an incredibly rooms car though, especially in the back.
I would never buy a British car, even the ‘classics’ have no appeal to me whatsoever.
I remember when I worked in the trade, we bought in a couple of Austin Rovers for stock; a Montego & a Maestro. They were cheap, we thought we could sell them at a profit; ended up taking a massive loss. Truly dreadful.
I would never buy a British car, even the ‘classics’ have no appeal to me whatsoever.
I remember when I worked in the trade, we bought in a couple of Austin Rovers for stock; a Montego & a Maestro. They were cheap, we thought we could sell them at a profit; ended up taking a massive loss. Truly dreadful.
Space is the Place
pfm Member
David Bache designed the P4 to P6 and the SD1, the P6 inspired by the Citroen DS and obviously the SD1 from the Daytona, he did the Maestro too (i guess anyone can have an off day!), realized i'm messing up Georges thread here, the Rovers cars were always distinctive right up until the SD1.
I was watching an interview with Ian Callum who did the Rover 75...
I was watching an interview with Ian Callum who did the Rover 75...
Hook
Blackbeard's former bo'sun.
George, if you haven't already watched James May's series called "Cars of the People", I think you would enjoy it. Six episodes, including a fair bit on the history of early Rovers, Volvos and other affordable cars. I know the shows are available via Amazon Prime, but perhaps also YouTube? Anyway, nice thread. I've long been a fan of the early Volvos.
Suffolk Tony
Aim low, achieve your goals, avoid disappointment.
I know we're drifting off-topic, but it's worth mentioning the Austin Maxi. A mate had the 1500 version, and for its day it was a pretty revolutionary design, notable for a couple of reasons - the double-bed folded up to make seats, and the cable gearchange was the most atrocious abomination ever; if you actually managed to engage a gear you received a certificate and a prize.
2ManyBoxes
pfm Member
OK, that's confusing. Bloody magazines.
I guess you've got the individual pushing power of each individual detonation versus the sum of the pushing power of the number of detonations happening in one second. So one isn't time related and the other is. But a stand alone torque figure for an engine is meaningless because it varies with engine revs, which brings time back into it
Useful work available lower down the rev range is more useful when overtaking because you're not generally cruising around at high revs. When you spot a gap you don't have to wait for the engine to reach peak revs to change speed. IMHO.
Tony Lockhart
Avoiding Stress, at Every Opportunity
Well, overtaking with my revs-hungry 911 was a lot more satisfying than with my Merc and its twin turbo Diesel engine.
In the 911, 345bhp and 390Nm all at high revs, choose 2nd or 3rd, whichever was appropriate, and floor it, past in no time.
In the Merc, 200bhp and 500Nm all at very low revs, you have to be careful to not choose too low a gear otherwise it quickly runs out of revs.
We don’t need to get into wheel sizes or anything, and it is all horses for courses. Thankfully, for now, we still have a choice. But for a joy of the road drive, a good revvy engine that’s at least driveable at low revs would be my choice.
At least now engines have great management systems, and a good turbo petrol engine can give the best of all worlds.
In the 911, 345bhp and 390Nm all at high revs, choose 2nd or 3rd, whichever was appropriate, and floor it, past in no time.
In the Merc, 200bhp and 500Nm all at very low revs, you have to be careful to not choose too low a gear otherwise it quickly runs out of revs.
We don’t need to get into wheel sizes or anything, and it is all horses for courses. Thankfully, for now, we still have a choice. But for a joy of the road drive, a good revvy engine that’s at least driveable at low revs would be my choice.
At least now engines have great management systems, and a good turbo petrol engine can give the best of all worlds.
cctaylor
pfm Member
Was given a Maxi as a courtesy car once, the gear change was truly awful. Luckily I didn't need to drive far in it.
The VW box in the MG Maestro was a joy.
A mate had something similar in our student days. I can't remember whether it was S2 or S2a. He used to drive it from his student digs in Aberystwyth to his parents in Lincolnshire, cruising at 50-55 and fuel at 15-20 mpg. I couldn't help thinking that he could have chartered a flight for less, and not had to spend 6 or 7 hours in a tractor.
Martyn Miles
pfm Member
I nearly bought a Maxi from a friend who acquired it through the employees’ purchase scheme.
It was a very nice car, with no gearchange problems.
Drove beautifully.
Lovely orange colour.
Suffolk Tony
Aim low, achieve your goals, avoid disappointment.
Because the cable gearchange was so awful, they quickly revised it with a much better design. Never drove one of those though.
Seeker_UK
Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans
I had the Montego 1.6 which was a BL S-series engine. Unsurprisingly, it was s**t. Mated to an auto box, it was really s**t.