So me and Mrs tootallpaul are looking for a new (to us) car.

What is the collective’s view on the Rover 75 tourer?

I’ve seen this one:

http://www.rakecarsales.co.uk/used-cars/rover-75-tourer-2-0-cdti-connoisseur-se-5dr-rake-201601160130846

It ticks all the boxes for me…

Paul

I thought you had to be over 75 to own a Rover 75…

See What I did there?

Test drive to but I’d rather have a Mondeo.

I had one as a company car. I liked the shape and it was well specced and comfortable to drive. I drove over to France (right down to the Spanish border) and my young kids loved it as the back seats etc were very “comfy” apparently!
It felt very underpowered however and I had head gasket problems on at least 2 occasions. My cars tend to have an easy but high mileage life and I drive very economically so I think the weight of the car was a bit much for the power output of the K series engine (IIRC it was a 1.6)
The 2.0 diesel may be fine, test drive and see. Mine was very sluggish indeed when accelerating.
Other than that I think I did >100k and it was fine.
Very old man image though

The 1.8 petrol was I think prone to head gasket problems. The 2.0 litre diesel is a bmw engine and pretty bomb proof. I had one for a year after a knee injury meant I needed a cheap auto. It wasnt fast but bloody hell it was comfortable!!
4k seems like a lot of money though mine was 1k

As above. £4k seems waaaaaay too much.

They are underrated due to their ‘image’. I really liked the one I borrowed for a week. Comfortable, nice to drive.
I’m not obsessed with bhp or 0 – 60 figures but the 2.0 diesel was good enough.
The head gasket issue was with petrol engines.
Although low mileage and clean, it’s a bit pricey for a 53 plate, IMO.

Mondeos should also tick your boxes.

Edit; two posts above while I typed …

Edit x 2;

The 1.8 petrol was I think prone to head gasket problems

The 1.6 petrol definitely was. 90k and it was game over.

4 grand for a 53 plate???!

I’ve heard stories about parts issues I.e locks/steering components and Ecus no longer being available effectively making the car scrap if a part fails.
Again it’s what I was told by a customer a few years ago so may have changed but he waiting 4 months for a sensor/Ecu and was told it was the last one available. And wouldn’t be any more ever. I cannot be anyone rushing to supply low volume parts for a now defunct manufacturer.

Diesel’s are great,BMW engine, but this is overpriced. I have owned one for last 3 years.

We had a petrol saloon. Lovely to drive. Nice features. Lots of room. Build quality good. Dreadful engine: head gasket failure, ECU problems. Horrid gearbox. We were ‘young’.

£4000 for a 53 plate for one of these sounds like someone’s having a laugh. Or that they’re claiming it’s a classic car. You can get better for less. Given this is STW, there’ll be an Audi A4 estate out there somewhere for you. Or a Skoda. If you’re after something fairly priced, repairable, and OK have you considered a Mondeo?

parkers reckon 1.8k for that car OP from an independent dealer, albeit with higher miles. Though in the case of the 75 the lower mileage wouldn’t add value for me.

Used to pick them up at auctions, several years ago, for considerably less than that, sub 2k most of teh time sometimes cheaper

My Dad had a 51 plate 75 Tourer for years, he loved it and took it on many trips from Cumbria to Southern France. It was very comfortable ride and not too bad on fuel. But when it started going wrong it was costly and parts had started to get more difficult to get, even from a former main dealer.

If it’s cheap and you don’t mind if it doesn’t last for ages go for it. If not a Mondeo would be my choice.

£4K asking price for that car is hilarious. Guess they were waiting for someone like the OP to come along….

I also cannot conceive of the mind that looked at that car and thinks ‘that ticks all the boxes’! Must have very eclectic selection criteria.

Had one as a hire car. Diesel auto. Very competent motorway muncher. Dull and the build quality was mediocre.

I’d get a Mondeo instead (long term owner bias) . Does everything the rover did well better and when I priced up my 2004 one to possibly sell it a few weeks back there were a number under 2k in Hampshire and West Sussex with lower mileages and advertised fsh.

It is about £2k overpriced, but if someone wanted one it’s about the lowest mileage example I’ve seen around.

I found them quite small inside, for such a big car and reversing them can be awkward.

Can hold large selection of tartan travel rugs. Tick
Compartment for Werther’s Originals. Tick.

Decent looking car that.

Offer them £2k, go up to £2,750 then walk away if they don’t shake on it.

It’s in good nick, one owner, low miles but it is a 13 year old car manufactured by a company that went pop ten years ago.

I had the MG flavoured diesel estate 5-6 years ago.

Lovely to drive, reasonable on fuel.

Had issues with a boost pipe failing – couple of rubber rings sorted it though it was a bumper off job, and an issue with part of the engine electrics. Not the ECU, but it was solved with a ‘roverron’ tuning box.

I paid just under 5K for that one, low mileage, history, etc.

That one is way too much money.

I had an MG one for a while. Didn’t do anything like the claimed MPG. Had stupid problems, some of which were features that aftermarket bodges fixed, others baffled garages and required tape over the warning lights to ‘fix’.

It was a very British car. I can see why they went bust.

I would offer under £2k to start and not go above £2k. If you really really want it that is

Been running a 75 saloon for past year and 14,000 miles (now on 118,000) It’s spent most of it’s life on the M1/M6/M74 and a 1,800 mile trip to the Alps last summer.

The comfiest car I have ever driven or sat in bar none. You can do 6 hours straight and get out and feel fine. This is the 2.0 CDt (115bhp) version, on a motorway trip i’ll average between 48-50mpg, best I had was upto Glasgow and averaged 53mpg. Not bad for a 2003 (53) barge. It’s got literally every optional extra, leather, heated seats, cruise, electric rear window blind (Yeah, I know) climate control etc…

In the past year i’ve stuck 4 new tyres on, front discs & pads and front shocks. It had a relatively hard life before me (owned from new by my girlfriend’s parents) only doing 4000 miles a year on very rough and rural Scottish roads.

I keep thinking about a new car, but I don’t commute by car, so tend to only use this at the weekend, so kind of think, what’s the point? It’s not worth that much so i’ll just run it till it dies.

The £4,000 rover the OP posted, as others have said, is WAY overpriced. You’ll pick one up for £1,500.

It is about £2k overpriced, but if someone wanted one it’s about the lowest mileage example I’ve seen around.

This. It’s £2k over priced but this dealer does that. I looked at a Panda 4×4 of their’s about 9 months ago which was too pricey and they still have it!
The BMW engine is great but the rest of the car is rubbish. Check the rear upper tailgate isn’t falling off. This one appears to have lost it’s original wheels, probably due to corrosion.

I sold mine for £900 having bought it for £600. I didn’t spend much on it but quite a lot of stuff fell off in that time.

And the boot is tiny!

I wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole. There are much better, much newer options available for 4k.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201601059818506

Be amazed if it hadn’t been clocked at some point

i had the 1.8 turbo mg version. Lovely car, a bit different , handled well and was quite economical. The K series engine is good but the head gasket ( if not already done) WILL need to be done at around the 30k mark. Relatively easy job for a competent diyer and the parts are not too expensive. Agree with the comments on the price, £4k seems very high. I paid £1800 for mine on 35k miles( 53 plate), immaculate and the head gasket had been changed.

‘Connoisseur’ – mint!

Whatever happened to cars with a Vanden Plas badge?

EDIT – there was a 75 Vanden Plas!!!!

Ultimate-mayor-car

My dad had one for a few years. Beware if heavy clutch, means it’ll need replacing fairly soon.

Can be remapped easily which makes it far more drivable. You’ll find that the 115 (130?) hp version won’t go up steep hills without a run up.

Had a Rover 25 with the same engine.
It was deceptively quick.
Sadly a blown tyre left it on its roof on the A38. 😐
I actually liked it.

But I’d be looking for a petrol engined Mk3 Mondeo if I were estate car shopping.

I had the MG V6 version for a while. Excellent car, very well put together and lots of cheap parts available if you know where to look.
I only sold it due to 23mpg and 2000 miles/month commute.

£4k is absolute top of the market though. I’d be looking at spending not a penny more than £2.5k on a diesel or V6 if it were my money.

For reference, my ZTT 190 cost me £800 with no MOT, just needed front ARB.

I bought a 52 plate with 60K on the clock for £2.5K – but that was 7 years ago! Added another 60K. Most reliable car I’ve had but did have common failures – fuel pumps, injectors, springs snapping! I can’t stress this enough though only buy the diesel… It’s not that the K series has reputation for failure more an inevitability.

I bought a diesel manual connoisseur estate a year ago and have put another 16,000 miles on the clock since then. They’re great motorway cruisers which is what I use it for mainly. I bought mine cheaply, £850 with 106,000 miles on the clock but have had to spend quite a lot of money on it as it had been seriously neglected by the previous owner. I’d buy another tomorrow but would pay more and get a better example from the start. There are people on here http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/ who can remap to 160bhp for not alot of money and it really makes a difference. If you are interested in buying one of these I’d check out this site first as there is loads of info on potential problems, just try to ignore some of the views expressed on the forum as they make Genghis Kahn look like a liberal. As others have said the one you’re interested in seems very expensive.