#253749 - 07/04/2005 22:37
Rover = Toast
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addict
Registered: 25/06/2002
Posts: 456
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The end of Britain's last independent automaker
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#253750 - 08/04/2005 06:59
Re: Rover = Toast
[Re: music]
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veteran
Registered: 01/10/2001
Posts: 1307
Loc: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Quote:
The end of Britain's last independent automaker
Last independent? Ummh... There is still TVR, Noble, Morgan, Bristol, Chaterham, .... OK, none the size of Rover, but...
And Rover has been independent for a very short time. It had bleak times under the BL terror regime, didn't do too well with Honda, and not very well under the Germans either...
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#253751 - 08/04/2005 09:04
Re: Rover = Toast
[Re: julf]
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addict
Registered: 24/07/2002
Posts: 618
Loc: South London
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Lets face it, it's suprising they lasted this long with their lack of product range and product development!
Even their main MG product line (barring the TF) were producing modified versions of the standard models coming off the rover production line, that's just lazy!
Their last car (city rover) was a heap of junk that they bought in from some indian manufacturer and rebadged.
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#253752 - 08/04/2005 09:25
Re: Rover = Toast
[Re: sn00p]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 27/02/2004
Posts: 1900
Loc: London
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LDV have actually launched a new model, something I didn't expect to see. So any of you van drivers out there, buy one.
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#253753 - 08/04/2005 10:29
Re: Rover = Toast
[Re: music]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 14/01/2002
Posts: 2489
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Its Rover's own fault for making some of the poorest cars ever. I can't say I'm bothered or surprised to be honest. When you think they are responsible for this... 
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#253754 - 08/04/2005 10:56
Re: Rover = Toast
[Re: CrackersMcCheese]
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enthusiast
Registered: 08/09/1999
Posts: 364
Loc: Brooklyn
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#253755 - 08/04/2005 10:59
Re: Rover = Toast
[Re: JeepBastard]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 27/02/2004
Posts: 1900
Loc: London
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Can't say I've ever been a rover fan (apart from the SD1)
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#253756 - 08/04/2005 11:05
Re: Rover = Toast
[Re: JeepBastard]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 14/01/2002
Posts: 2489
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The MG range is ok, and Landrover/Rangerover isn't so bad but the standard lineup is woeful. Overpriced and nothing special I think. The Rover 75 anyone? The people who could afford a 75 tend to get Lexus or BMW instead. At least from the people I've spoken to.
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#253757 - 08/04/2005 11:48
Re: Rover = Toast
[Re: CrackersMcCheese]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 10/06/1999
Posts: 5914
Loc: Wivenhoe, Essex, UK
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Quote:
Landrover/Rangerover isn't so bad
Landrover/Rangerover is of course owned by Ford, not Rover.
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#253758 - 08/04/2005 11:49
Re: Rover = Toast
[Re: CrackersMcCheese]
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addict
Registered: 24/07/2002
Posts: 618
Loc: South London
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Quote:
The MG range is ok, and Landrover/Rangerover isn't so bad but the standard lineup is woeful. Overpriced and nothing special I think. The Rover 75 anyone? The people who could afford a 75 tend to get Lexus or BMW instead. At least from the people I've spoken to.
Except that landrover isn't owned by rover anymore, it was sold off to ford.
You badge a rover 200 as an MG it's still a rover 200 underneath! (ok, with a few tweaks here and there)
I really can't see anybody with any common sense coming in and buying (saving) MG rover, there's nothing worth saving, not even the trademarks.
Shudder, I still think of people is brown courdrouys driving around in brown rovers....
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#253759 - 08/04/2005 11:55
Re: Rover = Toast
[Re: CrackersMcCheese]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 17/01/2002
Posts: 3995
Loc: Manchester UK
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I had a 75 as a hire car, piss-poor. Cheap and nasty interior, gutless engine, horrible... and it looked so nice from the outside.
The MG line is a bit of a joke. The number of times I've pulled up at the lights next to some pointy haired idiot in a new MG-ZR 160 who thinks he's bought a real road racer and ends up 2 or 3 car lengths behind even before I've changed out of 2nd. All good fun.
I also seem to see a lot of new silver ford fiesta zetecs with young chavs behind the wheel. They must the affluent chav car of the moment.
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Andy M
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#253760 - 08/04/2005 11:58
Re: Rover = Toast
[Re: andym]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 10/06/1999
Posts: 5914
Loc: Wivenhoe, Essex, UK
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Quote:
and it looked so nice from the outside.
In the recent face lift the ruined the outside of it as well. When it was first launched it had a retro classic look that worked. The new front and rear end look awful.
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#253761 - 08/04/2005 11:58
Re: Rover = Toast
[Re: andy]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 14/01/2002
Posts: 2489
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Yes I know - I just meant the Landrover name will live on. (Do BMW still make the mini? How did that work when BMW saw sense and ditched Rover?)
Yeah the MGs aren't sporty at all - I think I see the same pointy-haired guy here in Scotland!
Edited by Philip O'Hare (08/04/2005 12:01)
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#253762 - 08/04/2005 13:42
Re: Rover = Toast
[Re: andy]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 13/09/1999
Posts: 2401
Loc: Croatia
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Quote:
Quote:
and it looked so nice from the outside.
In the recent face lift the ruined the outside of it as well. When it was first launched it had a retro classic look that worked. The new front and rear end look awful.
Agreed.
The last Rover before 75 that looked interesting (for the time, anyway, and I don't know were they actually any good) was 3500, and that was at least 20 years ago.
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#253763 - 08/04/2005 13:49
Re: Rover = Toast
[Re: sn00p]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 05/01/2001
Posts: 4903
Loc: Detroit, MI USA
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Quote:
Except that landrover isn't owned by rover anymore, it was sold off to ford.
Technically, BMW owned both rover brands. There were losing a lot of money on the project. They sold the Landrover brand to Ford (Ford lucked out and got a nice truck, fully engineer by BMW!) , kept the Mini brand (but had to spend millions reworking the Mini before it went into production because of quality and manufacturing issues) and sold off the Rover brand. It has been a while since I followed it, but I heard some rich folks, maybe from Russia were going to buy Rover. That may have fallen through, maybe some Brits stepped in to try to save it? Regardless, whoever bought it from BMW wasn't able to save it. I guess Rover really died when BMW decided enough was enough.
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Brad B.
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#253764 - 08/04/2005 14:49
Re: Rover = Toast
[Re: SE_Sport_Driver]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 14/01/2002
Posts: 2489
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This link has the five years to failure. BMW sold Rover for £10 to Phoenix Venture Holdings.
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#253765 - 08/04/2005 14:51
Re: Rover = Toast
[Re: CrackersMcCheese]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 14/01/2002
Posts: 2489
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#253766 - 08/04/2005 17:20
Re: Rover = Toast
[Re: bonzi]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 09/08/2000
Posts: 2091
Loc: Edinburgh, Scotland
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The 220 turbo was pretty good fun! Even if there was enough torque under load to visibly warp the front end 
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MkIIa, blue lit buttons, memory upgrade, 1Tb in Subaru Forester STi
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#253767 - 08/04/2005 18:14
Re: Rover = Toast
[Re: frog51]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 17/01/2002
Posts: 3995
Loc: Manchester UK
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Amen to that! Rover definitley went downhill after....
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#253768 - 09/04/2005 00:52
Re: Rover = Toast
[Re: music]
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old hand
Registered: 16/02/2002
Posts: 867
Loc: Oxford, UK
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There used to be the saying that a Rover "was a poor man's Rolls-Royce" - I haven't heard that for a long long time. It's a real pity to see Rover go but to be honest, they've not made anything I'd want to drive since the 3.5 V8 SDi of the 80's.
ISTR that after that time they started using imported Japanese components (not that the design of the classic V8 wasn't itself imported) and lost their identity and any claims to their heritage almost overnight.
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#253769 - 09/04/2005 10:55
Re: Rover = Toast
[Re: andym]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 14/01/2002
Posts: 2489
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Attachments
253286-rover.jpg (68 downloads)
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#253770 - 09/04/2005 11:41
Re: Rover = Toast
[Re: AndrewT]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 16/04/2002
Posts: 2011
Loc: Yorkshire UK
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Quote:
the 3.5 V8 SDi of the 80's
Great car, regrettably my employer in the 70's, only ran to a 2600: What a dog:
It was the first car I had with electric windows, within 10 miles of the dealership the passenger window dropped the whole way down, leaving me to travel 200 miles up the A1 with a raincoat for protection.
My wife thought that the passenger seat belt was a little hard to put on, a neighbour then told me that none of my rear lights were working: On investigation, it came to light that the wiring loom went over, instead of under, the seatbelt mounting!
After 10 months, and three new engines, my employers gave up and let me have a Saab 99, which is what I wanted in the first place (I'd already had 3).
That's just a precis, suffice to say, I was on first name terms with every AA patrolman on the M62!
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