Who once said British cars are ****??
- Thread starter Dronfieldbrewer
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400,000??
is that all???http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/tees/hi/people_and_places/newsid_9392000/9392146.stm :shock:
is that all???http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/tees/hi/people_and_places/newsid_9392000/9392146.stm :shock:
Andyhull
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I had a 300 TDI ES Disco about 11 years back.
It had 40,000 on the clock when i bought it and 190,000 when i sold it 6 years later.
I went through every MOT, never failed!
I only sold it because of the new taxing on 4x4's and got a Mondeo (nice but boring)
In the time i owned it i blew the head gasket once due to a clogged radiator (used to off road 6 or so times a year) which i didn't clean out after doing the driffield M.O.D off road course then towed a caravan home, it was just too much for poor old Stompy £250 later and as good as new!
I replaced a water pump £25
Replaced the CV boots
And last of all i replaced the rear floor £54 and bonded it in.
I would love another one and will eventually get one, just not yet.
It had 40,000 on the clock when i bought it and 190,000 when i sold it 6 years later.
I went through every MOT, never failed!
I only sold it because of the new taxing on 4x4's and got a Mondeo (nice but boring)
In the time i owned it i blew the head gasket once due to a clogged radiator (used to off road 6 or so times a year) which i didn't clean out after doing the driffield M.O.D off road course then towed a caravan home, it was just too much for poor old Stompy £250 later and as good as new!
I replaced a water pump £25
Replaced the CV boots
And last of all i replaced the rear floor £54 and bonded it in.
I would love another one and will eventually get one, just not yet.
Dronfieldbrewer
Landlord.
I'm going to keep this one going for this year whilst saving up for a new ride...I still fancy a doublecab though
RobWalker
Well-Known Member
Zedilly said:RobWalker said:
These were just a Tata with a Rover badge stuck on and were nailed together in India. It's no wonder MG Rover went bust selling heaps of Sh**e like that.
hahah, yeah i know. in theory, they were a wickid money spinner for rover. small, trendy, economic, cheap. little effort on rover's part. i'd happily own one now if spare parts were readily available...
the problem is they were, as you say, a heap of *****. the factory is 3 mins away and you don't even see them out and about here. even the staff there called it the "shitty rover."
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RobWalker said:
I was chatting to someone in the Rover garage before it closed and they said that the Rover 75 / MGZT was for many years the only car that kept Rover going and that they had lost the plot when they tried to focus on the smaller cars.
beermaker
Regular.
Can't go wrong with a Landrover - I learnt to drive in one back in the day! My folks had a series 3 safari which I learnt to drive when I could reach the pedals! Can't afford to run one now (yet) but we have four at work (a discovery, two 110 station wagons and a 130 twincab pickup) and they get some serious abuse and keep coming back for more.
I did have a smashing Audi 80 Avant 1.9 TDi once which I paid £800 for and it got to 193000 before throwing a rod through the side of the crankcase on the A66
I did have a smashing Audi 80 Avant 1.9 TDi once which I paid £800 for and it got to 193000 before throwing a rod through the side of the crankcase on the A66
i loved my old '66 2a, it fekkin hated me! saying that it was normally fixable with a leatherman , fag paper and a brick, its still going to this day with its pto running a number of farm implements too in the sunny south of france on a mate of a mates farm
id have a landy again in a shot, pref a pre 73 safari with a purgeot, transit or tdi engine conversion and a VERY sturdy roll cage!
its still going to this day with its pto running a number of farm implements too in the sunny south of france on a mate of a mates farmid have a landy again in a shot, pref a pre 73 safari with a purgeot, transit or tdi engine conversion and a VERY sturdy roll cage!
jonewer
Landlord.
stu said:
Looking at Rover gives you a great insight into why so many British companies fail. Specially the K-Series engine.
Technologically this was a very advanced engine. In fact it was ground breaking, the first mass production low pressure sand cast engine block.
True British engineering at its finest...... expect it had one fault. The cylinder head gasket was a bit too weak for the pressures the new aluminum black.
But instead of fixing this simple fault..........
.........they didnt.
With the result that all cars with a K-series engine became suspect. And that was the end of that.
Never had a problem with the 2.5, but the 1.8 was well known for it.
In fact, a friend who said his MGF was off the road, my immediate response was
"Head gasket failed then? I take it you knew about this fault when buying the car"
The response was a...
In fact, a friend who said his MGF was off the road, my immediate response was
"Head gasket failed then? I take it you knew about this fault when buying the car"
The response was a...
Andyhull
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The problem with the K series engine wasn't a weak head gasket it was the fact the engine only just held enough water to cool it.
When a slight amount of water was lost it used to overheat and warp the ally head.
My 1.6 one did exactly that!!
When a slight amount of water was lost it used to overheat and warp the ally head.
My 1.6 one did exactly that!!
RobWalker
Well-Known Member
because they're such a common brand around here, everybody replaces the head gaskets at 60k miles regardless of whether they go or not. there's skipping a few service steps, but with the 25s etc, it's not optional. they WILL blow, and that is that.
but yeah, i did work experience there before they went under! the staff all had the same opinion - rover were clueless. the cars were undesirable for the price. they sold the mini to BMW, they made some shitty MG performance sports car - bear in mind I live by the factory and i've only ever seen two on the roads when they made them, and not at all after that - they were based almost entirely on an italian sports car, we went up to one of the old factories and there were 4 of the original italian cars up there that they had crashed to check the impact zones. they should have carried on making cars like the metro and mini, cars for people. instead they chose the streetwise.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MG_XPower_SV
well, i'm no car expert, but that's what I picked up from it - bad management. You look at the other car manufacturers they're involved with - Land Rover, Mini - they're making a tonne of money now. you'd never catch a celebrity or footballer in a rover 75, and you'd never buy one from new because they just wern't competitive enough. they just existed. :nah:
but yeah, i did work experience there before they went under! the staff all had the same opinion - rover were clueless. the cars were undesirable for the price. they sold the mini to BMW, they made some shitty MG performance sports car - bear in mind I live by the factory and i've only ever seen two on the roads when they made them, and not at all after that - they were based almost entirely on an italian sports car, we went up to one of the old factories and there were 4 of the original italian cars up there that they had crashed to check the impact zones. they should have carried on making cars like the metro and mini, cars for people. instead they chose the streetwise.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MG_XPower_SV
well, i'm no car expert, but that's what I picked up from it - bad management. You look at the other car manufacturers they're involved with - Land Rover, Mini - they're making a tonne of money now. you'd never catch a celebrity or footballer in a rover 75, and you'd never buy one from new because they just wern't competitive enough. they just existed. :nah:
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used to have a T reg diesel Flandy, 315k on the clock whern I got rid of it - was the mileage to gallon as a decider - was only about 34 to the gallon and I was doing 1000 miles a week for work, got a Subaru outback diesel 48 to the gallon now and no silly rip off tax - if it wasnt for the gov tax robbery i would have had a Disco - love landrovers, but fair to say scooby is nice - 08 plate and has 100k on it now so far so good :thumb:
If we were stuck behind a line of slow moving traffic we would bet that at the front would be a Rover!
9 times out of 10 it always was. Crawling along at 45mph guaranteed. The speedo probably said 70mph and we joked that they couldnt go any faster or they would blow the head gasket.
Turned out it wasnt a joke it was a fact!
I family friend had a lotus elise for a while until the head gasket went, Yep it had a rover engine in it.
9 times out of 10 it always was. Crawling along at 45mph guaranteed. The speedo probably said 70mph and we joked that they couldnt go any faster or they would blow the head gasket.
Turned out it wasnt a joke it was a fact!
I family friend had a lotus elise for a while until the head gasket went, Yep it had a rover engine in it.
Dronfieldbrewer
Landlord.
10 inches of snow...still falling..this is what Landrovers like
Kinleycat said:
I had an Alfa Romeo 147 - it was 4 years old when I got it. 35k on the clock.
Within a year it needed new pads and discs all round and I was quoted something ridiculous like £800.
I had it done at the local garage for £450 (they let me off the labour charge apparently).
I decided to get rid of it pronto.
This was in 2000 and I used it as a deposit to buy the Rover (which as I said, barely needed anything doing to it)
Good tohear that Landrover owners are happy. My Brother is in the car biz. He reckons the Landy is called Discovery as it takes two weeks to "Discover" it is a fuel-hog and a mechanics dream-always in the garage! But then I never owned one.
