Rover 75 diesel

shawnee

Was going to have a look at one of these. Its an 02 with 140k on the clock, anything to look out for, these cars seem to get good reports on boards, have never even driven one myself

Owen

Have a look at this thread from yesterday, it starts out as a 75 petrol thread and ends up being a diesel thread :

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056451922

Stained Class

We have one of these for the past year.

Good cars, but a bit niggle prone at times.

The fuel lift pumps (yes there are 2!) packed up at 135000miles.(Apparently this is quite normal)

We had ongoing airbag light problem, which I just got fixed today. (See my other thread)

Also, get used to changing various bulbs!

No more dealers, so Scrappy & eBay will be your friends.

Feel free to PM for more info.

bogmailer

I had a rover 75 diesel for about 2 years. A great car. I changed it for an MG ZT wiich is essentally the same car. Got it in the uK. I still see my old 75 from time to time still going strong. Would highly recommend but look for lower mileage if you can. The 1.8 petrol 75 is prone to blow the head gasket but the diesel has a BMW 320D engine with timing chain nott a belt.
Economy is good for a 2.0 litre. Happy hunting!

Eleganza

Stained Class wrote: »

We have one of these for the past year.

Good cars, but a bit niggle prone at times.

The fuel lift pumps (yes there are 2!) packed up at 135000miles.

So is the car really niggle prone or would each and every one of the 216,000 kilometres possibly be a contributor to the problems you encountered.

Am I being unfair to you or are you being unfair to the car.

mondeo

I'd love a 75 diesal, have never read any really bad reports on them.

1.8 petrol is bound to be problematic as my Aunties one years back had head gasket blow, metal coolant pipes corrode and leak at the back of the engine. After the head gasket change the car always ran abit lumpy which was never solved by main dealer back in the day, Circa 2001 or thereabouts.

aujopimur

There's always a good selection of 75s for sale in the north.

mcwhirter

shawnee wrote: »

Was going to have a look at one of these. Its an 02 with 140k on the clock, anything to look out for, these cars seem to get good reports on boards, have never even driven one myself

Mine has done almost 100k miles, I have had it since 23 k miles and owned almost 4 years. There are a few niggly jobs to do such as changing engine fan resistor, airbag light, drainage holes under ecu.
Other than that car is very reliable, fairly easy to get parts, very comfortable, swift with the synergy 2 fitted and economical.

Stained Class

Eleganza wrote: »

So is the car really niggle prone or would each and every one of the 216,000 kilometres possibly be a contributor to the problems you encountered.

Am I being unfair to you or are you being unfair to the car.

Well, the 75 is the wife's car.

I run a '94 Mazda 626 with 190,000 miles on the clock.

I've had it since 2002 & haven't changed a single bulb on it, never had to.

We've had the Rover 1 year & already I've changed about 6 bulbs in various locations on it.

On that basis alone, I'd call it niggle prone.

That's not to say that it's a bad car. It's just that when you get used to Japenese reliability every thing else seems to come up short.

I say this as a fan of British cars. Hell, I even have a Rover P6 as a weekend car.

Eleganza

Stained Class wrote: »

Well, the 75 is the wife's car.

I run a '94 Mazda 626 with 190,000 miles on the clock.

I've had it since 2002 & haven't changed a single bulb on it, never had to.

We've had the Rover 1 year & already I've changed about 6 bulbs in various locations on it.

On that basis alone, I'd call it niggle prone.

That's not to say that it's a bad car. It's just that when you get used to Japenese reliability every thing else seems to come up short.

I say this as a fan of British cars. Hell, I even have a Rover P6 as a weekend car.

So you don't know the car's history as you've only had it for a year where as you have owned the other car for 9 years.
I remember my father owning two Mazda 626 cars from new and having trouble with a power steering rack and a spark plug falling in to the combustion chamber. I'm not going to condemn them as niggly cars and my father's 75 never gave any trouble.
I would put it to you based on the information that you have provided that you have no grounds to say that Rover 75s are niggly cars as a rule but rather that you happen to own a Rover 75 with which you have had some minor trouble and a particularly difficult to diagnose problem with an airbag ECU.

I wouldn't consider a car using 6 bulbs over a year worthy of comment to be honest. Perhaps they were original bulbs and the previous owner of your mazda replaced loads of them the near they got rid ..... who knows, hardly an issue either way to be fair.

Tragedy

I replaced one bulb in 15,000 miles on my MG ZT diesel(and I did a LOT of night driving).

On the new ZT, I've replaced one stop light and one numberplate bulb in 16 months and 17,000 miles.

Stained Class

Eleganza wrote: »

So you don't know the car's history as you've only had it for a year where as you have owned the other car for 9 years.
I remember my father owning two Mazda 626 cars from new and having trouble with a power steering rack and a spark plug falling in to the combustion chamber. I'm not going to condemn them as niggly cars and my father's 75 never gave any trouble.
I would put it to you based on the information that you have provided that you have no grounds to say that Rover 75s are niggly cars as a rule but rather that you happen to own a Rover 75 with which you have had some minor trouble and a particularly difficult to diagnose problem with an airbag ECU.

RoverJames wrote: »

I wouldn't consider a car using 6 bulbs over a year worthy of comment to be honest. Perhaps they were original bulbs and the previous owner of your mazda replaced loads of them the near they got rid ..... who knows, hardly an issue either way to be fair.

Calm down calm down!

I'm a fan of the Rover 75.

I was brought up on British Leyland in the '70s.

My Dad had Triumph 2000s all thru my childhood.

Brit cars are in my blood.

I was trying to give the OP an impartial view on what to expect with regard to the ownership of these cars based on my own personal experiance.

Im my experiance they are a bit niggly in comparison to other brands.

Our car goes thru lightbulbs.

It had a problem with the SRS system, which I went thru in detail on another thread.

It's a Tourer model, so obviously it has a leak in the tailgate, letting in water into the loadbay. (They all do that mate):rolleyes:

The fuel lift pumps (yeah both of them) 'retired' at 135000 miles. I thought this was a one-off, but reading thru internet forums, this appears quite normal for these cars. Something seriously wrong there IMO.

Also, the aircon is playing up. It seems that the aircon pump seems to be at fault. Potentially an expensive fix.

Overall, I think they're good cars, for all their faults. I'd happily take a chance on a nice 'Connie'.

But the fact remains that they're not perfactly reliable in comparison to some makes. There's no dealer network as Rover is no more.

In short, they're a good buy, but go in with your eyes open.

Be prepared for a few niggly problems, get on first name terms with your local scrappy & learn how to locate parts on the internet.

That's a different kettlw of fish to the six bulbs speel

Stained Class

RoverJames wrote: »

That's a different kettlw of fish to the six bulbs speel

In fairness, I used that as an example.

My first post on this thread was fairly accurate though.

The fuel pump problem can't be underestimated though.

A local motor factor quoted me 450 yoyos for the intank pump & about 350 for the one near the battery.

So we were on the hook for about 800 euro there.

I sourced the pair new on eBay & had them delivered to my door for 420.

Just an insight into the realworld ownership issues with these cars.:)

Tragedy

Most diesel fuel pump failures have been linked to running the fuel tank near empty adding extra strain on the in-tank pump. This then fails prematurely, adding extra strain on the pump in the engine bay which soldiers on another few 10k miles before also failing.

Facelift diesel only has one fuel pump iirc, with no reports of failure.

Also, Jules on the owner club would have sorted you out with replacements for around €220 for the pair.

Stained Class

Tragedy wrote: »

Most diesel fuel pump failures have been linked to running the fuel tank near empty adding extra strain on the in-tank pump. This then fails prematurely, adding extra strain on the pump in the engine bay which soldiers on another few 10k miles before also failing.

Facelift diesel only has one fuel pump iirc, with no reports of failure.

Also, Jules on the owner club would have sorted you out with replacements for around €220 for the pair.

Wish I knew about that!

I knew that later 75s had just the one pump alright.

Still, for the ordinary punter just looking for a cheap biggish car, he'd be better off going for a Mondeo or something Japenese.

Rovers need a bit of patience & ingenuity to keep running cheaply on a daily basis.

Rover, with the backing of BMW set out to design & build the best FWD car in the world.

With the 75, they pretty much did the job.

It was such a pity that the sands of time ran out on the British car industry before they could get their act together........

Tragedy

Um, Mondeos are hardly the epitome of reliability with their fair share of extremely common issues. Passats are even worse.

I Was VB

Owen

Stained Class wrote: »

Our car goes thru lightbulbs.

Mine did too until I started replacing them in pairs, then it stopped.

mcwhirter

Stained Class wrote: »

In fairness, I used that as an example.

My first post on this thread was fairly accurate though.

The fuel pump problem can't be underestimated though.

A local motor factor quoted me 450 yoyos for the intank pump & about 350 for the one near the battery.

So we were on the hook for about 800 euro there.

I sourced the pair new on eBay & had them delivered to my door for 420.

Just an insight into the realworld ownership issues with these cars.:)

The facelift cars had a lot of the problems ironed out so these are probably the ones to go far although it is said they are not built as well in the cabin. I have had to change a few bulbs over the years but no more than other cars I have owned. If you want bulletproof reliability then buy a jap car. I have driven a recent toyota and I hated it, it got me from door to door but gave no driving enjoyment.

The Rover is more of an enthusiasts car now, a bit like an alfa but with a very different image obviously.
These cars are really a bargain if you get a good one serviced properly. They ride better than the jags!

Stained Class

mcwhirter wrote: »

The Rover is more of an enthusiasts car now, a bit like an alfa but with a very different image obviously.
These cars are really a bargain if you get a good one serviced properly. They ride better than the jags!

That about sums it up in a nutshell.

Hopefully, we've sorted out most of the big stuff on our car.

The plan is that I'll 'inherit' Mrs Class's Rover when my Mazda eventually 'retires'.:D