04 Rover 75 diesel

homingbird

Hi my sister went to take a test drive in this car today & found the clutch very tight is this normal for this car other than that it drove fine . If there is any owners on this site that could share their opinion on this car it would be very welcome before she buys it. Thanks

nc19

Faulty slave cylinder is common. Has a DMF which makes it an expensive job if needed

George Dalton

Faulty master cylinder is also common.

I personally would not recommend one.

nc19

In fairness the clutch and it's potential issues are the least of its problems!!!!!

batskat

SO is the logic the problem is it is a ROVER ?

Just wondering where this thread is going

Batskat

homingbird

Has'nt it a bmw engine so it should be as good as a 520 or 320 from that year.

corglass

The BMW argument is a poor one, as the rest of the car is usually where the problems are with these cars. Clutch etc.

The rover engine has arguably a better engine as it's got a different turbo which was less failure prone.

I'd still avoid.

homingbird

Does it i have a cable clutch is that is why it is so stiff . People that have them give them good reviews.

The_Bullman

I'm considering buying one myself. Automatic gearbox though.

Seem reasonable money to buy. A little hard on tax though

dieselbug

homingbird wrote: »

Hi my sister went to take a test drive in this car today & found the clutch very tight is this normal for this car other than that it drove fine . If there is any owners on this site that could share their opinion on this car it would be very welcome before she buys it. Thanks

The car has a hydrulic clutch and they do give ctutch trouble and expensive to repair. I have owned both the 75 and the MG ZT and both gave clutch trouble.

If I was to buy another then it would be auto. It's a nice car and easy to see why someone would be attracted to one but if you are looking for a family diesel saloon that's economical and reliable the 75 wont top the list or even come near.

ba_barabus

Clutches on manuals are heavy even when working fine.

Anyone that I know that has one has loved it and covered very high mileage with no issue other than the clutch but this is a weak point with most modern diesels.

I've had one OP but I went for an auto to avoid clutch issues.

I gave an owners club buyers guide for the diesel. PM me if you want it.

PN14

I have an mg zt 04 diesel manual (same as Rover 75). Clutch is heavy on these cars all the time. I wouldn't recommend for town driving you'll have serious left leg muscle definition. They can suffer from a slave cylinder issue in the clutch (weak point) but this usually means clutch goes to the floor & can't select a gear. Not a big issue to change this cylinder.

The clutchs & DMF's in these cars are similar to any other diesels from this era once you get over the 100,000 miles mark you are looking at when not if a clutch & dmf is required. Depending on work & driving style you could get much longer. I have driven VW diesels at work since 98 and put up fairly big miles on them and clutches / dmfs are liable to go above 100,000 miles. I've known a few guys to do them at less but I'd blame driver more than car to be honest.

My ZT is at 130,000 miles and on original clutch & dmf and no sign of slipping yet. I have had to replace the slave cylinder though. No tow bar though so no towing and since I've owned it from 45,000 miles most is long distance driving with not much town / city driving.

jackofalltrades

homingbird wrote: »

Hi my sister went to take a test drive in this car today & found the clutch very tight is this normal for this car other than that it drove fine . If there is any owners on this site that could share their opinion on this car it would be very welcome before she buys it. Thanks

Given the problems with the manual she'd be best going for an auto.
Make sure you get someone to have a proper look over it before buying.
Check absolutely everything.
Also is she aware that getting parts can be tricky and there's no Rover dealers?

Here's a comprehensive buying guide.
http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=75282

With regular servicing it's as reliable as most cars out there and a lot cheaper too.

mickdw

I love the 75 and am always on the look out for a fixerupper. I only look for petrols though and despite having the name of being troublesome, a head gasket repair is not the end of the world.
They have a few niggles also but nothing major.
I find them to be pretty well built and there is alot more bmw in there than people realise.
Not alot of value left in them now so I generally go for the newest of them

PN14

Part are not an issue for them particularly the diesels. The engine is the same 2.0d block from BMW in fact as one poster stated above it is actually a lot more reliable than BMW;s own unit funny enough as it has no swirl flaps and has a more reliable turbo.

Parts can be got on next day delivery from the North. Panels may be an issue if there were any body work problems especially facelift 04 & 05 models as there were less of them sold.

mickdw

PN14 wrote: »

Part are not an issue for them particularly the diesels. The engine is the same 2.0d block from BMW in fact as one poster stated above it is actually a lot more reliable than BMW;s own unit funny enough as it has no swirl flaps and has a more reliable turbo.

Parts can be got on next day delivery from the North. Panels may be an issue if there were any body work problems especially facelift 04 & 05 models as there were less of them sold.

I've not seen any problem with parts to be honest. Sure you cannot walk into your local dealer and your motor factors might not carry a whole lot on stock for it but there are big suppliers in uk who have pretty much everything.
seeing as they are all 10 years old now, I don't think there is any issue with using 2nd hand body panels. Loads of them around.

filbert the fox

homingbird wrote: »

Hi my sister went to take a test drive in this car today & found the clutch very tight is this normal for this car other than that it drove fine . If there is any owners on this site that could share their opinion on this car it would be very welcome before she buys it. Thanks

I've owned Rover 75/ MG Zt for over 7 years now. the 75 required a clutch change but that was after 4 years and no problems since.

Take a mechanic with you if not sure. The advice here is mixed at all times and as such is less reliable than the car.

jackofalltrades

PN14 wrote: »

Parts can be got on next day delivery from the North. Panels may be an issue if there were any body work problems especially facelift 04 & 05 models as there were less of them sold.

From where out of interest?

Had a real nightmare trying to get a new part from Rimmer Bros recently.
It was going to take till the middle/end of August to arrive.
Second hand parts were too corroded to use.

unkel

The autobox in the diesel is a Japanese Jatco box. Not as sophisticated as a modern German ZF box but it seems very reliable when regularly serviced. And of course no expensive DMF trouble like in most modern manual diesels.

Had a petrol manual 75 ourselves for 5 years and it was extremely cheap to own and we never had any expensive trouble. A same year Octavia / Avensis etc would have cost a lot more in terms of total cost of ownership. And of course the Rover 75 is a nicer place to be in and far more luxurious / comfortable too.

filbert the fox

jackofalltrades wrote: »

From where out of interest?

Had a real nightmare trying to get a new part from Rimmer Bros recently.
It was going to take till the middle/end of August to arrive.
Second hand parts were too corroded to use.

try this :
http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=13

njburke

+1 on a diesel auto.

I'm on my second diesel estate, a leather connie with sunroof:) , I've driven a little over 50,000 miles on both since I got the first in the summer of 2012, both are 2002 MY. All in all, nice car to own and drive.

A drunk driver killed the first one stone dead, other than I've had minor niggles such as bulbs,one fuel pump, abs sensor, reversing sensor, brake pipe corrosion, springs,dampers, discs and pads ,to be honest same as any 10 year old car.
I paid £1700 for the first one, £900 for the second.

I stripped the first one to make a spares cache for the replacement, haven't needed any of the parts.
The 75andZTclub is a must if you buy one.

Niall

The_Bullman

I'm on the look out for one of these myself.

I was reading on the 75andzt forum lately and someone said that they were selling theirs because of the price of parts. Any thoughts on that? Or is it because you've got your original car as spares you haven't needed to spend what others would?

unkel

Plenty of spares available when I last looked (that was a few years ago). Did you try Rimmerbros?

Generally when a mainstream make goes belly up, there are plenty of businesses stepping up into the parts business as parts are high margin (so profitable)

mickdw

The_Bullman wrote: »

I'm on the look out for one of these myself.

I was reading on the 75andzt forum lately and someone said that they were selling theirs because of the price of parts. Any thoughts on that? Or is it because you've got your original car as spares you haven't needed to spend what others would?

Not bad prices really for parts.
Last few bits I bought were radiator about 60 quid. Exhaust back box about 70.
Sensors and switches are similar price to any car.
Service parts are everywhere.
The odd part could be on back order or not available but mountains of stuff on ebay or breakers so no real issue at all.
The biggest issue for owners who are not diy minded is the general attitude within the trade. Many will tut tut when you rock up with a rover 75 needing repair.

unkel

mickdw wrote: »

Many will tut tut when you rock up with a rover 75 needing repair.

Not to mention when you rock up with your K-series petrol Rover 75 needing repair

njburke

@the_pullman.

When the first one was written off I kept it as I knew I'ld end up with another.The mechanics I use are well used to bangernomic type vehicles plus they do work a few of us with 75 diesel autos so stripping parts and keeping them was not and issue. The autobox was the one part worth keeping, anything else can be posted.

Parts are readily available, to be honest the only issue I had is with front springs, the aftermarket ones are 1/3rd of the price of the originals but aren't the same, at least for the estate.

Other than that, they made 100000 of them, many are still out there and parts are still in the supply chain. The rover diagnostics software kit, called a T4 is a bit rare here,couple of guys with them in the UK, you can post over your ECU if you want a remap or whatever.

Niall