Should You Buy a ROVER 75? (Test Drive & Review 2005 1.8T Connoisseur)

[Music] alright guys how's it going welcome back if you're an avid follower of this channel you'll know that I love quirky British cars I've spent many hours waffling on and generally defending Jaguar and Land Rover products so you would think that I would be a big Rover fan - wouldn't you well I'm not never have been really I think part of that really is a generation thing I know in the 60s and 70s if you owned a Rover you were doing pretty well it was a fairly upmarket brand but for me growing up in the in the 90s and early 2000s they were just rubbish whenever I see a rover being driven nowadays it's normally driven at 12 miles an hour in a 30 zone in the wrong gear by an old boy with very large ears and Harry knows you might think I'm being ages there but it's a sad fact they're not quirky they're not cool they're not charming they're just just a bit laughs today I'm in a rover 75 to see if I can change my opinion of them I doubt it but let's see shall we the 75 was built when BMW owned Rover so you would think that that would be a match made in heaven wouldn't you you'd think that it would be a rebadged posh 3-series a well-built fun driver's car with a bit of a British twist it wasn't I don't know what went wrong with something went horribly wrong what we got instead was this faux retro 70s inspired rose-tinted nostalgic car and unfortunately the seventies in Estelle jure didn't stop at just the design it also had seventies reliability to that said they did sell very well people people kind of bought into the idea they sold two hundred and eleven thousand of these over a six year period but it wasn't enough to stop Rover shuts in its doors in 2006 and when you look at the lineup and the quality of the lineup it's no surprise really BMW just asked that stricter over they kept told with a mini brand and did wonders with it but they just left rover to die I know I'm gonna get some flack from Rover enthusiast for this video so don't forget to tell me how wrong I am in the comments below but the last 15 years of Rover were not good and I really don't think you can argue with me on that I remember driving a rover city rover good name isn't it I remember driving the rover City Rover and it had done less than 500 miles it was like new it was basically knew it was only a few months old and off memory now the window switches were down in the middle of all four window switches were here and they were on upside down so the top left did that window there and it was it was just horrible and that's the sort of quality that you got in the final years are over it was just appalling I also remember sitting at the side of a road in a low-mileage Rover 45 that suddenly decided to mix its oil and it's cool I remember also pulling my back out trying to push her over 75 on my own into a lay-by that suddenly decided to cook its engine I remember climbing through the back seats of a rover 75 because both from door handles came off at Mohammed they just were not good at all there was the rover 25 the 45 the metro the the streetwise they were all disasters the engines were all waste tappity they always overheated and the sunroof was always leaked anyway hashtag runt over back to the car so this model gets a 1.8 liter four-cylinder turbo which produces 150 horsepower surprisingly quick actually you only get a 5-speed manual that was six so you do sit in here at 70 miles an hour I'm revving it like 3,000 rpm if there's a sixth gear it would make motorway cruises a little bit better what a glorious day is out here today it's like a summers day I mentioned in my XJR video that the XJR knows exactly who it is and what it's trying to be well the 75 doesn't the 75 comes across as a bad jag you a tribute band inside I've got lashings of leather acres of wood and an old-fashioned clock but it all just feels a little bit a little bit fake false it feels like a fraud I just think it's insulting really it's as if the Germans have thought hmm what are those British people wants I know let's give them loads of loads of fake wood from plastic trees loads of leather oh and don't forget the Union flag just for those nationalist rover fans it's all a bit patronize it do you think rather than give us Brits a good car that was fun to drive just give us a bit of an insult it's funny this as you drive her over you've got one eye on the road and one eye on the temp gauge and for a second that my heart skipped a beat because I thought I saw the temp gauge was right at the top and I thought thought I'm overheating and I'm having to call the AAA anyway it wasn't the temp gauge it was the fuel gauge so we're safe for now the model I'm in today is a 1.8 liter turbo and this is the connoisseur spec and again have you ever heard of a more condescending model name than the connoisseur it should really be call the 1.8 liter turbo retired bank manager model or the 1.8 liter turbo golf club captain model I've been trying to come up with a good analogy for this Rover or all Rovers in general to be honest and the best one I can come up with is this the Jag Uwe feels like a traditional British pub with a good atmosphere and an open fire whereas the rover feels like feels like one of those fake British pubs that you'd get at the EPCOT Center or Disney World they're always call something like ye olde wagon and horses or something like that something equally enough and that's just what the rover feels like it feels like a fake tribute to the real thing the rover 75 has been around since 1999 and it was well received initially they ran it until the company closed its doors in 2006 in late 2004 early 2005 we got this facelift version with a nice a grill on the front hand presumably that was to allow more air into the engine to keep the engine cool you can see various bits and bobs from the BMW part bin namely the the climate control is is straight from a BMW the read out on the dash is all BMW the key is from Mini Cooper the mirror control switches look like they're from a mini the headlamps which is straight out of a BMW and that's all fine because they still work the cabin is quite spacious the seats are very comfortable and I do like the pipe leather you know this is like this is like the British version of a Chrysler 300c initially you think oh that's a good design and then you start to dig a little deeper and see what they've done you just think oh dear I might be being a little bit mean to be honest because the interiors okay I mean it's just comparing it to a Jag is a bit like comparing apples to Amstrad engine wise it was quite a wide selection you could have had a 1.8 litre four-cylinder petrol which was the the famous or infamous k-series engine you could have at a 2.5 litre v6 which I know enthusiasts liked but I'm not a big fan of they were thirsty and I didn't think that we were very powerful well anyway did it sound okay you could have had a 2 litre BMW diesel which were a little bit unrefined but quite reliable and it didn't have a DPF so there no DPF issues and in the latter stages we could have got a 4.6 liter Ford Mustang engine in one of these they did make an estate version or a touring version of this up to five which I've had a few of those I always thought they look quite cool because this was designed side-by-side with BMW you'd expect it to be rear-wheel drive wouldn't you so it was quite fun and rewarding for the driver well it was he was from wheel drive for no reason don't like to annoy the driver really the temp gauge actually while I've been out in this has stayed a very steady halfway someone has definitely had the head gasket done it just wouldn't have lasted this long otherwise it's not all bad the seats are very comfortable I quite like the turbocharged engine it's sort of it's sort of like driving a a Saab 9-3 from wheel drive turbo charged petrol same sort of characteristics I don't mind the styling it's a little bit faux retro and stuff but it's it's quite handsome I suppose the mg version of the 75 I always thought looked far better less chrome bigger wheels that actually fit it in the wheel arches slightly lowered the mg does look just like far better I'm a little bit torn because I want to like you I want to like the brand I like the Heritage in the history I like the Viking longship on the badge even though it does look a little bit cheap but suddenly like the Vikings Rovers glory days are way behind them it's not bad to drive the rides quite good it's not too firm it's just a little bit like driving a Vectra or a Mondeo it's just a little bit good blunt the boots quite generous and the seats fold down so that's quite accommodating you can tell it's got its release motor from a BMW because it makes the same noise as my e46 the 2005 model year car which this one is was the rarest one out there because they only sold 5000 so there are far fewer of those than any other model year rovers this one incidentally is a one lady owned a car with 49,000 miles on the clock and full service history having driven this now I wouldn't mind there go in the the rear wheel drive 4.6 liter v8 because I imagine that's a bit of a beast just hope that one's got less fake wood common issues with the 75 the k-series petrol engine will blow its head gasket without fail every single time that's one thing you can rely on it for but to be fair once you've fixed its head gasket they're quite reliable on the early models the rear lights would leak water into the moon so you'd end up with a giant mobile aquarium the Sun roofs always leak thankfully I haven't got one in this because right now I'd be sitting there with a very wet nagging the automatic boxes can be quite clunky and troublesome you often get water leaks in the front foot well to be fair that's quite a simple fix because it's usually just a block drain hole under the the front scuttle panel they get clogged up with leaves in other debris the door handles can sometimes fail because they were B&W parts as opposed and BMWs fail the diesels aren't bad they're a little bit unrefined and clatter a book they're quite reliable overall though you just get the sense that Rove out this make doin men mentality which might have been fine in the 70s but by the 90s and 2000's people just wanted better and that's why people bought out EA fours 3-series BMW Xand c-class Mercedes over the 75 so no I don't think I have changed my mind about Rover I think it was right all along I've been impressed with with the drive of this one but it's not it's not as good as it should be it's not as good as it could be and I've driven it now for two hours and haven't broken down so that's the first it's a shame they're no longer around but it's no surprise really if you really want a luxurious budget British saloon car then you really should buy an S type Jaguar the far better in every way you get a better engine better gearbox a better-looking car in my opinion and no I don't have any s attached to sale before you ask so I'm not purposely plugging the s-type so thank you once again for watching make sure you give the video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it and please don't forget to tell me how wrong I am about Rover I'm sure this will of rattle some cages if you haven't subscribed already make sure you do so yeah cheers guys thanks for watching see you next time

Channel: High Peak Autos

Views: 168,299

Keywords: iMovie, rover, rover 75, rover 45, rover 25, rover cityrover, uk, British car, cars, autos, automatic, k series, 1.8, 2.5, v6, v8, high peak autos, car review, review, auto review, motor, petrol, petrolhead, coche, coches, German, vauxhall, opel, should I buy, should you buy

Id: GHXPQ2Ktg50

Length: 11min 49sec (709 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 15 2019