Franx2

Slightly dubious one to ask on here I know, but has anyone had the Rover 820 turbo?

Friend of mine is selling one - a '97 vitesse sport, which is in nice condition.... I'm just wondering how it'll compare with the Almera GTi I have at the moment

Anyone had one/wanted one etc?

I know it's a Rover, but it goes like stink, and I do quite like it....

banny sti

iTrader: (68)

h
Hi mate i have had two. A vitesse and a vitesse sport. In terms of value for money they are hard to beat. Lots of equipment, performance and style. Downsides horrendous depreciation, build quality nothing to write home about and dodgy headgaskets and gearboxes. Oh and slight grandad image! However for the money there are few cars that give so much for so little.

Regards Banny

lightwave693

i like the vitesse sport, had the 825 turbodiesel and was very good. vitesses are rapid for the size of car, easy to mod if you want and have loadsa goodies to play with. handling can be better, a set of koni shocks makes a huge difference and are cheap and a doddle to fit.

Id have one

Castrol

A friend of mine had one (Vitesse Sport) as a company car many years back. Whilst it had constant niggles, it only broke down once in the 4 years and near 100K miles he did in it. Compare that with 3 total breakdowns (so far) in his BMW 320D Touring (18 months and 40K)...

I know 3 series Diesels are much loved in this Forum, but he said only last week, he'd have the Rover back in a shot, compared with the BMW.

He's already planning his next car - anything but a BMW...

Cheers

DarkForce

A friends father had one - was suprisingly entertaining. Not reliable though, with oil leaks, head gasket and gearbox problems all commonplace. While it's running though it's great!

Depreciation isn't too much of a worry now, with all examples pretty much at banger money.

If it's cheap enough and in good nick, I'd say go for it. It'll be a lot quicker than the Almera, and the handling isn't too shoddy for a big barge.

Chris

penfold118

My dad had one as a company car for a couple of years and when he was made redundant (sp?) it was given to him as part of his deal. I bought it of him for peanuts ( well a pint of carling actually !! ) with the intention of running it for a couple of months ended up keeping it for about 18 months, really loved it was very bouncy when you started to push it round the bends but that was fun. Had a mate who was a mechanic for Rover in Wolverhampton so running costs were kept down. Only let me down once when the earth came loose and it wouldnt start, 5 mins to fix.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

I had a 2.0 one but with the Vitesse interior, really great seats !

Buy it cheap, run it til it breaks then bin it.

Subcat001

If looked after they can make a great cruiser for pocket money. Problems arise with poor tuning and neglect. Mechanically they are pretty tough with the engine roots in the B series. Also 800s can suffer some electrical gremlins due to poor interconnects.

Engine wise: Look out for Oil weep at the front left corner of the head. This isnt serious but can make a good negotiating point. Also check for leaks from the cams seals and take a look around the bellhousing for signs of leaky crank seal. Tappets can be noisy from cold but should clear up after a minute or two. Check the exhaust manifold for loose bolts and look for sooting round the ports that may point to a manifold gasket. Pistons dont like high boost and can crack lands so check for any blow by.
Gearbox: The real achillies heal is the diff bearings. Plastic cages collapse under heavy load so avoid hard starts. Boxs rebuilt with steel cage bearings are virtually indestructable.
HTH

Franx2

I think they're a good second or so quicker than the Almera - certainly feels faster anyway. It actually belongs to a mate of mine, but he's just been given another car by his sister, so he's getting rid. Nothing wrong with it - says it's a bit excessive for a 70+ year old, and he has 2 land rovers and a motorbike as well I'm not sure what he wants for it tbh - I'd have to see. It's done 75k miles, where mine's done 98k. It is in good nick though. Just had new Pilot Sports all round as well. That said, I've just put 4 new Toyo T1Rs on mine, which is why I'm slightly reluctant to sell it

Any ideas about fuel economy? The Almera does 30-37mpg - although I'd assume that the rover would be in the 20s, being fairly sizeable....

Right about that one though. Bit of a grandad-mobile, but fast enough to scare BMWs also I'll probably cope with the image, although I'm only 24.....

Insurance is much the same at £68 quid more than the Almera.

Only thing that worries me slightly, is being able to get parts and so on. Since Rover dealers don't exist, can we still get the stuff for them, or will it be a lot of internet searching and so on? Any ideas?

Ta!

Chris.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

You will get parts from Scrapyeards, my uncle bought a MG ZT V8 and his missus asked about parts availabilty, one of his other cars (Jowett Jupiter) is over 50 years old and they old made 500 or so and he can still get bits for that !

RS Grant

Depends mate... I'd be concerned with the reliability of it, parts may be cheap, but that doesnt help when you're late for work!!

The Almera should go on forever, which is hard to ignore IMO.


Cheers,
Grant

pete1977

My mum used to own one of these and she scared the **** out me in it!But after 5 years ownership it died.For reliability id go for the Almera.Cant beat a good Nissan.

DarkForce

Fuel economy isn't great. Expect mid to high teens around town, with a bit over 20 if you're taking it easy. Put it this way, the guy who had the Rover now has a Jaguar XK8, and his fuel economy is pretty much the same for both of them...

Franx2

Hmmm that's not too good I was guessing around that figure.

The reliability did concern me slightly compared with the Nissan tbh - I was considering staying with my GTi with those things in mind.....
Anyway, he's found a cheaper insurance quote, and he wants to keep it now , so it's not up for grabs anyway.... I was looking forward to that as well Thanks for the replies anyway


Still on Rovers however - MGs in fact, I saw an MG T V8 the other week in Bangor. Made one hellova noise Just spot on, and I could hear it all the way down the road Who says Rovers are no good?