Rover 75 estate

[Steve L]

As crazy as it may seem, i quite like the look of the Rover 75 estate.

I would prefer the 2 litre turbo diesel version which i believe has the BMW engine fitted.

Does anyone tow with one of these?

How reliable are they?

Any major faults?

Thanks in advance.

Steve L.

 

[Ivorwetwun]

I too, like the look of the 75, but check your towing weights on whattowcar.

They are not the heaviest of cars.

You are right in saying that it uses the bmw engine so should be mechanically OK.

I did hear some time back (don't know how true it is) that front wings are as scarce as rocking horse droppings, you might want to check spares availability, although there should be aftermarket suppliers, personally I would prefer the V8 version!!!

 

[Taff]

I cannot comment about towing with a Rover 75 but I can on reliability. I had a Rover 75 saloon as a company car. The best car I have driven. Solid and you could tell the quality by how the doors closed. The only problems I had in 3 years and 70,000 miles was a front headlight which required a panel removing from under the wheelarch to change the bulb and the number plate lights were forever going out. A warning light illuminated on the dash which was annoying. Take the covers off and move them around and they would come back on.

Hope this helps

 

[wayne_374342282]

Steve,I had saloon version top spec diesel 51 plate.towed my amara 450/2 okay .Bit slow at setting off but once rolling okay Very economical for size of car and the nose weight was pretty good too. Only fault I found was were the bonnet hinges are it would collect water due to there being rubber grommets/ tubes that would get blocked .But on the later ones 53 onwards it was solved. The MG version is very nice abit sporty try looking on Honest John car review it will tell you all about them. Hope this as helped. Wayne

 

[NigelHutson]

I have towed with a 114 bhp saloon (1999) and a 2004 131 bhp Tourer. The saloon was good, the Tourer superb. As with any turbo diesel car (manual gearbox) hill starts can be "interesting", but once mastered, no problem. We towed a 1439 kg 2004 Abbey 416GTS with ours. I changed to a Discovery 3 for its 4X4 capability (we use CL's more than sites, and this weekend have been rather glad of the 4X4), but I really do miss the 75. If I could afford to have one as a "Sunday" car, I'd jump at it. The main issues appear to be fuel pumps, rubbish Bosch MAF's, and clutches. This site might help you.

www.mg-rover.org

 

[maxtherotti]

I can only comment on the issues on the car not the towing but they are great!!

i worked for a rover dealer for 10 years untill they went under so have seen the 75/zt since it came out.

my choice would be for a ztt cdti auto

the engine as you say is the bmw m47 unit (very reliable)

i would then put a synergy2 tuning box on it as it improves the car so much in drivability (also puts it back to the 150bhp as it is in the 3 series)

the auto gearbox is a jatco unit and had a 6 year warranty on it when rover was still going (the manuals have problems of torque shear on the clutch plates due to a poor dual mass flywheel)

as for general car faults i will go on order of importance

1, as said above check in the pollen filter hole for water build up as the ecu lives in there and they dont like swimming very much

2,front to rear brake pipes corrode early and is not a cheap job to replace properly (fuel tank etc out)

3,under bonnet electric fuel pumps fail

4,in tank fuel pumps seperate (95% just clip back together tho)

5,front springs can brake

6,maf sensors fair (synergy2 unit bypasses these so another good reason for them)

7,cooling fan resistor packs fail so fan runs all the time

8,door latches fail

i know that sounds really bad but this is a list built up from 8 years of working on these cars so dont let it put you off them just see it as a guide of what to look for when buying (i have also owned 3 zt,s and i would have another now if it could tow my van (1800kg tho sadly)

hope this helps any more questions feel free to ask

rob

ps avoid the v8 like the plague as a tow car it only does 12mpg solo but sounds epic!!!!!!!

 

[Steve L]

Thanks Rob for the info, very helpfull indeed.

I'm considering a 2 litre cdti estate around 02/04 reg in se or conisseur spec. The ZT's still hold good money and also cost me a packet to insure.

What I'm looking for is a tow tug that will double as dog kennel for our chocolate labrador. We have an Abbey 540se weighing in at 1436 Kgs so on paper the rover is more than capable. Being a purist, I do prefer a manual box.

My last british car was a 1976 Marina estate and after that diabolical experiance I shifted to Renault and stayed until now, but the electrical issues and uncomfortable seats of the Laguna 2 have caused me to rethink. Currently I have a 1998 Laguna 2 litre estate which has now got close to 200K miles on the clock. So it's time to give the old gal an easierlife than tugging work tools and towing the van. The rover seems to tick the boxes and certainly the purchase price and economy are attractive.

Cheers.

steve l.

 

[Mikey_74]

Hi Steve, I currently own a Rover 75 Diesel estate, mine is an 02plate Club se spec, I had my injection system remapped as it was the 114bhp model and it's now around the 145/150bhp mark, these cars are fantastic if you look after them, my car has now covered 212000miles and only yesterday it towed my 26ft twin axle van (1600kg's not ideal match I know) up from Minehead to Staffordshire without any drama, and according to the computer it gave me an average of 29.3mpg!!!

People slate Rovers, in the past they've had good reason to, but if you get a diesel 75 you're laughing, the only 2 things I'd say is as already stated 1st and reverse can cause the clutch to get a little warm but that'll soon settle down once the journey is underway and invest in the proper shaped Rover 75 towing mirrors, about

 

[hogrider56]

I have two 75 tourers, and use both as tow-cars. The only fault I would say is that they are very low ground clearance cars, and on both I have had to have a plate put on to raise the height of the towball. You cannot fault their fuel economy, which is paramount in these robbing days. Towing, I get anwhere from 29 to 35 mpg showing in the on-board computer, and solo driving, I have had as much as 62mpg showing on long motorway runs, I know the comps are probably not dead accurate, but even so, they are very economical cars, and in Connoiseur spec, are very luxurious. I hope you find a decent model with low-ish mileage.

 

[maxtherotti]

the 75 and zt have very little difference mechanic,s wise its mostly cosmetic and harder suspension so not a problem

conn se spec is very nice but make sure all the seat elecs work as do the seat heaters

and generally i too go for manuals but seriously dont over look the auto its a very good 5 speed unit thats verging on bomb proof (in my time at the main dealer we changed 2 only and 1 of those was due to a idiot tyre changer jacking the car up on it lol)

that said the manual box is also very strong (german getrag unit) but its clutch and hydralics let it down and gear cables can snap too

o and with the tourer check for water leaks in the boot as the opening top tailgate glass needs to be adjusted up to the seal for a good fit

rob

 

[Steve L]

Hi Rob.

You mentioned the opening glass in the estate tailgate.

My Laguna has that option and it is very useful to me as we have a dog and we often leave our tailgate glass open for him to get plenty of cool fresh air.

Does the rover window open in a simlar way?

what about the alarm systems, can they be easily de activated by the driver?

A mate had a vectra that drove him nuts, a small fly got in the car and would set the alarm off persistantly. It took a week for the fly to buzz off.

Cheers Steve

 

[Mikey_74]

Hi Steve, all Rover tourers (estate) have the opening rear window, I'm not sure what it's like on the laguna but on the 75 the glass hinges up like the tailgate and can be opened independantily, we found thi very usefull when we had dogs and when trying to load the boot up to the max when holidaying without the caravan, yes some Rovers tourers do leak around the back window, but if this is the case it's just a case of simply adjusting the galss in the hinges to realign everything.

Mike

 

[Mikey_74]

Oh as for the alarm, there's 2 different types fitted, most don't have interior sensing so shouldn't create false alarms

Mike

 

[maxtherotti]

and if it does have interior sensing (as most do actually) just lock the car with the key and not the remote and it locks the car and activates the immobiliser but not the ultrasonic sensing

rob

 

[johno1]

Steve

I've had the rover 75 now for six months and done approx 1000 miles towing with no problems at all.

The first time we towed it was with four adults and an eight year old so you can imagine the stuff we took!!!! we still managed 32 mpg, it has a 100 kg tow ball nose wieght limit and loads of space inside.

My car is the cdt club which produces 114 bhp so the engine is'nt over stressed so will last a long time, just be on top of your oil changes and use a good quality oil.

If you get the cdt model you can easily re-map the ecu for more power but I cant complain with the power output as I'm more bothered about mpg than mph but the power produced is ample for my van (1300 kg)

Get one you wont be disapointed, I'm not

 

[johno1]

Oh by the way if you up the power to 150 bhp dont worry as the same engine is used in bmw's producing that amount

 

[Lutz]

It's a bt risky to raise the power output by almost 50% without reassurance that other components (brakes, clutch, cooling system, etc.) are up to it, too.

 

[maxtherotti]

there was a factory upgrade to 131bhp so getting it up to 150bhp wont be a concern

brakes and cooling system can cope fine but the clutch does not like it but the auto wont be sweating over it

rob

 

[Heethers]

l have the 2.5 v6 Auto and have towed our Ace Firestar with it with no problem, a little thirsty but a dream to tow with, use it to fetch the caravan down from storage when the wife has the Shogun for work.

A most underrated car thanks to top Gear and the cronies that slated it, at least it doesn't burn out auto boxes like the BM's do.

NigelH

 

[Lutz]

there was a factory upgrade to 131bhp so getting it up to 150bhp wont be a concern

brakes and cooling system can cope fine but the clutch does not like it but the auto wont be sweating over it

rob

It would still be worth having the auto recalibrated to match the increase in performance.

 

[Steve L]

First of all thanks to all for some very useful info indeed. Its great to be able to find out what people realy think rather than rely on the curly mouthpiece on the telly who just prefers a bigger hammer to fix his car.

I caught up with my brother-in-law who is a master technician at Cotswold BMW this weekend and he again confirmed that the deisel is the way to go. One thing he told me was that essentially all the running gear is BMW and his firm actually service rovers alongside the franchise vehicles at very sensible prices.

So now all I need to do is sniff out a 02 to 54 estate with around 100K on the clock and a full service history. That won't be too hard a job as there are plenty on the market place at sensible money.

Once again a big thanks to all of you.

All the best.

Steve L.