2003 Rover 75 Club SE Turbo auto

balletshoes

What are the pros and cons of this as a family car?

I have owned one Rover, a 1996 Rover 600, had it for 5 years and it was without a doubt the most reliable car I have ever had. Bit of a petrol guzzler though, which is mainly why I got rid of it. I love the look of the Rover 75, but don't know what difference the turbo or auto will make to the mpg. And if the 75 (with a 1.8 petrol engine) is a fuel guzzler too, then I'll have to give it a miss. Or are there any 75 models which aren't too greedy on fuel?

These days I do daily town/15 minute drives, plus a 400-mile journey each way around 5 or 6 times a year.

forgotmyname

Around the same MPG as a 600 1.8 auto if driven gently. But if you use the turbo then it will drink it much faster.

1.8 K series prone to head gasket failure... Not as reliable as the old 600.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

balletshoes wrote: »

What are the pros and cons of this as a family car?

I have owned one Rover, a 1996 Rover 600, had it for 5 years and it was without a doubt the most reliable car I have ever had. Bit of a petrol guzzler though, which is mainly why I got rid of it. I love the look of the Rover 75, but don't know what difference the turbo or auto will make to the mpg. And if the 75 (with a 1.8 petrol engine) is a fuel guzzler too, then I'll have to give it a miss. Or are there any 75 models which aren't too greedy on fuel?

These days I do daily town/15 minute drives, plus a 400-mile journey each way around 5 or 6 times a year.

avoid the 1.6 1.8 2.0L. youll get more out of the deisel MPG wise and reliability (BMW engine) dealers just cant give away the petrol rover MG's

Sam_65

STAY WELL CLEAR!! I had a Rover 75 on a 53 plate from Oct last year to Feb this year and it spent most of its time in the workshop being repaired. Gas guzzling heap of **** !! Had head gasket problems, piston ring problems, exhaust return valve problems, fuel gauge problems. Took me 12 weeks of phone calls and e-mails to dealer, and a couple of AA breakdown reports to get them to swap car for something more reliable. Please, please stay well clear, for the sake of your own sanity.

balletshoes

what car did you end up with Sam?

funkycoldribena

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

avoid the 1.6 1.8 2.0L. youll get more out of the deisel MPG wise and reliability (BMW engine) dealers just cant give away the petrol rover MG's

1.6 75??? Wouldnt move if they'd made it.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

funkycoldribena wrote: »

1.6 75??? Wouldnt move if they'd made it.

in general goes for all rover petrol even the 1.4, lovley cars when before the head pops ive had a few rovers, luckely to say that one i had, had done around 95k on the original HG.

a simple redesinged headgasket or new development engine could of cured this problem for rover years ago and may have increased sales quite a bit, but yet again a british manufacturer not listening to its customer feedback.

worried_jim

My Rover was lovely to drive....until the HG went. The day they went out of business they saved a lot of consumers a lot of further hassle-shame.

pitkin2020

The 1.8T auto will be worse on fuel than the 2.0, and my 2.0 wasn't great with around 20-25mpg around a town and a little over 30 mpg on a run. The 2.0 is the far better engine than the 1.8, doesn't have the HGF issue like the 1.8. Its rare for the 2.0 HGF to happen, the 1.8 isn't so bad if its maintained and checked, as long as the coolant level isn't allowed to drop it will be fine but as the coolant is such a small amount any loss can have a major effect.

If you want a 75 then look at the diesel, BMW's engine and its pretty reliable. Just check the service history etc IIRC these run DMF and they aren't cheap to replace, pretty much like any car with the DMF (mondeo diesel for example)

s_b

of course one of the problems with the bmw engine fitted is you cant run rover diagnostics on the engine because its a bit of a hybrid this means that by going in to find say an airbag problem you have coms problems all over the shop
im not aware if this has been sorted by anyone other than old main dealer equipment because i have just under £500 of software and hardware to do these rovers and it wont talk to it,other rovers yes rover 75 diesels no
so be warned
anybody know any cures?

harveybobbles

The Rover 600 was one of the best Rover's ever made. Even I liked them. The 2.3 was a beast!

But as for the Rover 75. I'd rather masterbate with nettles...

Makes me laugh how they bolted a turbo to the 1.8 - an even faster way to blow the engine to pieces!