Why 17 Years On, A Rover 45 V6 Made Me Finally Mourn MG Rover
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- Опубликовано: 2 фев 2022
- In today's video, I am looking at the Rover 45 V6 Connoisseur. A car rarely loved in its day, but now a real rarity on the roads. When new, myself and many others looked down upon it - but today I realise I may have been wrong.
I probably got some facts wrong in this, so if I did - let me know down below!
#Rover #45 #MGRover
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Thank you ever so much for filming my car, Mr Martin! It looks fantastic in the video, and I am very glad that you enjoyed it. I forgot to top the coolant up before the video (I have since done it), but I actually haven't done it in months, so it's all working fine now, and it did the 250 mile round trip for filming with no problems at all, apart from the heavy fuel consumption.
Good afternoon Lloyd Vehicle Consulting.
@@tomberrisford6006 , why good afternoon, sir!
Good looking car that, and it sounds great, you must be very proud
@@FlyasaDiamond , a friend of mine has one of these in much better condition than mine. Ours is daily driven, which sort of explains that! Lots more MG Rover era car videos on James' channel and on mine too, of course.
A future classic for sure
Nice video! People tend to only see the bad stuff when looking at MG Rover. Yes yes, we all know they blow head gaskets and were seriously uncool for the best part of 20 years. In my experience, Rovers were fundamentally good cars. People need to look past the head gaskets. Those were solid cars, really nice to drive, elegant and classy. They were classy cars for the middle class. That's missing from the market. In a world focussed on SUVs and sporty everything (including SUVs), Rover had a truly different approach. Some may argue that there isn't the market for them anymore, but those of us who aren't necessarily looking for bone-shaking-ride-fake-noise-red-stitching-stuff daily cars at a lower price point than Jaguars and Mercs, we were left without any other options, even more after the end of Lancia in Europe (even if you guys haven't had them since the early nineties). Every time a company goes bust it's us, the consumer, who lose the most.
Rover had a wonderful team of engineers and designers, truly a case of lions led by donkeys. Don't forget, that "decadent" Rover Group, after the British Leyland collapse, was responsible for cars such as the original Discovery, a classic in its own right, the Freelander, a truly modern take on an old formula. Yes BMW helped with the 75, but most of the engineering was an in-house affair. Even the amazing R50/R53 MINI, is wrongly called a BMW. Yes, it was possible with BMW's money, but it was as much a Rover product as the 75. In fact it is essentially a shortened 75.
Even the fabled K-Series, despite its famous HGF, was an astonishing feat of engineering and won many accolades during its life. In its 1.4 variant was the most powerful production 1.4 N/A in the world, on par with Alfa's 1.4 TS with 103hp, for almost 20 years. Not only was it the most powerful in its class but it was one of the most frugal, being capable of over 40 mpg all day long. All this with a weight of well under 100kg. Remember, this was 1989. People used to drive along in thrashy old Ford CVH by then! Here was an engine with around 30-40% more power than the competition, more economical and truly modern. Yes they have their flaws but they were a consequence of the genius behind its conception.
You may have already noticed that I am a Rover fan, but not a blind one. I have owned lots of other brands over the years, and still do, but they are far far better products than the idea most people have about them. If cars were all about their failings we couldn't possibily appreciate most exotic cars in the world. In that case, we should all drive Corollas and Civics.
The point he's making is one of my small battles over the years. Please please give them a chance to impress. Look past the sometimes untrue (but not completely) reputation. Not the best cars in the world, but surely, not the worst. Not even close. They may even surprise you.
Many years ago I worked for a company that had a contract with Rover, which involved going to Longbridge on a regular basis. What you say about there engineering side was as good as any I have seen anywhere.
One might also see more than a little of the concept R35 dna taken from MGR and used in a certain best selling "small" hatchback from a famous German auto manufacturer....
Completely agree with you. My dad owns a P5B too
I was talking to an ex rover employee recently and he was saying that the blown gaskets were the cause of the parts not being aligned quite properly. (He also has 17 rovers in his garden)
Plus HGF became more common when BMW bean counters forced the K series project to suddenly be enlarged to 1.6 and 1.8L...early K engines are the best and all Ks can be made into reliable units
Had a Rover 600 auto as a company car, put over 200,000 miles on it over 4 years, never missed a beat.
My parents had one. 20 years, 220k miles. Only one breakdown. Rust killed it 😢
I grew up in Los Angeles in the '60s/'70s. It was a cornucopia of foreign cars from everywhere. Quirky was chic and Rovers were well represented. Have and will always love them.
I think the beginning of the end for Rover Group was when British Aerospace sold the business to BMW. I felt the long term future back then was increasing collaboration with Honda. BMW's acquisition of the business was all about getting access to RRs four wheel drive expertise, as much as developing the Mini brand.
Agreed. The Honda collaboration was a genuinely successful, mutually beneficial arrangement under which Rover was able to develop, and properly screw together a genuinely competitive line-up for the first time in living memory thanks to expertise and technological know-how from Honda given in exchange for much needed European production capacity. Unfortunately, as usually tends to be the way when it comes to British business, someone came along with a load of cash, and the quick buck won at the expense of any sort of strategy or consideration for the future.
I used to have a 1994 Rover 620ti which was a beast. Would be interested to hear your thoughts on them if you can find one to review / test drive.
When I was young, I always had a soft spot for Rovers because they had wood on their interiors and because I liked both their design and their logo's. The 75 is my attainable dream car. It's a shame that Rover went under.
Don't know why Rover couldn't be like skoda is today for example just needed proper investment a sad loss.
@@nudgenudgewinkwink3212 Because BMW didn't want a base competitor, I suppose.
Why do you think the Rover 75 is your unachievable dream?
@@petrol-head-Steve there is still some on autotrader for not much money.
@@petrol-head-Steve I didn't. I said that it's attainable, i.e. something I may be able to afford at some point. With that being said, though, I'm sure that their value will eventually go up.
I recently bought a 45 from 2004 for scrap money. Has 17,000 miles from new! 1.4 manual… It’s really a wonderful car and I was fully one of them people who were slightly embarrassed of all the rovers mum n dad had back in the day. It drives lovely, steering is great, totally creek and rattle free… and all bought for a price that I couldn’t buy a new bicycle for.
Really hard to dislike really and actually fun to hustle about down a B road!
I've had a 45 TDI on an 02 plate, it was a great family car, never went wrong. It was slow but practical and still is one of the nicest cars I've driven in similar classed cars.
Loved what you said about the 75! It was my first grown up car, in British racing green, estate connoisseur. Most of my friends were surprised by this choice, but it definitely had bags of character and was a solid and totally reliable ride. Drove it all over Europe and did many laps of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland too. The first version definitely was the the better interior as they really shouldn't have changed the oval dials that gave off the lovely pinky orange glow. So many lovely details, and I probably should have kept it longer.
My father had a 1974 Rover 3500 V8S. Wonderful car.
I really miss the wood trim interiors. Rovers interiors always seemed classier than ford and Vauxhall's. I ran a 416 GTi in British racing green for 14 years with no problems.
Agree the wood on an escort ghia was just shocking by comparison.
The matching Honda Civic also had a wooden trim IIRC.
The wife's grandad had the v6 rover 75, it was comfortable to drive, very slow revving engine with decent torque made it fun to do long drags with too as it was manual!
I have had a few Rover 25s and loved them. But my favourite is the Metro GTi. Great fun to drive. I still have one for trackday use.
I totally agree with everything you said about the Phoenix 4. John Towers was a known entity who'd previously been Rover group executive before BMW took over so when he came back with the Phoenix 4, people, myself included, assumed he wanted to make Rover good again and trusted him. As a result MG Rover managed to do the unthinkable of persuading people to buy MG Rover's slightly outdated cars, instead of more modern rivals, as they bought into the idea of supporting the company with the hope that their loyalty would give MG Rover the profits to reinvest in new models and make sure they had a future. The resurgence of MG branding on the 25, 45 and 75 platforms was a great way to help get even more value from them. So many companies would have killed for that sort of sales success. Having persuaded people to buy their cars - usually the hard bit - all Phoenix now needed to do was the easy bit of rewarding that faith by reinvesting all that income into Rover. Even if that hadn't worked people still would have respected them for trying. Towers, on the face of it, could have become a National hero and been heralded as the man who saved volume car manufacturing by a British brand. Sadly what he and Phoenix did was to monumentally shoot themselves in the foot with greed and basically betray all those willing followers. You cant come back from that! If they hadn't been so stupid I think we still would have had MG Rover today. It makes me so mad.
Owned a succession of Rovers over the years including one of these in a really nice metallic dark green, drove it for a few months and it was really too small so traded it in for what was the first of 3 75's Great cars and as mentioned greatly underrated.
Have to say a high spec 45 is a handsome looking saloon. In fact MG/Rover did a good job Rover-ising the Honda based cars throughout the 90's. I remember seeing a brand new Trophy Blue ZS 180 saloon being driven 'properly' in the early 2000's and have kind of wanted one ever since, an absolute bargain still compared to it's peers - but imagine that will change in coming years!
Prices going up now
Good luck getting a reasonable 180 for under 2k
@@jacobward201 It's about time, they've been criminally undervalued for some time
That was a great review and a breath of fresh air from the regurgitated bashing that the marque suffered over the years. Of course, Rover had its faults.
On another note, the day of the Rover dismissal was a day to remember for me for good and bad reasons;I had a successful job interview but also when I found that my dad had early onset of Alzheimer’s where I talked to him about Rover and he replied that thankfully he didn’t had a Rover. He actually had one for the last 14 years and didn’t remember he still owned that car.
This was Rover's problem, their key demographic forgot they existed.
I remember my godparents had one of these from new, around the same age. They'd wanted the 75 but it wouldn't fit in the garage, so the salesman managed to talk them into one of these instead. I remember it looked pretty good in metallic dark (British Racing?) green.
I had a hand me down 1996 420GSI as my daily and i have to say, i really enjoyed wofting about in it, the T-Series engine was pretty decent and would embarrass some of the hot hatch kids. Later on i got another hand me down MG ZS Tdi hatch, which whilst not exactly fast, did handle pretty bloody well, so the trick was to just not brake and scrub speed. That very ZS drove from Warrington to Gibraltar and back 2-up crammed with furniture TWICE for not much money. Frugal indeed. My introduction to your channel was the ZT V8 video, so nice to go full circle. I still yearn for a facelift Rover Coupe in Amaranth purple, the one with the VVC engine.
My dad had a Montego in 1989 for few years and as a 9/10 year old I spent a lot of time trying to persuade him to get a Rover 200/400 series for the next family car. Mainly because it had rear headrests 😆
Haha, funnily enough my Dad went from a Montego 1.6L into a couple of 214SLi’s as company cars. Best thing for me was finally having electric windows!
I had a mg turbo montego as a taxi and was brilliant and it was very quick lot a power for front wheel drive
They were rocket ships
I remember not really liking Rovers, especially the 25, the R8 series from the early 1990s and the 45. That ALL changed when I heard a Rover SD1 V8, and then sat in a ZR my uncle owned and how comfortable the seats were. I'm a bit of a Rover fan now. Especially the Rover Tomcat Turbo Coupes!
I still run my 45 diesel everyday ! Only things I can fault them for is the glowplugs are a pain too change , and the door cards delaminate , but that's it ! Never gives any trouble and goes very well
Really enjoyed James. Took me down memory lane when I was 21 / 2004 I had a lovely Kensington Green Rover 400. Sales man said “it’s like a junior Jaguar!” Gone on to own 3 Jaguars so far, but 400 had great plastic wood & felt seat covers! Do miss Rover
Episodes like this are the reason I subscribed to this channel. Not Ferraris, Lambos and so on, but cars like this.
..I ended up selling my stunning and rare ..all- aluminium Midnight Blue 1970 California British Rover 3500 V8..to a fellow Brit..the US TV Director and Producer David Davis for Mary Tyler Moore..who told me..he was well-qualified to maintain it..aah..those were the days..and still miss that car.. with the headlight lit tips right over the bonnet..the icing sensor..and the fully back- lit clear glass Instrument panel..priceless..
Man, i miss MG Rover! ZS 180 owner here
I had a go in a ZS 180 a couple of years ago. It was absolutely fantastic!
Always loved the ZS, nearly bought one but didn't manage to get the funds for it being only 19 years old :( How has your head gasket been? Or am I right in saying that the 180 is a V6 engine?
@@BennyJ69 , the 45 V6 and the ZS 180 both use the KV6 engine. Head gasket failure is rare. James points out a couple of the other common issues with the engine in the video. I forgot to top the coolant up before the video (I have since done it), but I actually haven't done it in months, so it's all working fine now, and it did the 250 mile round trip to see James with no problems at all, apart from the heavy fuel consumption.
I had a ZS180 too!
@@lloydvehicleconsulting Wow so the reputation which seemed to have killed all of mg/rover was pretty misplaced then. Well, with the V shaped engines anyway.
I'm happy to say I still have an MGZS 1.8 saloon tucked away and waiting for some TLC and it remains one of the best cars I've ever owned - one of the few cars of its era and price point sold by mainstream OEMs that was actually desirable imo.
Rover/MG sadly succumed to a succession of bad business choices, disinterested owners and finally asset strippers - had their last owners been ones interested in saving the brand, I'm certain it would have made it ( do research on the Rover 35/55 that could have been) - even the infamous K series engine was made reliable by Ricardo and SAIC in the mg6 by simple design changes and less penny pinching....
RIP Rover. Definitely missed.
My dad had 2 Rover 75s. One was not long after the release, was a V6 manual and that was the car I learned to drive in. Boy did I like that car. Then he got a CDTi estate, with the BMW derived engine. That is where I got my first taste for a decent diesel engine. Everyone that ever got into the car was amazed at how nice the interior was and how comfy it was. They weren't perfect cars but they were quite nice.
I nearly bought an MG ZS 180 at one time in that lovely garish yellow. I test drove it and of course it reminded me of the first 75 my dad had as it was the same engine and 'box. It handled very well and was quite fast. It was the cheapest fast car I could find at the time. I ended up getting a junky ex taxi Mondeo diesel auto as I just needed something cheap, reliable and disposable. Sometimes wish I had got the MG...
You still see them allot here in Spain and they are cheap to buy ! I had a 216 cabrio and loved it never had one problem whit it . sold it last year and this for 3 times more I paid for it 5 years before ! And yes rover were not that bad in the last year's
Always loved the look of an MG ZS 180, never driven one but would love to own one for the looks alone.
A cautionary tale. Everyone took the mick out of Rover and the MG derived models at the time. Then over the years one man and his dog starts to say the models were misunderstood and actually fairly good. If more people had done that when they were still around. We all say we'll miss them when they are gone. Well they are. Maybe in future we should do more to support in the moment
Good story, and I enjoyed watching! (And I'm even more delighted with my green MG ZS 180.... Greetings from the Netherlands
Nice simple car. Nice video. Thanks for covering cars from defunct manufactures. Keep up the good work.
Great Video, Ive got the Honda Equivalent of these cars Being the 1.8 VTi with the B18 Engine in it. Hoping to be restored this year :)
Jealous! I had an MC2 (Aerodeck version) years ago and wish I hadn't sold it. Fitted ZS180 suspension and rear sway which transformed the handling. Biggest problem with the VTi is the awful gear ratios in the S9B...if you can get a 'teg box swapped in then do!!
@@gazman9468 It needs a fair amount of welding to the sills unfortunately, front jacking points as well, Huge common issue with these Cars, Front Jacking points just rot away thanks to the bad Drainage system on the car. its pretty hefty work but will pay off in the end, ill post some updates of the car on my youtube if youre interested :)
We have a 2001 diesel 'Classic' that used to be a 'Y' reg (it's now on French plates) and we've had hardly any bother with it. Oh, apart from it shredding its timing belt, but that was my fault for not changing it in time. I thought it might have been a write off, but friends got hold of a second hand head and brought it back here from the UK. I got it back on the road for 350 euros, and it runs well. Not much rust due to no use of salt on the roads, All in all, it's cost very little in repairs and we're very pleased with it. It looks shabby thanks to the door panels & roof liner fabric shrinking, but as a second 'run about' car, it'll do for s while methinks.
Before it we had a 400 diesel hatch. And before that, a '93 Maestro diesel. All great cars. Our main vehicle now is a new Dacia Sandero, and I like to see that bugger last 20+ years! Great vids!
My mother, at my recomendarion, back in 2001 part exchanged a mk3 golf tdi for a brand new 45 1.4 we had it till 2014. It was not the best thing in the world. I was driving a 89crx si at the time but i was always pining to drive the rover. I found the driving experience relaxing like the car it self wanted to be driven slowly and gently. Not to say that i didnt once cover 450km in something short of 2 hours in it.
How times have changed,did my Parts apprenticeship at a large main dealer for Austin Rover/Land Rover/Freight Rover/Jaguar from 1988 until 1993,back then we kept over £1m of stock ( and no it wasn't just K Series head gaskets and PSA manual gearboxes!! ) I felt sorry when they went not just for the staff at Rover but also for a lot of the companies in the Midlands who supplied them.Blew my mind after moving to a Peugeot Main dealer,that bumpers didn't come pre painted and when a new Pug was brought out accessories like mats etc became available AFTER the car was already on sale! Swings and roundabouts with most manafacturers nowadays.Pheonix four should of done Jail time,in this day and age they may of done!!
I remember sitting in class and my school friend came in and said his dad just lost his job at rover.
The amount of people it effected at my school was crazy.
(I lived not far from Land Rover)
Great review! You maybe not know but Rover was hugely sucessfull in Portugal. Still love the 25 streetwise! Still looks really cool!
People always feel so sad about MG Rover but MINI should be thought of as part of Rover that BMW saved. The mini is built at a rover factory and if they haven’t all retired now by ex rover employees. So MINI is to many extents the remaining part and successor to rover. If you liked Rovers then buy a MINI.
Great video, enjoy the channel and although you do review a lot of expensive luxury and super cars, you still appreciate the “normal” car.
But the Mini is a large part of what killed Rover. It should've been a success for Rover but BMW took it away when they asset stripped and dumped the company.
The Mini to me feels more like a reminder that Rover died for the sake of a rebadged, ugly 1-Series.
@@SpitfireFortyFour No offence but your reply is completely my point. Rover as a company was breaking BMW, seriously, it was close to bankrupting them. MINI was as history now shows us was the viable part of the business. People always think of MINI as this new BMW creation, but as i said, it was a rover factory and being built by proud rover staff. So the MINI is as Rover as it gets. Yes they dumped the rest of the business, but as good as the cars they were building were, so many royalties were being paid to Honda on each car built there weren’t making a profit. I sincerely believe that had BMW given MINI to Phoenix, it would’ve died with MGR. Also, the MINI came out years before the 1-series and is completely different to it!
Jaguar and Land Rover is more of a successor to Rover, I’d say Rover lives on in modern day Jaguar more than Jaguar does. The 75/ZT successor is the Jaguar XF and the 45/ZS is the XE, literally the car that became the XF was on Rovers board back in 2002 before Jaguar took it over in 2005. In Fact Rover is the creator of many Modern Land Rovers including the L322 and Discovery 2 and 3. BMW was a Joke and the worst car company, they knew Rover was the better and more luxurious brand and stealing Land Rover and Mini off Rover is just an insult, I hope one day BMW gets their comeuppance day, evil swines that make the shittest cars known to man. While Rover made some of the finest and best cars, very innovative, way ahead of time and always thinking ahead just look all of the post-1996 Petrol Rovers can run on E10 while many other cars can’t. BMW stole a lot off Rover including the Rover 35 (successor to the Rover 25) which became the shitty 1-Series, BMW are good at stealing other peoples stuff and making it even more shit and as for Mini Rover actually made the Modern Mini till 2005 but BMW taking other peoples credit again. The Mini gearbox was literally a cheapened Rover 25 R65 gearbox to make shitty BMW precious Mini look worse and made them have faults to make BMW look like shit, which it is. The M47 engine which was originally a Rover Development which BMW stole and then Rover re-engineered the M47 into the M47R for the 75/ZT which would have become the all new Rover G-Series Common Rail Diesel Engine by the 2006 Rover 75 Heavy Facelift. The only thing the Mini is a successor to is the 1959-2000 Mini and the Metro/100 which became the CityRover.
I was always a fan of the Rover brand. I adored the P6 which was a very popular car when I was a kid and the design of the SD1 made me drool. I wasn't much of a fan of the cars that were Honda based but as for the 75; loved it and still do to this day.
What a great video. I loved my ZR, never had the head gasket issue and it handled beautifully, always loved it on the B roads.
Always fascinated by the business side of Rover, I think the MG range was under rated!
My ZT 190+ was one of my favourite cars I’ve ever owned. Great noise, brilliant steering, loved the way it looked (mk1). It was heavy and thirsty, but I loved it.
I love it!
This summer I want to buy a 2.5 liter V6 engine block to rebuild it. The car itself is in neat condition.
Have the most luxurious model with everything from 2003
The booted version of the 45 is a very classy looking car, even more so in a dark colour 🙂
I used to have a 45 1.8 connoisseur and it was lovely. Really comfortable, nimble, surprisingly efficient. Head gasket went at about 40k miles and it was never the same 🤦♂️
I do love these collaborations, top review of a very nicely maintained Rover 45 V6 Connoisseur!
I had a late Rover 45 TDi the interior was much improved and modernised in the facelift it was also in a stunning pearlecent red it was powerful enough and it also got nearly 60mpg I do regret selling it
Fun review of a modern classic, still looking the part! Thank you very much, great report JayEmm✌
My first car was 1994 214 so I'll always have a bit of love for that car!
Had a 114 gti 16v for years out here in New zealand loved that little car
had the 25 , and tbh it was built very well but as mentioned headgasket failure soon creeped in , but had the head sorted and it ran for many years fault free , the car was solid 💪
I would have thought that a V6 Rover 75 Tourer would have ticked most boxes. At the time it was around I was into Saab 900s but it was on my short list.
The light flash gets me every time.
I can smell this video. A family friend worked for Rover and I can distinctly remember the smell of each new company car
Here in Australia a Rover 45 is a lawnmower.
There are a few 75 Connoisseur's here tho. Nice looking thing too.
My early BMW built 75 1.8 Club SE was, without doubt, the finest driving environment I've ever had. Pre-Project Drive with real walnut and quality cloth seats (I hate leather seats). It had 19,000 miles on it when I bought it 170,000 miles on it when I moved it on. I regularly drove it from my office on Victoria Embankment to Bettyhill on the north coast of Scotland. It was effortless driving, like being in your living room. I miss it. And I'm looking for another. (Must be pre-Phoenix)
My first car was a 2005 Rover 25, it wasn't the best but I absolutely loved it... For a month until it ended up in a hedge...
Always a pleasure to watch your videos, thank you.
Love my zt 190, great video as usual.
For being "cheap" cars, those Rover interiors look pretty ritzy and nicely finished! Especially when compared to the gray sea of plastics found in the Focus and other competitors.
I know they had something about them. Especially in the pre focus and golf 4 era of the mid 90s, they felt fresh enough with a hint of luxury thrown in. Far nicer to travel in than a tinny escort ghia with ghastly plastic wood or a dreary corolla or an almera of the day.
Don't forget that the 1 series BMW is basically the next generation Rover 200 model that was never built
Some of the exterior looks takes inspiration from the prototype/concept. Thats about it, as far as I know.
@@GoldenCroc - Probably better not to recognize the first generation 1 series as Rover anyway. They were awful.
@@teamJJontour Except for the unfortunate shaky 00s BMW quality, I think they were quite nice actually, depending on the spec, model year, and of course what one is looking for in a car. RWD hatchbacks certainly dont grow on trees.
The ones I had certainly did their job I asked of them. But then again, I am hardly the typical motorist.
Love the 80's style end credits!
Glad I'm not the only one who felt robbed. I ran a ZS180 Saloon for 11 years, brilliant car, loved every moment. Had a company 25 1.6 shit colour (cream) but well equipped, prompted me to buy the ZS. Great vid 👍
I do remember being at some traffic lights several years ago in golf 2.0 litre (non gti) and I wasn’t planning to race and that v6 pulled up with some rev happy driver, but wow to watch this thing stutter away then barely made it 400m before the car was consumed with smoke and Came to an immediate stop. The guy that got out was fuming short arse was so funny to watch in my rear view mirror.
I don’t mind the mirrors on it.
what a coincidence; I looked at a 2001 Rover 45 1.6 yesterday. decent, but it didnt have airco (needed for pet). currently driving a bit boring Focus from same era.. this seems a bit more 'car' for the weight. keep it up Jay, love the vids.
Bittersweet indeed. My first car was a Rover 211 ie. Bought her from a dealer near Nottingham a month after I got my licence, back in 2010. Named her Gunz. She looked pretty nice in her deep green, but the headlining fell on my head when I was looking her over, trying to open the sunroof (it had a sunroof! Mondo cool) drained the battery and she all smelt like burnt wires inside. Still paid the £600 that was asked for her 'cos I didn't want to take a train back to London and I liked how she sounded when the little 1.1 revved out... She was amazing to drive, but she only lasted a month, quite a bit was wrong with her and she eventually all froze to death in the snowfall of December that year... I still privately mourn her whenever I see a Rover 200 or 25 pootling around. I'm glad I had that experience.
Why do you use she/her instead of he/him?
Love the Big Mouth references! Also seem to have a soft spot for Rover but never driven one, must be the patriotic itch
MG Rover were going to do "Extreme" versions of the MG's but they never really came. I was a technician at Longbridge and a friend and colleague of mine built a ZT V6 2.5ltr twin turbo. Went like stink apparently. They also stuck a V6 in a MG F lol. Also one of the Rover Directors asked for a MG ZR diesel to be tuned to the max. He got recovered in one morning on the way to work after blowing the PG1 gearbox out of it. Now bear in mind this gearbox was used in the old 200bhp Tomcat turbo's!!!!. Could you imagine a ZS with 300+ bhp with that twin turbo v6 in it. Awesome would not be the word. My favorite was the MG ZS 180 with the body kit and shark gills on the front wings. Rover could not build anough of those, even right at the end.
My mum had one of these until 2009, although it was with a K series rather than the v6. It even had a cheeky spoiler on the back!
I had a 1997 420GSi manual saloon in same colour as this one for about 13 years. Had to get rid of it late last year due to rust issues, so it didn't quite make it's 25th birthday.
As others have said, the Rover T Series 2 litre engine was surprisingly sprightly, so it was more entertaining than its sedate looks might suggest.
I remember a track day at Thruxton that involved an MG ZS. Excellent car to steer.
I recall reading about this car in the late 1990s and saw quite a few rovers when i was studying in aberdeen in the early 2000s....lovely review as always
Poo poo all my opps are poo
Am I the only person that stops the video half way through and heads off down an Autotrader rabbit hole?
Nope. I do it too.
These 45 V6s are extremely rare now. As James points out, when you combine both trims available (Club and Connoisseur) there are only around 60 left taxed on the road now, so it's hard to find one, and the numbers have halved in the 18 months we have owned ours, but there is one on Gumtree at the moment, I think.
I had a 214 SLI for my 2nd car and had to tighten the bolts on the front of the manifold every couple of days before I went to work as they kept working loose - good times :)
Great review
As soon as I saw the car I did wonder if it belonged to Joseph knowing these to be extremely rare these days. I know Joseph likes his 45 V6 very much.
My Grandfather had a number of rovers from SD3 to R8 and finally a HHR 416 SLi. The demise of Rover has left a void.
I've had a Rover 620si in the past, really nice car it was.
I feel like I'm the only person who always really liked MG Rover's cars from this period. I was a mere 7 or 8 year old kid when I first got to know them (in period, as it turns out) and at that time and age, I didn't know, or care, about any of the issues and negative public opinions these cars had, the major thing I cared about was the looks and to me, they were, and still are, very good looking cars. And today in retrospect, I'd say they look much better than today's monstrosities. I think the 45 is a very decent commuter car and for that role, I don't mind the V6 being automatic only. I do wish that it (and other MG Rovers) was more reliable and better built though.
new intro is nice, congrats on new sponsors
I love your videos, in fact I bought my fiesta ST180 because of your review.
I also have an MG ZR and I’d love to see you review one! 👍🏻
400 was a lovely car with softer suspension and a superb ride, and higher build quality. I think the 400 also looked fairly up to date where as the 45 looked a bit dated from launch (against the Focus) - but still drove really well. Late 400’s and early 45’s were higher quality than anything after 2002. The earlier style leather seats for example were lovely - better quality than a Jag’s interior leather.
Damn Jay! That intro is well professional 👌🏻
Thankyou
i did like the revamp of rover when MG came on the scene, loved the MG ZT V8 so tempted to buy one
These were built on the eg platform. Amazing platform and best civic ever. (Domani was the civic)
Yes, there are a lot of shared parts between this and the EG Civic, most obvious one is the vent on top of the centre of the dashboard.
@@lloydvehicleconsulting that vent was broke on 3 of the 4 civics I had lol. Beautiful car btw. I always had a soft spot for rover in general.The 25 was amazing fun and i have vivid memories of the btcc mg version racing around mondello here in the ROI
@@crztank9298 , mine seems OK at the moment! Yes, I have driven an MG ZR and I used to own a 25 myself, both do drive well, although this has a much better driving position.
BMW boss Pischetsrieder was the entusiast who bought Rover - some ideas to revive Wolseley and RIley brands apparently. He was the one who also obtained RR in 98 as you recently covered (and the RR/Bentley split wasn't quite as amicable an agreement with VW as you mentioned).
Rover was a much bigger job to reform than BMW expected. And in 99 there was the big argument between Pischetsrieder and Ritezle his deputy - after that the then ex-boss of BMW went to VW and Rietzle to Ford (reunited with LR!). And BMW what remained of Rover after selling LR to Ford was handed to John Towers' Phoenix Grp for that tenner. So BMW's tenure of Rover was a mess and imo due to overambition. Honda had been a much better partner. But as eager as BMW were in 95 or so to buy Rover, British Aerospace were just as eager to dump them after having problems trying to sell off much of land around the like of Solighull (BAe did downsize Cowley nicely!).
BMW did of course keep the MINI brand and had got good 4x4 input as it developed the X5.
I was visiting the Longbridge production engineers office in 95(?) the day BMW's acquisition was announced - took most there by surprise. Pissed off one prod engineer who'd spent the previous couple of years on many Honda Japan trips and trying to learn Japanese.
I think BMW held onto the Rover (and its brands except for MG!) for at least a decade - TATA bought the right to Rover off them. Otherwise now might just have the Land and Range ranges.
Very accurate explanation. Whenever I see one of these later Rover-models, my feelings are always the same: if Rover had stuck with Honda, they probably would still exist today. I can remember those 1990s-rumours of reviving Riley too and even then thought: who would be interested in that?
@@johang7498 Absolutely. Acquiring Rover seemed to be a vanity project made with the excuse of being BMW's way into the volume market. They made the best of a bad job with MINI and some were only interested in what they could get out of LR but it was a bad idea buying Rover to start with. Maybe BAe could've got Honda to buy a bigger share in Rover if they needed the money
I had the MG ZS V6 but the slightly rarer hatchback version which was slightly shorter and did away with the massive spoiler. Great little car and far quicker than I expected. Handled great but inevitably fell apart.
My first proper car was a Rover 75 (diesel). Nicely refined, if somewhat unreliable. I miss it, in many ways.
I had the Honda Civic 5 doors from 2000, which is the Rover 45 as well. I think - they way how you describe the driving and steering feel is quite similar.
Really enjoyed watching this video having 4 rover 45 in our collection it is always good seeing a video showing how good rover 45 is and can be. we always like seeing Lloyd's rover 45
It's actually Joseph (Lloyd is my surname), but not to worry, it's a mistake everyone seems to make for some reason! Yes, I have seen some of your cars, lovely examples of the breed.
@@lloydvehicleconsulting sorry I do no its Joseph I just always think of you as Lloyd as always thanks
@@DPNTV , no problem at all, sir!
Good work sir
We had a Rover 600 and 75 estate, both great cars
That Panavision jacket, though! 😎
Ah, a man of taste and experience
Hey buddy, i cant wait to see you at the chester cars and coffee on sunday
I love the rover 45. My dad and I want to move back to England next year.
My dad fancies the sportier MG ZS in that bright blue colour, and I want to buy a Rover 45 connoisseur in racing green.
My dad and I both love MG Rovers, Great video Jayemm
I had a 45 TD for a while, bleed valve tool it to 2.2 bar, it was an awesome car if they were still going I'd think the cars would be superb.
Love to see you do a documentary on British layland
I know it’s been done before but I think an updated look back on it, maybe going into more detail as to why it all fell apart from a business point of view, would be well worth a watch
Mad how different regions and eras experience cars. Where and when I grew up, if you had a car then you weren't ever ashamed.....and so many didn't that they weren't ashamed either. That was the 80s/90s when relative poverty was still very much improved on 60a and 70s.
Great sounding V6
I learned to drive in dad's 216 Vitesse. We thought that was a cool machine at the time :)