If it's not a Vitesse, it's just another old car. SD1s were and are just so much poorly manufactured badly serviced rubbish. The Solihull plant that made them was very poorly run and the "workers" preferred no to.
There is a phrase to describe cars like them but I will not repeat it here..
Vitesses are much rarer, may appreciate but were also rubbish. I recall one which had an involuntary and unscheduled service every 2,000 miles or less when the elctronics part of the EFI decided it would emulate the Rover "workers" and ..the car behaved as if it had wind. Apart from that, the gearbox failed twice and the brakes kept doing a Solihull as well and ...
The only good thing was the engine for use in another car:-)
madf
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Have a good think about what you like about the car and why you liked it.
Think also about other cars that can provide the same Likes with fewer of the dislikes, including what you have now.
I did that when looking at a TD5 a couple of weeks ago. It was on Ebay.
There was no "must have" feeling about it, and I would miss some of the character of th 200TDi. I couldn't deny it was a nice car, though a little overpriced for the mileage so the local LR dealer thought, though I was competing with a keen PEx price.
I used this process and that conviced me to keep what I had.
Hugo
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I think madf is right, it's an old car and likely to be extremely unreliable. Out of college a bunch of us had them and there were no end of problems. Two friends had Vitesses and they seemed to be the least unreliable.
If you want a classic Rover, why not consider the Rover P6? They were much better built. I had a mid 70's V8 one for a year as an everyday car. In my opinion - considering it was a 25 year old car costing under a grand - it was as good as most modern cars I've driven, and better than most - perfectly able to keep up with traffic, stop, corner, etc. The only problem I had was a duff water pump.
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If you are going to get one of these try to stick to the series II as they were much better built than the series I, although still not a quality product...
Try to get a V8 manual as the automatics tended to be unreliable,more so at this age. There are some good sites on the net telling you what to look out for and the pros,cons.
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Thanks for all these. It is a V8 Manual. I don't want a P6 - they're too small, and there are thousands around. Classic insurance has been explored, and comes out rather well, especially with what I pay now. I may hang on for a bit then - it was the first I'd seen and driven, and series 2 is and was always my preference. I think I was just surprised at finding one without terminal tinworm!
If anyone comes across a series 2 for sale, let me know please!
Mrs O adopted THAT tone of voice on the phone last night, bringing to mind the age old question: If a man is alone in a forest, and there is no woman to hear him, is he still wrong?
O
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Mrs O adopted THAT tone of voice on the phone last night, bringing to mind the age old question: If a man is alone in a forest, and there is no woman to hear him, is he still wrong?
Of course he is! :)
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In those circumstances, trees are sufficiently female for him to be wrong.
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Heres one for sale on ebay, make your own assessment!
cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=...1
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What kind of person puts in a bid of £1,014.98??
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What kind of person puts in a bid of £1,014.98??
someone who has been laboriously counting a piggy-bank, and found 50,749 2p coins? :)
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I thing the old adage applies"A fool and his money are soon parted"
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Note the careful wording of the ebay advert regarding the description of the mechanicals and then the body.
IIRC Solihull where the SD1 was built had a new paintshop which was noted for aberrations in quality with respect to: primer: undercoat and topcoat. In fact the quality of the body protection was poorish..
Any old SD1 unless it has been carefully and meticulously rebuilt on a jig is likely to be a deathtrap on wheels as rust will have gnawed at all its inner strength.
As for the S1 dash design, it makes the Allegro's quartic wheel look a positive feat of design genius..
All my jaundiced opinion.. I recall looking at loads of new ones in Rover's car park in the late 1970s and thinking what a load of rubbish they were (and that was when they were new!)
At least the 3500 engine was not the 2300 or 2600 - I suspect none of the latter are left on the roads as the engines will have autodestructed long before now..
Rover's definition of quality control: ensure it gets out of the factory gate under its own power..(sorry that means onto the delivery transporter..)
madf
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Heres one for sale on ebay, make your own assessment!
>>>.....
leave well alone.. too molested and only 1 photo? can't tell nothing from that. Try and buy as original as you can, forget tarted up rubbish.
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I used to work on some of these at the time they were popular (late 1970's, early 1980's).
In many respects they weren't a bad car, just badly built with too-cheap materials.
The 2000, 2.3 and 2.6 were all a bit of a disaster, engine-wise.
The 3.5's weren't bad (I ran a couple, including the Vitesse) - but we replaced quite a few cams and followers at the time. The cam/followers cost about £80 (early 80's price) which was not a lot, and the job wasn't too difficult. Bonnet and rad. come off, inlet manifold off, timing chest cover off and pull the cam out the front.
The other common problem was the carbs., they had something called an FASD (fully automatic starting device) which tended to play up. The BW autoboxes were pretty tough.
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If it's something you want then go for it I say. I had a similar dilemma earlier this year when I wanted something a bit different for use at weekends/evenings and to have a tinker with. I wanted either a Mark 2 series 2 Granada or a SD1. It so happened a colleage at work knew a Granada enthusiast and I ended up buying a 1982 Granny for £500 in very good nick with 60K on the clock. OK, I've spend £500 on it since I got it (new shocks, water pump, rear brake overhaul, small bit of welding, service etc) but only trivial items. These older cars are surprisingly easy to work on and I've had no problem in obtaining spares. Join a club also. I'm a member of the Granada drivers guild and going to a club get together at the Billing Aquadrome this weekend which should be great fun. I go to various shows with my car and I often see the SD1 club there.
Done about 4k miles since I got it and it's been fine.
Insurance should be ok. I'm 25 and it was £220 a year fully comp including breakdown, which is limited to 5000 miles however. It isn't much more for unlimited mileage.
If you really want one, go and get one!
Regards,
Richard
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Hi
There is a lot of crap and misguided info going around concerning these cars. I've had ten SD1s (mostly Vitesses as these are really the ones to get), so I know what I'm on about. In this forum I've read so much crap and poppy cock I'll tell you the facts:-
1. The overall build on the series 2 was acceptable, well put it this way a lot better than series 1 rover 820s.
2 The mechanics are strong and reliable, especially the V8 engine. Gearboxes are strong aswell, never had a failure yet.
1st/2nd can be a bit stiff from cold.
3 The electrics are generally ok, although they can be intermittant. However they are cheap and easy to repair
4 The rust is not as bad as people think, especially on series 2 cars. But it is a must to get a good original example in the first place.
5 The interior is plush and hard wearing.
6 Parts are cheap and in good supply from Rimmer Bros who specialise in these cars.
7 The fuel injection system can be troublesome and fustrating, however it is relatively cheap to fix. Bits like Temp sensors, Throttle Pots and airflow meters can go wrong.
8 Resale values are good as these cars have classic status now
9 Overall reliability is good even in the cold months (I remember a Y reg Vitesse I had during the winter of 1986/87 and it started 1st time everytime)
Finally there is Doug's site which sells Rover SD1's
www.roversd1.co.uk
then click on cars and spares.
Expect to pay no more than £3500 for an A1 original Vitesse (TP fetch a bit more). You can get good restored examples for between £1500-£2000.
Good, Clean Non- Vitesses can be picked up for less than £1500 ie 3500 VDP. I think Doug has one on his site at the moment.
Finally good luck in finding and purchasing this classic British car.
RM Wainwright
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