Rover 75 Saloon 1999-2004

Often referred to as the last British Rover, the 75 still does well in used car market even years after it was discontinued. Contrary to the popular belief, the 75 is not an upgraded Honda-based Rover 600. It was a built-from-scratch car with good quality engines and high level of equipment.

Pros and Cons:

• A substantial and well-built car
  A good tourer for long journeys
  Good fuel-efficiency and sensible price

• Small luggage space
  Limited visibility out of the back

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Exterior and Interior

In its debut year, the Rover 75 received numerous awards for its design, including the World’s Most Beautiful High Class Saloon awarded in Italy. Develop on the basis of an unlikely concept car by an in-house design team, the 75 was homage to Rover’s heritage incorporating elements from both the ’Autny’ and the P5. It’s a stylish and elegant car and because of its classical image, the car is not going to go out of fashion easily. The Rover 75 is actually starting to get a cult following and membership to the owners club is increasing year on year.

Size-wise the Rover 75 is a bit confusing. Although by the class denomination you’d expect it to compete with BMW 3 Series and Audi A4, the Rover is significantly bigger than those two. It is even bigger than the VW Passat, making it very hard to classify.

It seemed, however, to be targeting the same sector as the old P5 medium executive. The interior was designed to match this aspiration with a dash with a wooden inlay, big and comfortable seats finished in bi-colour leather.

Like the outside of the car, the interior leaves an impression of a classic car, especially with the old-style sepia-coloured dials, Rolls-Royce-like heater grille and the control layouts.

The front seats are extremely comfortable with various adjustments to fit the highest requirements. At the rear, however, you’d expect more space. The rear seat, although deep and comfortable, is quite narrow due to the funnily-shaped body that gets narrower towards the rear. For the same reason the boot space is smaller than on other medium executive cars.

It is recommended to look for a Club trim model in order to enjoy all the extra kit and options.

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Engines

The main petrol units were the Rover-built 1.8-litre 118-148bhp, 2.0-litre 148bhp V6 and a 2.5-litre 175bhp V6. During the last couple of years of production, a Ford 4.6-litre V8 256bhp engine was available. A popular choice was the 2.0-litre BMW-made turbodiesel with 129bhp.

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Performance and Economy

All the engines offered with the Rover 75 are good enough to provide decent dynamics. The 1.8-litre petrol engine provides a good level of power and economy in the region of 35-37mpg. The only unit that doesn’t make much sense is the 2.0-litre V6 unit. The 2.5-litre engine is much nicer and there’s only 1mpg between them (the 2.5-litre V6 provides 29mpg). No wonder the engine was eventually discontinued in 2002.

For many people the preferred choice is the 2.0-litre BMW diesel. 49mpg in a medium executive car is a great achievement. Although it takes 10 seconds to accelerate to 60mph and can only barely touch the 120mph mark, the diesel 75 is still fun to drive.

The 75 is the hidden gem of the used car world. It is possible to pick up a good example with low mileage at a very low price because people still presume that the 75 was as bad as the Rovers built during the Honda years. This, along with the inaccurate market segmentation was one of the main reasons why the new car sales never picked up to a deserving level.

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What it's like to Drive

It feels similar to the 60s P5 model, at least the impression is that it’s a classic car with a modern body kit. It has the same lazy steering and characteristic body roll. The drive comfort is good and the passengers won’t be troubled by any potholes or unsmooth roads. The 75 is a typical grand tourer (with 4 doors though), it makes longer journeys a comfortable experience. The only negative thing that can be noted is the limited visibility out of the back and because of this extra care should be taken when parking and reversing.

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Faults and Repairs

The 75 is easily the best Rover built since the late 60s. It’s a reliable, low-maintenance car, with solid engines and parts. In 2001 JD Power (a company that monitors driver satisfaction with their cars) announced the 75 "the Only European car in the Top 5". Unfortunately, bad press and customer confusion never let the car achieve its maximum potential sales level.

Many parts, including the entire ’brain’ and electric system, were borrowed from BMW (factory’s actual owner at the time of the development), hence the 75 is one of the few cars with fail-proof electronics.

If you prefer classic-styled cars, you’ll find that by choosing a used Rover 75 you get a much bigger car with a top-notch interior specs for your budget, that otherwise would buy you a smaller cloth-clad model. Running and maintaining a 75 is not expensive. The little issues that might occur are easily fixed. The car was manufactured for 6 years and reached quite substantial numbers, so the majority of non-specialist garages should be able to fix your car.

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