I'd have a good Dolly Sprint over either of the other 2. The problem was that both the Dolly and the SD1 were "in need of restoration", even though they looked cosmetically ok.

Dont touch one witha bargepole.

Customer needed ignition leads, not a single motor factor listed them and took 7 weeks to arrive from rover/x parts.

I'd take the banana yellow SD1 over the City Rover any day. Even if the doors and mirrors had been unscrewed (oops- I mean fell off on thier own with no assistance :P)

Hello.

Well its good to see people are passionate above Rover be it in a bad way but good all the same. One of the fellas above made a good point about Our poor Skodas, being cheap to fix. This is true, take for example the 136 engine from the favorit re-worked and appeared in the Felicia reworked and appeared in the fabia now thats a "Phoenix" from the ashes!

thanks.

P.S. i have owned two rovers and one skoda more work was carried out on the Skoda than on either Rover. However I think Skodas are great I love them as much as rover. Great styling great choice of colours and great strong engines the 136 in my Glxi Skoda took a beating and it was fun to drive.

Earlier today I was watching an old episode of Police Camera Action on sky where half the programme was devoted to showing the in car footage of 2 police Rover SD1 V8's rushing a liver to a central London hospital for a transplant!

Made awesome viewing, must have been one of the earliest police in car cameras? they sound so lovely, cant wait till the summer to get mine out again, it sound even better as it revs higher plus it has that lovely supercharger wailing away too!

Edit: just found it on you tube - YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

I expect to see AND hear that blown V8 on YouTube as soon as is humanly possible

Remember the V8 Ambulances? used to sound great when given the beans as is the norm with such a vehicle. Not the case anymore with the old Derv jobbies though.

I was amazed how low powered those V8s were.

150 bhp from a 3.5 litre engine?

That's pretty poor even by american standards

I expect to see AND hear that blown V8 on YouTube as soon as is humanly possible

Remember the V8 Ambulances? used to sound great when given the beans as is the norm with such a vehicle. Not the case anymore with the old Derv jobbies though.

The police riot van sounds quite sweet round my way, the copper driving it had the ar*e step out the other day as he pulled away from chatting to one of his mates! must have some power, it's got the double back wheels on!!

Mines being stripped over the winter in the search for more power, but once we get it all back together i'll be getting lots of footage/pics!

I was amazed how low powered those V8s were.

150 bhp from a 3.5 litre engine?

That's pretty poor even by american standards

Indeed, the standard output is very low, but the engines were built more for longevity than outright power, however you should bare in mind that even hot hatches of the day were pretty gutless, XR3i's etc only had 105 bhp so relatively speaking in it's day it was quite powerful.

One good thing with big lazy V8's though is the obvious and massive tuning potential!!

Indeed, the standard output is very low, but the engines were built more for longevity than outright power, however you should bare in mind that even hot hatches of the day were pretty gutless, XR3i's etc only had 105 bhp so relatively speaking in it's day it was quite powerful.

One good thing with big lazy V8's though is the obvious and massive tuning potential!!

Yeah , but an XR3i was a nice light car with a small engine - 105bhp meant quite respectable performance unlike the slow-ver.

It's a Tata Indica.

They are basic, easy and cheap to fix but pretty basic...

One of the many problems with the CityRover was that it was anything but easy and cheap to get the parts (as indeed torsen has said) - to the extent that Rover were cannibalising unsold ones for parts. Plus, every single one needed to be dismantled, have various bits added to meet EU specs, and then re-assembled, so it worked out a lot more expensive than the 'badge engineering' that Rover had hoped.

I get the impression that Rover had got so used to flogging 20-year-old designs that they really did fail to see how far off the pace the City Rover was. And frankly, however much of a tragedy it was for the assembly workers, if that was the best their managers and designers could come up with, then they had it coming... :thumbdwn:

The Rover V8 was of course a Buick V8 before Rover bought the rights to it, hence the 'B' in P5B etc and it originates from the early 1960's.

It was legendary for it's tuneability and was bored out to 3.9 litres for the Range Rover (circa 1990). I loved the V8 burble from our old Vogue SE

In the end it was whacking out over 340BHP and mountains of torque in a TVR albeit in a 5 litre 'slightly modified' guise.

The SD1 V8 could be had with a standard 210BHP on certain models and god knows how much with a supercharger bolted on.

44bhp/l wasn't a poor specific output back in the early 1960s either, particularly when feeding 1.75l or so through a single SU.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Rover deserved to go bust. Their products were poor and overpriced. I feel sorry for the staff who lost jobs but we live in a society where only the stupidest people will buy overpriced tat.

Yeah , but an XR3i was a nice light car with a small engine - 105bhp meant quite respectable performance unlike the slow-ver.

You'd be suprised how heavy an SD1 isn't! compared to modern cars anyway!

Especially when you've stripped all the un-neccesary luxuries out anyway, like carpets, seats etc, and replaced the boot with a plastic one!

:iagree: - back in the day I had a mate with an XR3i, and another one with an SD1 3500.

They were about equal off the line, but the SD1 started to pull away at about 80, when drag was more important than power/weight ratio.

You'd be suprised how heavy an SD1 isn't! compared to modern cars anyway!

Especially when you've stripped all the un-neccesary luxuries out anyway, like carpets, seats etc, and replaced the boot with a plastic one!

...And as so ably demonstrated by Mr Clarkson, the rear doors could be jettisoned on-demand if you ever needed an instant performance boost!

I think the real thing letting the SD1 down was the suspension which appeared to have more travel than my old Land Rover!

Chris

I liked the 'digital' steering - did you see it going round that hairpin? Understeer, more understeer, even more understeer, then PEEEEOWWWW!!! Regain traction and go round that corner!!!

Both, I think the SD1's main handling issue was the nut behind the steering wheel.

Haha - I was resisting saying that, Ken! Mechanically sympathetic he ain't!

Chris

Both, I think the SD1's main handling issue was the nut behind the steering wheel.

Surely not!

...And as so ably demonstrated by Mr Clarkson, the rear doors could be jettisoned on-demand if you ever needed an instant performance boost!

As funny as it was (and I was ****ing myself) it was fairly obviously a complete set up, I can assure you the doors etc dont just fall off, infact the only thing wrong with the SD1 really is the dodgy electrics, but then it did have a lot of them for it's time! oh, and the fact that some people insist it's called an SDI! (I've bl**dy got one in my garage, I know what it's called )

I think the real thing letting the SD1 down was the suspension which appeared to have more travel than my old Land Rover!

Chris

Bloody comfy though, sitting in those big armchairs just wafting along! unless like mine you put a stupidly hard suspension on it and bucket seats!

Lets not forget the most important factor though - RWD, powered by a big torquey motor = massive easily controllable FUN!!!

I had a ride is a SD1 once, my mate passed her driving test and it was her 2nd car!

The electric windows didn't work and it was 28 degrees outside, it wasn't a very comfortable experience to be honest!

Update :

My friend has broken his City Rover Gearbox, should have listened to everyone on here!

Just in time for Christmas... but of course it's not rOvers fault... it's yours for hating the city rover so much... :P:D

Update :

My friend has broken his City Rover Gearbox, should have listened to everyone on here!

:rofl:

Just don't look smug or even think about saying 'I told you so' if you see him.

Nah! Who am I kidding, rub his nose in it!