[TheGrimJeeper]

I've seen a few of those shonky Streetwises around recently.

Given the market for faux 2WD SUV/crossovers, were Rover
just way ahead of the game on this one?


Rover Streetwise | Guilty pleasures: Nine Rovers you probably shouldn?t want to own, but secretly do - Cars



Plenty of Dacia Sandero Stepways on the roads around here....
Road test: The Dacia Sandero Stepway Laureate dCi 90 | Hull Daily Mail

 

[David WB]

There is one rover that we never even got to see that was... I can't believe I'm about to say this... much better looking than most coupés when it was made.

It still sits at Longridge to this day, untouched and unused. I think it's an absolutely fantastic looking car.

http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/imagehosting/13524b55fdb15cdf5.jpg
http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/imagehosting/8114695358fccfe9.jpg
http://www.aronline.co.uk/images/rover75coupe_01.jpg
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--Yhh41t8z--/gazldkdwgbnrw0tnkuog.jpg

 

[RomeoRaiderZ]

There is one rover that we never even got to see that was... I can't believe I'm about to say this... much better looking than most coupés when it was made.

It still sits at Longridge to this day, untouched and unused. I think it's an absolutely fantastic looking car.

http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/imagehosting/13524b55fdb15cdf5.jpg
http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/imagehosting/8114695358fccfe9.jpg
http://www.aronline.co.uk/images/rover75coupe_01.jpg
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--Yhh41t8z--/gazldkdwgbnrw0tnkuog.jpg

I'd go so far as to say that it's much better looking than most coupés even today, let alone back when it was made, :thumbup: .

 

[Durty dog]

That is one seriously good looking car, the interior looks a very nice place to be :thumbup:

 

[average joe]

I am afraid that this is a political and ideological thread rather than a car specific question , what happened to the british car industry was tragic , a truly representative government would never of allowed it to happen , we were the workshop of the world , rampant capatalism and reagonomics implemented by thatcher led us to insist on profit before anything else including leaving whole swathes of the industrial north to rot , every time I see a new mini (bmw ) or rolls Royce ,jag...or bloody range rover evoque ( all perfect examples of fresh design and marketing nothing more ) I think .... we could of bloody done that , given a little government backing , its not like we were not at the forefront of innovation and invention over the previous 300 years !! apologies for going of on some sort of commie rant , aranoid:

 

[average joe]

Sorry ... never answered your question .'was Rover ahead of its time ?'

yes ..... frequently

 

[Giorget2]

we were the workshop of the world , rampant capatalism and reagonomics implemented by thatcher led us to insist on profit before anything else including leaving whole swathes of the industrial north to rot ,

What?! People who invested their own money were allowed to decide for themselves how much of a return was acceptable to them? How shocking!

 

[average joe]

What?! People who invested their own money were allowed to decide for themselves how much of a return was acceptable to them? How shocking!

at the expense of a loyal and talented workforce ......yes

 

[Giorget2]

at the expense of a loyal and talented workforce ......yes

Was employment in perpetuity included in their contracts?

 

[TheGrimJeeper]

Rover was British, not French.

 

[bazza]

It's a funny one, isn't it?

I have no doubt that someone else would declare what happened to Rover to be entirely the fault of over-powerful and over-self-important unions bringing the company to its knees - not for the good of their members, but for the power the union leaders wished to gain.

I suspect the true blame should be apportioned partly to both.

It is a shortcoming of the shareholder model - have seen myself at the company I work for. It's not possible to plan short term loss for long term gain, because if you declare such a thing, you'll instantly lose all your shareholders and be utterly broke. Every decision becomes short-termist.

I lived, and delivered pizzas, in the Longbridge area around the time it was all closing down. It was not a nice place to be.

 

[David WB]

It's a funny one, isn't it?

It is a shortcoming of the shareholder model - have seen myself at the company I work for.

Actually, being from Manchester, the statement from AZ was rather insulting to some I'd imagine. They seemed to imply that people in the Northwest were not worthy or intelligent enough to some extent.

AstraZeneca axes 700 jobs in Cambridge move - BBC News

"Cambridge, which boasts strong links with London-based research institutions, is a world-renowned bioscience hotspot that rivals the likes of San Francisco and Boston,"

It was a stunning demonstration of corporate obsession with being near London and dismissal of graduates in the Northwest as being thick. There was a specific ill thought out line from a company spokesman that I cannot for the life of me find now, but it was very insulting (maybe they removed it because of how passively insulting it was).

Anyway, in terms of Rover, I do think that the unions did get somewhat hypersensitive to the situation, and this was compounded by the ignorance of both sets (Phoenix [Vulture] Consortium) and BMW.

 

[bazza]

I can't argue with you. The list of reasons for the move to Cambridge were extremely unconvincing to me, and the only one they came up with which seemed to in any way indicate their real reasons was along the lines of "we think you Northerners might be a bit thick."
Other reasons kept being things like "We will be building bespoke lab facilities" to which the answer was always "You mean like the ones here?"

The two great ironies about the situation are:

AZ are now down in Cambridge realising that this "great well of expertise due to it being a Bioscience hub" is rather harder to access - because it's a great Bioscience hub, so there's lots of other companies also offering employment. They're actually going to have to pay competitively!

Manchester Science Parks are now advertising Alderley Park as a great Bioscience hub, to rival the likes of San Francisco and Cambridge.

 

[cue2]

Rover made the same error as Lancia by being " luxury" in style ,perhaps because BMW wanted a complimentary marque rather than another "sporty" image from the same stable. Citroen are now doing more sport versions of their luxo DS cars.

 

[symon]

I liked the Honda collaboration Rovers such as the 200, 600 and 800, but once BMW got their hands on the company I lost all interest.

They always did appeal to the older generation of motorist, but some of the Honda engines variants, as well as the T series Turbo versions appealed to the younger generation as well.

I had a couple of 216Sli's with the Honda engine and they were terrific. Far better than the Ford Escort and Vauxhall Astra of the time.

I have also had a couple of 827's and 820 Vitesse Turbos.

The 820's though, or at least my two were very unreliable.

We also had a 214Sli in the family, and surprise surprise it blew it's headgasket.

 

[MalcQV]

Working for Warwick Manufacturing Group in the mid 90's I spent a bit of time in Rover and with some of the employees.
I had several as lease cars through the Rover leasing scheme and eventually owned a 25 for a few years too.

They (Rover/BL etc) had their good and bad times. I've read and heard many reasons why Rover eventually failed and struggle to completely understand why.

In the 70's BL became complacent. They believed the British public would buy a British car over any other. They IMHO produced some right old sheite, such as the LegOver and Maxi. Maxi was possibly ahead of it's time (hatchback with five gears) but still looked a pile of crap (to me anyway).

Unions and management fought like cat and dog right through the 70's and a good portion of the 80's.

Someone commented about government help. BL had it.

BAe were also a shareholder, in fact the insurance underwriter for the lease cars we had was indeed BAe.

I've even heard Jeremy Clarkson blamed for their demise :lol:

BMW gave us the rover 75 (well they played a part) and I never understood why. Maybe the design work had already started prior to BMW but the 75 competed with BMW models.
They wanted Mini of that I'm sure. That original New Mini was essentially a British car.

IMO Honda were always their best allies. They turned Rover around. There must have been some big bonus for someone when BMW bought them. Honda of course pulled out of Rover at that time.

In essence they built some **** cars and were managed badly by both owners and unions alike.

Some links to read. The ARonline ones being the best IMO

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Leyland
History : British Leyland, the grand illusion - Part One - AROnline : AROnline
History : British Leyland, the grand illusion - Part Two - AROnline : AROnline

There are further parts on ARonline.

 

[keithyboy]

The Maxi did look like crap but in terms of packaging, practicality and that 5-speed box it was streets ahead of the competition. It would be over 10 years before Ford starting putting 5-speed boxes in cars.

The K-series was an incredibly clever design but, as ever, not put together properly and unreliable as a result. Ford's conventional Zetec, by comparison, was bigger and heavier, but mechanically pretty much unbreakable.

All of those Honda years cars were much nicer places to be than the competition.

I think a lot of things went wrong over many years (crap cars, crap build quality, workforce issues, bad management, BMW....) and it culminated in a group of conniving ****bags taking the helm, and ripping the arse out of it until there was nothing left.

 

[MalcQV]

Yep, the Maxi was innovative.

Even that K-series was a light great design and despite its flaws (one was the low pressure casting methods I believe) if you looked after the oil and water didn't drive it like you stole it too often and it was not placed in an MGF/TF (mid engine cooling issues aplenty) then it could be reliable.

I never had any issues with any K-series, new and old. My parents had a 414 for several years and never let them down.

 

[symon]

This was the last one I had. Paid £600 for it back in 2004, and it had 60,000 miles on the clock.

When I had finished with it my dad bought it from me to use as a second car.

I drove it all over the place, including a trip to Ireland.

The engine expired in the end, just after my dad filled it with cheap crap 20W-50 oil from the supermarket.

 

[Sam bailey]

The Maxi did look like crap but in terms of packaging, practicality and that 5-speed box it was streets ahead of the competition. It would be over 10 years before Ford starting putting 5-speed boxes in cars.

My father had a maxi back in the 70s,it was missing third gear and after a few months of ownership he sold it and bought a reliant regal instead......now that was a car


Ive always fancied a rover 75 or mg zt :thumbup: