Bangernomics
Danny bags a real rarity for his daily 70-mile motorway commute
How the PC team commute to work for peanuts. This time: Rover 800.
I, quite unexpectedly, sold three cars early in the year. The rapid departure of Maestro VDP, Sierra L and Saab 9-3 Convertible reduced my working fleet from five to two, the ‘two’ being my Triumph 2000 and Land Rover Discovery V8. The Triumph is a precious family heirloom and doesn’t deserve a daily 70 mile commute and the Disco is a sub-20mpg fun wagon.
I had bought a 29k mile Variomatic Volvo 340 of 1983 vintage over Christmas, but that had been off the road since 2008 so I was tickling it gently back to legality. I needed a car, a classic car (because that’s all I drive), and quickly. Then the phone rang and Malcolm Ralph was on the other end. ‘I need someone to buy my Rover 800,’ he said.
Malcolm is an old friend and fellow car maniac so I knew the car he was offering would be worth the trip. When I turned up I found a gem. Malcolm’s 1997 Rover 825 TD with its Italian VM 2.5-litre diesel engine has been with him since 1999 when he bought it direct from Rover. He reckons it was a management car despite being a base spec model. On first examination It looked excellent and I wasn’t put of by it dieselishness. The Vm-engined 800 is a rare beast indeed and I wanted a comfort wagon capable of decent MPG figures. Mot’d until March and with a smidge under 150,000 miles on it, the 825 ran perfectly, had no rattles, burned no oil to speak of and according to Malcolm routinely returned 40+mpg – averaged over the life of the vehicle. Malcolm knows this because he has recorded every tank of fuel he has ever put in the car and worked out the MPG accordingly. We should all be like Malcolm. Reason for sale? Over Christmas the alternator packed up, which was the catalyst for its disposal in my direction. It wasn’t a deal breaker. With regular servicing and a showroom-fresh interior, this was a car to save, savour and use. I noticed some possible MOT failure points on the bodywork (sills) that would need remedying, so we agreed on a £300 sale and I loaded the boot with the cars history – two full boxes – and promised to keep Malcolm in the loop regarding progress. A week later and old
mate, Pete Dane and I had cobbled together a decent alternator from one I had in store that was wrong-sided. We fitted it and the 825 was up and charging again.
Then I filled it with petrol. I have never owned a diesel is my only excuse. I stopped just before the pinking became full detonation and managed to coast down the hill through Barnack to the PC workshop. So, I kicked a few bins and then went off to find a solid state petrol pump. Once wired up and plumbed onto the fuel line it filled three Jerry cans that I distributed around the rest of my running fleet. After a quick bleed of the injectors to get rid of air locks I started the VM beast up. It took a while but no harm done. Thank goodness.
Since then the Rover has been faultless and has delivered me to work for six weeks now. For the first time, I think the facelift 800 is beginning to look classic. I have owned two of them now, and this might be rose-tinted spectacles on my part, but I reckon they cut a dash. It’s 20 years since the launch of the Rover 75 that replaced it, I think the facelift 800’s time has come. Even if it hasn’t, 40mpg and real comfort at high speeds makes for a happy commuter, too. Selling cars is a good idea, I should do it more often.
There is another more serious reason to bag myself a diesel – particularly an older one – as the world seems to have taken against them. So in order to wave a flag for the old compression ignition classics, it’s about time I owned one. Now, which emissions zone shall I go and annoy first?