(first posted 4/14/2015) Perhaps the car that best defined the 1970s for the British industry was the 1976 Rover 3500, known as the SD1. It was a car that created a hugely positive impression, and was considered a market leader in several ways, not least styling and performance. But how could BL follow it up, after another oil crisis and the ultimately disappointing sales of the SD1? The answer was with Honda, and the third car from the BL/Honda partnership – the 1986 Rover 800.
The paired products were the Rover 800 and original Honda Legend (below). The basis of a transverse engine, four door saloon was quickly established, but with all the visible body work and interiors being different, except some of the glass, and sharing a Honda V6 engine: there was no place for the Rover V8. Rover would also offer a 2.0 litre version.
The car had a gestation that was at times fairly heated, as the competing and contradictory requirements of Rover and Honda had to be settled. Honda wanted a low bonnet line, Rover wanted to use McPherson strut suspension, which would raise the bonnet line, Rover wanted the car to be wider; Honda wanted it to meet a Japanese width regulation. Rover changed the profile of the sides; Honda added blisters on the wheel arches, and got to the market first.
Styling wise, the Rover 800 (or Project XX) was to be first car to really benefit from the investment BL had made in the design studios at Canley, in Coventry. Under the leadership of BL’s new Director of Design, Roy Axe, hired from Chrysler in Detroit and previously with Chrysler UK (née Rootes Group), BL began to build up a much more than cohesive and capable design function, bringing together design talent not just from within BL but also from elsewhere in the industry. Axe was within a few years to create a design capability that would not repeat the disappointments of the Austin Allegro and Triumph TR7, and which would form the core of the current Land-Rover design facility.
The 800 itself can be seen as a progression from the SD1, a design that was much admired in the profession and in the wider arena, carrying forward details like the headlamp and nose profile, the feature lines on the sides and the rear lamp shapes and their ribbed surfaces. The profile of the SD1 was retained as well – this was especially apparent on the later hatchback version. The first version offered was a four door saloon, as it was hoped that this would be a more attractive product in export markets than the hatchback SD1. Is it me or is there an Axe style in this car, present also in the Chrysler K car , Omnirizon and the European Chrysler Alpine?
The four cylinder engine for the 800 was an interesting feature of the car. It was the 2.0 litre O series from the Princess with a 16 valve twin overhead cam conversion and fuel injection (including multi point on some models) to produce a very competitive engine, known as the M16. This may not sound that dramatic now, but in 1986 many competitors were still using carburettors and most using only 8 valves.
Rover put a lot of effort into the interior, and it showed. This was an attractive and well specified interior, setting new trends in style and clearly moving on from the SD1. The quality and materials chosen were pretty convincing, at least in the showroom, although the interior did not have the modernist, simple appeal of the earlier car.
The 800 arrived in June 1986 to another of those highly anticipated and optimistic but ultimately slightly disappointing BL receptions. The critics liked the interior, admired the engines, especially the BL 2.0 litre unit and the general air of professionalism and something a little better, if a little smaller, than a Ford Granada. But the driving experience was considered to be somewhat unfinished, the quality was clearly still not quite there (there were stories of cars having total electrical cut outs during thunderstorms, for example) and it was considered to have lost the character of the SD1. The 2.5 litre Honda V6 was considered lacking in torque too, if not smoothness.
Rover took the route of marketing the top of range European market model as the Rover Sterling, which linked into the branding that would be used in America, for which Austin-Rover had big ambitions but where the Rover name was damaged goods.
As a result of this, it was decided that the only way forward in America would be to create a new brand, and then launch the 800 as the first product of the “new” company. After all, the Rover 800 had been co-developed with Honda, and the level of technology and quality were going to be several orders of magnitude better than the SD1 that had made failed to meet basic expectations of quality in America. The name Sterling was chosen (incidentally, previously Austin FX4 London taxis had been exported to the USA as the London Sterling – and how much more British a name can you get?), and Rover set about establishing a dealer network.
Initial confidence was very high, and given the promise of Japanese reliability and British interior ambience, the Sterling was hoped to be a huge success. Initial forecasts were that once the Sterling range had been rolled-out, the North American market would account for forty per cent of Rover 800 production at Cowley.
However, Sterling soon had the stuffing knocked out of it, thanks to the sub-standard build quality of the early cars. Sterling quickly received a hammering on the J.D. Power surveys. In 1987, 14,171 Sterlings were sold – way short of the initial predictions and Sterling’s troubles soon became clear.
In 1989, a new emphasis on quality and service was played up for all it was worth. Improving build quality helped, but unfortunately, the damage seemed to have already been inflicted. 1987 was Sterling’s best year, and from that point on, sales declined (1988: 8,901 sold, 1989: 5,907).
Rover worked hard on turning things around, even going as far as releasing a picture of the upcoming 800 Coupé some three years before its launch, in order to gee-up dealers and their customers. However it did not work: 1990 sales were a paltry 4,015, and it was clear that Sterling was dying on its feet. It must have been galling for Rover to see this – after all, Honda created the Acura brand to sell Legends over there, and that was going from strength to strength.
Still, there was some hope – the 800 Coupé had been created specifically for the American market, and market research had been encouraging for it doing very well there. The upcoming reskin of the 800, known as R17 and R18, were seen to an extra helping of “class”, so it was felt that Sterling’s fortune could make a turn for the better. The plan was to accompany the launch of these new cars with the dropping of the Sterling badge… and replace it with the Rover nameplate. Talk about a reversal of fortunes!
However, it was all too little, too late. In August 1991, Rover ceased sales in America for the third time in twenty years, never to return.
In the car’s home market, however, it was successful and after the hatchback arrived, regularly outsold the Ford Granada which was perhaps conceptually the closest competitor. But, in truth, the Granada was no longer the competitor – the real competition was the format best represented by cars like the BMW 3 series, Audi 80 and A4 and the Mercedes-Benz 190E and C Class – all cars that were nominally a little smaller but came from fully fledged premium brands and could match Rover on price. It was like the Rover 2000 and Triumph 2000 taking on the Austin Westminster, big Wolseleys, Ford Zodiacs and Humbers over 20 years before, except this time the competitors were not from the same manufacturer, or country.
Two statistics probably tell a lot of this story – since 1981, the Mercedes-Benz 190E and its C class successor have gone through 5 distinct and genuinely new generations and sold an average of over 200,000 per year, in a market sector Daimler-Benz were not represented in before 1983; Audi’s first car in the sector was the 1968 Audi 100; the second generation launched in 1976 sold over 900,000 in 6 years. In 11 years from 1986, Rover sold 317,000 800s.
The fastback (or hatchback version) addressed some of the character issues, and the later 2.7 litre Honda engine was an improvement, but it always seemed a losing battle for Rover, somehow.
The 2.7 litre fastback was initially badged as the Rover Vitesse, to carry on from the successful SD1 variant. The fastback range also had a new entry level model – the 2.0 litre O-Series powered Rover 820 – a direct replacement for the SD1 Rover 2000.
In 1991, Rover gave the car an almost compete reskin, updating its appearance quite significantly, keeping just the doors (despite the fact that the tooling was worn and had to replaced anyway) and roof but adding the soon to be familiar chrome grille, and in doing so gave the car considerably more visual presence, at the expense of some of the cleanliness of the original.
The feature car is a Rover 800 2.0 litre saloon, which I’m putting at 1996 based on the passenger airbag. The engine was given some evolutionary development and became known as the T-series. Later, a 2.5 litre V6 version of the Austin-Rover K series engine was fitted, replacing the Honda unit.
Rover also offered a Coupé version, from 1992. This was a car that had no real competitors but it was hard to see what it was for really – it was trimmed like a mini Bentley with top quality materials but still suffered many customary Rover failings. It was also very expensive for what it was. It was originally aimed for the American market, but by the time it came out, the Sterling adventure was long over. This was not commercial success or arguably the image booster Rover hoped for. Let’s just say that the last one I saw was towing a burger van.
But, what happened to the Legend? In 1991, it went into a second generation which was effectively a new car, not a reskin like the Rover. This was replaced in 1995, three years before the Rover 75 replaced the 800 as Rover’s flagship, even if that was a smaller car than the 800. That tells you all you need to know about Rover’s then owner British Aerospace’s investment capability and intentions.
Related reading:
There’s a ropey looking early 90s 800 that I see most mornings on the school run. Frankly I admire their tenacity in keeping it running.
Alan Partridge loved his. ‘Nuff said.
There are a few still running here including a 4 banger that must be that updated O series Ive seen it at wheels on Windsor a few times but the smaller Civic based Rhondas are much more common even the Peugeot diesel powered ones are still in good supply here.
There were several four-cylinder engines: the M16, later the SOHC O-Series, still later the T16 (a cross, more or less between the K-series and the M16), and turbocharged T16s with either 180 or 200 PS. Plus the diesel, of course.
I drove a coupe down to Cornwall once on business. Trimmed in cream with burgundy piping and accents, it felt like a mobile bordello. Perfectly capable, but not a car I yearned for in any way.
“Perhaps the car that best defined the 1970s for the British industry was the 1976 Rover 3500, known as the SD1. It was a car that created a hugely positive impression, and was considered a market leader in several ways, not least styling and performance.” Sadly, the reliability also defined the British industry in the 1970s! But I’d still love to drive one of those again.
The Rover SD1 made my Uncle Will a BMW driver,he had a terrible brand new one in 1976.
This was the beginning of Rover´s end.
Sweet looking cars Rover made during this time period. It’s unforgivable that the build quality was less than what was considered by anyone’s standards to be acceptable.
Roger, thank you. Several days ago I stumbled upon one of the US bound Sterlings and wondered what had happened to the brand. When it was introduced in 1987, I remember being highly intrigued with it.
I find the history of the British automotive industry to be endlessly fascinating, often quite glum, and always entertaining.
The thing I remember most about the Sterling was that Rover was either too cheap or simply overlooked moving the hood release handle to the driver’s side. Apparently this was also an issue in other LHD markets where the 800 was sold.
The wrong side bonnet release is a typical LHD/RHD conversion omission. – we see it all the time in Europe.
The best answer was the Mk1 and 2 Ford Focus – a key operated lock behind the grille badge. No conversion, and less likelihood of the engine being running when the bonnet was popped
Interesting because US-market Focuses had the usual dashboard pull (on the left, of course) with the flaw that it didn’t make the hood pop up noisily or give any other feedback on several used examples I looked at some years ago.
Key operated bonnet lock – I remember seeing that on a Renault 16.
Yeah, I never thought of that until someone mentioned it in relation to some other car on this site.
In the UK, we don’t assume the bonnet release will be driver’s side. It’s passenger side on my Spanish built Mazda.
The issue with the Focus (and with boot lock on many Alfas) is some eejit invariably comes along and rips the badge off.
The other feature, now standard, is that RHD cars in the UJ have the turn signal lever on the left, rather than the right, for consistency of component parts with RHD markets.
You get used to it after 20 years or so
I’m surprised that this is a change. I had always assumed that the turn signal stalk was always on the left, even in RHD markets. You don’t have to mirror image everything, after all.
Easy for me to say, since I don’t have to make the adjustment, but it seems sensible to standardize the whole steering wheel assembly for all markets.
Same in NZ Roger: the majority of our European cars (including most of our Fords) have the indicator lever on the left, and you’re quite correct, after 20 or so years you do get used to it! 😉 Although nowadays it’s second nature to me as my two cars have the indicators on the right (Nissan) and left (Ford Sierra). Swapping from one to the other is auto-pilot – activating said auto-pilot usually involves wiping the windscreen once lol!
@c5karl: if the indicator lever is the same side as the gear lever in a manual car, switching on the indicators whilst changing gear (eg on single/double roundabouts etc) is quite a dark art to inexperienced drivers! I went for my licence in the 1980s in my parents’ Ford Sierra, and the gear change-indicator shuffle was challenging!
Very dangerous having the indicator and gearstick on the same side. Most drivers cope by not using indicators – I avoid European cars.
Thanks, Roger. I’m not sure exactly which models were sold in Australia but do recall observing that, when spotted, they always seemed noticeably less well kept than the corresponding Hondas for some reason. Maybe I’m thinking of the twin to the Integra?
While I’m grateful you for sharing your knowledge, I’m worried that these relentless epics ultimately ending in failure might be detrimental to your mental health.
I’m trying to think of happier tales that need to be told…Triumph Stag, Jaguar XJC, Rover P6B, 3 litre Alvis or RM Riley but they all arrive at dead ends.
To break the cycle, perhaps it’s time to use your powers for the unvarnished truth about Lady Docker. Better not head that entry “Curbside Ladies”. No, don’t do that.
Any hope for my mental condition is appreciated, but probably too late…..;-)
Way too late!
Jim) Are you thinking of the Rover Quintet?
The P6B wasn’t exactly a dead end. Obviously, its U.S. career was short and ignominious, but it was well regarded in the UK and I think still is. The P6 in general was commercially successful almost till the end of the line.
Monzaman:
I disagree, the SD1 started the soon to be steep decline of the Rover car brand. Even many Europeans thought the SD1 was an unreliable and the 800 didn’t improve on that impression. I also believe the 800 was branded as Sterling in the U.S. because the SD1 (as a Rover) sold dismally for the less than 2 years it was sold here. If I remember, less than 2,000 were sold in the U.S.
I think in 25 years I’ve seen 3 or 4 of the 800s on the road. (These were even rare in junkyards.) Yet, about 3 months ago I spotted a very derelict looking 800 a few miles from my house. It looks like a refugee from a demolition derby with a paint job that looks like it came from “rattle cans”.
In fairness, the Acura Legends, which heavily outsold the 800 are also few and far between now. But there are a tiny few still running with mileages that a Rover would never achieve.
of course the SD1 was infamous for its poor build quailty, but it was taken seriously for its technical merits, design, power and economy. It even won the prestigous “car of the year” award in 1976 or 1977 and went on to be built for a lot of years. it was not the flop that many people make it out to be.
The frustrating thing about the SD1 is that it could easily have been a great car. Conceptually, there wasn’t a great deal wrong with it, a few easily resolvable minor points aside. (It could really have used four-wheel discs, especially on the Vitesse.) If it had been better built and more reliable, it could have been a world-beater. Some BL cars were just lame in both concept and execution, but the SD1 was the sort of car you wanted to root for.
“…the SD1 was the sort of car you wanted to root for.”
How many of us buy cars for that reason, to our later regret!
> SD1 was the sort of car you wanted to root for.
Indeed.
My sister had a date with a guy who pulled into our driveway in a brand new Rover 3500, right after they first appeared in the U.S. market. It was a beautiful, imposing car, and can still picture it in my mind’s eye. If you’ve never seen one in person you may not realize it was a pretty big car, and with a V8 under the hood and futuristic styling, this auto-obsessed teen had a new favorite car.
I guess the date didn’t go well, because I never saw the suitor or his Rover again. It’s a darn shame I didn’t ask for a ride around the block that night. I never did ride in one, and, given how scare survivors are, it’s unlikely I ever will.
It is odd how few Legends are left on the road, given their strong sales. As you said most of them left have high mileage, usually from 150,000 often high into the 200,000s (or 500,000+ like Tyson’s). Unless someone really loves them, it’s a hard case to make to put money into repairs on a high mileage, 2+ decade old car.
At least in more recent years, I see most of them driven by teenagers and early-20ish people, who probably don’t take good care of them. After all they are 25 year old cars now. They were also popular with the customization crowd. Sad for me, as I’m obviously a Legend fan.
That’s true of a lot of cars. Last week on here there was a picture of a Probe and I was curious what an ’89 GT is going for since I used to own one and enjoyed it. I couldn’t find any good examples of a GT of that generation for sale with some quick searches.
I think it depends where you are. I see first-generation Legends around here all the time (although I was never able to corner one for pictures). I’ve seen at least six this year.
There’s still a decent number here. I’ve shot both sedans and coupes.
The French one in the post is the first I’ve seen for a long time
The Legend was much scarcer in Europe in general, and was kind of a commercial disappointment in Japan as well. The bulk of the first-generation cars went to the States.
funny how people will listen to every word a few Brits say about cars, even though their industry couldn’t make any worth a damn.
Years ago I saw a TV-interview with a British engineer. He said the British were very good when limited production numbers were involved (McLaren Formula 1 and sports cars, anyone ?) but things often went very wrong when it came to mass-production.
Nevertheless, Japanese automakers have (large) production facilities in the UK since many years.
I always thought it peculiar that Britain’s cottage car-industry has persisted. That the Japanese have successful factories there suggests that Britain’s problems have been managerial all along, which was in essence the same thing W. E. Deming told Ford when they [finally] sought his advice on quality control.
When management treats workers, in Victorian fashion, as nothing more than mindless drones, no wonder trade unions get traction.
Trade unions have essentially zero “traction” in the UK, unlike in Germany, which is still a major motor manufacturing country.
I’ve worked in 3 countries, and moronic management is still an epidemic in the UK, not limited to the car industry, and I am starting to suspect that it is a legacy of the class system.
When I read about the epic mismanagement of BL, it all sounds very familiar.
Spot on buddy them and us the British disease.
Nissan in one factory in the UK produce more cars (Qashqai, Juke, Leaf and Note) than the whole of…….
…….Italy
Which would you rather have..the output of the Italian plants or Nissan Sunderland???
Answers on a postcard…usual address. 🙂
Italian quality is legendary – or should that be mythical? 😉
In the US the resale value on Sterlings was just horrible, probably amongst the worst ever. How anyone can screw up a Honda so badly is beyond me. Hopeless. Not only that but it managed to be the worst of both worlds- both bland and shoddy.
Excellent write-up Roger. I’ve read into this car a lot before, largely because of its relation to the Legend, and it’s always captivated me.
The exterior styling – both the original and facelifted versions – I find very attractive. The coupe is especially well-proportioned. The interiors of these cars were no question more lavish then the Legend’s.
It’s really a shame they didn’t sell better, especially in the U.S. Despite the relationship with Honda, somehow BL found a way to screw up its quality.
I do have a first-year Rover Sterling brochure with a list of dealers. Interestingly, there was one, “Best Sterling”, next to the shopping center (which didn’t exist til 2004) where I used to work at Whole Foods in Hingham, MA. Best Chevrolet has been there since the ’50s. It seems like an odd brand to add to their franchise, but Hingham is historically one of the wealthiest towns in Massachusetts, so I guess they were trying to entice import luxury car buyers.
I know these very well, my father had four of them during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. The one I specifically remember was the last one, which he got new in 1992, the facelifed version featured in the first couple of pictures.
It was picked up on 1 August as a brand new J plate registration. The steering wheel had not been fitted correctly, so that the steering wheel was off centre when the wheels were straight. It was picked up on the PDI (Pre Delivery Inspection) but the garage did nothing about it.
Following day we headed off on a tour round Germany. The car drew crowds everywhere it went, as the Germans had not seen it before, but it almost fell apart due to the poor roads of the former East Germany. We got coaught in a hail storm outside of Kobenz which left minor dents in the roof. When we got back, the rear subframe and suspension components had to be replaced.
After 2 years he made a change to a 1993 Vauxhall Cavalier 4×4 non-turbo, a rare car indeed. The change in quality and driving dynamics was light and day. My father was glad he made the move.
Thanks for another great read Roger,CC effect strikes again as I’ve seen a silver coupe and a dark blue fastback both in good condition.A step up from the bad old days of BL but still below acceptable standards of build quality and reliability compared to the opposition.
BaE has an American operation firewalled from its British management so it can do US-Only stuff; paranoid America is more lucrative than parsimonious Europe. So there’s a British success story in the US.
Nice write-up. I always was a huge fan of the exterior and interior styling of the first generation 800 (Sterling). I still think it has aged very well, especially the hatchback which we received in limited numbers over here. We never got the coupe, obviously.
The second generation Rover 800 looks a lot more like a Honda, weird, that.
Although Rover decided not to pick up the second-generation Legend, Rover was still heavily involved with Honda in terms of product development, so that’s not wholly surprising. Cheaper Rovers of the time were also Honda-based, Rover grille or no.
Those were everywhere in the UK when I lived there in the early 90s; when I left to Austria (2002) they were becoming extinct in droves. I think the one lasting impression I get from the many dodos (or almost dodos) covered by CC is that the main thing that caused their downfall was lack of reliability. An uninspiring car can go a long way if it is dead reliable – to wit, the Toyota Corolla and many others of that ilk. What though amazes me is that Rover should have known by that time the US market was very different from the one in which its predecessors (including Austin, MG et al) sold cars in the 50s… They really ought to have known better, wait a year or two and work all the bugs out. It might have ended differently.
> the US market was very different from the one in which its predecessors (including Austin, MG et al) sold cars in the 50s
Even in the 70s, English brands had success selling sports cars stateside, but we never got B-L’s mainstream sedans here. Maybe that was part of the problem for Sterling. They thought their experience selling Spitfires and MGBs would translate to luxury sedans.
There were two problems with that. First, a roadster is probably someone’s second car, and if it requires extra attention to keep it running, that can be written off as part of its charm.
But perhaps more importantly, the B-L dealer body in the U.S. was made up of tiny little dealerships crammed into small lots in older parts of town, far away from the big auto malls springing up in the suburbs. Toyotas and Hondas were being sold out of big, gleaming new dealerships with modern service bays. Sterlings were being sold by guys in plaid sportjackets.
So even if the Sterlings had Honda-like reliability, they would have been handicapped by not having Honda-like dealerships selling them.
Thank you for this – I did not know about the dealership set-up Rover had in the US; it could not have helped matters.
Phil L.
About a year ago I was driving in north central Florida, just exploring areas I had not seen in years, when I came across a 1st gen Probe. I could see it was NOT a GT, but it turned out to be a LX with a V6 and automatic. I was really excited by this car as it had less than 100K miles on it and looked rust-free. It drove decently, though the “odd” controls and digital instrument panel were a bit hard to de-cipher. I would have bought it if it hadn’t been in the middle of nowhere and / or I had been able to get a ride to the small town it was in. “Icing on the cake?” It was being sold by a charity….no sales taxes.
BTW, cars get all their awards VERY early in their “lives”. That the SD1 was a “Car of the Year” makes it’s decline all that more regrettable. And in this country, the Chevrolet Vega was also similarly awarded.
Heh, I had forgotten about the digital instrument panels, mine was analog. Call it an unforturnate side effect of growing up in the 80’s, but I have always yearned for a digital dashboard!
I found a GT Turbo forum and after looking around a bit decided it would be too much effort to maintain even if I did find one. Not that I was all that serious about buying another, but it’s still a bit disappointing to find that out about a car you once loved.
“The car had a gestation that was at times fairly heated, as the competing and contradictory requirements of Rover and Honda had to be settled.”
You mean Honda wanted to put a new product on the market and get ready to start in on its’ successor with a due date only four years further along while Rover wanted to dither for a decade and then throw together something from the parts bin?
“…keeping just the doors (despite the fact that the tooling was worn and had to replaced anyway)”
What is it with that company and their carryover doors!?! There’s no better way to destroy design cohesion and make an otherwise thorough redesign look like a cheap facelift than doors a generation older than everything else.
Seriously, BMC/BL/Rover was even more bureaucratic and less capable of learinng from past mistakes than GM, and this is a specific example since at least the GM-badged NUMMI cars were as reliable as their brand-name Toyota counterparts.
Just amazing so many carmakers never figured out ” You never get a second chance to make a first impression” Put out a crapbox first year, then scramble to fix while sales are falling faster than lead balloons. Company run by buffoons?
A beautiful write-up once again Roger, on an underwhelming and overlooked car.
Are there any plans to do a requiem for the Rover 600? It was a very pleasing design, and while I don’t know if it was any more reliable than the 800, it was the only Rover Group product I frequently encountered during a trip to London back in 2008.
I havea 600 in the skunk works….
These are still beautiful cars to me, a friend had one in high school being 6 years old, it was in immaculate shape, but it was nowhere near as reliable as my 17 year old ’76 Chevelle, but then again that Chevelle was pretty time-worn and ugly compared to the Sterling 800 he had. He didn’t keep it very long, and got a nearly new Miata instead.
Great-looking cars in my opinion, especially the hatchback (which I don’t think we ever got in America). If the quality had been up to par, I think it would have been a runaway success here, but…as has been said before, only Rover can screw up Honda engineering that badly.
We did get the hatchback, although sales-wise, it was more or less DOA.
I remember quite well when the Sterling had it’s debut in the States. The prevailing opinion seemed to be that a buyer would get all of the good parts of having a British car, but that it would be completely trouble-free because it was a Honda.
In the U.S. at that time, the word “Japanese” was golden for the under age 45 demographic, and any car that was Japanese was presumed to be perfect. In retrospect, I think we were oversold on just how “Japanese” the design really was, because it turned out that the flaws expected of British cars were on full display.
I wonder how these might have been different had they been pure Honda in engineering and manufacturing, only with British leather and wood interiors and perhaps British styling. The Rover half of the venture would certainly have felt slighted, but they would probably have sold a lot of cars in the U.S.
I was just a bit to young and poor to be the initial demographic for this car, but I do recall that there seemed to be a lot of publicity around the Sterling, and in some ways 17K+ initial sales is pretty remarkable for a new premium price brand with an odd pedigree. Your thoughts on how the car was perceived by the buyer demographic have to be spot on. The minute the word unreliable came near this car, there was no reason to consider it.
The lead photo of the 1996 version is actually rather handsome. The Sterling we got was pretty utilitarian – efficient in a Japanese car sort of way, but not very compelling for a premium price.
Hondas of this era seemed ok and trouble free until about 180km then everything goes wrong, though some like a friends mothers car spent much time having issues sorted when new but has been trouble free since, she refuses to get rid of it now because its become reliable, ele4ctrical issues are a “Legend thing”.
Inspector Barnaby’s ride from Midsomer Murders!
At one time I had a Rover 3500S, a 1970 model. It was a beautiful and totally unreliable car in the finest British tradition.
my wife really
A friend of a friend had a Sterling in North Dakota. The fuel mileage was spectacular… the nearest dealer was in Colorado, so whenever it broke down they sent a flatbed to pick it up, take it for repairs and return it again. Many miles were covered without the Sterling’s tank ever needing to be filled.
Frantically Googles map of US states to find – oh. Great dealer network!
That Rover was often seen on British TV cop dramas, but only driven by those of Chief Inspector rank or higher!
Well that’s not how they were used – they were quite popular as highway patrol cars.
Excellent summary of a once-familiar car on our roads Roger, thank you! Actually, although no longer familiar, they’re still about – and dirt cheap on trademe too. I don’t know what the sedan:hatch:coupe sales split was, but a remarkably large percentage of our 800s are coupes.
I wasn’t able to find a sales breakdown, but the five-door did quite well in Europe, probably pretty comparable to the sedan. The coupe was not particularly successful. The British and German magazines were extremely critical of the chassis, the coupe was very expensive, and at launch it was available only with the V-6 (except in Italy, I believe). It was a shame because it was very pretty had a nice interior — had it had the chassis and engine from the later (post-BMW-acquisition) Vitesse, which was also a bunch cheaper — it probably would have done okay.
I´d say there is a Roy Axe style these cars: it is about the use of horizontal lines and flattish surfaces. It is evident Axe was a good and competent studio manager and must have been adept inside the business where instability rules. What he wasn´t was particularly orginal though you could say the kinds of companies who wanted Roy Axe´s capabilties did not want outré design. So, on balance, he was a successful designer with a lot of products to his name. You can only respect such endurance in a difficult industry which is known for chewing up and spitting out talented people in short order.
Turning to the 800 itself: it´s a rather bland but effective bit of contemporary design, derivative of the SD1 rather than adding much new other than bodyside feature lines.
The Rover 800 was one of the most disappointing new cars of my lifetime. I first heard of it from one of my university dormitory mates who subscribed to British-market car magazines like CAR and let me read them. I was ecstatic about the upcoming 800/Sterling, as my uncle had a nice 3500 P6 I occasionally got to ride in. The new car had a gorgeous interior of the sort only the British seemed to get right. I new it shared some of its engineering with Honda which had just brought forth the well-engineered but sterile Legend, which was also sold under an odd new brand name in the U.S. (Acura). The 800 seemed more luxurious, with loads of (real) wood trim, full instrumentation (including oil pressure and volts) bathed in red at night, multi-adjustment power seats on both sides, power reclining rear seats too, C-pillar windows for better outward visibility than the Legend, and other nice tweaks that set it apart and made it superior to the Honda. There was also a hatchback on the way for a more SD1-like appearance and improved practicality.
The early American advertising played up the Honda tie-in. British elegance and interior design, Japanese engines and transmissions, what could go wrong? Instead, we got Japanese style and British reliability. Just about everything that wasn’t made by Honda quickly fell apart. The interior couldn’t withstand high temperatures in California or the South and parts became brittle or changed color. Electronics went flaky. It’s amazing to think this car lasted through 1999 in the UK; in the US it was washed out by 1981.
I do think Rover should have at least given the 800 one last push for 1992. I never understood why they didn’t call the cars Rovers from the beginning; Rover was not a tainted name in the U.S., rather it was an unknown name having only sold about 1800 SD1s and a few thousand P6 cars annually in the early ’70s and before. Say “Rover” to an American an they’ll think you mean the Range Rover or Land Rover off-roaders (still often called “Rovers” here). The Rover cars were forgotten and had no rep good or bad amongst most people. Anyway, by 1991 their cars were advertised as STERLING by ROVER with the intention to drop the Sterling idendification in 1992, whose rep was by then shot. I think the revised ’92s would have done better in America for a year or two but then sales would start sinking again. The new flanks were smoother, more modern, and less 80s economy car. The new grille was more like what what Americans thought British luxury cars should look like. The coupe would undoubtedly make a splash at first, but larger luxury coupe sales were dwindling in the ’90s. The 800 always seemed a bit narrow for its length. Maybe if they combined Rover dealers with Land Rover/Range Rover dealers, they would have survived in the States. There were plans to bring over the beautiful Rover 75 in 1999 (another car I salivated over) that looked like a mini-Bentley to my eyes, but that quickly fell through; I planned to buy one.
The most disappointing car in my lifetime was the Citroen C5 Mk1 which, 20 years later continues to annoy me even though it´s just a car. Your idea of “most disappointing car in my lifetime” is a good one and, yes, the Rover 800 runs the C5 a very close second. The British car magazine adored the versions with grilles which came along towards the end of the 90s and were really a dead end for the brand. Disappointment number 3 is the GM Saab 900 which remains another frustrating car. I am also ticked off with the Peugeot 206 which is a blob with horrible bulges around the side mirrors, aping the Chevy Camaro of a few years earlier. I really despise those cars whereas the 406 of a year or two later is just superb (I run one, inherited not actively purchased).
Alan Partridge’s ride of choice, that pretty much sums it up.
Well 6 years after I last commented on this article and an acquaintance made since then has a ’96ish Rover 800 which he loves. He’s had it since new and it’s now his second car (his ‘good’ car is a near-new Jag XJ). He keeps it because in 25 years, nothing’s ever gone wrong with it. Even though it lives outside (the Jag and Mondeo live in the garage) it’s in mint condition and just keeps going (it commutes 2-300km each week) without complaint. Having said that, he’s fully aware it’s worth nothing, and he only keeps it because it’s so reliable…