Rover 75
The Rover 75 is a large family car which was manufactured from 1998 to 2005 by the British Rover marque. There are two body styles — a four-door saloon car and a five-door estate car. Initially built only with front-wheel drive, a rear-wheel-drive variant with a V8 engine was later sold. There was also an extended-wheelbase model. In 2001, MG Rover launched a badge engineered variant, the MG ZT. A coupé concept was built, but did not receive further development.
Rover 75s were manufactured by the Rover Group at Cowley, Oxfordshire for one year. After owner BMW sold Rover, the 75 was manufactured by the new MG Rover Group at their Longbridge site in Birmingham. The Rover 75 debuted at the Birmingham Motor Show, with deliveries commencing in February 1999. As the last large Rover saloon, production of all models ended in 2005 when MG Rover Group entered receivership.
History
The Rover 75 started life as part of a group of three new designs for the company under the guidance of Richard Woolley; a large saloon codenamed Flagship, a smaller vehicle, and the 75. Of these only the 75 concept progressed. The initial aim was to reskin the Rover 600 but following the BMW takeover in 1994, it was quickly decided that this platform would not be reused but replaced by an entirely new model, scheduled for launch in the late 1990s.Work on the new model, codenamed R40, progressed with little operational interference from BMW; the styling received an enthusiastic response from the management and both companies believed the classical look would be the ideal direction for Rover. Advanced design processes included 3D virtual reality assembly simulations.
The Rover 75 debuted at the Birmingham Motor Show on 20 October 1998 and went on sale until 17 June 1999 having been extensively tested by the motoring press.
The 75 featured a range of petrol and diesel engines from 1.8- to 2.5-litre sizes. Petrol engines provided were Rover's four-cylinder K series in 1.8-litre guise and the quad cam KV6, offered in either short-stroke 2.0 or revised 2.5-litre formats. The 2.0-litre was later dropped on introduction of the 1.8-litre turbo for emissions purposes. A diesel engine was provided through BMW Group channels. Engineered by Rover Group and Steyr engineers for transverse mounting, the 4-cylinder M47R differed from M47D20 engines found in the E46 3 Series and E39 5 Series by featuring a direct injection common-rail system, different turbocharger and more sophisticated systems for temperature management.
Transmissions on all models were either the Getrag 283 5-speed manual, supplied from the company's new facility in Bari, Italy, or the JATCO 5-speed automatic unit — one of the first transverse engine deployments made with this feature.
Disc brakes at all four wheels were augmented by a Bosch 5.7 4-channel ABS system and electronic brake force distribution. The parking brake was a cable operated drum integral within the rear discs.
Suspension was via front MacPherson struts, anchored by alloy lower L-arms and widely spaced mounting points. The rear suspension was a version of BMW's Z-Axle arrangement used on the 1988 Z1 sports car.
The 75 won a series of international awards.
Assembly originally took place at Cowley but in 2000, following the sale of the company by BMW to Phoenix Venture Holdings, production was moved to Longbridge in Birmingham, England. 2001 saw the introduction of the Rover 75 Tourer, swiftly followed by the MG ZT and MG ZT-T, more sporting interpretations of the model, differentiated by modified, sporting chassis settings and colour and trim derivatives. Between 2000 and 2003, there were few changes to the range: the most significant was the replacement of the 2-litre V6 engine by a low-pressure-turbocharged version of the 1.8-litre, four-cylinder engine. The introduction of the 'greener' 1.8-litre turbo greatly benefited British company car drivers who are taxed on carbon dioxide emissions. A customisation programme, Monogram, was launched, allowing buyers to order their car in a wider range of exterior paint colours and finishes, different interior trims and with optional extras installed during production. Rather surprisingly, the 75 was offered for sale in Mexico, making it the first Rover to be sold in the Americas since the Sterling.
From June 2002, a factory-approved dual-fuel petrol/liquid petroleum gas conversion was available in the UK on 1.8 and 2.5-litre models. The LPG conversion was an after-market undertaking approved by MG Rover. Developed by EcoGas Systems Ltd and Landi Renzo S.R.L. in conjunction with MG Rover Powertrain Limited, the conversion was ordered from Rover dealerships, the cars retaining the three-year factory warranty. The retail price of the conversion was £2,195, but in an effort to encourage LPG use for transport, for ecological reasons, the UK Government offered a Powershift Rebate of some 60% of the conversion cost. When running on LPG, the Rover 75 suffers only a slight reduction in performance compared to running on petrol; LPG fuel consumption is also slightly higher than when running on petrol but this is more than offset by the greatly reduced cost of the fuel.
Tourer
Rover released the Ian Callum designed station wagon/estate bodystyle of the 75, called Tourer, in July 2001. The tailgate featured an optional opening rear glass section. The load space was up to 1,480 mm wide and 2,060 mm long. With the seats up there is 400 to 680 litres of cargo space, and with the seats folded down there is 1,222 litres available.| Vehicle | Saloon | Estate |
| Rover 75 | 432 L | 400 L - 1,222 L |
| Alfa Romeo 156 | 378 L | 360 L - 1,180 L |
| Audi A4 | 440 L | 390 L - 1,250 L |
| Jaguar X-Type | 452 L | 465 L - 1,415 L |
| Lexus IS | 400 L | 343 L - 1,000 L |
| Mercedes-Benz C-Class | 430 L | 465 L - 1,510 L |
| SAAB 9-3 | 425 L | 419 L - 1,273 L |
Self-levelling rear suspension and an integral load restraint system were optional for the Tourer. Up to 100 kg can be loaded onto the roof, and the rear sill has a height of 544 mm. Four hinged chrome lashing eyes are fitted to the floor, and oddment stowage compartments and two recessed hooks are located in the side walls.
Long Wheelbase
A stretched version of the Rover 75 — initially called Vanden Plas was introduced in 2002. Developed in conjunction with vehicle builder in Walsall, England, the model was stretched by 200 mm in the rear floor pan and altering the rear doors. Available only in Connoisseur specification, its production moved to Longbridge after an initial short run by MacNeillie. The 75 was a ministerial car in the British Government, Tony Blair having official use of one while he was Prime Minister. Alistair Darling was seen in a long wheelbase Rover 75.Rover 75 V8
Rover announced a V8 model at the 2004 Geneva Motor Show. This was the second iteration of the rear-wheel-drive platform developed from the front-wheel-drive Rover 75 platform by MG Rover, following the MG ZT 260, introduced in 2003. It was the first V8-engined Rover since the demise of the Rover SD1 in 1986. The platform was extensively re-engineered for the 4.6 litre version of the Ford Modular engine and rear-wheel-drive, including a stiffened tunnel and bespoke rear suspension.As with the ZT 260, the 75 V8 was built on the standard production line, removed to allow the necessary structural modifications and installation of the V8 drivetrain, then returned to the line for final trim. Instead of the MG ZT 260's Tremec TR-3650 manual gearbox, the Rover 75 V8 featured Ford's 4R75W 4-speed automatic transmission. Other features included non-standard heating and ventilation, revised brakes and suspension, quad exhaust pipes, special badging, and a "premium" front bumper featuring a deeper grille. 166 were produced in both saloon and tourer body styles, compared with 717 MG ZT 260s, for a total of 883 V8 cars.
A heavily modified MG ZT-T V8, known as the X-15 broke the speed record for a non-production estate car on Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, U.S., in September 2003, achieving. The engine was bored out to 6 litres, producing, but remained normally aspirated.