Mondeo vs Octavia vs Rover 75

colm_mcm

it's small enough alright, snug even. but it's all very tasteful!

Do-more

R.O.R wrote:

The Octavia 1.4 is underpowered. Cracking car, large, well specced, reasonably priced, massive boot, but the engine isn't enough to pull a Golf along and the Octavia is a larger car.

Because of the styling, I suppose, most people percieve the Octavia to be based on the Passat floorpan, when in fact the Golf and Octavia share the same underpinnings.

The kerb weight of the Golf 1.4 is 1323kgs and the Octavia is 1230kgs.

But agreed both are woefully under powered.

Dilbert75

I'd imagine you're having a difficult time with that decision.

Personally I'd probably only get the Rover if it was a diesel - supposed to be a lovely car in that guise.

The Mondeo is, as everyone knows, the class of its sector in many ways. Handles well, very nippy in Zetec (haven't driven the lx), solid, reliable, parts are cheap, dealers everywhere.

As an Octavia driver (1.6), I can see a lot of benefits. As another poster said, the boot is just monstrous. (You should have seen my boss's face when he tugged his little squashy bag from his Lexus IS200 and put it into the boot of my Octy - it must be the size of his boot and back seat put together). They are nippy enough. Dealers everywhere - some VW garages double up as Skoda parts/service agents. I get 40-41mpg on my daily drive. Its solid on the road - I drive to work on a very exposed route and feel a lot safer in my Octy than in many other cars.

I'd suggest that you keep an eye out for all three. Sooner or later a really good deal will arise on one of the cars - when it does, grab it whichever one it is.

Padraig Mor

3ps wrote:

isn't the 75 supposed to be kindof cramped for it's size?

Plenty of space in the front. People says the back is a small bit cramped but it seems pretty average to me.

Re the Club spec - this adds dual zone climate control for definite and maybe a few other goodies along the lines of larger alloys, front fogs etc.

On a side note I received my new (well, second hand) half wood steering wheel for my 75 today so I should soon have a dash like this

colm_mcm

timber-tastic!

commited

My old man is selling this if you're interested in the far nicer and far more reliable 2.0V6 model.
http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=6346 - 2.0V6 club
Only selling as he upgraded to an S-type - the only car he could find with similar levels of comfort.
Price is negotiable. PM me if you want more info/wanna come for a look

colm_mcm

nice car commited.

commited

Cheers - I'd buy it myself, but I just got a company car!

unkel

commited wrote:

My old man is selling this if you're interested in the far nicer and far more reliable 2.0V6 model.
http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=6346 - 2.0V6 club
Only selling as he upgraded to an S-type - the only car he could find with similar levels of comfort.
Price is negotiable. PM me if you want more info/wanna come for a look

Nice car, committed. But even a 1.8 is pushing it for insurance reasons / running costs

Anyway, I got one!

Same colour as yours, an '01 1.8 Club with 63k miles for €6k, after a heavy session of negotiations :cool:

Serviced as yours in Ryan's of Blanchardstown where it got a new HG and a new belt in '03 and '04. It's exactly the same spec as yours too

Padraig Mor wrote:

Plenty of space in the front. People says the back is a small bit cramped but it seems pretty average to me

Exactly. If an Octavia was big enough for our needs, then the 75 sure is too. The back is only going to be for small kids anyway

eamon234

What about a 1.6 Octavia? Rover 75 is one of the worst cars ever built plus it has absolutely no resale value not to mention the company doesn't exist anymore. A mate of mine was dumb enough to buy one and it was a nightmare. I wouldn't touch a Mondeo unless it's diesel the petrols aren't great.
I have a 1.6 Octavia it's the best car I've ever had and I've pretty much driven them all in this range. It's certainly the best value for money of the three and the resale values have gone up in the past few years.

Padraig Mor

eamon234 wrote:

Rover 75 is one of the worst cars ever built .

Legions of car enthusiasts and car magazines would disagree with you - but what would they know eh?

TCP/IP

eamon234 wrote:

What about a 1.6 Octavia? Rover 75 is one of the worst cars ever built plus it has absolutely no resale value not to mention the company doesn't exist anymore. A mate of mine was dumb enough to buy one and it was a nightmare. I wouldn't touch a Mondeo unless it's diesel the petrols aren't great.
I have a 1.6 Octavia it's the best car I've ever had and I've pretty much driven them all in this range. It's certainly the best value for money of the three and the resale values have gone up in the past few years.

Eamon have you ever driven a 75 the ride quality is so far ahead of the other cars mentioned here

maidhc

unkel wrote:

Anyway, I got one!

Best of luck with it!

unkel

maidhc wrote:

Best of luck with it!

Cheers, maidhc

Had a wee spin in it tonight and I must say I liked it. A lot of car for the money. 6 grand is about what one pays for a '99 1.4 Golf in this country these days :eek:

Here's a pic:

mike65

Honk if you see the old man in his carraige!

Mike.

Webmonkey

I am glad to see that rover is getting some positive comments here - It is a change. It is a well under rated brand.
As for parts, xparts done a contract last year stating they producing parts for next 10 years. Plus SIAC in china are re-building the Rover 75 and NAC china will be coming uot with MG's early next year.
Some of you might like to check out http://forums.mg-rover.org

Congrats unkel - lovely car. Now i must start saving for my next car

overdriver

My girlfriend LOVES the Rover 75. Bets of luck with it!

unkel

overdriver wrote:

My girlfriend LOVES the Rover 75.

Yeah same thing with Mrs unkel. She just loves the looks of it. Can't say I blame her. It is a sound car in the looks / drives department

mike65 wrote:

Honk if you see the old man in his carraige!

I'm still big V8 BMW, Mike. And unlike yourself, I'm not yet very old

RobAMerc

I cannot believe that a car thats not made anymore by a company that doesnt exist anymore which when it did exist built rubbish that everyone whos had one has had trouble with gets the thumbs up from some people here, when mention of an Alfa has some people queing to knock it.
Sorry m8 - I would not touch the 75, there is a reason the company went tits up, they dont make great cars. Its cheap now but wait till no dealer in Ireland wants to take it as a trade in and you have to keep checking the phone to see if its working when you advertise it coz even your friends aint ringing anymore.
Dont be bought by the wood etc, the Mondeo and Octivia will be better long term purchases.

Mailman

A Rover 75 with 63K miles on it at €6000 is good for another 70,000 miles so it'll be a long time before you have to present it to a dealer for trade-in.
15,000 service intervals. Get the Head Gasket fixed by a mechanic who knows what they are doing and use the right coolant and it should be reliable there after.
The other good thing about buying a Rover 75 is that they are generally well cared for by previous owners, driven carefully and kept clean. They attract a certain type of owner and this is reflected in how clean secondhand examples are.
There is very good after sales support in the form of the forums at mg-rover.org.

I've just purchased a 2.5 V6 Auto Rover 75 Connisseur myself.

unkel

RobAMerc wrote:

Its cheap now but wait till no dealer in Ireland wants to take it as a trade in

Did you read the thread at all? I don't care about trade in or reselling. If the car does 16k over the next 4 years blowing its HG once more and it is worthless at the end of those 4 years, I'll be happy.

Mailman wrote:

I've just purchased a 2.5 V6 Auto Rover 75 Connisseur myself.

Best of luck with it

And indeed the forums you mention are very good

Webmonkey

RobAMerc wrote:

I cannot believe that a car thats not made anymore by a company that doesnt exist anymore which when it did exist built rubbish that everyone whos had one has had trouble with gets the thumbs up from some people here, when mention of an Alfa has some people queing to knock it.
Sorry m8 - I would not touch the 75, there is a reason the company went tits up, they dont make great cars. Its cheap now but wait till no dealer in Ireland wants to take it as a trade in and you have to keep checking the phone to see if its working when you advertise it coz even your friends aint ringing anymore.
Dont be bought by the wood etc, the Mondeo and Octivia will be better long term purchases.

What are you talking about?

The main reason why the company went down is because of the management, they didn't care less about the company. The Rovers K-Series engien is no doubt a high maintenance engine but when its running good it really is a superb engine. 103BHP out of a 1.4? Can't go wrong with that mate. A deadly nippy engine - an engine that is safe to rev to its limiter (as long as it is well heated up). 0 - 60 in just 10.8 seconds. Most 1.6's couldn't even do that. Beautiful Roar out of the engines.

It just needs some care and attention (which all cars should really) but most people don't care to check oil/coolent levels weekly at all, they just wait for service. With Rovers you cannot afford to do this as coolant system so low capacity, any minor leak can lead to overheating thus why there are so many HG Failures.

I had the HG go on my own rover there about 2 months ago, - I stupidly never bothered checking the coolant level for a few weeks and little did i know the coolant was leaking. Found out it was coming from thermostat housing. This lead to over heating and HGF.
Changing the HG isn't a big deal after all, I done it myself with no previous mechanical knowledge in a day. All you need is the new gaset with steel dowels, torque wrench and a bit of common sense. Not such a big deal as long as you don't drive around with it overheating - they you get problems with heads cracking but after all it is a light aluminium engine (only 95kg) so it can't take the heat and that is your fault if you dont' keep an eye on the heat guage.

Ne ways end of my rant.

commited

Nice car unkel

How does it compare to the 7 series for comfort?

unkel

commited wrote:

How does it compare to the 7 series for comfort?

Not really fair on the 75 to be compared with my 735, but here goes:

For starters 4 pot vs V8, cloth vs nappa leather, manual vs steptronic auto. The road handling of the 735 is exceptionally good for such a large car. The 735 is several sizes bigger and has modern goodies like electric everything, traction control, cruise control, automatic rain sensors, park distance control all around and of course a colour LCD television :cool:

On the other hand it shows that the 735 is 10 years old and the 75 only 5 years old. The 75 has side airbags and automatic dual zone climate control where the 735 has manual dual zone air conditioning

commited

I meant ride quality, noise level, seat comfort etc?

The 75 isnt too far behind the S-type in terms of comfort from what I've found so far.

JHMEG

Are the steering wheel and large parts of the interior really white in the Rover 75?

overdriver

Looks grey to me. Quite a few of the Rover 75's I see around here are driven by Mammies - load of kids in the back, job's a gud 'un. I'd say he got real value there, all things considered.

gyppo

Best of luck with the 75 Unkel! Looks like you got a nice one.

unkel

commited wrote:

I meant ride quality, noise level, seat comfort etc?

The 75 isnt too far behind the S-type in terms of comfort from what I've found so far.

I've only driven it for a wee bit yet, but the car is quiet, except when the engine is revved high. Ride quality and seat comfort are good. It is a nice place to be, much nicer than a repmobile such as a Vectra / Avensis / Mondeo. As soon as I sat in it for the first time and drove it, there was a feeling of a well put together, comfortable car. Even luxurious

gyppo wrote:

Best of luck with the 75 Unkel! Looks like you got a nice one.

Cheers. It looked a bit scruffy (especially inside) but cleaned up nicely after a €35 mini-valet