ALL THE CARS I’VE EVER BOUGHT
Used car addict Keith looks back at his best – and worst – classic buys. This week, a Rover 800 Coupé bought for peanuts and brought back to rude health
WHY DID I WANT ONE?
One thing you may have noticed is that I am a bit of a serial car buyer – and more than that, I tend to go back to what I like. That might explain why I’ve owned three out of the four types of Rover 800 Coupé – the Honda V6, the four-cylinder Vitesse turbo and the KV6-powered one. Of the three, I would say that the Honda is the one to have if you want reliability, while the Vitesse Turbo had more than enough dynamics to keep you amused in the bends. The KV6 800 Coupé was more of an oddity – its engine was far sportier than the Honda’s and its steering set-up was a real joy, being communicative and nicely weighted. So, in theory it combined some of the Honda’s V6 attitude with most of the Vitesse’s excellent dynamics. Then fellow Rover enthusiast, Craig Cheetham, offered me one for beer money – how could I possibly refuse?
WAS IT A JOY – OR A NIGHTMARE – TO LIVE WITH?
To be fair, I didn’t really know what to expect. Craig had said it had one or two running issues but was cosmetically spot on. I soon fell in love with it as I drove it back home, appreciating its growling V6 but ever mindful of its reputation for being something of a ticking time bomb, by keeping a hawk’s eye on the instrument cluster. The drive passed uneventfully and I started to relax (and give it some beans) as home hoved into view. And slight misfire aside quickly realised that the KV6 engine is a proper gem, revving gloriously and delivering more than enough performance to keep me amused. In terms of servicing, I ended up changing three coil packs before twigging that the actual problem was the waterlogged spark plugs on the transverse V6 engine’s rear bank. And boy were they a pig to change – I had to dismantle a fair bit of the car’s air intake system to gain access.
WHAT’S YOUR ABIDING MEMORY OF IT?
This car never really let me down once the niggles were serviced out and the paint buffed to perfection although I wasn’t too confident about the JATCO automatic transmission, which would sometimes refuse to go into top gear. But it did what all 800 Coupés do while I had it – it made me feel like a million pounds thanks to its wonderfully cosseting interior, fabulous driver’s seat and willing performance. The wonderful styling was something of a bonus, too, with a curvaceousness denied by the rather boxy-looking 800 saloon and fastback. Unlike my previous 800s, in which I’d undertaken some amazing European journeys, this one
