Rover 75 as a daily??

The diesel in the 75 is a slightly de-tuned BMW 320d engine and there's quite a lot of BMW bits on early 75's. I think all the v6's (2.0 and 2.5) are quite reliable and smooth. The 2.0v6 was replaced by a 1.8 turbo in later days to bring the C02 down and mpg up.
The normal and turbo 1.8's are the weak link in the engine line up thanks the K-series's well documented cooling system problems and love of blowing head gaskets.
The 1.8's are terrifyingly cheap (£3000 for an 05 plate).
Even the v6 ZT's are going for less than 2 grand.

dude, not a Rover 75. daily retro FTW!

They seem like good cars, My wife's uncle brought one for a bargain price last year of his neighbor for the same price a garage had offered him against a Part-x,

It's a 55-Reg 2.0 CDTi with 40k and he paid £2700 for it!! Bargain!

He's not had any problems yet and uses it to tow his shed behind and reckons it's great.

Nearly brought a MGZt Diesel once, Nice bars.

A mate's mum had about 4 from new for about 3-4 years a time. They didn't really give any trouble at all. They had a 1.8, a 1.8T, then a ZT-T 160 (V6) and a ZT 190.

The early 190s had a problem of eating cams due to them being too soft, but besides that they didn't have any real issues.

HGs do go in them I admit (He bought a Rover 218VVC with a HG gone, and it turned out to be a cracked piston). It went in his previous Rover 216, and in a mate's 214. His 216 worked for well over a year (and it still does) after the HG change.

The key thing to do is to look for one fitted with the Land Rover HG kit which has a good gasket and metal dowels. Apparently Payen kits are also a safe bet. Furthermore, using decent antifreeze (IMO, there is no excuse now, when you consider that 5 year (red stuff) works out to about £1 more over 5 litres (with Rover's small capacity it won't even be that), and to keep on top of coolant changes. Note how Elises don't seem to suffer as much (I'm not saying they're invulnerable, but it certainly gives you an idea of how different owners treat them (urrgh, it's a Rover...)).

That last point brings me to my final point. The decent HGs cost more than the cheaper ones, and well, considering how much Rovers are worth you can see where I am going with this...

I've had one mate of mine saying how his HGs kept on blowing on all of his Rovers, yet the ones my other mate did (mentioned in this post earlier) have not missed a beat due to simply following simple instructions. Make of that what you will.

I think the 2.0 suffers more HGF than the 2.5 - the KV6 still suffers, though thankfully not as often as the four-pot. The cambelt change is a bit fraught as well - a big job.

The diesel's the one to go for really - or, as others have said, go for something older and a lot more simple!

I'm just in the midst of finding a nice cheap one. Still can't decide between a diesel and a 2.0 V6 converted to LPG.

Matt

Have a 52reg (but DoR 2003) 25 2.0 Turbodiesel as a daily. Assuming that it's the same diesel as the 75 uses.

Mine has a Honda engine, have been told they switched to BMW diesels not long after mine was made.

My work commute is 100 miles a day, about a 50/50 mix of M-way and A-road through a couple of small towns so pretty much limited to a max of 50mph once off the M5. Averaging just over 50mpg since I bought it last May. Obviously the 25 is smaller and lighter than the 75 but would have thought the diesel 75 should return around the 45mpg mark.

Being a Rover and most people thinking they're an old fart's car (probably right in my case ;D) they're quite cheap to insure too.

The 2.0 V6 is a sweet engine. My pops had one from new with no problems.

From what I've heard there nice motors.
The 2.0L diesel engine IS a BMW unit.
Common problem is the they have fuel pump problems, cant remember if they had 2 or 3. Can be pricey to put right.

The 2.5 V6 suffers from VIS valve problems, they rattle alot when there playing up and your down on power slightly. Also, if you do go for the V6, make sure the cambelt has been done if its over 6 years old/done more than 60,000 miles. If not, budget £300 - £500 pound to have it done.

As for the 1.8 and 1.8T there fine, so long as there looked after. If the HG did go, the new uprated Land Rover gasket and oil rail or the Payen gasket should see the problems go, so long as the liner heights are ok and the head is not warped beyond repair.

Hope this helps!