TelBoy

I've always been interested in special edition cars, such as the Rover 200 BRM.

But when they were launched about three years ago, i was told by the local Rover dealer the only way i could test drive one was to buy one!!!

Now, there's one near me for sale at £9350. For no more performance than my Mk 2 Golf GTI.
Why did people pay up for them in the first place, and why would anybody pay that money for a secondhand one now?

Terry

Yex

There's one parked outside a house on the A13 opposite the fields in Hadleigh. I always see it as the bl00dy ugly red grill gets in my eyeline evert time I go past

Shed loads of money for a Rover

Yex

mook

That is a touch on the expensive side, but they seem to go for anything over £7.5k.

I think it's the limited edition badge that sells a car for extra money - take a P1 for example! And the good thing with the BRM is there was only 200 made which makes them a bit more exclusive (mind you, that's probably all they could make at the time!).

Yex > No doubt you know why they have the orange grille?

I think there 1.8 VVC engine puts out about 145bhp, they have a snazzy interior and for a coupla £k you can bolt on a supercharger and goodies and get over 200bhp from them, which is not too bad, and I don't think they're particularly heavy either, which is a bonus

TelBoy

Yex,

Yep, that's the one in Hadleigh i see. He's had it up for sale for ages, and no wonder at that price!
Mook, i think there were more than 200 - i believe they intended it to be a 1000 car run, but they sold just over 500 and then pulled the plug on them. I didn't realise you could bolt on a supercharger - why didn't Rover do that in the first place? A natty interior and in-yer-face paintjob don't really count for much when most other performance cars are waving bye-bye!

Terry

DaveU

My other half has a BRM - it's a great car - we've tweaked it a little and it's huge fun to drive and the VVC engine is a screamer when it gets wound up! Obviously you can't throw it around like a scoob (being FWD) but i love driving it. I think there were 750 produced for the UK and (i believe) 1250 worldwide. Ours came from Europe along with a saving of 20% so we paid 13k a few years ago. I think 9.5 is pretty steep (unless it's go like 0 miles on it or something)

Dave

Yex

Still have no idea why they have an orange grill????

Is it to annouce their arrival in your rear view mirror ?? Waste of time if they try with a Scooby - down 1 or 2 gears dispatch loud pedal to floor and wave bye bye

Yex

mook

I type corrected on the production figures then

Yeah, the engine is a K series, same as used in the MGF and Lotus Elise, so various bits and bobs from cams to throttle bodies to superchargers have been developed for it

TelBoy

Yex,

LOL, but the racing green and orange nose cone was the old racing livery of BRM, which Rover have tried to emulate.
Sure they're no match for a Scoob, but i don't think they were ever supposed to be.
My point was, they were a very expensive rebuild of a Golf GTI, rather than a real pocket rocket which might have put Rover back on the map.
I'm sure they're great fun, but so are a lot of other cars for a lot less money...

Terry