Rover 800

In terms of car for your money, there’s little that can touch a well-sorted Rover 800. With even the best examples struggling to reach £3000, you can get a tidy example for just over four figures. In that price range though, there are pitfalls to be made aware of

- Peter Simpson

Almost all cars go through a ‘cheap as chips’ period in their lives, when they’re old-fashioned, but not yet considered sufficiently old or interesting enough to attract much interest from enthusiasts. Most of today’s sought-after classics have been there; believe it or not, you could once buy a very good Jaguar Mk2 for £200 or less, and yours truly once declined the chance to pay exactly that price for a running and basically sound Trojan bubblecar…

Anyway, the Rover 800 range must surely be one of today’s ultimate ‘buy now’ cars. Prices for up and running, road worthy cars start at under £500, and even the very best saloon or Fastback (otherwise known as the hatchback) should come in at under £2000, though there are definite signs that values of good ones are beginning to rise. The two-door Coupes are around 50 per cent more expensive, but we’re still hardly talking megabucks here! All 800s are pleasant and comfortable cars to drive with a smooth and cosseting ride that’s great over long distances, the top-spec cars are truly luxurious (better than rival Jaguars in some respects) and even the more basic models have surprisingly good levels of equipment. They’re becoming scarce too.

As regular readers will know, the Simpson collection includes a 1993 Rover 827 Coupe, and I absolutely love it! Full classic status may still be a year or three off, but I’m not bothered – in the meantime, it’s a great long distance mile-munching luxobarge!