New member with Vitesse Sport

[Dave Dickens Smith]

Hi,

I have just acqquired a 1995 Vitesse Sport and would be interested to know any history re this mode as I have been led to believe that it could be quite a rare model.

Does anyone know productions numbers and possibly how many might be left?

Thanks in advance

Dave

[rosshenocsr]

Hi

it is a quite rare model as it was only made under the Vitesse "sport" name for 2 years (1994 to 1996) In 1996 the vitesse range was all made to Vitesse sport spec so the "sport" name was dropped.

Oriagnally the Vitesse was offered with a 180ps 2.0 turbo engine (in MK2 form anyway) then the sport model was released in 1994 with the same 200ps engine as found in the 220 and 420 turbos . The 620 ti was also released in 1994.
Sport models gained a passenger airbag as standard, as well as uprated springs, dampers, and larger roll bars. Some suspension busehs were also uprated. the steering rack also has less turns lock to lock. Most sports also had the larger 285mm discs. most obvioius change on the sport models was the 17inch alloy wheels which were very large for the day. You could get a lux pack on all vitesse models which gave you full leather and climate control, as well as a powered drives seat. I perfer the recaro sports seats myself.

Any pictures of your car?? would be nice to see it.I have just sold my 1999 model vitesse

[TDHFastback]

Welcome aboard the flagship Dave. Lets see some pictures.

Kate

[Richard Moss]

Welcome Dave

[SJG]

Welcome Dave, I am sure Dave Dollysprint will be able to provide you with some information about your car.

[simon]

Hello and welcome to the site.

[dollysprint]

Dave if you send me your reg number I can tell you when your car was built. As for numbers built per model or specification that information is not available at the present time, I could probably work out a ball park figure from the database but the Vitesse/Sport/Lux/Sportlux are a bit difficult to work out but I'll give it a go. I can tell you that from 123,595 Mk2's 17500 approx were Vitesses', give me a couple of days and I'll break that down into Saloon/fastback/Coupe. How many left.com could give you roughly how many remain, but their figures must be taken with a pinch of salt and because this particular model seem to have appeared on V5's in various ways of description even DVLA probably couldn't give you an absolute figure, or even Rover had they survived( arguments about genuine Triumph TR8's still rage to this day)

Dave

[dollysprint]

Right then had a look at this and heres my best stab in the dark.Remember this is about MK2 Vitesses only, not MK1's
First off there is no chassis code that can tell me what cars had the "Lux" pack fitted as such, the lux pack was an option not a model, whereas the sport was actually classed as a model. Having said that there are non sport models that do have an upgraded specification. Confused...........me too.
Here you need to understand what the various chassis codes mean and where the baseline begins, so this is what we get -
Ignoring SARRS, which all Mk2 800 chassis codes start with, its the next 4 letters that define its model specification.
A standard Vitesse is based on Si levels of spec and the code for Si is "S" or class 3.1
Body shapes are defined by L=SALOON, W=FASTBACK and C=COUPE
Engines in a Vitesse use 2 letters and this is where the Sport gets defined, F=180PS and V=200PS.
Vitesse gearboxes use the letter G which is a bit confusing because whilst both close ratio one is Torsen and one not.
So a non sport Vitesse saloon will have this code SLFG, and a fastback SWFG
Vitesses were also available with better interiors( not the lux pack) and got the letter W or class 5 instead of S
So these would be WLFG AND WWFG. When the Sport came along the F(180PS) was replaced by the V(200PS) so you get WLVG and WWVG.
All Coupes whether Vitesse or not were built to Sterling spec, denoted by letter C or class 8
so a Vitesse Coupe would be CCVG.
Which ever code you have the next 2 letters are model year so AM(1986-1997!! DONT ASK) WM(APR 1997-MAY1998) and XM(MAY1998-OCT1998)
Moving onto build totals the figures per model come out like this;-
17692 Vitesses built or 14.2% of 123,595 MK2 800's
Saloons=7918
Fastbacks=7688
Coupes=2086

SLFGAM=180 SALOON=1149(APR1993-MAY1995)
SWFGAM=180 FASTBACK=972(APR1993-JULY1995)
WLFGAM=180 SALOON HIGH SPEC=973(JAN1992-SEPT1993)
WWFGAM=180 FASTBACK HIGH SPEC=2032(JAN1992-DEC1993)
WLVGAM=200 SALOON SPORT=3464(MAR1994-FEB1997)
WWVGAM=200 FASTBACK SPORT=3358(MAR1994-FEB1997)
CCVGAM=VITESSE COUPE=707(MAR1996-MAR1997)

WLVGWM=SALOON (SPORT DROPPED)=2120(APR1997-MAY1998)
WWVGWM=FASTBACK(SPORT DROPPED)=1326(APR1997-MAY1998)
CCVGWM=COUPE=884(APR1997-MAY1998)

WLVGXM=SALOON=177(MAY1998-OCT1998)
WWVGXM=FASTBACK=124(MAY1998-OCT1998)
CCVGXM=COUPE=389(MAY1998-OCT1998)

Any input appreciated.

Dave

[Very Tall Brad]

I can't add anything to this, Dave. Sterling work.

[rover coupe]

Dollysprint,

Interesting!

This is the first factual based information I have see as to numbers of Vitesse's built. The numbers for the Coupe are nearly twice the numbers that I have seen suggested on other sites. Interestingly the Vitesse Coupe was a good seller for the little time that it was in production. It begs the question why did Rover wait until 1996 to release a Coupe derivative ?

I have a few questions and obsevations :-

1) Are these Worldwide sales ?

2)Are you able to break this down into RHD/LHD ?

Though we only got the 200bhp Vitesse Coupe version wasn't there some 180 bhp Coupes built for other markets like Italy?

3) Are these in this figure?

Thanks

[Richard Moss]

It's worth bearing in mind that there seem to have been some late model 800 saloons that were registered as coupes, which may skew the numbers a bit.

[dollysprint]

Dollysprint,

Interesting!

This is the first factual based information I have see as to numbers of Vitesse's built. The numbers for the Coupe are nearly twice the numbers that I have seen suggested on other sites. Interestingly the Vitesse Coupe was a good seller for the little time that it was in production. It begs the question why did Rover wait until 1996 to release a Coupe derivative ?

I have a few questions and obsevations :-

1) Are these Worldwide sales ?

2)Are you able to break this down into RHD/LHD ?

Though we only got the 200bhp Vitesse Coupe version wasn't there some 180 bhp Coupes built for other markets like Italy?

3) Are these in this figure?

Thanks

As regards why wait til 1996 to produce a Vitesse Coupe?
Until December 1995 Coupes were only fitted with the 2.7 V6 and could be specified with the manual gearbox giving near Turbo performance. As you rightly say overseas Rover fitted the 2.0 litre engine in both formats because of certain countries car tax restrictions and personally I think they were surprised by its popularity even with the punitive tax restrictions of the V6. Given that to produce a UK 2.0 litre car needed no funding but could produce sales then why not produce that model. Add to that the Coupe was never suppose to be a "cheaper" model and they realised it would never sell at £30,000 even with a V6 so why not try to broaden the appeal once the price was placed at a more realistic level.
As for popularity of the Vitesse Coupe then I'm not so sure it could be put that way, clearly +2000 cars is 25% of total Coupe production, but with only 2 derivatives Vitesse or Sterling then could you really describe it as popular or that 75% of buyers wanted grace and smooth and 25% wanted grace and pace. There are many people on this very Forum that think the Vitesse ride is not what an 800 is about, and the converse view about the standard ride set up.

I am unable to break numbers done into LH/RH drive, and yes total sales but these are projected from a self researched database, none of this is official Rover figures with the exception of 123,595 total Mk2 build and the annual build figures are also available but not by model and I doubt they ever will be now.



Dave