Dan's Dad's 1996 Rover Sterling Fastback *Now Dan's*

[DLR]

So DLR Senior has got himself behind the wheel of an 800 again, the first since the black 827 Fastback we had a few years ago. He had a Hyundai Accent and a Rover 45 in between 800 ownerships, but he's back where he belongs!

So you'll recognise this one as the one seen here, belonging to Ian/CV35Rover previous to our collection last week (thanks again Ian - was a pleasure). It's a 1996 Rover 825 Sterling Fastback, just under 69,000 on the clock, no dash lift and a genuinely wonderful place to sit! I wont be driving it on a regular basis as it's father dearest's car, but I have had a little jaunt in it and it is superb. Made me want some leather in my next car, that's for sure.

Faults? Rear Passenger door handle is a different colour (kind of a light blue colour), cruise doesn't work, dent on the wing which you can just make out in the picture and there is a slight knock on idle which Ian thought could be the belt tensioner (will be getting that looked at soon). Couple of blemishes here and there, otherwise it's a very presentable old barge.

Needs a good clean and a polish, but have some pictures anyway.

When we collected the car - took these before we left and dad was swapping his insurance over (about half hour on hold!)



Fastback's best angle - although the saloon is still my preference.

And at Rivers Towers:






And a final picture of the drive with both the Rivers' Rovers - all we need is a Rover totem pole out the front! Provoked a few conversations with the neighbours already.


I'll post some pictures when it's been properly cleaned and polished, but for now there she is. No doubt I'll be the owner at some stage, but we shall see how the parents get on with it first!

[Lord Sterling]

Dan, that looks simply superb, I wish my parents had such taste, the last time they had any kind of Rovers was in the early and late 90s respectively. I thought somone said the Fastback was a manual? Nice to see it has the nice gearbox.

Looks like you need some proper Rover floor mats. Get on it lad

[TheVDM]

I like that, I've never been too keen on silver cars but the 800 just seems to pull it off nicely, very tidy interior too

[BennyVitesse]

Well done! Looks lovely. Like Lord Sterling I can only dream of my folks buying Rovers or MGs again!

[TDHFastback]

Ahh a drive way festooned with 800s. A pleasant sight indeed. (and a touch of class me thinks compared to the Fords opposite)

Kate

(ps if the name of the people who live opposite have the surname of Ford, I ask for forgiveness and intend to pass no judgement on their social standing )

[DLR]

Thank you all for your kind comments. These cars really are good value for money.

Mo, I'll sort some mats in due course. I have some beige ones that I got from Brad, but they'd look a bit out of place.

Kate, our neighbours all have Fords of some description! The owners of the Ka you can see have a Focus as well, then the ones next door have a Mondeo, whilst the others have a Focus and an Orion (a very smart one I have to admit). We have the nicest driveway on our part of the estate!

Although my 820 may not be here much longer, but I'll explain about that in my other 800 thread.

[DLR]

So it turns out it's not the car for them. Dad loves it, but mum is not so keen.

Just testing the water but would anyone be interested in it?

Have to say though that I am REALLY tempted to take it on myself. It's such a lovely car to drive and the auto box is a joy. It would also make sense for me to take it on as my Si has got quite a list of work to do now - needs exhaust, some suspension work (balljoints, etc) and the engine needs some attention as it has quite an oil leak (or should that be leaks). Trouble is I would like to keep the Si as well, but if all goes well on Wednesday I could be spending at least two years up in Burnley and I can't afford to take two cars and really it seems daft to leave it festering in the garage or on the drive, waiting for me to do the work. For reasons I don't quite understand I can't seem to part with the Si, but I really want a Sterling.

So, anyone want to save me the heartache of a decision and give the Sterling a good home? Or even make me an offer for my Si?

Apologies for the rambling. There's not much to say about the Sterling other than it's fantastic to drive and I've probably driven it more than I should have!

[BennyVitesse]

Tammy Wynette has a solution.... D.I.V.O.R.C.E

[DLR]

The parents still have it! Sadly, ownership has not gone without incident.

Luckily though it has been an easy fix. As seen in the below pictures, there is a small plastic connector that joins two return pipes for Coolant to a single one which goes back to the expansion tank. This had snapped for some unknown reason causing some slight coolant loss. This little connector appeared to be integral to the pipe, so new pipe ordered (about a tenner from Rimmer Brothers) and all is well.

This is a really nice car. Not just to drive, but to be a passenger in and to just admire in general. I moved up north to Lancashire a couple of weeks ago and Dad followed behind with the bits and bobs I couldn't fit in my car- it looked and sounded very nice as it overtook me/vice versa. Our little convoy attracted a little bit of attention from other road users that day - well it's unusual to see one of these things, let alone two in the fast lane! I believe this has taken the 'favourite car he's ever owned', knocking our old Montego down to second place as fave car...



Closer look:

[Lord Sterling]

Trust me KV6s are nice to own if a little fragile mechanically. The one I've got is my first one and it won't be my last. I just need to resist the urge to buy another luxobarge.

[hotfuzz87]

Looks smashing in silver. Keep an eye out for me in my Sterling, I'll be in swindon over the weekend visiting steve. Im going to try and talking him into replacing that jag XJ8 with an 800. He knows he wants to really lol

[DLR]

Small update!

Car failed the MOT earlier on - brake hose, brake efficiency, one tyre and a split CV gaitor and some welding on the nearside sill. Booked in tomorrow to sort these out and then a retest. Going to cost a few quid, but worth it I think.

After that this will then become my daily for a bit it's suffering from being the family wagon (needs a good clean) and about a month ago someone crashed into the front. Luckily damage was minimal so this weekend will see me thoroughly cleaning the Fastback and fettling with the 'rough edges' (need to have a go at repairing the bumper brackets and swap the indicator lense for a spare).

Next week I've about a thousand miles to do in 4 days, so I'm throwing myself into KV6 ownership at the deep end. Not that I'll need it of course, nothing wrong with these engines...

[rovercoup]

Good luck Dan you are deserving some at the moment

[DLR]

850 miles completed this week with no mechanical faults to report.

Sadly half way into the week I had yet another kerb incident and nackered another alloy. Hold my hands up to that one, too groggy. So I had to spend the remaining half of the week looking like this:



I wouldn't mind, but I destroyed the tyre as well. Annoyingly it was the brand new one for the MOT, only done 400 miles! Never mind.