Rover 75: Overview, Photos & Characteristics

Rover 75

Rover 75 at Arkhangelskoye Estate (Moscow Region, Russia)

The Rover 75 is an executive car which was manufactured from 1998 to 2005 by the British Rover marque. There are two body styles—a four-door saloon car and a five-door estate car. Initially built only with front-wheel drive, a rear-wheel-drive variant with a V8 engine was later sold. There was also an extended-wheelbase model. It debuted at the Birmingham Motor Show on 20 October 1998 and went on sale until 17 June 1999.

Do not confuse this model with the Rover 75 (P4) from 1950s.

In 2004, Rover introduced a facelifted 75 featuring an entirely new front grille and bumper, with one-piece headlights with halogen projectors. The rear also featured a new bumper with a revised chrome boot handle. Classic SE, Club and Club SE trim levels were dropped, and on Connoisseur trim light oak wood took the place of the original walnut, which remained standard fitment on the entry-level Classic trim. The instrumentation and its back-lighting were revised, the console texture finish was revised and the seat bolsters revised. Access to the rear seats was improved and leg-room increased.

Overview

The 75 featured a range of petrol and diesel engines from 1.8- to 2.5-litre sizes. Petrol engines were Rover’s four-cylinder K series in 1.8-litre guise and the quad cam KV6. The 2.0-litre was later dropped on introduction of the 1.8-litre turbo for emissions purposes. A diesel engine was provided through BMW Group channels. Engineered by Rover Group and Steyr engineers for transverse mounting, the 4-cylinder M47R differed from M47D20 engines found in the E46 3 Series and E39 5 Series by featuring a direct injection common-rail system, different turbocharger and more sophisticated systems for temperature management.

All models were equipped with either a Getrag 283 5-speed manual transmission or a JATCO 5-speed automatic transmission, one of the first transverse-engine models to receive such a transmission. All four wheels are equipped with disc brakes with 4-channel Bosch 5.7 ABS and electronic brakeforce distribution. The parking brake is a cable-operated drum brake integrated into the rear disc brakes. The car is equipped with a MacPherson strut front suspension, mounted on aluminum lower L-arms and widely spaced mounting points.