And We Complain About Stag Parts Prices!

[ChasR]

Recently bought a very tidy S-plate Rover 400 for my S-I-L. Less than 60,000 miles, one owner from new with full Rover main dealer service history. Top of the range, full unmarked leather, cruise control, alloys, new tyres, etc., etc. Paid £500 with new MOT. Cracking car. However, the top cooling hose has split. New ones are MG/Rover supply only (including Rimmer Bros) but cost over £100 with the dreaded VAT! We can buy a full set for the Stag for a quarter of that!

Alot of Rover spares are now becoming scarce. A friend of mine is struggling for sills and a rear 1/4 panel on his Rover Coupe. A friend of mine complained over the fact that heater hoses were unavailable for a 420 he owned. A fellow owner came to the rescue.

Stag hoses may be cheap, but I wonder whether they will stand the test of time. I know I had to modify a few of mine (the top hose rubber on the cam cover, and the lower hoses were iffy in fitment if I am honest) and some are already cracking within 2 years and will require replacement if I am to play it safe.

The cat on my daughter's 2003 Mini Cooper broke up a few weeks back. I took it to a local BMW/Mini specialist who made a big deal about fitting a genuine BMW replacement cat. OK how much? Try £950 fitted! He told me a lot of that was labour as he would have to drop the subframe. Hmmm, no thanks says I, and took it to my friendly local garage who fitted a new (non BMW) one in an hour for £250 all in. I asked the mechanic if he had to drop the subframe - he looked puzzled and said no.

Bob

That is a bit a of silly quote from the specialist (I would guess that the cat from BMW would be £400-500). But without sounding harsh I would keep an eye on the cat.

On my cars (French I admit, a 306 GTi-6 and 106 Gti) both failed the MOT miserably on pattern cats (one of them was barely 2 years old) yet passed with flying colours on genuine cats (I did not have to buy new on either occasion fortunately; first one I was given by a friend, the second time I forked out half of the cost of a new pattern cat for a genuine one (The exhaust sat wrong on both cars with the wrong cats too). The cars passed the MOTs easily after that. The tester was saying he had seen it far too many times, saying that recently Type Approval has helped matters but not eradicated the issues entirely on some cars.

Saying that, I do seem to get all of the luck on some cars .

[malc4d]

Well i'm fudged...have 2 stags that need parts and a XJS....but cant be mad because l think l am....catch 22

[ChasR]

Are you a glutton for punishment Malc? Christ, I thought I was brave buying a Stag!

[Richard Saunders]

The £2,200 + fitting Peugeot dealer wanted for a new exhaust on my 807 takes some beating (see earlier rant).

[malc4d]

Nope not a glutton, just must be raving mad........wait, catch 22, damm !!
How many convertibles does one need ?

[MissMoppet]

Rover spares

Recently bought a very tidy S-plate Rover 400 for my S-I-L. Less than 60,000 miles, one owner from new with full Rover main dealer service history. Top of the range, full unmarked leather, cruise control, alloys, new tyres, etc., etc. Paid £500 with new MOT. Cracking car. However, the top cooling hose has split. New ones are MG/Rover supply only (including Rimmer Bros) but cost over £100 with the dreaded VAT! We can buy a full set for the Stag for a quarter of that!

Try Howards of Weston super Mare (also Taunton). They've got a lot of Rover bits. I wouldn't swap my Rover 75 for anything . . .

[dasadrew]

shouldn't that be " I couldn't swap my Rover 75 for anything . . ." ?

Sorry, can't resist it when someone feeds me a line! Not meant seriously!

[MissMoppet]

Rover 75 swap?

shouldn't that be " I couldn't swap my Rover 75 for anything . . ." ?

Sorry, can't resist it when someone feeds me a line! Not meant seriously!

That's OK: ignorance is bliss. I knew nothing about them either till 6 months ago when I looked again at a friend's. Of the many motors I have owned - and driven - I have to say this is by some way the best and most satisfying. Suede leather seats, wonderfully relaxing on motorways. Extremely well designed and built with innumerable detail touches Eg. Have to change a wheel at night? No problem: lift up the solid cover over the spare wheel - supported on hydraulic struts of course - a light comes on. Need to prop the wheel up? Of course sir. Just use the thick hard rubber wedges supplied. Need to reverse in the rain? Rear wiper comes on automatically. Find the path home at night? Easy, turn off the ignition before the headlights and they'll stay on for 30 seconds. Worried you might go over 70mph? That's OK set a max speed which will beep to remind you. I have the BMW diesel but remapped to 162bhp: with a 5 spd auto box. Extremely smooth and swift. Some of these have done 450,000 miles. Oh and it also came about top in the crash safety tests. The mystery is that you can pick them up so cheaply. BMW reputedly said make the best Rover you can regardless of budget - and they did. Please take a serious look, you may be pleasantly surprised at their comfort and reliability.

[dasadrew]

I had one a few years back as a rental car and must say it was simply sumptuous. An absolute joy to drive and sit in. An old school mate swears by them and his last "BL" car was the later MG ZT development so to speak.

I'm afraid for me though the design makes me feel like I should have a pair of sheepskin slippers waiting for me on the doormat when I come home! Still, that's taste - everyone's is different.

[DJT]

The hose arrived today and, disappointingly, it wasn't gold plated, but it does come with a new thermostat inside. As the radiator had seen many better days I decided to change that as well. Got a brand new one in the current EuroCarParts sale. Click and collect in stock locally for less than £40 including VAT. It seems crazy that the top hose cost nearly three times the radiator

As as for the Rover 75, I quite fancied one, but SWMBO had the same thoughts as Drew: too old fashioned in appearance. That last-of-line RWD Mustang engined V8 was an awesome beast.

[Escape]

I can only confirm the title of this topic. Over the last week I got a shipment of Stag parts followed a few days later by one for the Lotus Esprit. Despite the Triumph box being about 8 times bigger, the price I paid was almost 8 times less. (I have to admit seat foam does require a bigger box then non-standard gearbox parts and campulleys…).

As for the MissMoppets Rover 75, it’s funny all of the creature comforts you admire were also present in the Range Rover that came out a few years before the 75, which was developed before BMW took over. I can understand why you like it so much, as I do my Rangey. I'm not that found of the round lights, but have to admit the Rover has character, unlike most euroboxes then or now.

Filip

[dasadrew]

Filip,

out of interest, how do you keep an Esprit on the road? Are there companies like Rimmers in UK who support the old Lotus? Or do you have to get bits from the original smanufacturers like Ford, Renault etc?

Drew

[Escape]

I order my parts via SJsportscars, who offer a very wide range for both older and recent Lotus cars. Similar companies exist in the US and Oz, not nearly as much to chose from as for Triumph though and due to shipping costs across continents, I don't think there is strong competition. Which possibly contributes to higher prices. The good thing about Lotus is the factory is still active and offers some support and a lot of stock parts. In addition, SJ also have a lot of aftermarket parts, at reasonable cost and good quality.
I also do all the work myself, which not only helps in keeping the cost down but for me is also part of the 'joys' of ownership. Incidentally, some parts are the same on the Esprit and the Stag, like the airfilter and 5"3/4 headlights.
I find the best availability of spares is for the Land Rover range, both old and new. For most parts you get a choice between official LR, OEM or aftermarket (often even from several manufacturers)

Filip