It’s R8, this Rover…
Subtle yet sporting, just needs brakes.
The R8-series Rover is starting to be appreciated, like the Maestro before it, as more than just a banger. The earliest and mintiest cars are finding cherished homes, and there’s even an owners’ club. Probably the rarest and hairiest variant is the 220GTi Turbo – soon replaced by the GSi Sport due to excessive insurance premiums. As an introduction to the R8 range then, it seems like probably the one to choose. And as it happens, I know someone who owns one.
The Rover 220GTi Turbo wasn’t a slow car when it was new. Putting out 200bhp, it could get to sixty in a whisker over six seconds and top out at close on a hundred and fifty. Not enough for some though – the previous owner of Lindsey Smith’s car worked some magic on the engine and unlocked something in the region of an extra twenty five horses thanks in part to a new air filter and a free-flow downpipe. This thing should fly, and given the strut brace, Spax springs, and Koni adjustable shock absorbers on the front, and the Motobuild springs on the rear, it should handle too. A Mongoose exhaust, EBC redstuff front brake pads, and a HID conversion round off the list of mods.
Inside, all was as I’d expected – very firm half leather seats, a fairly low driving position, tastefully appointed but in a sporting sense. I’ll make no secret of my preference for walnut and leather, but in here the almost total absence of the former and sparse use of the latter seemed somehow right. It put me almost in mind of a washbag – not classy in the conventional sense, rather unashamedly sporting yet tasteful with it. So into the washbag I climbed, and put my seatbelt on. I thought I may need it…
And oh, does this thing feel like the performance figures suggest. The uprated exhaust, air filter, and the turbo’s whoosh provide an aural distraction; one that in most circumstances would be unwelcome but when giving a hairy car some stick just seemed to gel. The gearbox – my old favourite, the Honda PG1 used in so many late 80s Austin-Rover cars – felt as good as I remember them to be, and the firm suspension I usually despise seemed appropriate for the moment. I was enjoying this car, until I needed to slow down again.
As my foot went south on the brake pedal, my eyebrows went the other way. Both went to their furthest extremes, and the car started to slow. A bit. The car has very little in the way of brakes, and yet having read up on Lindsey’s car it would seem she’s already upgraded them from the standard spec to MG ZS items. I’m told that because of the uprated pads they take some time to warm up, and I’d been driving from more or less cold. But we stopped eventually, and I established that the R8 is easy to manoeuvre despite the obtrusive C-pillar design. The clutch though, is just as sensitive as the one in the modified Maestro Turbo I drove recently – I may accidentally have lost traction setting off again. Knowing the brakes had issues made the return leg somewhat more sensible, and I coasted back to where I’d left the car’s owner at a more sedate pace.
The thing is, having kept half an eye on the speedo during this run I can say that the car wasn’t quite as quick as it felt. Don’t get me wrong, a car with the performance figures I mentioned earlier flies. But the noise it puts out makes you think you’re going quicker. It’s the antithesis of things like the Jaguar XFR Iand even the MG Maestro Turbo in that they belie their speed by acting with refinement whilst flying past the scenery. The 220, if anything, is the opposite.
My verdict? Not for me. Cracking good fun though. Ultimately, my issue with the 220GTi Turbo is that I’d rather have something smooth; despite the speed that this car can offer it’s fussy about doing so – and I’d hate to take it over one of Sheffield’s many speed bumps. But if your aim is to get from A to B quickly, in a machine that stimulates the senses whilst speeding past the scenery, you’ll love it.
