Another one I have found in my nevereneding quest for car performance data!
Enjoy!

Sad fact time
That's a pre-production Coupé as the B pillar badges are set lower down!

I to a superior

nice review and after having a rover coupe turbi i would agree with most things but not with others.
i haven't driven a 16vt coop but the fact is that the rover i had would pretty much keep with my 20vt so i can't see the 16vy holding out to much on keeping up.
the handling is good and slightly crashy but the main thin is the rover has no where near the grip of the coop but it is much flater through the coners and feels more stable.

brakes on the rover are the worse i have ever used they are usless.
the seats in the rover are much better in holding you in place and are comfy. the coops seats are no good for a performance car at all.

looks i must say my rover turbo was in tahiti blue with 18's and looked great and i my bro had a silver turbo and they look great but i must say i think i now think the coop looks better but its taken me a while to think that.

The numbers suggest that the 16vT wouldn't be as quick as the Rover. In fact it is almost neck and neck with the Prelude?

once you get grip in the rover its a quick car indeed but it is difficult to lay the power down

Without doubt they are quick cars. I had a great couple of runs against one when my coop was standard. Nothing in it over a few hundred metres (as the data suggests) but from a highish speed roll (70mph+) they don't hang on for long. i remember holding him whilst letting off and then closing the gap again as he went past in 3rd gear a few times. Not very tuneable either...

Great in their day but a little dated now. Incidentally i was looking for Calibra 4x4 Data data when i stumbled across this. Another 'almost great' car I must find numbers for...

my bro who had my coop before me now has a n/a rover coupe and its still nice to drive.
he has gone from a 20vt and wants another rover turbo.
one point i must say is i find the rover coupe more reliable and much much much cheaper to fix and also very easy to work on.
i would be tempted back i must say but they suffer from rust now so finding one without to much rot is getting harder but if you do great car.

i know my mate sold his one just been rebuilt running 320bhp and was mint and sold for 2.5k which is alot of car for your dollar

i had a 1.8 vvc coupe before the fiat.
only had 147bhp but was pretty nippy
good car, was a sort of purpley flip paint, standard colour but looked on 17s

I also ran a Tahiti Blue Rover Turbo Coupe (with full Recaro leather) for 3 years. Great car, but not as quick as a 20VT - the brakes were weak and it never really felt planted on the road - despite uprated suspension. It was very reliable though, and was still on the original Turbo & Clutch at 115,000 miles. Jumping into a Coupe after the Rover and the Coupe felt far more solid, refined, and upmarket.

total agree with you mike. my rover was tuned as was as quick as my coop.
uprated suspensin is a tough one on the rovers because anything to hard makes it very crashy ride.
the coop is mre refined and comfy but the rover had that raw really fun feel about it but not great for aday to day stuff.

brakes are the major problem they are so bad its unbelivable

Minging interiors on those Rovers though! That Dash!

It really shows what a looker the Coop is when you see one stood next to cars of the same vintage like in that article, looks so much more modern and to be honest, exotic, a different league.

Gareth

the new type bubble dash was much nice but the seats are so much better than the coops.
i have a rover coupe on the drive next to my coop and it looks just as good! the rover never look good in picture.
the rover turbo is in the same league as the coop no doubt about it.
i prefer the coop for sure but for the money the rover is a better car you get a 300 bhp exellent conditon rover for under 3k and the insurance if half of the coops and so is the parts and labour cost on the car.

there is many things i really like about the coop but equaly many things about the rover turbos i really like

I used to have a Rover coupe quite a few years back unfortunately. I would say they are nowhere near in the same league as the Fiat Coupe in the way they make you feel. They just don't feel solid at all and have dated far worse!

Your rear passengers would come out of the car with their heads tilted at 90 degrees from their neck becoming stiff to fit in the car!

yeah ok rear head room is tight but i don't sit in the back. to drive they are funa nd fast and still look good maybe dated but still look good. the coop looks dated but still good.

its what you like but they are a good car and a worthy rival for a coop

I had a rover coupe a few years ago and I wouldn't have an other after having the coupes. They look really outdated

I had a Rover Vitesse Sport a few years back and it was the most unreliable pile of junk I have ever owned.

I think the engine is good though, it is just everything else that goes with it.

The differential bearings are a prime example, as they appear to be made of cheese.

It's ok! The pills wear off after a while!

ive havent owned the rover coupe turbo but owned an n/a.Loved my 2 litre n/a.was nippy,reliable and targa.
Dated yeh but easy driving,lazy engine to bowl along in,then pulls well when floored.

Drove the turbo,bit more harsh,prefered the more lazy boy of the n/a to be honest.Best engine for the tomcat or the vvc really. Terrible handling,much much worse than the coupe.Pushed it far in the dry you could get great oversteer.Massive understeer in the wet.

The coupe on the other hand,different fish.More nimble and responsive.Drives completly different,feels alot shorter and handle much better.
Seats are very different and think i prefered the rover for comfort but coupe for styling for full interior.

also huge break fade many times on the rover!Bombing upto and island at 70 with foot thru the floor trying to stop the rover gave a new mean to new pants please.

You have to take what you can get if you drive a rover:

Site owner's summary:
The Rover Coupe is praised for its engine and build quality, but criticised for its handling and light steering.

Article's conclusion:
But in reality it's a looser - a car that amounts to markedly less than the sum of its parts, burdened by nasty steering, dodgy gearchange, dubious handling and dead feeling brakes. In the end the Rover is not much fun to drive.

Obviously a corker of a car...

Good to see that they get the pininfarina styling part right too (only the interior)

I once drove the 1.6 honda engined version of the Rover Coupe.

Even with only 111bhp it torque steered and span its wheels all over the place.

The turbo must have been a real handful.

I still think the T series Turbo is a very good engine though, it is just everything else that goes with it is iffy and under developed.

Yes apart from the slightly leaky head gaskets, the T Turbo engines are very reliable, mine did 65,000 miles of hard labour with no issues.

The coupe still looks lovely and fresh in the article, the other two horribly dated

How true, but I think everything from that era looks dated compared to the coop!

G

Totally agree, the coupe has a great blend of modern and retro. alfa gtv looks fairly fresh still but has dated quicker than the coupe imo, toyota celica, mr2 (look at that rear) etc have dated badly too. 406 coupe still is nice though.........

How can you say a rover coupe looks just as good as a fiat coupe lol, are you taking the mick?

I had a 406 Coupe, nice looking car, of that there is no doubt at all, but have you seen the interior!! Sit one next to the coop, there is no contest. The GTV is a fab looking car too, but what an ugly arse!

im not taking the mich because i think it does and its more fun to drive and cheaper to run!
i find the seats nicer and its much easier to work on mine was miles more reliable than the coop in a big way!
if i had the choice of the two side by side and rust wasn't a problem on the rover i would be hard pushed to choose