RIP ROVER

[lightbody]

Its rubbish to say all Rovers have been no good - my family have had something like 15 of them since the late 1980s and they were all more reliable than my 2001 MINI was!!

There have been many excellent Rovers in recent times.
The Rover Metro - 1990 on - was very highly praised by the respected motoring press "Best Small Car" said Autocar & What Car amongst others - i have the road tests to prove it and personal experience too.

The 1989 Rover 200/400 range was also very good, highly competitive and highly reliable - compare a 1989 Rover 214 with a 1989 Ford Escort to see the difference - again I have the roadtests with the Rover beating everything in its class - backed up by personal experience.

The 1995 Rover 200/25 model was an attractive modern car competing in the wrong class and at the wrong price - same goes for the 1994 Rover 400... downhill all the way from there!

Don't forget also that the current MINI was partly developed by Rover. I personally do not think it would be so unique and characterful if BMW had done it alone.

The MG-TF is still competitive - I do hope it can be saved - they have a very nifty coupe version on the backburners too.

[minidriver#1]

quote:Originally posted by mainmini
You sound very young, naive and have been looked after by mummy and daddy - no offence! He he i'm not a conservative, nor labour or lib dem theyre all the same as far as I am concerned, and I dont see what that has to do with the debate!

Any reasonable Adult will question the government

There used to be a time when people supported British Industry, as with anything else commercial this is led by demand.


"If you want to help british industry, encourage foreign companies to embrace the quality skills of British labour; as British industry seems too incompetent... hardly the fault of the government or customer spending habbits"

This is equally as sad, why should we be the grease monkeys? I would rather the profits stayed in the UK, a directly benefited our economy.

"of course i feel sorry for those people who will loose their jobs and those who will also feel the fallout from this, but its not over till the fat lady sings as they say, and even if it is, i'm sure they'll find employment in similar industry..."

A little naive dont you think? the whole area is supported by production at longbridge, think theres 20,000 spare jobs freely available??

My problem with government is that they dont support british industry the same way that the rest of Europe supports their industry. This has been in steady decline over the last few decades.

The management of Rover has been terrible - If Rover had'nt of sold out (again) and produced the MINI think they'd have a problem
"

I'm 25, and yes, i like to think of myself as young (and damn sexy), naive and well looked after by my parents. I'm sorry if you didnt share a similar upbringing, but dont blame that on Rover or the Government.

Let me get this clear, what is more important in this current situation, jobs or profit? If supporting Rover isnt commercially viable, why force the government to do so? where are your profits going if the company is spending £6.5 million a week on wages and other costs. Also whose £6.5 million is that the government has loaned to Rover, and will the government ever see it again? The answer to both those questions is 'ours' and 'no'. The only way to keep these skilled workmen in jobs is to encourage foreign investment in our economy. RBS are about to plunge £2.1 billion into the Bank of China which just happens to be in the worlds fastest growing economy; securing Chinese jobs as well as furthening the existing UK's workforce job security.

As for the 20,000 freely available jobs, in an ideal world yes, there would be, but there isnt, but these people are not doomed to unemployment for the rest of their lives, they will find work eventually. And it is sad that it has to come to this for those people.

[Burple]

quote:Originally posted by Wul

My tuppence worth:

"(i know this will please some!)" please don't encourage these kind of debates - theres enought of that cr@p elsewhere!!

Exactly what Wul said.
You'll find nobody on here that shallow. Most people have a new Mini because they have had or still have a Classic. They come to this Web based club because they share a love of the same thing, not as an excercise in hate or snobbery to other peoples decisions or ways of life. You won't find anyone on here making personally abusive comments about someone elses choice of car if they turn up to a run (unlike some Classic runs I have been on). Contrary to what a lot of narrow minded (and I have to say unfortunately, 90% are from south of the border) people think, Most people with New Minis who turn up to events are genuinely enthusiasts, and are NOT there to show off or try to prove they're better. If anyone truns up to one of our runs in a Classic, they'll be shown PROPER hospitality from real grown ups

sheesh... anyway.. back on topic...
Yeah.. rover have built some fantastically crap cars, and if we didn't have such a pathetic Government (and by that I mean every one of them as far back as I can remember) who aren't all consumed by lining their own pockets, then things might have been different...

I think it's probably fair to say that it appears that most polititians seem to have been bullied at school, or had abusive childhoods, Government is just their petty Power-Trip revenge - Like pulling the wings off flies on a larger scale!

[Burple]

quote:Originally posted by sleepyrascal

I was sick in a rover when I was 4 . Never liked them since! :dead:

lol

Think I was the same in my dad's old Beige Maestro :dead:

[minidriver#1]

ooo an anarchist^^

[Burple]

quote:
and if Wul and Low_and_loud want to base their contribution to the argument on only 6 words that i said, thats pretty poor

But it was the vital 6 word spiteful (how it came across to me anyway - that's the downside of internet forums - you can't gauge the inflection made on converstaions, huh? ) generalisation that New Mini owners would love to see the demise of the old Classic...
That simply isn't true.
And unless this has suddenly changed to www.NewPoliticsScotland, then I wasn't contributing to any argument of a political nature, merely backin gup Wul's point that this really is not the place to make such implications and generalisations about anyone because of the car they own..

Which might make me question your motives for the thread... Really your beliefs? or are you just trawling for a jolly good old fashioned Flame-War?


Isn't the Intarweb such jolly good fun? :clown::clown::clown::clown:

[minidriver#1]

quote:Originally posted by mainmini

I just thought i'd make a completely blind generalisation about you, that had nothing to do with the thread as you did to me!

I do have serious concerns about collaborating with countries with such a disgusting human rights record! - If Rover is so unviable why did the chinese want to buy it in the first place?


and if Wul and Low_and_loud want to base their contribution to the argument on only 6 words that i said, thats pretty poor

Lol. oh wait, as disgusting a human rights record as Britain had during their occupation of Indian soil? Maybe you have a point...

As for the Chinese wanting to buy it in the first place, they aren't now are they... i guess they finally realised what a sh*t hole they'd be buying.

[Wul]

quote:Originally posted by mainmini

I just thought i'd make a completely blind generalisation about you, that had nothing to do with the thread as you did to me!

I do have serious concerns about collaborating with countries with such a disgusting human rights record! - If Rover is so unviable why did the chinese want to buy it in the first place?


and if Wul and Low_and_loud want to base their contribution to the argument on only 6 words that i said, thats pretty poor

I think you'll find i made at least two different contributions to this debate mainmini.

And lets review your 6 words in their full context then!
"Sadly it looks like 20k plus jobs will go from Rover and associated industries, and the original mini will be in danger due to lack of avialable parts (i know this will please some!)."

I simply made a request not to encourage the already rampant arguments regarding new MINI vs Original Mini - I don't know anyone on this site or anywhere else for that matter who owns a new MINI and would be glad to see the back of the original. So my question to you would be why include such a throw away comment in your post - I do not see how it supports any of the points you make - some of which are valid - if not to try and cause a debate/argument on the subject?

[Wul]

Mainmini - are you replying to my post or other posts above?

[GAJ]

Yawn!:sleepy: If you ignore them they might go away!:disapprove: