Rover 75 CDT 2004 Review

Our brief launch drive suggested there was much to like about the Rover 75 CDT -- spending a week in the car confirmed it.

Forget dirty, noisy and sluggish oil burners, the Rover 75 engine is smooth and quiet, with just a hint of diesel noise at lower engine revs.

While the engine is turbocharged, it's no hotrod, but it won't disappoint the target market as they drive away from the traffic lights or take to the freeways.

The engine provides a steady surge as the car gathers speed from rest. Its (and the car's overall) smoothness serve to deceive; the speedo quickly showing a higher speed than that perceived.

With strong torque and a well-matched automatic gearbox, there is no need to work the car hard to maintain speed, making it effortless to drive in all conditions. The box changes first to second too quickly but will ably tackle hills in top gear, but shuddered as the car came to a halt.

The car's performance encourages enthusiastic driving, and the suspension is up to task, as are the reassuring brakes. Rover engineers have reached a good compromise of handling and ride, with good levels of turn-in, response and roadholding (with just a hint of bodyroll) from a package that soaks up bumps in the manner a Rover-badged car should. However, we did manage to bottom the suspension on a couple of the Victorian Government's finest potholes.

If you don't like to press-on, the performance story ends well there but if you do, the experience begins to fall apart because of the front seats' lack of support. The leather-covered buckets are comfortable, even on longer journeys but will have you using the steering wheel as a handle in higher G-force turns.

There are other internal disappointments -- the woodgrain dash has a plastic look, and the cramped footwell leaves little space for the driver's left foot. The boot release is hard to reach, the rear vision mirror blocked my vision through the windscreen and the speedo's numbered increments (90/120) are wrong for Australia.

While we are having a grumble, the cup holder encroaches on the front passenger, the glovebox lid does the same when down, there is difficulty reaching items placed forward in the boot, and we had a rattling air vent.

On the positive side, the plush interior has a touch of class and is well insulated against noise.

While there are plenty of reasons to look at the CDT, the usual motivation for as diesel is reduced fuel costs. With the cost running between 4 and 8 cents dearer than unleaded when tested...