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“With the possible exception of the Concorde, no machine so nicely put together has ever before come out of England,” declared American magazine Car and Driver in early 1987, and 4199 were sold in the first three months – right on target.
However, the car sent to Road and Track mag suffered several issues, and soon a er the American Consumers’ Union published a damning report, identifying 15 faults, concerning the electric seat adjustment, door fitting, sunroof mechanism, courtesy light, cruise control and even the speedometer.
“Our car betrayed a lack of quality control that would be a disgrace in a car costing one quarter as much,” the non-profit body railed.
Rover responded angrily: “The car tested was one of the earliest to go to the US and many of the little niggling faults have already been put right.”
And its US arm added: “We were disappointed by the tone of the review. We don’t understand some of their comments and they haven’t returned our calls. But we don’t think it will have an effect on sales. The publicity for the car has been overwhelmingly positive.”
