Vx Ventora FE vs. Rover P6

Hello, I can't decide! I'm planning to buy a 30+ yr old car as a daily driver (about 4k miles a year). Currently trying to decide between a '72 Vx Ventora manual and a Rover P6 3500 (auto or manual).

I haven't driven any of the cars yet... the Ventora is cheaper to buy and rare (why?), but I have read that they are no great shakes to drive and they use tankerloads of fuel.

The Rover got COTY, there are loads around and are generally praised.

In terms of parts availability I guess the Rover is better served? Any real life experiences, opinions please! Thanks Sean

Reply to
Sean
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I'd say so, and by a factor of many.

I've owned a P6 3500S (manual) and at the same time frequently drove a pal's Ventora 3.3 manual. I liked them both. The Ventora had a pretty cheap interior, though, that may not have survived.

As regards just driving them, the Ventora had better steering and gearchange.

You really have to decide for yourself by driving them. They're both great cars.

Reply to
Dave Plowman

I know I should drive them. Should get a chance to have a go in the Vx this week. The Rover is a more difficult one because it's in the UK and I'm not!

I'm being swayed towards the Ventora simply because there aren't that many left and who knows when another will turn up for me to buy? This particular one is a bit crispy in places but not anywhere near as bad as some FEs I've seen. P6 Rovers are all over the place (in the UK), so I can likely get one any time.

Reply to
Sean

Although the Vauxhall 6 is a classic engine going right back to 1928 the rest of the FE Victor/VX/Ventora was a dreadful car - the FD at least had some saving graces particularly in Ventora form without that dreadful slant 4. Trouble with the FE was it was forced on Vauxhall by GM troit -- use a big Opel floor floor pan to replace the Victor and Creasta or the plug gets pulled -- the result was grossly oversize overweight example of the worst excess of German mass market tin design but somehow managed to retain all the faults of the FD. Thankfully a few years later along came the mk1 Cavalier which was a straight lift of the Ascona one of the best GM cars ever.

The P6B is more difficult to maintain but easier to get parts for and quite unique to drive -- it takes a bit gettting used to on the road but once you adjust to the Rover de Dion rear end squirm and slightly ponderous steering is a delight to drive.

Reply to
dilbert

Another thing to take into account, as you say this car will be your daily transport, is mechanical spares availability.

Reply to
Jerry.

I know where there's a 44000 mile P6 3500 Auto for sale.. £800 with 12 months MOT, but it's a bit crispy round the edges..

44000 is genuine though, or certainly seems it
Reply to
Pete M

Pete M ( snipped-for-privacy@blue-nopressedmeat-yonder.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Ewww. The P6 is like the DS, in that virtually every panel you can see just bolts on to a structural shell.

If the panels are "crispy", the shell may well be 'orrible - and they're a lot less easy (read: financially viable) to deal with than the cosmetics.

OTOH, it may well have had money thrown at the structure to the detriment of the cosmetics, which is the right way to do it... The asking price doesn't really suggest that, though.

Reply to
Adrian

No virtually about it, other than the 'shuts' all visible (from the outside) panels do come off.

Bulkheads, sills and both sides of the boot floor well need careful looking at IME.

Or that it's a one owner from new car, with rot but original rot, were is this Beast I wonder....

Reply to
Jerry.

In news:c6jvbe$cm4us$ snipped-for-privacy@ID-228253.news.uni-berlin.de, Jerry. decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

Tis in Wigan, engine and stuff all seems lovely, it's just not pretty. Seems very solid, but the door bottoms etc need more work than I could be arsed doing.

Reply to
Pete M

I've owned both Rovers and Vauxhalls in the past. The Rover is likely to be more classy, but I preferred the feel of the Vauxhalls (Cresta PB and PC). They're both going to be heavy on fuel, but if it's anything to go on, I did less work on the Vauxhalls than the Rovers.

Adrian_S

Reply to
Adrian_S

Jerry. ( snipped-for-privacy@privacy.net) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

I know exactly what you mean. The mythical bodge-free shell....

Reply to
Adrian

That's what I've been thinking about too, but the car's being offered at the price that if something major (or hard to source) breaks, I can buy another car to tide me over.

Reply to
Sean

All that may well be true, but at the time, what (apart from a P6) was the mass market competition for the FE - Cortina, Marina...?

I'm genuinely asking because I don't know - I wasn't around in 1972.

Reply to
Sean

Thanks for all replies - I'm nearly settled on the Vx, mainly because there aren't many around and because, contradicting myself, this Vx is handy to get

- it's down the road from me as opposed to being in a different country.

Reply to
Sean

The P6 wasn't really in competition with the FE and Cortina, etc - it was more sort of BMW/ Merc level in today's terms. Its competitors would really have been Triumph and Jag - although the 'mass' makers were making 'upmarket' versions of their more common cars to try and cash in.

Reply to
Dave Plowman

I kinda guessed that - I've heard the P6 has been described as the BMW 3 series of its day. The Ventora is a wannabe, in the greyish area between mass market tin and 'exclusive', like today's high-spec Omega vs. a BMW 3 series? The Ventora has a big engine and some extra toys (for its day) but the interior is cheap (and fragile, as you earlier pointed out), just like today's Omega.

I think it's a pity that the likes of Ford and Vx/Opel have given up on cars like the Granada/Scorpio, Omega/Senator... means there's less choice of cheap comfortable motoring to be had. Given the choice between an Omega and say, an Audi A4 I know which I'd take.

Reply to
Sean

Thirsty, true, but I remember my dad loving his 2.3 Victor and regretting getting rid of it (OK, he did px it for a Marina...!)

From what I recall, they can be difficult to repair structurally, but then so can a P6. Parts are difficult to get hold of but I understand Vauxhall themselves are quite supportive of classic owners.

Reply to
Chris Bolus

Big difference between a PB and the FE -- the PB was actually a nice motor to drive, not as nice as the the PA but still nice can't say the same about the PC understeer then woops out come the tail

Reply to
dilbert

People who bought a P6 at the time wouldn't have even looked at the Vauxhall it was regarded as un-british and vulgar, the P6 had only one real compeditor the Triumph 2000/2500, they might also have considere an 18/85 Landcrab or an Austin 3 Litre . The Humber Sceptre was a compeditor at slightly cheaper price and the Ford Cortina MK2 1600e was very acceptable but not the Mk3 GXL again it was like the FE too vulgar. The Chrysler

180/2 litre gained a few sales when it belatedly replaced the Humber Hawk but so quiclky gained a reputation for unreliability and rust that sales died in a matter of months. After the demise of the MK4 Zodiac Ford made a come back with the MK1 Consoul-Granada mainly because it was the only show in town. For those of a more adveturous nature the Merc 200 and 220/4 were selling well and BMW and Audi were getting foot hold with cars targeted squarely at the P6/Triumph 2000 market.
Reply to
dilbert

It's not an issue now.... inspected the car last night and it was much crispier than I first thought - both A posts are visibly rotten so I didn't like to think how far that has spread into the bulkhead and inner wings. So, I didn't buy.

Reply to
Sean

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