Rover - good time to buy?

Nope. And the residuals blow goats.

£30,000 BMW contract hire is about £250 a month for 5-series, for example, £299 for others, £400 if you have something silly. £30,000 MG ZT-T 260? That will be £650 of your English pounds per month, sir. Or, enough to contract hire a Porsche 911, a Boxster /and/ a Vectra, a low-spec S-class - etc.

I'd love a ZT-T 260. It is the car that has been designed for me, specifically; actually the Rover V8 Tourer is the one they designer for me as it has the auto.

Sad thing is, I'd have a Streetwise for nipping to the shops, too.

Seriously - people change their cars after three years in most cases; you cannot write off a product line as a failure until it has been on the market for that long. If everyone who bought a car in 2004, and now wants a Zt 260 but will have to wait until 2007 to change their car could register a desire for it at the time, then perhaps you could deem it a flop.

I doubt there will be many Rover V8s on the market used, either, so I will never own one.

Richard

Why? There are a number of after-market panel makers (eg Hadrian) whose business is just that. If I can still get new body panels for most of my

35-40 yr-old classic cars - and they're nothing exotic - why should it be difficult to get them for modern cars, even if the manufacturer has gone to the wall? The same for mechanical parts. IME the only thing that becomes difficult to get is trim.

Exactly right - there is a load of cobblers being talked about the problems for Rover owners when the firm goes toes up. The parts manufacturers will continue to supply so long as there is demand - and there are many thousands of Rovers on the road worldwide. If you can still get parts for Mk 1 Escorts - why shouldn't you be able to obtain parts for recent Rovers?

Kev