"Enthusiast Reviews" are all very well, but until this week - where the
Freelander is going through the hoop on its world press launch in sunny
Spain - none of these people will have actually driven a production
Freelander. They should reserve their judgement until they actually get
behind the wheel (and off road!).
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From: The Richards
To: David Knowles; mgs
Subject: Re: New to list, first Q: MGF?
Date: 10 November 1997 12:26
At 12:01 PM 11/10/97 -0000, you wrote:>
>The LR Freelander WILL be going 'Stateside - but not until the KV6
>engine package with automatic transmission is available. Don't be
>worried by the lack of traditional rigid frame construction - the
>monocoque of the Freelander is still far stronger than the opposition.
What disappointed L-R enthusiasts was its strength vs. traditional
Rovers,
rather than that vs. the pretenders. Most L-R enthusiast reviews of the
beast seem to suggest that it would make a great ralley car, but not a
true
off-roader. In fairness, that is what Rover was aiming for. We just hope
they come up with a true D90 replacement for the states, and the
Freelander
ain't it.
>See my other various postings about this. It is unfortunately not a
>simple equation of Z3 price versus MGF price. In the UK, the MGF sits
>price-wise alongside the Z3 1.9 (and runs rings around it). At US price
>levels, the MGF could not be built and sold with enough of a profit,
and
>the MGF unit cost is a function of decisions taken in 1993, before BMW
>came along and plucked Rover Group from British Aerospace (BAe).
I wasn't speaking of the decision not to bring car to US, but rather,
simply
how it would fare had they done so. I think it would have been closer to
the
2.8 Z3 and Boxter in price, and truth is those cars would run rings
around
the F. Of course, the German manufacturers are known in the states to
introduce cars at bargain prices, and then after a few years the prices
seem
to climb to another level.
On another tack. I like performance as much as anyone, but MGs were
never
really 'supercars', just super cars. I would hope that BMW would leave
the
fire spitting monster machines to BMW, and MGs would be everyday sort of
sportscars that transends the mundane -- like dey always wuz. Or at
least go
more the Elise route, just no luxo preeners, pleeze.
Michael, New Bern, NC
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