As above, really, chaps. Some of you will know me, and hello to you all - there are too many names I've lost touch with recently, and I apologise for that. Anyway, Ry suggested that I give you all a little taste of my current daily drive. Some of you will love it, and some will hate it, but whatever you think of it, I don't really care, although I'd love to know.
And hello to those of you I've never met or spoken to before. I'm glad to see you're a member of this fine site and, while I can't say I'm here all that often, I'm sure you're all smashing people and I look forward to meeting you at one Sixfields or other.
Anyway, to the car... those of you who do know who I am might also know that I've already had one of these, but it was a pup. I've always wanted a good example of one, and it just so happened a friend of mine had one for sale when I was thinking about selling my last daily driver. After borrowing it for a day, I was sold. It's a Rover Vitesse!
This one is a Vitesse Sport, which means it gets the 197bhp version of the T16 Turbo engine as found in the Tomcat and 620Ti, so it isn't shy, as they say. It also gets the TorSen diff (which the 180bhp Vitesse doesn't), as well as the 17" six-spoke alloy wheels and slightly stiffened suspension, so while it doesn't feel altogether at home in corners, you can actually hustle it through the twisties at a fair old pace for such a big beast. In addition, this one has the 'Lux' option pack, which is what gives it the deep-pile green carpets and the cream leather seats with the green piping, as well as the climate control and heated seats. And it's a facelift car, hence the smoked taillights and a few interior revisions. It's done 103k miles and has a near-full service history, all of which is stamped up at Rover dealers (when they existed!). I am aware of the wonky splitter and the biff on the rear quarter, thanks, and the splitter at least will be taken care of. You can say what you like about these old tanks - yes, the build quality's poor and if they're not treated well they break - but you simply can't get this sort of bang-per-buck anywhere else (this one cost me around the £500 mark). And finally, yes I am aware of teh shonk of Rover and that it's not everybody's cup of tea, but sod it. I'm very very very very excited about this one, because it's a car I've wanted to own since my dad had an 820i back when I was about 8 years old - it's a childhood ambition realised! Anyway, a few more pics...
A very very very happy Alex Capri!
rare to find in good condition 2 
my dad was going to get one of these years back