As automotive enthusiasts, it’s only natural to have guilty pleasures. The best thing to do is have one that is actually a good car, like, say, an obnoxious Shelby Cobra replica, or a turbocharged Porsche 930. When you have a guilty pleasure that is also a plainly awful car, well – that’s when you may need to seek professional help. I have such an affliction with the Sterling 825 SL, like this low-mileage example listed here on eBay. If you find one of this with low miles, it’s not because someone wanted to preserve it – it’s because it hasn’t been able to stay on the road for more than a handful of months at a time.
Thanks to Barn Finds reader Brian for the find. But even with its litany of faults, I’ve always loved the styling. I also like orphan brands, or strange concoctions of vehicles that made no logical sense, and this creation was absolutely out there in terms of execution. Take a reliable-as-the-rain Acura Legend and let a middling British brand like Rover introduce all manners of electrical gremlins and other characteristically British traits for no other reason than to put a stamp on it that no one was asking for. All you had to do was take an Acura Legend, change the front fascia and the rear tail lamps, swap out the badges, and design a new set of wheels – done.
But that’s not what happened. While the engines and transmissions were fundamentally “fine” – meaning they turned on and shifted as they should – the build quality was abysmal. Electrical issues were numerous along with build quality issues that allowed water intrusion into the cabin along with trim pieces cracking and falling off. Some reports even stated the steering wheel was off center and the low coolant light would flash unpredictably, despite having plenty of coolant in the tank. Road test editors even began to decline to take the Sterling on long-distance trips for fear of being stranded. Meanwhile, the Acura Legend – entirely built by Acura in Japan – rose to the top of various owner satisfaction charts.
Still, in an era where vehicles are recalled for entire frames snapping in half, the annoyances presented by the Sterling can seem tame. If I truly wanted to own a vehicle that would be quite needy while also fundamentally worthless, I’d at least look for one with a 5-speed manual. The seller’s car is indeed immaculate, and the flip side of seeing one with low miles and in excellent condition suggests someone wasn’t bothered by the quality issues (or managed to get one built by a member of the team who didn’t punch in late after a night at the pub) and continued to keep up with fixes as needed. These orphan brands and cars are few and far between, so hopefully, this Sterling continues to be preserved.
Sterling example Lavery 👏
I was service manager at a large Chevrolet dealership when upper management took on Sterling. They were nice cars but had a lot of kind of goofy issues. Being in Minnesota, customers were used to “rocking”, shifting drive to reverse to drive to get unstuck. You did NOT do that in a Sterling, you would destroy the transmission and that was not a cheap repair. They also used Lucas electronics which was a whole different ballgame.
One humorous thing, they had a program where service managers could earn a trip to England if you hit certain levels of training, customer satisfaction, profitability, etc. The introduction letter said you could bring a wife or girlfriend, but not both. I had to read that sentence a couple of times to believe it!
How did your girl friend like England? LOL
I knew a guy who told me that he looked at one of these
on the showroom floor.Said that parts were already falling off of it.
In the mid ’90s there was one of these in the parking lot at work. It had degraded to banger condition at less than ten years old and there were holes in the bodywork like Swiss cheese. Terrible, terrible cars.
And this after the SD1/3500 had done so poorly in the US that Rover had to re-enter the US market under the Sterling name, effectively doing so with a paper bag over their head. This would have been a great opportunity for a second chance for them but they blew it.
Bid to $521.33 with one day to go. Reserve isn’t met, but I have to wonder if it will go much higher. Interest in a car like this is extremely limited. Many enthusiasts are into oddball cars like this one, but those same enthusiasts are well aware of the Sterling’s extremely poor quality and reliability. It’s not a matter of if, but when it will fall to pieces.
I had one of these, absolutely ridiculous to keep on the road. Wonderful when it was running but unreliable as heck.
I enjoyed reading this as it brought back memories. In 1986 my engineering team in Cadiz, Spain developed the dampers for this vehicle which were built in our plant (Delco Products) at the same location. The ride and handling of these was actually not bad. I had the European version (Rover Sterling) as a company vehicle in Spain albeit with the 2.7L engine which superseded the 2.5L version and a 5 speed. It was a good vehicle which gave me no issues. The 2.7L was a better vehicle as the increased torque was most welcomed. The Acura version was obviously much better from a quality perspective but my experience with these was not all bad.
Jeff, I would agree with your summing up in general, the Rover Sterling 825 as introduced in US at that time was a dreadfully badly built car, duly failed and got withdrawn. The Rover 800 model as such had a fairly long production run (up to 1999 in face-lifted form) in UK and Europe and was a decent driver’s car with the later 2.7 V6 or the Rover-sourced DOHC fours in NA or turbo spec. I’d agree that they were nice looking cars, the rare 800 Coupe is a particularly sharp design IMHO and the interiors were always classier more attractive than the rather plasticy Honda/Acura twins.
The chassis handled well and in Europe the “Vitesse” version with 2.7 V6, later 2.0 4-cylinder turbo, were rapid cross-country touring cars. In 1988 rally driver Tony Pond became the first person to complete a lap of the Isle of Man TT motorcycle course at an average speed of over 100 mph (160 km/h) in a car, a Rover 827 Vitesse, standard apart from safety features and racing tires. That record remained unbeaten until 2011.
I have to disagree with one suggestion you have in your write-up, a commonly repeated misunderstanding (any time one of these cars comes up on Barn finds, someone says this in some form or other) – That the Sterling is somehow a badge-engineered Acura Legend with a few trim changes and Rover/Sterling badges on it? That is absolutely false. The Honda/Acura Legend and Rover/Sterling 800 model were a joint development, starting in 1981. There was no Honda/Acura Legend model prior to this joint development, Honda were keen to work with Rover because Honda had no experience with making larger cars. A lot of the chassis work especially, that went into the Acura Legend was done by Rover.
So the statement ” Take a reliable-as-the-rain Acura Legend and let a middling British brand like Rover introduce all manners of electrical gremlins and other characteristically British traits for no other reason than to put a stamp on it that no one was asking for. ” 100% untrue.
I remember reading that the Sterling’s rear suspension was much different from the Acura’s. And, I’ve heard that the Lucas electricals were much more troublesome than those from Denso, Mitsuba and Yazaki.
I’m sure if this was on bring a trailer I would bring 20 or 30,000 and they would say stuff like well bought . Exquisite vehicle stuff like that.. sucks for the seller that the bidding is only at 500
Actually it was on Bring A Trailer but the seller did not honor the winning bid: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1988-sterling-825sl/
There seems to be an awful lot of wires and hoses there even for a car of this vintage. And is that the fuse box behind the battery? I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee and a Mitsubishi Raider pickup with a combined 240k on them and I couldn’t tell you where the fuse box is.
This car has been for sale for a long in time here in Tacoma and if memory serves me correctly, he was asking about $3000.
Wait! This is in Tacoma? I wonder if it is the same one I would see down the road from me there growing up. Probably one of only a couple I have ever seen and I was picturing it sitting parked in Tacoma and checking it out as a kid when I read this write up. Very funny.
I owned one that I bought from my brother, and I let my newly licensed daughter drive it. It really was a great car and pretty quick. It was difficult to get parts for though.
A close friend of mine owned one of these. Very attractive car but also very unreliable. Actually, a lot like her, very attractive but very unreliable.
There’s video of an 827 5-door with sticky tyres and a different exhaust doing a 100mph course-clear lap of the Isle Of Man in the very capable hands of Tony Pond.
I always preferred the 5-dr to the 4-dr.
Maybe, if this one had the optional power rear seat…
This seller listed it on Bring A Trailer at no reserve then failed to honor the high bid. He had been trying to peddle it on CL for months in the $6k range… after buying it when it was advertised for $3k
I can remember decades ago my ex girlfriend bragging to me that her family once owned one of these. I really didn’t know anything about them and it wasn’t until years lately I read about what pieces of junk they were. I sort of chuckle about it now lol.
Ended at $2,150.
Reserve Not Met.