Roving Free

The irony here is that all of them had a phantastic, consensual opinion about the Montego, notwithstanding the fact that very few got to see it, let alone drive it. The Rover Montego entered the arena claiming to be a local assembly job "" a bald-faced lie. It had a stratospheric price tag of around Rs 12 luckless lakhs. It took three years and goddess Mercedes Benz to come to India and set the equation right by pricing their Benzs double the Montego's tag.

The competition is cut throat because that rarified pantheon includes some of the very bestselling automobiles in the world. There is the Clubman version which is a no-frills Montego priced at only Rs 9 lakh. Sounds good till the truth is out: a GMI Astra can offer all the frills and still be cheaper than the economy version of the Montego. Wow! And the Astra is a contemporary car while the Montego breathes in terribly small numbers in India and wherever BMW is at, because "" Gott im himmel! "" BMW owns Rover UK.

 

The company, courteous to a fault, didn't offer us a Montego for a road test; but the even more obliging dealer in Mumbai offered us a 'test' car "" against a Rs 12 lakh bank draft. You can't deride me: I've been trying my honest best to amass that kind of wealth, only to realise recently that an used car doing the test duties would be an easier alternative: we got a MH 01 P 3202 in aqua blue, and it had clocked 38,000 km of physically challenged Indian terrain when it reached us. (For some reason, this car was never re-engineered, unlike GMI on its Astra or MFIL on the Ford Escort "to suit the Indian road conditions).

Beauty beneath

Approaching 40,000 km, the car looked pretty young. True, it had a loving chauffeur all the time, the kind who ties a yellow flannel on his right wrist so that he can reach out and wipe smudgy fingerprints on the glass and on the bonnet. Remarkably, two years had done little to take the wax out of the paint job and the salty, muggy Mumbai climate hadn't caused a rust bust. Yet.

The cleancut, acquiline lines of the Montego lend to it a sense of purpose and huge self-confidence; the slightly inset waistline and the relatively high floor plan gives the entire design a look of Continental decency even today.

Compare it with another leftover from the '80s, the Peugeot 309, and the integrity of the Montego will burst through. The square headlamps, the slant of the grill, and the wheel arch bulges mesh well. This is one car that is true to the drawing board where it was conceived. Rover, of course, could have made design immortality somewhat more pleasant with help from a nose job and a spoiler (added with remarkable lassitude at a later stage).

This is how the Rovers of the '80s looked, before the advent of the Honda copycats. There is very little to whinge and carp about. Park it next to a Cielo or an Astra, the difference in age will show through. But, as with the Peugeot 309, the Montego will appeal principally to those who missed the razor sharp, very European, three-box auto designs of the '80s.

On the inside, the car looks decidedly older. The square facia is passe and so is the somewhat American beige plastic works. The interior is surprisingly roomier than some of the new cars, with ample leg room for the rear passengers. The driver's saddle is slightlyon the firmer and less comfortable side, with the overstuffed side supports of the seat doing little to hold one's body intact while cornering hard. Instrumentation is comprehensive and in tune with the character of the turbocharged nature of the car, it sports a very usable tachometer. None of the new cars in India has a tacho, since the manufacturers are convinced that the Indian buyer will take some time to take notice of technicalities like engine speed.

Behind the wheel

The three-spoke steering wheel is thickly padded and the driving position is just perfect. The hoodline is clearly visible, so parking tight is not fraught with tension. Even if you were fooled by that diesel charger, better strap yourself or prepare yourself for a surprise. This car is phenomenally fast and cruising at 150 kph is an easy job for the 2000 cc in-line-four motor which is turbocharged and intercooled. The five-speed shifter was by now acquainted with whatever shift pattern was suited to the chauffeur and we found it behaving like a hair-slicked-back smoothie. The gears don't jar or snap. Floor the pedal and it hauls the 1,150 kg kerb automobile like a ramjet. But fling it into a series of corners and then watch the car take those important milliseconds before it corrects its poise. Handling problems are compounded by softly sprung all-wheel independent suspension setup. The Michelins on the test car were evenly worn but were not yet showing signs of age "" another advantage of the chauffeur who knows his car.

While the Montego virtually floats over roads riddled with potholes, it also blunts the performance edge of the turbo diesel. The turbocharger spins in as early as 1800 rpm and a spirited soul can extract a 0-60 under six seconds. What appeals the most is the cruising ability at high speed; if your choice of highway stretch is not curvy, the drive can be quite exhilarating. Typical of diesels, the low-end torque and the never-say-die attitude of the engine makes it perfect for longer drives. Remember, credit cards loia. World was, is and will never be perfect...right?