An American Fail - The Sterling (Reworked)

[@MCTonra]

"But the damage had already been done" - epitaph of the British car industry.

[@stillious]

When a Ruairidh video drops about the British car industry, you know one of his great "However," moments is coming.

[@simonacuthbert1]

His, 'however', is nowhere near as scary as a 'but...'

[@jasonhoch7105]

My grandmother had an 825 in the early 90s, and loved it. Ironically, the Honda built transmission started having issues, and the Sterling dealer network was non-existent at that time, so she got rid of it. Years later, I told her she could’ve gone to an Acura dealer to get it fixed, and she was not happy. It was comfortable, looked nice for the era, and handling was not bad. It was pretty slow, but not terrible for that time. Even though my grandmother’s never had any Rover problems, I know that was not the normal. The joke I’ve told for years is “only Rover could f-up a Honda.” Ha. What amazes me is rover didn’t learn anything from Sterling in the USA. The P38 and Discovery 1/2 continued to give them a bad reputation for build quality well into the 2000s…

[@markotrieste]

The brits: let's build a car for the US. It fails due to poor reliability of the car. Ok, let's try again, use a Japanese car and put in British seats. It fails due to poor reliability of the seats.

[@jimdieseldawg3435]

Hamstrung from the outset by the 20:20-hindsight-says disastrous decision to employ a new Rover electrical architecture instead of building on the robust and well-proven Legend base. Boardroom idiocy, no doubt with an input from the unions and both paid a suitable price for their decisions.

[@WoolfJ35]

Whenever you have to restructure your entire car company to emphasize build quality and service, you've already failed as a brand.

[@stevecooksley]

Why on earth did the Rover management think they knew best when it came to the US market? The UK is awash with people who are in positions they have no right to be anywhere near.

[@emergingloki]

I had one of the facelift 827 Sterlings with the Honda V6. Apart from being rather thirsty, it was one of the best cars I ever had, and apart from consumables was completely reliable. Only sold it after 3 years because it was too long for my parking space at a new house.

[@kenon6968]

Whatever logic it had in the UK was completely lost in translation to the US. Why would anyone buy a slightly gussied up Japanese car when you could get the Acura backed by a reputable company.

[@manoman0]

So it was branded as a STERLING not as a Rover?

[@kenon6968]

@manoman0 the sd1 was an unmitigated disaster for British Leyland in North America I can't recall the exact number, but it's less than 2,000 sold. I think it was fresh enough in people's memories that they did not want the negative connotations of the brand, Sterling sounds quintessentially British to our ears. Rover is just a dog's name for anyone under the age of 50 in North America, and I'm not even that sure that many older people would recall that Rover did indeed produce cars.

[@manoman0]

@@kenon6968 Amazing! Since those brands are gone you can rest your case, sir!

[@chadakoin1]

I was a young family man when these were available. Bought an 88 Taurus wagon new. Was into cars then, just like now. Car and Driver + Road and Track were in their hay days and I subscribed to both. In all seriousness and with no disrespect, the prevailing attitude in those days was: "How can you screw up a Japanese car? Build it in England." The competition was fierce, and deserved or not, the Sterling never was going to happen here.

[@AFExploration]

always loved the Mk1 800 fastback especially in vitesse form

[@restojon1]

I daily'd a mk1c 827 Vitesse with a Sterling interior for quite some time. It was a lovely car in it's own right, I'm not usually a fan of FWD cars but it was a pleasant thing overall. Unbelievably comfortable too, one of the most comfortable cars I've ever driven in fact.

[@rpsmith2990]

Reworking this video was a good excuse for me to watch another video about the Sterling. Missed opportunity describes both the car's fortunes here, and my own chance to own one, as I recall seeing a 5 speed manual car on the forecourt of a local car parts yard (they sometimes sell those cars that actually still run) but let that get away from me. I could probably have bought it for pennies on the dollar of its original price. The CCV was a real work of art. I remember when those hit the covers of the British car magazines that I used to drive to Norfolk to buy because at the time no one else carried them. I remember that British Leyland cars were sold out of one dealership where I lived, and I knew the daughter of one of their salesmen. He always had a MGB, TR6, or sometimes a Stag as a demonstrator. I'm quite sure that he never took a Marina home. The family ride, however, was a Buick LeSabre sedan. I don't remember ever hearing that they were thinking of selling the MGF here in the States. It would have been an interesting addition to the mix here, Still, a good video about a lovely, if unfortunate car.

[@albertseabra9226]

Í recall the car. Dealerships featuring in-stock brand-new, unsold cars from 3 different years. Super, extravagant deals regarding 3 year-old Cars -- the odometer reading zero Miles ! "This is practicaly an Acura, for half the price -- 50% off the original Sticker- Price". Ir was truly surreal, a bizarre sales pitch ! Usually, no sale... I have no Idea How the nightmare came to an end -- where are all those Brand new, unsold vehicles?

[@AeroGuy07]

I liked the Sterling, it looked good. But I also liked the Merkur XR4Ti. The only Sterling dealership I remember was on Interstate 75 in southern Ohio, between Cincinnati and Dayton. Their big roadside sign was still there well into the 90s.

[@JonathanEzor]

There was also one on Route 347 in Suffolk County on Long Island in New York.

[@adamwetzel6629]

Second attempt at this comment so please forgive if duplicative- my original seems to have disappeared. We had a Sterling outlet in my hometown Lexington KY- at the time DON JACOBS OLSMOBILE HONDA BMW so I suppose adding STERLING made decent sense at the time. Lord knows the folks across town at JAMES MOTOR CO (BENZ) and QUANTRELL (CADILLAC VOLVO) were then are doing a stonking business, so why not add another 'premium' brand to the Central KY market? I always thought they were very good looking cars (especially 827 fastback) and they are very comfortable and pleasant places to be. Yet even as a 10 year old kid I knew what they were (badge engineered but worse) and what they were not (a cheap Jag, which itself at the time was a questionable proposition!). Still, I was pleasantly surprised when I moved to the UK in 2001 (RAF MILDENHALL, 100TH AIR REFUELING WING, NKAWTG!)- to see many many 800 series Rovers still kicking around happily. A colleague had the facelifted turbocharged VITESSE (a 24v variant of the Rover K-series IIRC) and it was pretty sweet. Good times!

[@marcomcdowell8861]

My uncle had a Sterling. As a kid, I thought it was sweet!

[@darrensmith6999]

I was a the launch of the Rover 800 at the dealership i worked at back in the day. I cant say we had any problems with them both the Honda engine 825 and the Rover Mi16. God knows what they sent to the USA but what we got was fine.The Rover 800 and the Honda Legend were co designed by Austin Rover and Honda the 800 was not just a differently dressed clone of the Honda they were a joint collaboration between the two companies i must point this out. (:

[@scottpeterMA]

Love your channel, brilliant, thank you 👍

[@drstevenrey]

SD-1 fail: Americans want, in this class of car, a three box design. Not a fastback, hatchback. Britain missed the entry to the hatchback and then went mad with this idea way too long.

[@BobAbc0815]

The Sterling failed to gain a Sterling Reputation.

[@RoadCone411]

I would have liked to have seen the Sterling succeed but as usual from anything British Leyland/Austin Rover, it was flawed in design, execution or both. What a lovely cabin the Sterling had, far better than the hyped-up Accord interior on the Legend! And I always liked the clean, purposeful looks, it managed to have the qualities of a British tailored suit on a handsome Japanese executive car. It's amazing that a car with a solid 5 year gestation period would be so poor in execution though. It's like they never tested the vehicle in the extreme heat and cold of the US market, or did any serious testing of components big or small. While British cars from Jaguar and Land Rover continue to languish near the bottom of reliability rankings even today, the expectation at Sterling's level was that it would at least be as reliable as the German makes it competed against. It probably had to be better to have a chance to survive. It wasn't. The engineering was there but the execution was poor, combined with expensive parts/labor (which were needed a lot) and a limited dealer network, it's easy to see in retrospect how the Sterling was a lesson in how NOT to market a new car in the American market. Sadly, you never see them these days of course. The last time you saw one was probably the last you'll ever see one outside of occasional shows. I did see a Rover SD on the roads of the USA in the late 1990s. A total rarity and yet still reasonably common in the UK at that time. It's a shame too because the SD, while far from perfect, deserved better in the USA as well. It was let down for many of the same reasons as the Sterling.

[@mrjasonwhite73]

On paper this sounds like a great idea. Rover style combined with Honda reliability. Too bad that it wasn't a success.

[@kenon6968]

@@mrjasonwhite73 ARNA mk. II, electric bugaloo

[@tasaab]

Back then, I just couldn’t understand how an Acura Legend with British charm could fail. I for one was very excited when I saw the first Sterling. But I understand what happened. I guess the right combination would have been 100% Honda under the sheet metal, with British designed interior, using Honda electrics and part bin items. If that had been the case, I have always wondered what a Sterling based on the second generation Legend would have been like. They should have designed then built this car on the exact same production line as the Legend in Japan, and it would have faired better.

[@Arltratlo]

i cant remember i ever saw a Rover 800... Honda Legend, many.......!

[@marcusdamberger]

Yeah, I would walk past an Acura Legend everyday going to my high school. I always liked the look of it. The owner then got another Legend a few years later of the next generation. But kept the old one too.

[@richardcollier8001]

Amazing Sterling used Honda/Acura part, engines, and engineering yet still couldn’t build a quality car. The UK failed miserably at building any car for North America and thus the decline of the UK being a builder of any car worth buying.

[@UncleJoeLITE]

Re dreamt & re watched. Thanks RMV 🎉

[@edwardburek1717]

If I see this correctly, the Rover 827 Sterling was supposed to be the perfect mix of Japanese engineering and British character, but instead was a hodge-podge of Japanese character and British engineering. It's essentially a Cowley-originated Alfa Romeo Arna, but bigger, and it was never going to match the charm of the SD1, faults and all. Maybe ARCONA/Sterling/Rover should have stuck with the V8 and kept it rear wheel drive.

[@glennso47]

Sterling was also a brand of heavy duty truck. It also faded into obscurity. I think it was when Ford stopped making heavy trucks and sold the division to Freightliner. Correct me if I’m wrong. Thanks.

[@gordon-n6s]

ALL OF THEM WERE DREADFUL!

[@scofab]

They'd also rust to pieces if you waved a salt shaker anywhere nearby. Such a shame because somewhere buried under all the cobbled modifications and poor manufacture there could have been some real gems. Thanks again as always, regards.

[@texleeger8973]

Although a rarity in New England, what few one might see on the highway were two-toned. Original factory color above the hood/window/trunk line and a custom red-brown below (often with "ventilation" holes one could fit a fist through). Sad, because for its time the Sterling was a rather attractive design and comfortable interior. Oh well.

[@hughofIreland]

1980s era joke . . . Q: Why didn’t the British ever manufacture PCs? A: They couldn’t figure out a way to make them leak oil.

[@JohnAsmith-f2t]

Only thing British that sold in my area was the Forson Major. It Sold well.

[@joellamoureux7914]

I would have to slightly disagree with the statement made at the beginning saying that UK low end cars were once a prominent feature in America. The only car to even approach this status would be the mg roadster and the jag xj's in the 70s. Maybe there were more in the CA area than in the mideast. They were a treat to see due to the rarity. I don't ever remember seeing an sd1 In the USA ever. I DID see many Sterlings. Probably more of them than all the others combined to that time.

[@stanwbaker]

Indeed. Hearing how the British car industry sacrificed to somehow "regain" a presence in the United States always seems absurd. British vehicles have been, certainly since the 1970s, profoundly rare stateside. Jaguar, MG and Triumph TRs being merely scarce. Unless a neighbor happened to own one, you might happen upon one once per year in traffic or in a lot. In 40 years of being a car bore I have seen two SD1s on this continent, and recall when Don't You Love Me Baby hit MTV no one, even in the car-bore community, knew what it was.

[@kenon6968]

In Canada the only ones that can ever remember seeing on the road or parked close to it were Range Rovers, XJs or MGBs in the summer. My neighbor had a series Landy, the only one I saw.

[@thomasfrancis5747]

The R17 800 facelift was another cockup - stylists were told to leave the doors alone for tool cost reasons so they couldn't do much to the side profile. Not long after launch it was found that the door tooling was worn out and needed replacing anyway... And as for the 800 coupe which turned out to be an expensive unique white elephant and nothing like the CCV. What seems odd was that some years later the Sterling brand was used for a while on a range of trucks in the States nothing to do with Rover - why use a tainted brand name?

[@JenniferinIllinois]

"Leather upholstery spoiled and turned green" WTF!!!!!!

[@mrjasonwhite73]

I had a similar reaction.

[@gulfstream7235]

I still think these cars look great today...

[@kenon6968]

The coupe and fastbacks are gorgeous, never exported where I live though

[@EugeneMurray-z1b]

An Austin Cambridge (Or is it a Morris Oxford) appears in '5 Easy Pieces' starring Jack Nicholson

[@ABrit-bt6ce]

UK ones looked OK but US spec ones always look wrong. Something got missed in the translation. Rover 75 in the US ought to have been a thing.

[@Drmcclung]

Sterling would have worked OK(ish) here, filled in the gaps between Lexus and Infiniti, and done a lot of good for Rover if marketing had run with an emphasis on the Japanese component.. and been less heavy-handed on the emphasis of "British luxury" which was anything but luxuriously British. The chassis tuning was better in the Acura counterpart it was based on

[@rob5944]

Sadly it seems nothing was learnt after the poor attention given to preproduction and press cars etc during the 1970s, not to mention the general build quality of customers cars. I can't understand why poor management and militant trade unionism seemed to the preserve of the British car industry under B.L. and to an extent Austin Rover. I'm tempted to say they deserved what they got, to be at the mercy of the Germans was but a situation of their own making.

[@kenon6968]

How anyone thought this was a good idea is pretty baffling. You could get substantial the same car from an Acura dealership or get it badged with something that has negative brand equity from a non specialist dealership. If the UK had more open import laws back then I think the verdict would be of a more competent version of yhe ARNA, but having the same basis issue.

[@Suprahampton]

I had an 820E

[@PearComputingDevices]

How do you ruin a Honda? Let the Britts mess with it as only they can 😂

[@w00df0rd]

What happens to your VOICE Bro??? Is this narrated by AI version of you?

[@RedSkylinex60]

I don't normally comment on this sort of thing but this is the very reason I unsubscribed. This really rubs me the wrong way unless he has no choice but to use it.

[@drstevenrey]

Rover never was anything like Rolls Royce or Bentley. Yes, they brushed that segment vaguely with the P5, but after that, it was nowhere near the big boys. It's just a Rover. Same argument goes for Jaguar. The XJ for a few minutes was sort of close but never at the same level. And Rolls Royce as well as Bentley were nowhere near what they are today with BMW and VW. A Silver Cloud is a rattle bucket compared to a Phantom of today. Wood and leather not luxury makes. You can get wood and leather in a Daewoo. Quote by James D. May.

[@gregorylenton8200]

THIS CAR WAS A ...joke

[@greenseaships]

FIEVEL WAS A GOOD MOUSE!

[@drstevenrey]

I never understood why the British manufacturers wanted to sell their cars in America. A land where cars built anywhere are not really at home, ever. British cars never were of any mentionable 'quality' even at home. When a few American soldiers brought home a few British sports cars after World War 2, that was a fleeting event and had little to do with their 'love' of British cars.

[@jimtaylor294]

Cute diatribe, but nope. Nobody says their car runs like a Mercedes Benz (which after the '90's makes even more sense 😂), rather Rolls Royce is the yardstick, and has been since the 1910's. As for selling in America: postwar-Britain needed exports to rebuild the economy and steel was rationed. Car makers were encouraged to emphasise exports, and rewarded with more steel allocations.

[@marcomcdowell8861]

Hundreds of millions of customers.

[@drstevenrey]

@@jimtaylor294 I agree, from 1910 to 1930, then it was all over. Today Rolls/BMW is more a joke for super rich idiots.

[@jimtaylor294]

@drstevenrey I'd have to disagree. The Germans have little to do with the defining parts of the average RR (the build quality and craftsmanship). The engine, chassis & minor components are about as far as it gets. Now if we were talking of Maybach, you'd be entirely correct. Ugly and badly designed overpriced yuppie mobiles, scrunched on stolen valour from the interwar period.

[@WOFFY-qc9te]

British cars were hobbled by LUCAS ..................

[@dalghren]

the sterling was glorified honda. might as well buy an acura.

[@fredburley9512]

Can't polish a turd. Such a boring load of unadventurous and weak minded crap - why would anyone want such a thing. Boxlike 80's cars were so dull all over the world anyhow. What a sorry mess and proved once again that the policy of privatisation was a massive failure. Will this tale ever end?

[@markotrieste]

I disagree. The exterior design is great, especially compared to today's monsters of weight and raised belt lines. The problem was all in the reliability, which, incidentally, was the reason why Mercedes &co were more expensive. A summer campaign test in Arizona would have avoided half of the problems at least, but someone has to pay in advance for that.

[@notroll1279]

Please name a few good cars produced by state-owned companies...

[@johnoneill5661]

I'm sure their is supposed to be an "S" in front of "hit" 💩💩💩💩💩💩