Here’s how the Sterling became Rover’s third and final failure in America 

They tried so hard the make a car with the prestige of a British car and the reliability of a Japanese car. What they ended up making was a car with the prestige of a Japanese econobox with the reliability of a British car.

My father bought an 825S back in 1988. It was his last car and he kept it on the road until he passed in 2003. Brings back some good memories. Thanks for remembering this underrated machine.

I filmed a Sterling recently! I did not know the 3500 and SD1 were sold in the US (even at such low number so far back) now I’m itching to find them. Great video!

Wonderful video, I’ve got a 1989 Sterling 827SLi that somehow still runs and I love it dearly. It’s actually in this video, the green example with no tail lights At around 8:14. That’s back when it was at Copart after it was rear ended, then some man bought it, painted it silver and did a Lemons road rally with it, before selling it to me. And now it’s in my driveway and this video!

I’m 20 and I love watching videos on all these older cars!! Some of them I remember, and others I’m unfamiliar with like these I love to learn about. So glad I found your channel and keep up the awesome content :)

I think it was Consumer Reports that referred to the Sterling as ""picture and acura legend assembled using wood glue and indifference" lol

I owned a number of Rover 800s many years ago and I loved them, they did have a few issues that mostly got sorted out over time. The Honda 2.7 was such a gutsy engine but was very tappety while idling. I would regularly do a thousand mile round trip from my home in Northern Ireland to Weymouth in Dorset via Scotland and they never skipped a beat or let me down once.

You should do a video about the GM Epsilon platform, like Saab 9-3, Opel Vectra, Chevy Malibu, Pontiac G6 and so on.

I'm 38 and remember these. I thought they were expensive due to the branding. I was confused later by how Much they look like Acura Legends

I'm over here 20 years old binging this channel. I love old forgotten cars I myself drive something from the mid 2000s you never see today

My father had three of them over here in the UK. I always wondered about the reliability reports in the US and figured that here in the UK we were just used to cars being unreliable and therefore had lower expectations. Having said that, the three my father had all ran ok and he didn't have anything go wrong with any of them. The biggest issue was trim rattles and squeaks. I ran his 1994 827 facelift hatchback for a good few years too until it was killed by rust in the front strut towers. Mechanically it was still good though.

I'm 30 and I watching this episode 😊. I remember seeing these cars on the road growing up in the 90s. I used to think they were somehow related to the Merkur Scorpio from Ford, because they looked so similar to me.

Wow I was towing a new Cadillac xt4 to the dealership for service, past business hours. And I saw a 1980s styled car I assumed it was some old Cadillac I didn’t recognize the logo but thought it was just an older Cadillac logo. I dropped the xt4 off didn’t think much about it. Now watching this video. The taillights, the wheels and the boxy roof line all matched. They had a pristine rover Sterling in there show room floor. I’m only 20 years old. so I never knew rover was sold in the states.

Interesting to hear that the Sterling's suspension was more performance-oriented than the Acura's. Here in Europe, the opposite became true especially in the 90s, with Rover models being much more comfort-oriented than their Honda counterparts. I'd love to see a video on the Infiniti G20, since I drive its European counterpart, the Nissan Primera.

1983 Dodge 600ES. I bought mine in ‘83 right off the lot and an active duty naval officer. Charcoal gray, no white walls, 4-speed standard transmission (very notchy shifter). Transferred to Italy, where it was an enormous hit with the locals. It even spoke (“your door is ajar”).

I was fairly excited by these cars, having read about their development in British car magazines of the time. I'd have loved to see the CCV built as it was. An interesting thing about the original Rover 800 design is that the front end isn't as anonymous as it seems. It seems to take its cue from the SD1 front end. Actually, I had the chance to drive one, once. It was a 827SL in BRG. Unfortunately it had an automatic. Even more unfortunately, the transmission didn't shift for itself. The speedometer had to have been lying, as it told me at one point, cutting through shipyard traffic, that I was doing 90. Despite that, I enjoyed the hell out of it. I saw another that, being a 5 speed, would have been more fun, if it ran. I didn't have the nerve to ask...

Wow I never knew these Rovers were sold in the US or of the Sterling brand. Thanks for this awesome vid!

My Father in law (at the time (1987)), bought a brand new Sterling. I drove it now and then and for the time it was a fine vehicle. Can’t say he had many problems with it.

I love your videos, I’m 18 and could watch these videos all day about stuff I’m not all the way up to speed on since I wasn’t born yet. Keep it up!

I'm 21 years old, the only reason i'm watching is because i am a mechanic and I would have love to live in the 70s with all the beautiful cars automakers made during that era, when everything was simpler

Brilliant. Coming from the UK the Rover 800 was a popular car on UK roads. To see it from and American view point is fascinating.. Thank you for sharing and one I have hoped you would make for a while...

I’m 24 and I love watching these videos of older cars! Keep up the good work

Thank you for sharing another interesting video. I do remember Sterling/Rover. You keep up your efforts.

I remember seeing it here at the Cleveland Auto Show but never saw one on the road.Lucky for everyone who did not buy one but opted for the Acura Legend.

Hello, someone in Britain here. I had the later Sterling 827, and the ignition system was utter pish! It burned through 2 igniters in a week (a mere £300 a pop at that time!). It was scrapped very shortly after. PS the GM Europe division was Vauxhall in the UK, and Opel in the rest of Europe. Because "Britain". :/

When the Sterling first came out I really liked the car but only a few years out of high school it was way out of my price range. My father even liked it although I never told him about the Japanese connection (he fought in New Guinea against the Japanese in WWII and hated them until the day he died). At that time I thought they were something different which I liked then again that is why I liked the Merkurs when they came out too.

As a child I visited the Rover Cowley car plant with the school, I remember watching the Rover 800’s being built. Always liked the shape of these.

The Sterling: always thought that, being a Honda built under license, it would have good quality

Hey... im in my 30s... but did indeed forget about this gem until recently.

29 and never heard of it till today, I love this channel because it makes me appreciate the auto industry's history more.

They really were wonderful cars... when they worked. I remember seeing a lot of them here on continental Europe but I also remember my dad chatting to a couple of owners and exchanging stories of unreliability, my father being a stalwart Citroen owner. But am I the only one who thinks that all Rovers from the SD1 onwards (with the odd exception) look great even today? It's heartbreaking to think that if they were built just a bit better, we'd see more of them on the roads today.

I’m one of the few people who has seen a Rover 3500 in the wild: at the Atlanta Auto Auction lot in 1981. I was 10 and loved to go to the auction with my dad. It looked so exotic but the sleek looks were ruined by the clunky bumpers and to totally out of place round DOT spec headlights. I also remember the Sterling being launched. Never knew someone who actually bought one though. What a shame they couldn’t get it right. Good looking car, especially the later SLi touring (hatchback) model. Thanks for the video.

My sister bought a 1987 825L, brand new. In Austin, Texas, they were being sold through a Mercedes dealer, who was not offering much of a discount. Our mother lived in Houston, and there, Sterling were sold through an Oldsmobile dealer, who cut prices to the bone. Unfortunately, the extended warranty needed to be serviced by the Olds dealer, which meant a 3 hour drive back to Houston. Later, the Roll Royce/Bentley dealer took over the Houston franchise. For all the complaints about the bad build quality of Sterlings, they were much more solid than the Bentley Turbos of the same period. The 825L was no speed demon in a straight line, but the steering and cornering way outclassed the Acura Legend. It was a proper, European sport sedan. The ride was quite comfortable on long trips, and for a while it was very popular among Houston, luxury home Realtors. We don't have the Sterling any longer, but back in Houston we have numerous spare parts, including a full gray leather interior set.

I remember seeing one of these when I was in high school. Was the only one in town. Always admired that car. Not really sure why now. 😄 Yet another future episode idea: Saab

The Vitesse 5 door was stunning! You need to do the Peugeot 405 and Peugeot 505!!!

Yes, I owned one back in the day. It was British racing green with tan leather/ suede interior 89 827 sl automatic and yes the passenger seat failed many times. Luckily it was stuck in the furthest back position, when it completely stopped working. Everything else seemed to work ok. I didn't have it long enough to have any other major problems, but it was cool and unique. It was loaded, even had the power rear seats and rear sunshade! I'm glad I traded it for a 88 Saab 900 turbo SPG, a much more fun car to drive. I do miss it though!

This car is nice !! I had, almost 10 years ago, a Dodge Colt wagon (in the us called either eagle summit wagon, Mitsubishi expo LRV or the Plymouth colt vista and Mitsubishi RVR in japan) that was rare and an oddball back then and still is, even more now, an oddball

I’m 28 and have always been fascinated by cars which failed for one reason or another. I first heard about the Sterling when I was 11 in a book called Automotive Atrocities. September 12, 2021 5:04 pm

I was astonished to see a Sterling in a salvage yard recently, 2021. I never saw one on the street. So sad that it didn't find success.

Thanks for putting this up. It was also interesting to see the SD1 and the P6. The SD1 for all it's build quality was still a great car of it's period, ( I do not mean by that reliable) but from the photo that you showed, a lot of the charm it had in the UK was lost by those US headlight setups (the yellow one). I would suggest that until Nissan got to UK did car makers hear start to make an effort, after the 50's & 60's had been such easy money. And we seam to be going backwards at the moment. O the joy.

21 year old here, I’ve never heard of these until now. Interesting stuff I’m glad I watched this episode!

I'm 32 and never heard of these until now, you learn something new every day!

Amazing how many brands were dead in the US by the early 90's Sterling, Peugeot, Renault, Daihatsu, Yugo and Alfa Romeo Surprising that jaguar and Land Rover survived

My dad bought an '87 the week they came out, local Jeep dealer was selling them. White/gray over tan leather. It had its issues, but stuck around long enough that I drove it some when I turned 16 in '91.

Thank you so much for the video it was a great trip down memory lane as my grandfather had not one but two Sterlings.

We know a guy who was a Sterling tech. He said the electrical problems just never ended. And that the sister Acura was excellent overall quality.

This is such a niche channel and has a special place in RU-vid, and also in my heart ❤️... There is no other channel consistently giving reviews on these types of historic vehicles chevy lumina/monte carlo next please

I had a boss, a strong Anglophile, who bought one. He soon discovered it's great weakness was driving (Or not driving) in wet weather. In north Florida this became a big problem. I never understood how they thought they were going to sell many in America to begin with. The luxury sedan market is limited to begin with. Between MB, BMW, and domestic manufacturers who had cars for those that still wanted size with their ride, and newcomers from Japan that were selling almost everything they could send over while taking sales from the traditional luxury makers, the market was swamped. Maybe there was some secret market research that showed a pent up demand for English cars.

I had the Matchbox version of this, it was my favorite in my collection. I remember seeing the sedan on the roads here and there but never saw the hatchback once.

Im 29 and i watched this one haha. I've always had a soft spot for cars that were odd or didn't fair well in the market. And love to hear the history of all these forgotten models. Keep it up!

I was aware of them, and I loved the styling - much more than the Legend. At that time, I could barely afford my Honda CRX-HF (one of the best cars I’ve ever driven/owned). Someone near me owned one, and I enjoyed looking at it when out for a walk. I always thought that it was a shame that it didn’t work out.

I had one of these and it was very unique and I enjoyed it! I also had a 1992 acura legend and I LOVED that car!

The Sterling I used to have was far more reliable. Purred like a kitten. The only reliability issue I regularly faced was that he would sometimes spew fluids onto the rug. He was my cat and he was a great friend. I miss him.

I always admired the Sterling when I was in grad school. Couldn’t afford one then. Years later I ended up buying a 94 Acura Legend. Amazing and beautiful car. Kept it for over 10 years. The Brit version just couldn’t match the Acura in terms of quality and performance.

I love this old and obscure cars, generally I only like cars older than myself (born in 2000). Love the channel, keep up the great work

Almost bought this as my second brand new car in my life. British luxury with Honda quality? Yes right. I almost did it. Thankfully I was too poor!!!!! 🤪

I hope he does the 1975 GMC Jimmy Sierra 4x4. Big fan of this channel!

I'm 25 y.o from Indonesia and I've heard about Sterling, Merkur, Eagle, etc thanks to the internet.

It's a shame you guys never got the coupé version of the Sterling which was supposedly built to a higher (less unreliable) standard. I always thought the coupé was better looking than the saloon, and it only ever came with the Honda sourced V6 engines so at least it managed to stay on the roads longer...

I'd never heard of this car before. Thanks for the video and keep up the great work. 👍

I have two suggestions for videos: Toyota Starlet and Tercel. I had a 1982 Starlet and it ran good, but it was tiny and didn't have air conditioiner. I drove it until it was totaled in a wreck. Although I never had a Tercel I know it was a short run model after the Starlet. Thanks!

This was a Gorgeous car to me 😍😍😍; can you do the Italian version of the Mini, the Autobianchi? Thank you!

I'm 28, and I remember only seeing one of these on the road. I've seen like 4 in junkyards though.

In the UK the Acura Legend was badged as a Honda Legend and I owned the 2.7 V6 coupe, my only real gripes were the wallowy ride and occasionaly you would get horrific tappet rattle from the top end which you could clear just by blipping the throttle. The only real issue was the bearings went on the distributor spindle, not something that was immediately obvious until the spindle got so hot it caused the plastic rotor arm to melt off and the almighty bang from the engine gave me such a fright I thought the engine had fallen out of the car. When phoning round breakers yards for engine parts you always said your car was an 827 as the parts were half the price than if you said it was for the Legend

I'm 23 and always liked these. Hope to find one in the spring or summer.

I’m 25 and watching the video; love auto history

I am under 30 years old, and watch your videos for this exact reason. There are so many "forgotten" cars in the 80s that nobody remembers it's fascinating.

1988-1990 Pontiac 6000 STE All-Wheel-Drive was a rare trim of GMs Pontiac A-Body. Around 2000 units total, if I remember correctly. I've had 4 of them. Really neat car way ahead of its time.

My high school best friend lived about a 10 minute walk from Tallahassee's Stirling dealership. I've always been kinda fascinated by these cars. The dealership tried pretty hard to convey some sense of prestige, but spot they were in had been used car lots before Stirling and used car lots after Stirling.

In The British Sitcom, Keeping Up Appearances, Hyacinth and Richard had a Rover(don't know the model) in light blue. Thanks for putting my screen name up there!

I'm 30 and love this channel, but your right, I don't belive I knew of this cars existence prior. I couldn't say that about any other car you've covered but this is a true odd ball for me.

Born in 1994, I remember seeing ads for the sterling in mid-late 80’s National Geographic’s my dad and I would buy for 25 cents at the royal oak library. I always thought the car looked awesome but never was fortunate enough to see one on the road. I love the videos, always look forward to see a new one saturdays. Keep it up, we love you here in hazel park/royal oak!

I found a Sterling on a bike lap around town a few weeks ago just sitting in someone's driveway covered in years of desert grime. I actually have to say, the front facia design is pretty slick.

Thnx for posting this video ! It would be nice to see a video about the Austin America and the previous MG Princess 1100 and the later Austin Marina as sold in the USA and Canada in the 60's and 70's.

You'd be wrong to say no one in their 30s or younger not watching. I love this channel and I'm 29.

Great video and story.

How is it I didn’t notice back then that every single one of those luxury cars looked exactly alike. It’s freaking amazing.

My teacher had one. One thing I remember is the weird keyless entry remote that needed to be pointed into the cabin, at the rear view mirror area, to work.

My late dad considered a used Rover 820 as potential transport. He eventally bought a GM Vauxhall Carlton (British badged Opel Rekord) I'm surprised about the quality issues the North American Sterling given Honda`s imput and their reputation for attention to detail.

Being in the UK I had a later Rover 820SLi, absolutely loved that car and the only issue I had with it was the electric windows would stop working intermittently. After investigation the fault was the Italian BCM made by Magnetti. I replaced it with a 4.0 Jeep Cherokee, that was a great motor too.

Keep the great 🚗 vids coming! I click on new videos immediately! 🤣🤷🏻 I’m 29 and very into this video btw I vaguely remember very few of these but never knew the make growing up

Hey man I’m one of your younger subscribers I guess!! I’m 27, never heard of the sterling but love to learn about weird cars like these. Keep up the great content man!!!

I’m in my early 40’s & don’t remember this car at all but the first thing I thought was how much it looks like a Honda. I guess the reasons obvious why I don’t recall seeing them. Thanks for the history!

So the sterling 825 was the rover version of the Acura legend? And the Acura legend was called the Honda accord in Europe! It's amazing to see outside of north America you don't see the Acura, Lexus and Infiniti badges. You see the cars, but they are called by the parent company name! Case in point. I saw what I know as a infinity I30 with a Nissan emblem and a maxima name plate on it, then i saw a Honda integra?I was vacationing in the Caribbean at the time.

I know you already did the Celica and Honda's Prelude, but would you be willing to do an episode on the interesting history of the Toyota Supra?! The 86-92 Supra was pretty much the fanciest and fastest car Toyota made until that date before Lexus stuff. I think It has an absolutely amazing legacy for a car that "didn't sell well enough" to be continued (until recently.)

As usual another great video, I kinda want one now

It was essentially a Honda Legend, so I'm somewhat surprised that they were not reliable ? I have had Honda's since the 1990's, they are some if the toughest, most reliable cars ever built.

I got an 827 Oxford, 2022 and it still kicks Ass. While all BMW´s rusted away. A true underrated Legend.

I’m 35. My favorite matchbox car to play with was a red sterling. More like a burgundy but I really liked the design of it. Great video

Hey! I saw one an hour ago here on the north side of Chicago! A perfect, bright red five-door manual driven in a way that can only be called spirited!

I definitely remember this car! And I always wondered what happened to it! Thanks for the info!

Thank for video

I remember working on a Sterling commercial filmed in Houston to be shown in Italy and how disappointed we were when they unloaded a couple Hondas. The British and Italian producers were great and fun. They loved the Houston motor cops and their big guns...

Our family actually saw a few Rover and Cortina during our visits to Canada. They never got much of a foothold in northeast U.S.

I freakin LOVED these cars! You see, they were known for having electrical gremlins and I had the franchise for selling how-to repair manuals that included their electrical systems. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. Every time I would enter a shop and see a Sterling, I knew that I had a guaranteed sale. Killer. Note that karma is a b*tch though, because in 1996 I got a screaming deal on an Acura Legend LS, sister car to the Sterling. Care to guess how many electrical problems I had with the Acura? Tons. After 7 months I sold it. Easily a bottom 5 car of the 60 or so that I have owned. Honda is known to make some great cars, this POS wasn’t one of them.

I'm surprised you didn't include the ad featuring Patrick Macnee in this video. You know, the one where the James Bond theme is playing, then he steps out of the car and says, "I suppose you expecting someone else!"

Sterling was the poster child for the US "Lemon Law's"

I’m 32 literally haven’t heard about this but love your content. Always informed

I only know about sterling because the Infiniti dealership I worked at 20 years ago was a “rover” dealer and still had customers come in. I remember it having the lightest power steering I’ve ever felt.

I worked at PPG Industries UK and we provided the paint for this car.