The Professionals vs The 131 Sport

[Rob 131]

For the 'Parents Lounge' (little place away from the children and their ever so quiet friends  ) I bought a Home Cinema. In celebration at not having to watch a TV little bigger then a lap top, I put on a Professionals DVD.

It was the one where the Baddie was driving around in a Magenta Lancia Beta Saloon (78/79) T Reg  . You'd love the Wheels on this Theo and they suited this Lancia 

Anyway the wife looked up from her laptop (social media) and commented on what a great looking car the RS 2000 was and didn't accept my argument that the 131 Sport was a much better looking and more luxurious car  . To me the RS 2000 was just like a base Escort that had been modified and still had that slight utilitarian feel to it. I do however admit to liking the Nose Cone  on this model. As I watched this episode it got me thinking that a 131 Sport in Mixed Driving could of outrun anything the Professionals had. Cowleys Granada 2.8 Ghia; not a chance when the road was anything but dead straight. Bodie's 3.0 S (Nice Car  ) however when it came to the twisties or anything in the Wet the 131 Sport would win. I once drove a 3.0S and looking back it felt like a modern day diesel, all torque and not enough top end  . Difference being they also return MPG in the late Teens 

Never saw a 131 Sport in the Professionals for obvious reasons then; plus when Ford gave the cars they were hardly going to want to show the competition. Would have been great though for Fiat's Image 

[Thotos]

A while ago (2005 I think) Practical Classics magazine run a feature to celebrate their 25th year anniversary called "Mainstream then, Classics now?" (or words to that effect). The 131 Sport (my one was used   ) as well as five other cars, including a Rover SD1 3.5,  were pitched against each other to see if they had become true classics and of course to find the 'best'. I was very surprised that the 131 came out tops on the performance stakes and especially against a car with a 3.5 litre V8 engine   In fact I seem to remember the writer selecting the 131 as overall best but then chose the Peugeot 504 as "the car to go home in" because he didn't trust the reliability of the 131   and he liked the superior comfort and luxury of the 504.

[Rob 131]

Some very nice pictures  In The early S1 Professionals, they used BL cars and Cowley had a 3.5 SD1, similar to that in your pictures. Could a Stock 131 Sport outrun one of these??? In the wet and on the twisties maybe, but in a straightline I would expect the Rover to be a great deal quicker 

[kev131]

Some very nice pictures  In The early S1 Professionals, they used BL cars and Cowley had a 3.5 SD1, similar to that in your pictures. Could a Stock 131 Sport outrun one of these??? In the wet and on the twisties maybe, but in a straightline I would expect the Rover to be a great deal quicker 

What about a Guy Croft modified 131 Sport though...?

[Thotos]

in a straightline I would expect the Rover to be a great deal quicker  

So would I which is why I was so surprised that it wasn't. The Rover 3.5 V8 engine is highly tunable but in its standard carburettor form in the SD1 'only' had 170bhp (or maybe 175bhp). The later fuel injected (EFI) cars had 190bhp and some later versions had 200bhp I believe. But the 170/175 bhp versions even with their tons of torque had a 0-60 figure of over 9 seconds with 0-100 in excess of 20 seconds. My car is not 'stock' so not a fair comparison really but with its Guy Croft 155bhp it should be able to get to 60mph in under 9 seconds and even if it doesn't it certainly 'feels' as if it does! I'll try and find the magazine article to remind myself what the writer said exactly.

I'm fairly sure it was about the Professionals that I read somewhere that the reason they changed from BL cars to Ford was that BL insisted in just lending them the cars for the filming and then taking them back at the end of the day. Then the next day BL supplied different cars! It was a nightmare for the continuity editors apparently.  

[kev131]

The best 0-60mph time of any of the contemporary roadtests for the 131 Sport was 9.4 secs by What Car. I was always dubious of that time as Autocar, Motor and Car all failed to break the 10 sec barrier. 

[Robert]

I am delighted to see one of the worst Frankenstein cars of all times, engineered (?) by Vauxhall, in this lineup. Just in order to be "different", they took an Ascona B (perfect rallye car, by the way, would make a great wrecklica of the 400), put the steering wheel on the wrong side  , used the front end of a Manta B, and christened it "Cavalier" if I remember right. It really turned heads 

But how come it reminds me of a certain Italian car from the factory beginning with an "L"? (and no, not the one now owned by Volkswagen/Audi)   

[Rob 131]

With regards to the 131 Sport 0-60 in 9.4 Secs; this always struck me as about right , although like Kev said every other magazine was North of 10 Sec's  . My 131 Sport felt like it would do it in about 9 Sec flat. However I always suspected it was slightly tuned. Others that I drove, were not quite as rapid and the 10 Sec figure was probably about right.

The original SD1 3.5, had 155 BHP or 44 BHP per litre which is seriously low 

I would suggest that 155BHP in a 131 Sport would have a time around 8 Sec's 

[kev131]

Also remember the rediculously ambitious speedo readouts Rob - I'd say the 131 Sport speedo reads 10% fast on average....something the road testers also commented on...

[Rob 131]

Kev

Many Cars of the Period had ambitous Speedo's and I don't believe the 131 was particularly bad when viewed against the competition.

I had before my 131 Sport  a Ford Capri 1.6 S  (The Twin Carb Version with 90 BHP); My Previous Capri Ownership had to come out at come stage' and the Speedo was seriously OTT. It still sounded highly rattly at an indicated 85 MPH

[bellamacchina]

Nice to see this topic. I was reading yesterday an old Popular Classics(shame this mag doesn't exist anymore) with the 2 Capri's from the professionals in there. Both the silver and gold car were just restored in 1996. I expect they are still around.

[Rob 131]

One of the Topics that has not been touched on the Forum is 'what other car did the typical 131 Sport Driver have around the time (before and after) that they had their Sport.'

When I had my Sport in 1990 / 1991, other Sport owners talked of and owned XR3's, 5 GT Turbo's, 130 TC's and Manta's etc. However the most common car before and after the 131 Sport around this time (90/91) in my opinion was the Ford Capri, and mainly the 2.8 Injection and 3.0S versions. I loved the look of the 3.0S (especially when fitted with the optional Recaro's); however I never thought they drove that well and perhaps lacked something in performance for such a large engine. I always fancied a 2.8i at the time, although I could not of afforded a decent example. The bloke that bought my Sport had a red 2.8i and was buying my Sport in order to release money on the sale of his 2.8.

I think and I include myself that there was much in common between the typical 131 Sport and Capri owner in the late 80's and early 90's.