[Alan]

Dave,
As you can tell from my previous posts I am a very excited new owner of a Rover 75, here in Australia. When going through the purchase process the salesman told me that the timber "effect" dash inlay is real wood and not plastic. What do you have to say on this point please.

 

[Dr Dave]

Short and simple answer to this one Alan, sorry to disappoint you, but it is plastic made to look like wood....:eyes

 

[JohnSwitzer]

Re: Re: Real wood?

Erm, not so sure Dave. Extract from Rover advert for the 75 - December 2000:

Most cars in this class feature polyvinyl interior inserts. The Rover 75 features real wood veneer.

Also recall - though don't have it to hand a feature in a Plastics Journal with regard to the manufacturing process which takes real wood veneer and encapsulates it in a plastic laminate sandwich.

Incidentally, when I was buying my 25 I asked the Salesperson the same question and was told that the 75 does indeed feature real wood veneer. By contrast 45 and 25s uses polyvinyl - cheaper I guess.

Personally I don't really notice the difference anyhow!

John

 

[Alan]

The brochure calls it "walnut veneer"
Alan

 

[David Lee Newsham]

Re: Re: Real wood?

I think I can clear this one up ! My cousin works for the actual company which supplies Rover (and others) with its wood trim.

All wood trim for use on the main area of the dash board is genuine on all Rovers, ie : 25/45/75.

Exceptions are : centre console trim and door trim.

Hope this helps. Incidentally Rover use a more expensive wood than Honda, Toyota and Nissan.

 

[Dr Dave]

My god! You learn something new every day eh! I would have put money on it being 'plastiwood'!!

Oh well, I stand corrected....... :twak:

 

[ichatfield]

As long as it doesn't root

 

[Dr Dave]

hehehe!!

 

[shorti]

Perhaps I can shed a bit more light on this (though you may not be interested!). Having worked with suppliers of wood for other (once related)company's vehicles, I understand that Rover Dashboards have previously been real wood (so there's no new info there) however, I understand that MGR are have, or are looking into replacing wood with 'plastic' equivalents. Not that there is anything bad in that - in fact real wood is more expensive, does not always match up nicely and almost inevitably deteriorates with age. Also, all that a 'wood' dashboard is in reality is a component covered in a very thin piece of (cheap) wood veneer covered in a thicker, clear, (plastic!)lacquer. I'll bore you no longer!

 

[Dr Dave]

and it doesn't rot! LOL