V8
Rover · on record 1994 to 2025
Rover V8 registrations can refer to several vehicles because the aluminium Rover V8 engine appeared across saloons, sports derivatives and specialist models for decades. Without a more specific model name, the label is insufficient to identify one body or generation. It should therefore be resolved using year, engine capacity and body data, rather than assuming every entry represents the same Rover product merely because the V8 badge is shared.
GROWING
Red List classification, from population, five year trajectory and survival against peak. Reviewed each census.
13
licensed vehicles
2025 census
2025 census
8.6% of the peak fleet remains licensed
23
declared SORN
total surviving
peak 152 in 1994 · +0 vehicles a year, five year trend
Population history
Licensed and SORN vehicles at each census. The filters below apply to the family population, MOT and registration figures. They do not alter the generation history above.
Licensed
SORN
Latest census observation
Inside the surviving fleet
AutoCensus parses every DVLA variant description, so the fleet can be read by fuel and specification rather than as one number.
First registrations by year
When surviving examples first joined the British fleet.
New registrations
Vehicles first registered each year. A fleet still being sold shows here; a finished one shows only imports.
MOT reliability
DVSA test results for this family, 2005 to 2025.
Pass rate by year
| Failure reason | Failures | Share of all tests |
|---|---|---|
| Any deliberate modification, excessive corrosion, damage, cracks or inadequate repair of a load bearing body or chassis member which seriously affects its strength within 30cm of the body mountings | 8 | 3.1% |
| A wiper blade insecure, missing or in such a condition that it does not clear the windscreen effectively to give the driver an adequate view of the road (through the windscreen) to the left and right sides of the vehicle, as well as to the front | 7 | 2.7% |
| When the brake is fully applied there is no possibility of further travel of the lever because the lever is at the end of its working travel on the ratchet | 5 | 1.9% |
| An obligatory headlamp inoperative, excessively damaged or deteriorated or has a product on the lens or light source so that the light output is well below that required to illuminate the road ahead | 5 | 1.9% |
| Amalgamation of failures for all headlamp testers | 4 | 1.5% |
| A direction indicator inoperative or less than 50% of the light sources illuminating | 4 | 1.5% |
| A tyre seriously damaged | 4 | 1.5% |
| Excessive play in a suspension ball joint | 4 | 1.5% |
Counted across every recorded test, 2005 to 2025. Advisories are excluded.
Where the V8 remains
Based on MOT test locations, 2025. Test location is a proxy: a vehicle is counted where it was last tested, not where it is kept.
| Postcode area | Vehicles tested | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| RH | 1 | 100% |
| BA | 1 | 100% |
| SO | 1 | 100% |
| KT | 1 | 100% |
| NG | 1 | 100% |
| NN | 1 | 100% |
| WV | 1 | 100% |
How this record was calculated
LATEST CENSUS2025
POPULATION SOURCEDVLA VEH0220 annual
HISTORY SOURCEDVLA VEH0120 GB · to 2013
MOT SOURCEDVSA results · to 2025
FAMILY DEFINITIONROVER V8
PROCESSED20 Sep 2026
Full methodology
Population history combines DVLA VEH0120 Q4 census observations through 2013 with the annual VEH0220 census from 2014 onward. Figures before 2014 cover Great Britain only. Historical VEH0120 is used only when its overlapping UK observations reconcile to the current canonical family definition. Vehicles are grouped into this family using the DVLA GenModel together with durable routing rules for known inconsistencies.
Variant figures are parsed from raw DVLA model descriptions and the original string is always retained. Configuration is only assigned where the model description explicitly identifies it; a blank configuration is not treated as a two door Wrangler. Blank transmission fields are shown as manual because DVLA records the field for automatic vehicles.
MOT figures count tests, not vehicles, and geographic figures count each vehicle at its most recent test location. The decline projection is a straight line fitted to the latest five years and is illustrative only.