AS communal Rover 600 thread

[Angrydicky]

There was quite a lot of Rover (Ronda) 600 talk in the other thread, so I thought the car deserved its own thread.

Heres my 620si in White Gold. A brilliant and hugely underrated car.

I don’t know if there’s any other current owners on here but I know there’s quite a lot of former owners.

Share your 600s or 600 related stories here!

 

[fatharris]

I have nothing to add except this particular example I spotted this week.

[Soundwave]

My dad used to have a 620si, an L plate in Caribbean Blue. Great car.

Although being the stupid kid I was, I was gutted at first that he'd turned down a very leggy J plate E34 to buy it. Because I couldn't look past the badge initially. Once he had it though, I could see it was definitely a more than capable car, had many happy family trips to France in it. 

Unfortunately, rust got the better of it by the mid 2000s, as was the case for too many of them. A pity. 

[wesacosa]

I broke my wrist in 2018 and needed an auto so bought this locally from Gumtee for £250 with no exhaust and as it turned out when I got it home a massive fuel leak from the filler neck.  really nice one owner 623GSi. I put one of those knobs that autotesters use on the steering wheel but turning the wheel so fast seemed to be the final call for the PAS fluid cooler which sprang about twenty pin hole leaks from the crusty bits.  kept it 4 or 5 months as I really really liked it but had no real need for it once my wrist healed so sold it on

[wuvvum]

I've had three 600s.  A K-reg 620i which was advertised as "free to good home" in the Freeads in about 2002 (when it was still quite a modern car) - I called the seller and said "I'm sure you've been inundated with calls but I'd be happy to give you £50 for it", that turned out to be the best offer she'd had so it became mine.  No MOT but I was less bothered about that sort of thing in those days.

The second was a black 620 SLDi which I got cheapish off eBay from near King's Lynn and ran around in for a while - it was a decent car although the L-series wasn't quite as lively in a car that size as it was in the 220.  Good on fuel though, and very comfortable.

The third was a 620ti which I went to Buckinghamshire for - it was owned by a wealthy old gent (he had an Aston DB9 as his weekend car) and had been mechanically looked after, but had dreadful lacquer peel and was generally cosmetically a bit scruffy.  I didn't mind that too much though as it made it all the more amusing when it annihilated a modern BMW or Audi.  I sold it when the fleet started to get out of control but I do often think that's one I should have kept.

[dollywobbler]

Bought a 600 diesel some years ago for £250. Lovely car, though mine seemed a little short of suspension. Was still great for a trip to France.

Big fan of the engine - it pulls nicely, if a little old school agricultural.

Sadly not such a fan of the gearbox...

Long term shiters may remember that one. Our annual visit to Cholmondeley and only one car left a trail of gearbox oil right through the event...

Plastic diff cage blew apart. AA managed to damage it on the way home so I reluctantly scrapped it.

Since driven a 620Ti and that's also a great car, that can also destroy its gearbox. Have never driven a Honda powered one. I imagine I'd like them.

For my money, a better, prettier car than the 75.

[Leyland Worldmaster]

I've spotted these in surprising locations. 

The Czech registered one was spotted on a holiday back in 2010\11.

The UK registered one was spotted a few weeks back in Kent... 

[montytom]

Heres mine a 620 ti. Had it about 6 months so far 

[wesacosa]

I would love to try a Ti.   There was a lovely Nightfire one for sale on here with @jmsguzzi last year. really wish I had been in a position to have it off him

[trigger]

This was my 620Ti that i owned a few years back, it had been in a garage for a number of years and needed recommissioning so i picked it up cheap, spent some time getting it back on the road and thoroughly enjoyed using it, even taking it to the Shitefest at the Bubble Car Museum in 2017.

What i liked was that it looked like any other 600, it didn't even give the model name on the back, just '600', It was a real Q car with 197bhp, it really did fly and it was comfy too, I often wish I'd kept it but I'm like that with most my old cars! the gearbox bearings were a bit noisey though which was a common problem with the Ti but JohnK who bought it of me did fix that i believe.

[Bren]

Our old 620i. January 1994 - early one. Cloth seats and manual box. Electric sunroof - I was disappointed to discover the rear seats didn't fold. We paid £2.5 k for it and got £450 for it three years later as it went very tatty - the rear arches near to the bumper just dissolved. Not a bad steer - reliable but not what I would call remarkable - probably because it was bottom of the range.

[wuvvum]

3 hours ago, trigger said:

This was my 620Ti that i owned a few years back, it had been in a garage for a number of years and needed recommissioning so i picked it up cheap, spent some time getting it back on the road and thoroughly enjoyed using it, even taking it to the Shitefest at the Bubble Car Museum in 2017.

What i liked was that it looked like any other 600, it didn't even give the model name on the back, just '600', It was a real Q car with 197bhp, it really did fly and it was comfy too, I often wish I'd kept it back I'm like that with most my old cars! the gearbox bearings were a bit noisey though which was a common problem with the Ti but JohnK who bought it of me did fix that i believe.

That was a nice car.  I have fond memories of taking it for a spin and annoying a chav in a barried Golf which wasn't fast enough to overtake it.

[Dick Longbridge]

3 hours ago, trigger said:

This was my 620Ti that i owned a few years back, it had been in a garage for a number of years and needed recommissioning so i picked it up cheap, spent some time getting it back on the road and thoroughly enjoyed using it, even taking it to the Shitefest at the Bubble Car Museum in 2017.

What i liked was that it looked like any other 600, it didn't even give the model name on the back, just '600', It was a real Q car with 197bhp, it really did fly and it was comfy too, I often wish I'd kept it back I'm like that with most my old cars! the gearbox bearings were a bit noisey though which was a common problem with the Ti but JohnK who bought it of me did fix that i believe.

197bhp?  What a sleeper! Lovely looking thing. What's the spec of the engine in a Ti? 

I see it hasn't been taxed since April 2018 - let's hope it's tucked away somewhere as it looks like it was a solid example.

[Spiny Norman]

I had two of them, wildly differing experiences.
First was a 620 Ti turbo, utterly shit in every way considering I had in mind a BMW/Audi sort of competitor when I paid top dollar for it.  Hateful piece of crap which disappointed me every day until it suffered HGF and I had the excuse I needed to scrap the fucker.
Second one was a 618iS with the Honda lump, bought as a stop gap banger for £350 and a far more enjoyable car in every respect. It drove just like the old Accord it was. No trouble from it and sold it for a profit.

[Angrydicky]

Pulled my 600 into the garage for a bit of maintenance for the upcoming MoT.

The underside looked pretty good for the age. I wire brushed and painted some slightly rusty brake pipes but they cleaned up to shiny steel before painting. These are the same ones I replaced on T632 TAV and it was an arse of a job.

I welded the front exhaust bracket back on, which had broken free of the exhaust and was just hanging in the rubber mounting.

Last mot it got advisories for perished upper balljoint rubbers all around. I bought some boots on eBay which were advertised as being for Rover 600. More about that later. Started with the nearside rear, couldn’t get the rusty split pin out so attempted to force the nut off and the thread stripped on it! So I bit the bullet and ordered a pair of new rear arms off eBay, about £18 each delivered. Had to cut the nut off the one with the stripped thread, but the other side came apart no problem. I had to jack the suspension back into place on each side to line it up with the new arms but it all went back together well. The new joints were nice and tight in comparison- I probably should have changed the front ones but just ended up changing the boots. The ones I got off eBay were far too big, so I drove to Spilsby Motor Spares and bought some the right size, along with a pair of new wiper blades. Put some fresh grease in the joints before fitting the new boots. 
The main mot issue that needed addressing was the typical Rover 600 arch rust. It’s much better than most, but it was a bit scabby on the passenger side when I got the car, and when I checked to make sure it was still solid, my finger went straight through. Ah well.

 

With the sill cover off and a good wire brushing I could see the extent of the rot. It wasn’t as bad as I’d feared.

Cut out all the rot and let in fresh metal.

Fatha_AD was roped into doing the filling and painting as he’s got more patience than me. I got the Rover GMN, White Gold paint from eBay, from a company called carpaints4u and I was amazed how good the paint match was, honestly I thought it would stand out a mile away that it had been painted but it’s not obvious at all. It came with lacquer and primer.

While the sill cover was off I took the opportunity to get all the dirt and mud out. I took the grommet out of the back of the sill and painted the back of the repair patch, and then sprayed Dinitrol in there, so it should hopefully never rot again! I did the same on the other side which so far is not showing any sign of rot at all.

[Angrydicky]

My Rover passed its mot today. Second one in my ownership and not a bad result. The CV boot didn’t look that bad to me really, a bit perished but the exhaust from the cat back is going to need replacing in the next year or so, it’s pretty crusty.

14,000 miles covered over the last year with only minor age-related repairs to report, plus new tyres, brakes etc. No breakdowns or FTPs. It’s really comfortable and not that bad on petrol either.

Not bad for a £250, 24 year old motor.

 

[ianjobber87]

My parents had a 620 gsi I think. It came in as a finance repo at dad's work. It was an orange/ gold colour on an s plate. Full leather, alloys etc. Manual. Did circa 15k miles in it with only a rad cap causing any issues. Did seem to glf at the time too. Great car!

[JohnK]

On 1/31/2022 at 6:13 PM, Dick Longbridge said:

197bhp?  What a sleeper! Lovely looking thing. What's the spec of the engine in a Ti? 

I see it hasn't been taxed since April 2018 - let's hope it's tucked away somewhere as it looks like it was a solid example.

Confirmed. Its still in my hands albeit some 120 odd miles away since I moved!

[MondeoBlues]

My first car was a 620SLi in Nightfire on an M reg. Lovely thing previously owned by a now deceased old boy who flew boat planes during the war. Scruffy as all hell, but I loved it.