New car

[Parantodd392]

I’m now the proud owner of an Anglo/Japanese classic it needs some work but with only 55k on the clock it’s barely run in

[Hooli]

Looks a little moist where you are too.

[cros]

A gentleman of taste.

[Parantodd392]

She only set me back £400 and she’s a minter

[Broccoli]

Nicely bought!
Is it all running and ship shape or a bunch of work to do?

[angrydicky]

An excellent purchase by the sound of it.
People complain about the cost of used cars but Rover 600s are still relatively cheap because they’re hugely unfashionable.
I paid £250 for this one at the end of 2020, and it’s been perfectly reliable.

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I’ve had to do a few jobs on it but it’s all age related wear and tear sort of stuff.

Keep an eye on the power steering oil cooler pipes which run across the front of the radiator (you can see them through the intake hole in the bumper under the numberplate). Mine were fucked and leaking, they are mild steel and right in the firing line of all the crap off the road. All the 600s in the scrapyard 10 years ago had rotten ones too. I was very lucky to get a set of half decent secondhand ones off a breaker, but it was a pig of a job to fit them. Rover obviously fitted the PAS system first before the engine went in.
I wonder if this could be bypassed? I’d never heard of a PAS oil cooler before, I wonder whether this was just Honda overengineering.
Front discs are another awkward job involving a lot of dismantling.
I had the clutch master cylinder fail on mine. Unlike most cars it has a separate clutch fluid reservoir and it didn’t look like it had ever been changed. Although it looks like yours is an auto so this won’t apply to you.
Rear calipers stick, especially on autos where the owner leaves it in park with the handbrake off.
The rear arches rot but this is the only real rot spot on them. Usually they start at the bottom of the arch and spread into the back of the sill (behind the cover) if you can see rust when you open the rear door then it will have gone behind there. Again yours looks perfect there. It’s sort of double skinned with a 2mm gap or so between the inner and outer arches, perfect for condensation to get in there and rust from the inside out. They also go at the top of the rear bumper which is due to mud and salt getting trapped in there. I cleaned mine out when I got it but the damage has been done, I can feel corrosion in there and I can see a pinprick of rust has appeared on the exterior paintwork.
Electric window regulators fail. This is because they aren’t very strong, the windows get stiff in their runners and it puts pressure on the mechanisms. Best to lube them up regularly with silicone spray to keep them moving freely. They should be fairly fast, if they are slow then you need to lube them ASAP. I found the WD40 silicone spray to be better than GT85 and lasts longer.
Side repeaters fall out for some reason. I wrapped some gaffa tape around one that came loose on mine to pack it out before pushing it back in the hole. A bit of a bodge but it worked.
Remote locking fobs often fail. I had mine repaired by a company called Remote Fob Centre in Leicester, cost about £30 and it’s still working well.

Generally they’re extremely tough and criminally underrated cars that even most Rover lickers seem to avoid for some reason. I guess because they’re a Honda although so are the 200/400 range (and the HH-R) and they seem to have a decent following.

Yours looks to be a T reg which means it’s a fairly late runout model. It’ll probably be something like a 618 or 620iL. Rover were using up parts so specced these late cars with leather and half leather interiors previously only seen in the GSi and Ti models.

[bub2006]

Bought an S plate off my dad back in 2008 for £90. Was a damn good steer if a little wallowy. Mine was a 618i so pretty much base trump. Cloth seats,electric front windows and central locking was all it had. No ac or sunroof. I've always said I'd like to try an auto but they are damn rare now. I'd guess with yours being an auto too its a 2.0? Only ever seen autos on 2.0 or 2.3 models. Either way well bought sir.

[angrydicky]

I used to have the use of a T reg 618 auto that belonged to my father. I wouldn’t say the autos are much rarer than the manuals, as they sold a lot of them to old giffers who did sod all miles in them so they tend to be the ones that have survived in good condition.

[SiC]

I've seen PAS cooler lines on quite a lot of modern stuff. From Saab to Boxster. Often it's just a single hard line that's looped back around near the radiator. Interestingly the Clio 1*2 doesn't have them and are notorious for puking out their PAS fluid on track days from fluid overheating.

[Bangernomics]

What a winner wagon that is, the chap over from me had loads of these over the years. Usually met green but never an auto.