1997 Rover - Austin 600 620 SLDi review from UK and Ireland

Turbo has given up the ghost, also the fuel injection pump has started to malfunction.

The car itself is really far better than it's reputation. It's very comfortable, well designed, and pretty well bolted together. I'm a huge Rover fan, so perhaps a little biased, though I would say the car has by far surpassed my expectations overall.

Unfortunately, in the two months I've owned the car the Turbo has begun leaking oil at an increasing rate, and has lost pretty much all of it's boost giving properties! Also, since I've had the cam belts changed the fuel injection pump has started playing up resulting in lack of power with no notice every few miles... this seems to be slowly clearing up (I hope as a new pump is around £1,000 plus fitting!).

Overall, the car doesn't quite cut it in the golf club car park, but once you spend some time with it, and learn to forgive it's few shortcomings you'll find the 600 is an excellent car with a great design which grows on you over time. The ride is second to none, the interior really well laid out, the power delivery modern even now (apart from in first gear where it's a bit sluggish) and the external features are really pretty classy.

If you do go for a 600 I recommend the Diesel engine, but be very careful about it's condition.