Unsung heroes: Rover 600

My intention to profile an unsung hero every month has rather fallen by the wayside this year. I still have plenty of deserving candidates but seem to be short of time to write about them, so better late than never, my first unsung hero of 2018 is a successful British car that celebrated its 25th birthday this month yet is overlooked and almost forgotten compared with the rest of its manufacturer's sometimes inferior products. The Rover 600-series may be dismissed as nothing more than a Honda in a posh frock and doesn't have the following of its successor, but it was actually one of the company's best cars so I think it really deserves better.

Honda in drag or proper Rover?

The 600 was conceived as a replacement for the Montego, but ended up being pitched further upmarket into the burgeoning premium company car sector and that ageing model remained in production alongside it for a couple of years, much to BMW's amazement. Of course it was closely based on the new Honda Accord that appeared a couple of months later so the Rover shared its Japanese cousin's quality and reliability, and the BMW 3-series was reputedly used as the benchmark, ironic given what happened shortly after launch. The Accord is significant in its own way as the first UK-built Honda, but it is the Rover that is even more worthy of unsung hero status.

The Honda Accord, bland but a worthy basis for the new Rover
(By 328cia2 [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons)

It was the first Rover to be developed using the newly-established Honda Way, a design philosophy that encouraged closer cooperation between the various parties to achieve higher quality and efficiency, and fit and finish were certainly leaps and bounds above the Montego. With limited budgets, Rover were restricted in what they could do to the car so it was structurally and mechanically almost identical to the Accord. That was no bad thing really but such a large amount of Japanese influence soon led purists to dismiss the 600 as not a real Rover. In truth though it was no less of a Rover than the other 'Ronda' cars created by the joint venture and was far more than just an Accord with longship badges.

A bit of chrome made all the difference
(Image: Rover)

While the Accord is a typically bland 1990s Japanese saloon that doesn't merit a second glance, Rover somehow managed to give their version a far more distinctive, upmarket and classically British look with only minor styling tweaks. The 600 was the first car to be designed around the chrome grille that harked back to the P4 and P5 and would become a feature of almost all subsequent Rovers, and subtle application of chrome and wood elsewhere gave it a refined but still modern appearance that isn't overtly retro like the 75. The early base-model 620i with black bumpers is a bit grim, but a well-kept higher-spec car in a dark colour still cuts a dash today, far more so than a contemporary Accord.

Honda dash with just a splash of wood is a bit disappointing
(Image: Honest John)

Think nineties Rover and the dreaded head gasket failure will inevitably come quickly to mind. Fear not though, as a big plus point of the 600 and a very good reason to choose one over another model is its complete lack of K-series engines: all petrol units are either Honda-supplied or Rover T-series so there is little risk of this unfortunate affliction that became so synonymous with Rover. The best of the bunch has to be the 620ti with the same 200bhp turbocharged T-series also used in the record-breaking 820 Vitesse. A real Q car with the performance of a Sierra Cosworth hidden beneath its unassuming looks, it was a worthy successor to the MG Montego Turbo but went largely unnoticed and might have achieved far more had it too worn an octagon badge.

The 620ti looks nothing special but there's 200bhp under the bonnet
(Image: AROnline)

Apart from the despised CityRover, the 600 is the only Rover Group car not to have an owners' club. The later 75 is considered far more collectable and even the 25 and 45, ageing designs with little real merit, have a bigger following among enthusiasts. 600-series cars virtually never appear at general classic car shows and are very poorly represented even at BL and Rover-specific events. There was just one solitary example at the large Gaydon BMC and Leyland show last year and another at the Autumn Rally in Milton Keynes. It was vastly outnumbered by the 200s, 400s and 800s on the club stands and even half-a-dozen 75s that were strictly too new for this event, and sat in a quiet corner looking lonely and largely ignored.

A bit battered but still going strong, the one 600 at the Autumn Rally in its lonely corner

I'm not sure why there is so much apathy but I suppose the 600 lacks that special something of the other Rover cars and is just competent without being exciting or historically important. The R8-series 200 and 400 were genuinely excellent cars, the 800 was the last in a distinguished line of big luxury saloons, the 75 has its uniquely retro charm and the 25 and 45 represent the last hurrah of the failing company. Compared with these models there is nothing really significant about the 600 and it isn't old enough to be accepted as a bona fide classic so it gets forgotten as 'just an old car', which doesn't really seem fair.

The only 600 I've ever seen at a general classic car show. 75s are ten a penny though.

Dare I suggest that with its Japanese influence, more contemporary image and absence of the notorious K-series, the 600 is actually a better car than the 75 that replaced it? There is an ultra low-mileage example imported from Japan and currently on eBay at an extremely ambitious £6,500 but a decent one can still be had for just a tenth of that. It's an awful lot of car for that sort of money, if you can find one as time has not been kind to the 600 and its lack of an enthusiast following has seen it disappear in huge numbers - less than 1% of the 270,000 built are still on the road and it is fast becoming an endangered species.

Lovely car but surely not worth anywhere near £6500
(Image: eBay)

That's a pity as, if you ignore the derogatory comments about it being just a rehashed Honda and not a proper Rover, the 600 is a fine car that retains the essential 'Britishness' of a wood and chrome-trimmed Rover but underpins it with the quality and efficiency you'd expect of a Japanese product. It's got to be one of the best things to come out of the Honda joint venture, yet is chronically underrated and practically invisible nowadays, and surely that makes it the very definition of an unsung hero.