So, I've bought another 620ti.
Posted by Mat Price on
After many happy months with the ZT-T, it occurs to me she could do with a couple of months off the road for some work - I like to do work on my cars at my own pace, so the search for a cheap runabout begun. Possible cars included an MG ZS, a Rover 45 or perhaps a Rover 600 diesel.
Unfortunately things never pan out as planned - evidence of this being that a lovely condition Rover 620ti appeared on Facebook late one night. I felt compelled to chat to the owner about the car - having only 74,000 miles and 3 owners, she's certainly an anomaly given that most are 5+ owner and 100,000 mile vehicles by now.
Before I'd really had time to think, I'd arranged a time to go and pick her up, driven there in my friend's trusty MG ZT. On a dark Yorkshire evening, I pulled up to the present owner's house to see a Nightfire Red Rover 600 peering out of the drive - initial impressions were excellent. The paintwork seemed good, she started well and there was no evidence of previous accident damage. One set of 3 keys and a large folder of service history later, I was on my way home.
I've since been making a quick list of items that'll need attention at some point:
- Boost comes in a little late, usually around 3,300RPM
- The 'battery' light is dimly lit during normal use - alternator output is OK, so it's likely the monitor output of the alternator at fault
- Tyre sidewalls are slightly cracked - the tyres have been on the car a good few years (out of date tyre model - Pirelli P6000)
- Slight 'bouncing' when coming on and off the throttle, suspect lower engine mount
- Exhaust has a blow from the centre section - the front and rear looks new, but the centre section is held together with exhaust putty
- Lower front coolant rail is corroded (but not leaking) - will likely clean up OK, but I'd like to stop it getting any worse.
Tax for the vehicle is less expensive than the ZT-T I'll be working on - £126.50 for 6 months (as I'm not sure how long she'll be around) and insurance came in at just over £800 (25 year old driver, 6 years NCD, good postcode).
Here's a few pictures I've taken so far:
Low mileage:
I shall post updates as I have them - thanks for reading.
M