Which model of p6?

catboy

Member
Hi All

Hyperthetical question, which model of p6 would you recommend to someone with no experience of them?

Disregard condition, it's just down to each models strengths and weaknesses.


Over to you!.
 
Whichever one they want, if they have no experience of any of them they'll be starting from the same place whatever they get.
 
Depends on what their experience levels are. If you had to work the engine side of the car spares for the V8 are more common than the 4 pots.
That would be my only observation however as Harvey has said if you are starting from fresh then one would be as good as another.
So long as the base unit is not a tin worm farm most parts and spared are readily available be they NOS or second hand via ebay sellers or other more established businesses or via the club scene (and of course here).

Graeme
 
The best car you can find which your budget allows you to buy!
And take a classic car owning mate along as a 2nd pair of eyes to look for any rot under the panels!
 
Dave is on the money.

The best car possible, as there's a lot of crud out there.

For ease of maintainance and because they are a bit more more idiot proof - a 2000SC or 2200SC manual would be my choice. I'm continually shocked at how quick and motorway friendly my 2200SC is, brilliant car.
 
Hi, "The best one possible "... If they have no experience of them, how would they know
a good one , because they can hide their problems quite well.

For someone with limited mechanical knowledge, I would say a V8. A 4 pot has a few more
quirks when working on it.

Colin
 
If the person was mechanically competent, then a 3500. If they were not, then I would not recommed a Rover at all.

Ron.
 
colnerov said:
For someone with limited mechanical knowledge, I would say a V8. A 4 pot has a few more
quirks when working on it.

SydneyRoverP6B said:
If the person was mechanically competent, then a 3500. If they were not, then I would not recommed a Rover at all.


That's interesting! I was thinking quite the opposite, i.e. a single carb 4 pot manual for starters.
Of course i have no personal experience on V8s, but i always thought that they are more temperamental than the 4 cylinder cars.
 
Having had experience of running both a V8 and 4 pot daily I don't think there's much in it in terms of quirks. Maybe my V8 was just set up well. Only issue I had with it was occasional fuel vapour lock in summer, but there's plenty of advice on here to help with that. The 2000 SC is very straightforward to work on IMO, but as harvey says you're starting from the same level of experience whichever you get.

You really do need to take someone with you who knows what they're looking at when choosing a P6, but failing that, take lots of pics and post them here. You'll get lots of comments from a knowledgeable crowd of people. Have a look at this Buyers' Guide on The Rover P6 Club's website.

Dave
 
I would say it actually makes surprisingly little difference. Far less than the gulf between 2000 and 3500cc would suggest. Running costs unless genuinely for a daily driver just aren't going to be night and day different given most people are likely to do 3000-5000 miles as a second/weekend/hobby car. So the conclusion looked at one way could be "might as well get a V8" looked at from outside.

That's supported from the perspective the V8 engine being easier for parts and maintenance. I'd avoid the 3500S because of the prices good, genuine ones fetch. In fact I'd prefer a 3500 auto or a 3500 converted to 5 speed to actually use.

But then that kind of misses the point. The 2000 really is a totally different car in character. I like very early 2000s for their purity and the very late 2200 because the engine is appreciably better especially for the auto and TC. Perhaps an S1 2000 with a 2200 engine (and smaller carbs for the TC) is the best 4 pot?
 
Demetris said:
Of course i have no personal experience on V8s, but i always thought that they are more temperamental than the 4 cylinder cars.

Nope, the simplest engine you'll ever likely take apart.

American mechanicals of the time were basically designed to be maintained by a monkey with a spanner. Which is probably why the P6 and many other European cars failed in the 1960s - too bloody complicated.

As you might/might not know not only to other GM engines use common parts but even Fords use the same lifters because the US auto industry bought them from the same place. In fact it was the cost and general suspicion of "hi tech" things like aluminum that made the Buick 215 redundant in the 1960s (however short-sighted that turned out to be).

The only issues being much less space and bloody seized bolts (steel into alloy = electrolytic corrosion). No shims no rusty side plates.

A great motor to learn on actually.
 
I'll expand on my earlier post. The reason I would advise a mechanically competent person to choose the 3500 over any of the 4 cylinder derivatives is purely based on location and parts availability. Here in Australia, the 3500 is far more common than the 2000/2200, so engine parts are easier to source. The V8 is almost next to impossible to kill, they will even continue to run with the crankshaft broken, so if you're in the middle of no where, quite easy to do in Australia, you don't really want to end up stuck.

The reason I would not recommend a Rover to a non mechanically competent person is based on practicality. Finding mechanics in all areas who are competent to work on a Rover is not so common anymore. They are still about, but finding one won't be all that easy. As a result, large sums of money will leave the pocket of the new owner when things need doing, much I am sure to his or her disappointment.

Ron.
 
When I embarked upon my P6 journey in the summer of 2013 I went for a V8 because:

1 - We had 3 other Rover V8 powered vehicles in the family at the time (still do).

2- I had rebuilt a Rover V8 for my Defender, and as posted above it really is a very simple thing.

3- Being a Landrover based family we have plenty of access to spares for the engine (john craddock, paddock spares, lrdirect, lrseries, britcar etc etc etc....)

The only real downside I have found to the V8 is that it is quite a squeeze into the engine bay, which makes some jobs a little more fiddly than they are on a Landrover. A 4 pot must be better in this respect.

Fuel economy is not as bad as I thought it would be either!
 
Ok so let's take out of the equation condition.

Which one would you advise on, e.g 3500S because they are sought after, series 1 sc because they are a p6 in it purest form etc
 
catboy said:
Ok so let's take out of the equation condition.

Which one would you advise on, e.g 3500S because they are sought after, series 1 sc because they are a p6 in it purest form etc

Series 1 2000 - pre-'66

They handle differently to later cars, even later 2000s. They have pure lines, and are very simplistic, yet they will keep up with modern traffic.
 
I'm not really sure that can be answered any more than it has. It's a question of personal taste. You may as well ask "should I buy a Rover 2000 or a Triumph 2000"?

This is only my opinion but if I could, I'd get a V8 with the biggest deficiency of all corrected - namely the gearboxes. This is because of their change quality, strength/durability and the fact they are under-geared for modern roads. Either with a 5 speed manual (preferably a Toyota rather than the LT77) or better still a ZF 4 speed auto (0.67:1 and lock-up? Yes please!)

I think the best looking is the S1 with the optional narrow stainless strip and rostyles. Which is just as well.... Ideally with the S2 full instruments, the S1 seats and the S2 full length handle door trims.

One of the joys of the P6 is that if you aren't fussy about originality, you can create your own ideal car fairly easily!
 
I am pretty new to rovers and have had the V8 and a late 2200sc, to me the v8 drives nicer with power steering, proper gauges instead of strip speedo and sounds fantastic.

Mine isn't original with full S1 looks, S1 interior etc but the joys of the S2 just wish I had more time to drive it.
 
When I first decided to get a P6 my research pointed me to a 3500S, which I still own - no regrets at all but there's nothing wrong with a 3500.

My custom 3500 is a series 2 car with a series 1 colour, door handles, sills the same colour as bodywork, SD1 alloys, no stainless trim, no wing badges. Lowered springs.



IMG_20140919_171248686.jpg by EthelRedThePetrolHead, on Flickr

It's a beautiful car but I will never take it to another car show - the nitpickers drive me mad.
 
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