1971 Rover V8

A P6 3500 model, the 3500 referring to the engine displacement, i.e. 3.5-litre. Launched in 1970, the Series II, or Mark II as it was actually named by Rover, involved a number of revisions to all Rover P6 variants; including new exterior fixtures such as a plastic front air intake to replace the alloy version, new hood pressings with V8 blips even for the 4-cylinder engined cars, and new rear lights. The interior of the 3500, and 2000TC versions was updated with new instrumentation with circular gauges and rotary switches. The old-style instrumentation with a linear speedometer and toggle switches continued on the 2000SC versions. The battery was moved to the trunk for all Series II versions.

However, the final years of the Rover P6 coincided with production problems at British Leyland. This was highlighted in August 1975 when Drive, the magazine of the British Automobile Association awarded a trophy to a Rover 3500 as the worst new car in England. It reported that a Rover 3500 purchased in 1974 had covered 6,000 miles (9,600 km) during its first six months, during which period it had consumed three engines, two gear boxes, two clutch housings and needed a complete new set of electrical cables. The car had spent 114 of its first 165 days in a workshop. (The runner-up prize in this rogue's gallery was awarded to an Austin Allegro with forty faults reported over ten months, and a Triumph Stag came in third.) The story was picked up and reported in other publications not just domestically, but also in Germany, at the time Europe's largest national car market and an important target export market for the company. Further evidence of poor quality control on the 3500 assembly line at the Solihull plant appeared in a report in Autocar magazine in October 1976, surveying the experiences of company car fleet managers with the model, although the report also suggested, apparently wishing to appear even-handed, that at least part of the problem might have arisen from "excessively optimistic" expectations of the model.

These experiences weren't confined to British Leyland vehicles and were a major factor in NZers switching to Japanese vehicles en masse from 1973 onwards.