Good cars - dont know why rovers/mg`s get slagged off so much. I had a rover 220 coupe turbo with no propbs and my missus has a 1.4 52 plate mgzr. Never had no probs apart from window leaving mechanism but i just bolted it back in place and its ok now.
Not sure why they go on about headgaskets, as long as you keep them serviced like any other car then it should be fine!