Hey all

As above really, has anyone ever owned a MG ZR, preferably the 160 bhp version, everyone has heard the horror stories about MG but i've never heard first hand from any owners,

Are they reliable, nice to drive etc, as am looking at getting a cheap runabout to see me through for a year or so.

Any help, info is as always, greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Baz.

 

There not bad motors for the money, i have brought and sold 6 this year and in the end brought the mrs a mgtf, i have an o2 mgzs 1 owners 60000m fsh for sale on piston heads, its up for £1300 which is cheap as its a nice clean car for the moeny, you cant go wrong with them to be honest, just watch out for the head gaskets as they go on them but thats it.

 

+1 on the head gasket.

 

Tbh their not actually bad cars.my mate had one for his missus,but I think it was a 1.6? Although it went pretty well,very poor traction though one of those that spins everywhere whether you want it to or not!!!

She drove it daily with no real issues,their a bit chavvy IMO but nothing too bad bar the head gaskets on the 1.8's.

 

Just head gasket to watch for if its under 50k on the clock, but they are good cars and i have a 1.4 zr for sale and its a good little car but got a golf tdi now,my dad had a 160 zr and that was a great little car which they have since changed for a 180 zs x power and that is nice but part for that are a bit of a pain , if you buy a zr get a 160 as the 1.4 do lack poke, but there all good , enjoy

 

junk, badly made with poor materials.

they are cheap for a reason.

 

ive not owned one but been in one, and it seemed nice. i can remember thinking it sounded really good and noticing that it spun up alot which now it has been mentioned above probably wasnt just me being weird.

 

No,you certainly weren't being weird mate,it used to spin on any sort of moisture,cornering,junction etc.I think rover/mg must of designed it that way for the boy racer Market!!!

 

me and the missus have had one, i had a 1.8 wasnt the vvt though, went well enough but thought suspension is too hard and very uncomfy, had hg problem, boot used to come open by itself when giving it some! hers was a 1.4 seriously flat as a fart, hg went on it, seat cable snapped, interior trim dropped off by itself, fuel pump went tits up

only had mine 6 months and that was enough, good looking cars that are seriously let down by mechanicals/trim

i would say drive one 1st, if you like it and your handy with spanners they probs worth a shot considering what you can pick them up for these days

 

I've had two ZS's. First was a 1.8, cracking car mate. Ran around in it for 12 months or so, never let me down. People say look for the HG, maybe I was lucky. Only thing that went wrong was the fan switch broke, but easy mend.

Then I bought a MK2 ZS180. Stonking car. Looked good, went well, handled well, reasonable on petrol. Not really sure why I sold it to be honest, it was just an itch I had to scratch I suppose. Zs's get a bad press, but I've nothing but praise for em fella (especially how cheap they are)

 

Driven a few never been vaguely impressed. Worked on a few and that made me even less impressed. It was like Rover couldn't actually be bothered with their cars. MG ZR/ZS is a Rover 200/25 with some party bits and just as unappealing. Would take one over a Vauxhall Corsa but then I would rather walk than use one of those. Cheap throw away car if you want something to smoke about in but don't expect to get much more than half a Mars Bar for it IF it lasts long enough to punt on.

 

+1 totally agree mate awful cars ive driven all varients as well all of them feel massivley underpowered

 

that is cheap a real bargin id go for this any day baz worth alook

i had a zs for a taxi for 12 months all that went wrong was headgasket but i done this myself fantastic on fuel for an 1800cc and dam good handling but there was one down side to it door trim panels were comming loose..

if you can do a headgasket fit an uprated one and make sure you fit new waterpump at the same time,

 

mate i picked up a 2002 ZR 160 VVC after my RSTurbo died about 9 months ago and its a crackin little car,its had the headgasket done and aint had any probs with it except a window motor,goes ok to altho it does spin even with a little bit of moisture on the road!..all round good car IMHO