RE: MG ZS 180 | Spotted

[Triumph Man]

fantheman80 said:

Demonix said:

Hmm borderline luke warm saloon for the festival of the unexceptional?

No chance, far too sporty looking

If it's too sporty, try this for size https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1476412

[skylarking808]

Quhet said:

The facelift(s) on these wasn't that successful IMO and the original early 2000s cars in lairy paint colours looked much better. Being a south Birmingham lad, I've always had a soft spot for these MGs and if money/space/ridicule was no object, I'd quite like (in a sad sort of way) to get the set of ZR/ZS and ZTs to hoon about in.

Jayemm is doing that very thing as part of his You Tube channel

[-Lummox-]

I've had two of these, a first:



and second gen:



Both were V6s. Styling of the second gen was obviously much more aggressive.

They are great fun to drive and neither was particularly troublesome or unreliable considering the underpinnings. They also had decent interior space and reasonable boots compared to a lot of their contemporaries.

Looks of both varieties were always going to be a bit marmite though.

[s m]

Always got great reviews….. even from EVO

[AMGSee55]

Not sure I would spend £6K on one, but I do like these. I think the saloon styling has endured far better than the hatch and I imagine with a kerb weight of 1285kg it will pedal along nicely and, presumably, with a nice v6 soundtrack.

[gruppeb86]

I do remember seeing a pair of these on a forecourt and being wowed/tempted (saloon/facelift as pictured). I kept looking for some reason or another.

[-Lummox-]

Many of them found their way into trackday car service as they were good for the job whilst also being throwaway-cheap back in the day.

That grey one above cost me less than £1500 and had low miles on it at the time. Still got an MOT now so hasn't rotted away or exploded just yet!

[TIGA84]

Did my ARDS test at Thruxton in one when they were new-ish. The instructors liked them by all accounts.

[WCZ]

wow, didn't realise these were that expensive - remember seeing a couple advertised at £500 not that long ago

[P675]

I had a 1.6 saloon of these about 12 years ago. Not particularly fast (110hp) but stuck to the road like glue, was a great car to dick around in. Chopped it in for a Mondeo after the head gasket went for the second time.

[Dombilano]

The rust has been creeping on this one for years, be worth a punt at £1k, but £6k+ is just silly.

[dunnoreally]

I like these as cheap, fun runabouts. Quite fancied a 120 as my first car, although the insurance price put that idea to bed. Price isn't bad if there's a good bit of life left in this one, because we are in the 2020s now. "Classic car bargain", though? Naaaah, get outta here.

[nismo48]

Dombilano said:

The rust has been creeping on this one for years, be worth a punt at £1k, but £6k+ is just silly.

This... 20yrs of good old British Salt eating away

[itcaptainslow]

Dombilano said:

The rust has been creeping on this one for years, be worth a punt at £1k, but £6k+ is just silly.

Agreed, it’s all the common corrosion points on the HHR shape, especially the front floors. The owners club have commissioned a repair section to be manufactured it’s that much of an issue.

This car is strong money for a rusty one.

[Scrimpton]

Bought mine as a stopgap for £950 after the RX8 died. Ended up keeping it for 3 years and around 20k miles. Sounded great, handled well and wasn't too bad on fuel. Not comfy, had a maddening squeak from the back that I never tracked down and ended up getting killed by lack of parts availability.

[Newbie2023]

I had a blue 120. Lip spoiler, not the big wing. Bought x power springs which made a significant difference and a set of Buddy Club wheels which looked ace. It handled really well for what it was, probably needed more supportive seats if anything. Bought mine virtually brand new and think it was only around the £7k mark.

I remember selling the original wheels to a bod from Birmingham area who later provided me with an uprated clutch cylinder kit, Honda sourced I believe, which made the world of difference to the pedal feel and engagement. Something had gone on mine and the pedal was to the floor.

Simple interior but I actually really liked the design. Good runaround.

[theJT]

I tried one of these (second hand, but basically ex dealer so only about a thousand miles on it) back in 2005, and it was quite good as I rember, but the problem was that the Mondeo ST220 existed, had 40 horsepower more, and wasn't any less good to drive. It did all the same things just a bit... Better.

[rallycross]

Interesting how prices going up on these now.
I bought one of these a few years ago from a fellow PH'er for £400 having seen them come up on SOTW and getting good reviews was amazed how much fun it was to drive (phase one Zs180 2004). Picking it up from Lincs was one of the most fun drives home have had in a new car gave it a good thrash round the fenn roads, the rock hard rear suspension made it a hoot to drive on twisty bumpy roads.

The engine and suspension made it great low cost fun.

[Nish Gnackers]

That looks like the typical tat that PH are "curating" for their not very popular Auction website.....

[gamefreaks]

Got to admit, my first thoughts were 'Good shed this week'.

Then I saw it's 6k. You'd be mad to pay that given it's got rusty sills, floors and a month of MOT left.

Don't walk. Run.