MG ZT CDTI, 190, or something else?

[AGee]

Hello!

I'm after a load lugger. I've currently got a Celica vvti, and whilst deceptively big I need more room and a roof big enough to mount the kayak etc - I'm thinking an estate as it has all the above, and has plenty of room for the dogs.

I've been looking on ebay and autotrader at MG ZT CDTi's which look great vfm - my budget is up to £2k I've considered all sorts - Foresters, Legacys, Rav 4's, HRV's, CRV's but keep coming back to the Zt's.

I'm going to go and check one out locally tomorrow, but another has popped up more local with the 2.5 kv6, half the miles of the diesel, £600 cheaper, and it's got me thinking - I'll only be commuting 32 miles a day but we quite often do cross country dashes of a weekend. Do I need a diesel, or a v6? Or something else entirely.

I'm not looking for a toy as I've a tdi converted Mk1 Golf which is off the road for fettling at the moment, so the must haves are something which is comfy, reliable and roomy...

[TwigtheWonderkid]

I ran a 53 plate for about 5 yrs. Fantastic car. Only had 1 fault the whole time I had it, faulty fuel gauge. BMW engine. Mine had a full leather interior. I got it with 3k miles on the clock and ran it to 50K. Averaged about 33 to the gallon, which isn't great these days I suppose.

[Dr Interceptor]

We had the 2.5 KV6 ZT-T, one of the last before they went bust on a 54 plate. Lovely car, great engine.

Apparently though we sold it just in time. Dad had a reason to call the new owner a few weeks later over a number plate issue, and it had allegedly gone pop.

[AGee]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

I ran a 53 plate for about 5 yrs. Fantastic car. Only had 1 fault the whole time I had it, faulty fuel gauge. BMW engine. Mine had a full leather interior. I got it with 3k miles on the clock and ran it to 50K. Averaged about 33 to the gallon, which isn't great these days I suppose.

Thank you! Was this the tdi or v6?

[900T-R]

Got an '03 ZT-T 135 CDTi for commuting and load lugging and I've already done 20,000 kms in it in less than five months, taking the total over 300,000. Apart from an oil change and having an exhaust heat shield put back where it belongs at the same time, it hasn't cost me a penny to maintain which is a nice change for me.

There's various little noises which sound like duff wheel bearings but it doesn't worsen when cornering it might just as well be the dreadful Chinese tyres the prior owner had put on. Thing is, it still handles brilliantly for such a big boat despite having no grip at all when accelerating away from the lights in the wet (braking seems to be OK).

Car feels very well built - only the inside door lock buttons tend to buzz in sympathy with the engine, it feels very solid and rattle-free otherwise.

So far, so good then - looking forward to a having decent set of rubber on it some time down the road.

If I wasn't doing stupid mileage I'd have the petrol V6 though...


[edit] oh, I'm doing 16 km/litre (90% motorway) which is not too bad I guess.

[GenePoolReject13]

AGee said:

Thank you! Was this the tdi or v6?

Averaging 33 mpg I doubt it's the diesel.

Quite interested on the ZT 190 myself, cheap, decent performance but no idea if any good? My diesel no long needed as now doing a tenth of my usual mileage.

[FarmerJim]

AGee said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

I ran a 53 plate for about 5 yrs. Fantastic car. Only had 1 fault the whole time I had it, faulty fuel gauge. BMW engine. Mine had a full leather interior. I got it with 3k miles on the clock and ran it to 50K. Averaged about 33 to the gallon, which isn't great these days I suppose.

Thank you! Was this the tdi or v6?

The BMW engine is the 2.0 diesel. You wouldn't get 33 MPG out of the V6 at idle, although 33 is low for the diesel. My diesel auto averaged 39 MPG. I ran a ZT-T cdti 131 auto for many years and it still remains one of the best cars I have ever had. You will find a lot of useful advice here: http://mg-rover.org/index.htm?

[AGee]

FarmerJim said:

The BMW engine is the 2.0 diesel. You wouldn't get 33 MPG out of the V6 at idle, although 33 is low for the diesel. My diesel auto averaged 39 MPG. I ran a ZT-T cdti 131 auto for many years and it still remains one of the best cars I have ever had. You will find a lot of useful advice here: http://mg-rover.org/index.htm?

Thank you!

I'll get this one viewed tomorrow then! I've looked about and the v6's seem to do late 20's which I think would depress me unfortunately..

[TwigtheWonderkid]

AGee said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

I ran a 53 plate for about 5 yrs. Fantastic car. Only had 1 fault the whole time I had it, faulty fuel gauge. BMW engine. Mine had a full leather interior. I got it with 3k miles on the clock and ran it to 50K. Averaged about 33 to the gallon, which isn't great these days I suppose.

Thank you! Was this the tdi or v6?

2.0CDTi+ 135.

[James P]

AGee said:

FarmerJim said:

The BMW engine is the 2.0 diesel. You wouldn't get 33 MPG out of the V6 at idle, although 33 is low for the diesel. My diesel auto averaged 39 MPG. I ran a ZT-T cdti 131 auto for many years and it still remains one of the best cars I have ever had. You will find a lot of useful advice here: http://mg-rover.org/index.htm?

Thank you!

I'll get this one viewed tomorrow then! I've looked about and the v6's seem to do late 20's which I think would depress me unfortunately..

I had the V6 190SE for three years. Excellent car - well built, very well equipped, comfortable and the only issue I had in 3 years was a faulty fuel pump. I got low 20's around town and 35 on a motorway if I kept to legal-ish speeds. The 190 is only a 5 speed box and quite low geared so you're almost at 3,500 rpm at 70mph. The 180 has much taller gearing but then you have the auto box.

[AGee]

It all seems pretty positive then!

Thank you!

[SebastienClement]

I have two cousins of the ZT - 75s.

I have one early cowley example (which is now 13 years old) and one Longbridge example (which is 11 years old).

The interior quality on both is good - although the earlier car is MUCH better. But you won't have that choice with a ZT.

The KV6 (2.0) in mine has proven reliable so far, but I've not had it that long. There are a few things to watch out for on the V6, but nothing major.

• Some of the spark plugs are tricky to get to, and the interval is 60,000 miles. So there are plenty of cars running around on their original plugs.
• Thermostat housing is weak and likes to crack. Or they start to stick / open early and the car runs cold. Not a big deal, got mine done by someone who knows the cars well for £150
• Very stupid routine to check the oil, which involved making sure the car is hot, then leaving it to stand with the dipstick out, then pushing the dipstick in, to find you can't read it on a black surface anyway.
• VIS Motors (I believe these alter the valve timing) tend to fail. Won't cause any mechanical issues, but it will be down on power, and be returning a very poor MPG figure
• Inlet manifold inners like to give up and start rattling around. Usually sounds quite awful, but in reality won't do any damage. Some owners bash the insides out, and pop it all back together.

Other than that, they're very smooth, they sound lovely, and mine is actually returning almost 34mpg. Although this is the 2.0, not the 2.5

[sjc]

Pop onto www.the75andztclub.co.uk tons of advice and helpful people on there. Some members will even do a free inspection of a car from you if you are miles from it. If you want diesel, although the auto is a good match with it, it kills the mpg,as does short cold journeys (manual or auto),and the diesel will be a big premium price wise.
If you go for a 190 manual, over 32/33mpg is easily achievable on a run, dropping a for bit around town ,or again when an auto is part of the package. If you can stomach the image (I can)then then the 75 tourer will open up your options even more.
Do your homework, and you'll be amazed what your two grand brings you!

[J4CKO]

My mum and dad, until recently had one each, my dad a Petrol 190 manual and my mum a diesel auto, the Petrol is quite refined and the diesel, er, less so, to be fair the diesel was a lot higher mileage vs my dads pristine low mileage petrol one.

He gets low twenties, low/mid thirties for the diesel auto, manual diesel a bit better on fuel

[Kitchski]

Really nice to drive. The V6 is thirstier than people make out though, but no more so than any other mainsteam V6. It's a nice engine too, but I reeckon a good 40% of them aren't producing full power due to faulty secondary inlet flap issues. We get so many on the dyno that are only kicking out about 150bhp, so if it feels really gutless it could be that. It's easily fixed though......take the flaps out!

Timing belts are a PITA on the V6 and pricey to get sorted. The cooling fans are prone to failure too. Don't know as much about the CDTi though I did check them out myself a while back and they seem to be ok. Same engine as BMW 320d but without the ability to ingest it's own inlet manifold too.

[J4CKO]

Agree on the belts, my dad is a very experienced engineer/mechanic and he paid to get his done, new thermostat as well and the MPG improved.

[sjc]

Kitchski said:

Really nice to drive. The V6 is thirstier than people make out though, but no more so than any other mainsteam V6. It's a nice engine too, but I reeckon a good 40% of them aren't producing full power due to faulty secondary inlet flap issues. We get so many on the dyno that are only kicking out about 150bhp, so if it feels really gutless it could be that. It's easily fixed though......take the flaps out!

Timing belts are a PITA on the V6 and pricey to get sorted. The cooling fans are prone to failure too. Don't know as much about the CDTi though I did check them out myself a while back and they seem to be ok. Same engine as BMW 320d but without the ability to ingest it's own inlet manifold too.

Gutless low down could well be one of the Vis motors, cheap fix, especially if there's no power step around 3K rpm.

[sjc]

Here's what Tiff Needell thinks of the Rover version ( mine!)We filmed 8am to 8pm for a 2 minute slot, interesting day though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhUEK6Vaes8&fea...

Edited by sjc on Thursday 28th November 12:43

[SebastienClement]

The Crack Fox said:

Not knocking the ZT here, but 39MPG is rubbish for a diesel, isn't it?

There are wildly varying reports for the diesel.

The lump itself is from a 320d of the same era.

Some people claim to get 50+ and I've seen reports of low 20s too. I'm sure a healthy manual diesel would see you 45mpg all day long in mixed driving, if you were sensible. Not bad for a 9+ year old barge, IMO.

[Pablo16v]

The Crack Fox said:

FarmerJim said:

My diesel auto averaged 39 MPG.

Not knocking the ZT here, but 39MPG is rubbish for a diesel, isn't it?

Depends I guess. It's a big car with an auto 'box so it's not going to be the most economical of cars. My Saab 9-5 estate 3.0tid diesel averaged about the same.