MG ZS 180....Am I mad?

[Daston]

Hey guys

Looking for a good fun runabout, we walk to work so only to be used at weekends and the odd evening so not worried about mpg. The budget is £1200 though so this does limit the list of cars some what. I have noticed that there appears to be quite a few MG ZS 180's around in that price bracket with only 50k miles on the clock. This seems to tick all the boxes but a little hesitant with it being an MG/rover.

[Codswallop]

The ZS had good reviews when it came out and is meant to be fun to drive. However, the cambelt is supposedly an expensive PITA to replace. Reliabilty shouldn't be too bad on the 2.5 V6, but given you want a weekend/ occassional use car, is there any chance of going for something more fun?

Mk1/ Mk2 MR2

MG F/TF

Mx5 etc would all be higher on my wishlist for a weekend car.

[Daston]

Codswallop said:

The ZS had good reviews when it came out and is meant to be fun to drive. However, the cambelt is supposedly an expensive PITA to replace. Reliabilty shouldn't be too bad on the 2.5 V6, but given you want a weekend/ occassional use car, is there any chance of going for something more fun?

Mk1/ Mk2 MR2

MG F/TF

Mx5 etc would all be higher on my wishlist for a weekend car.

This is going to be the family car (for when we start trying for a little one soon).

Plan is to have a new weekend car in a years time (probably VX220 turbo or Lotus Exige)

[carinaman]

Check out the online owners forums. There's a specialist in the Midlands that does the KV6 cambelt service at a more reasonable price. I've been told that there is more space under the Z5 bonnet that makes it easier than on the 75, something due to the double bulkhead to improve NVH on the 75. I've seen a great looking ZT going for peanuts or parts due to the expense of a clutch change. Do all KV6s have Dual Mass Flywheels?


I've remembered that thread on a Rover/MG thread about a figment of the imagination that led to some fictional road rage incident where the culprit threw himself off a flyover.

[bamberwell]

great engines, just make sure the cambelts/thermostat housing have been done (every 6 years/90k whichever is sooner) belts alone will be £400+ from an independent (eg lates600) + £200ish for thermostat housing etc. also vis motors go regularly (control flaps in the intake and it definitely makes the car feel flatter when they go ) £220+

[bigdavy]

Check the cost of road tax, I believe they come in around £460 per year.

[5paul5]

Bought mine a year ago for £700, use it every day, tracked it 3 times, just returned from france in it. The car has never missed a beat, is smooth, reasonably powerful and suprisingly economical, vastly underated.

[confused_buyer]

Road tax will be £270 unless it is a very late one registered after MGR went bust.

Very underrated cars, they have their issues as every car does, but a properly working one is a lot of fun. There is loads of info out there on various MG forums etc.

[5paul5]

bigdavy said:

Check the cost of road tax, I believe they come in around £460 per year.

I just paid £140 odd for 6 months.

[RikkiGTI]

Do it! Fantastic cars and they love them on the mg rover forums! Just keep on top of the mechanical side of things and you'll have a great motor! That KV6 is a good powerful engine to have some fun with too!

[bigdavy]

5paul5 said:

bigdavy said:

Check the cost of road tax, I believe they come in around £460 per year.

I just paid £140 odd for 6 months.

Hmm, Autotrader says tax band L. Dvla says band L = 460

[carinaman]

Can the owners that have posted comment on likely clutch costs and whether they're Dual Mass Flywheels? If they are do many KV6 owners go for lighter, less complicated flywheels when doing the clutch?

[LouD86]

Go buy one, enjoy it! Fantastic induction noise, the saloon is a hoot with a huge boot, and better looks! The handling is pretty sweet out the box too!

[Daston]

Ooh this is sounding good! Might still be able to have a fairly fun family car after all! I was ready to kill myself after looking at volvos with 10000000 miles on the clock!

Theres a couple for sale that have just had the cambelt done so shall get in contact with them. Is a lot of the other parts rover like brakes, suspension etc?

[KieronGSi]

bigdavy said:

Hmm, Autotrader says tax band L. Dvla says band L = 460

That price will be for cars built after March 2006.

[Chris71]

bigdavy said:

Hmm, Autotrader says tax band L. Dvla says band L = 460

May well depend on the age of the car? The current CO2-based tax system is back dated to around the time the ZS was in production. I can't remember mine being a huge amount to tax.

I didn't keep mine long enough to require a cambelt change, but what I did have first hand experience of was a failure in the VIS system. There are a couple of different ways these go wrong. Mine didn't actually affect its functionality, but left a very pronouncing rattling sound and the quotes to get it fixed were pretty horrendous. Oh, and tyres aren't especially cheap.

Also bear in mind, if you carry big objects like bikes around, that the saloon version has a bulkhead behind the rear seats that means even when they're folded down you only have an area slightly bigger than a ski hatch to post things through. I think I'm right in saying the hatchback doesn't have this panel, which would make loading bikes, dogs or furniture far more straightforward.

For £1,200 I'd have one in a shot. Nice free-revving V6 with a decent soundtrack, tolerable fuel economy by the standards of the day, chunky steering and plenty of throttle-adjustability. Not quite as sharp as a 306 GTi-6 or Civic Type R, but the ZS180 is half the price condition-for-condition and arguably has more character.

As for the whole MG Rover thing... Parts on the whole aren't a problem. The engine was also used in the Freelander and most of the other bits are shared with longer lived models too. Coincidentally, if you've ever had the misfortune to drive a Rover 400 let me assure you the ZS is a much, much better car.

I say go for it.

[deltashad]

There is nothing wrong with MG's quite the contrary. How much longer will you be able to pick up cars this cheap and good at this age with this mileage?

[Daston]

Well the wife is convinced so big guys! I will be looking at the hatchback model as I dont like saloons plus easier to load all the paintball gear.

Tuscan should be be going in a weeks time so can start shopping then

[HeatonNorris]

Surely if you're not doing the miles, then an X300 shape Jag. XJ is the car you need, not some silly shopping trolley with awful build quality and less performance than the complexity suggests it should have?

[Daston]

HeatonNorris said:

Surely if you're not doing the miles, then an X300 shape Jag. XJ is the car you need, not some silly shopping trolley with awful build quality and less performance than the complexity suggests it should have?

A jag would be nice but I prefer hatches rather than boots.