Discussion
Picked it up yesterday as a compromise between the relatively quick and entertaining car I want, and the family orientated car I need. After looking at everything from Porsche 944's to Mazda RX8's, I settled on a ZS 180. Comfortable, spacious, good handling and rather quick.
For those unfamiliar with this model, its home to a 2.5 litre V6 24 valve quad cam engine pushing out 177bhp (along with some tweaks to suspension and such like).
This car was use by Trident (MG/Honda dealership) as the demonstration model before being sold. Has all the extra's from the ZS range, not just the 180 model. A very comprehensive service history, all by Trident themselves; including a few useful upgrades.
-The chocolate clutch system has been completely upgraded. New master and slave cylinders, new housing & brackets, pipes, the lot.
-An oil/residue catch tank has been fitted to protect the VIS motors. These are known to fail on the KV6 due to vapors remaining in the VIS housing.
-Shortshift fitted to the PG1 gearbox
-Cambelts have all been changed (saves me £500!)
Thanks to increases in fuel and tax costs, the bottom has dropped right out of the market for these cars. Good for buyers of course, and this'll be a car to keep.
Now I need to give it a damn good clean, clay the surface and get elbow grease out. Pics to follow.
Only fault I have found is that the front lower splitter/bib is missing, sadly its a £240 part from Rimmer Bro's
For those unfamiliar with this model, its home to a 2.5 litre V6 24 valve quad cam engine pushing out 177bhp (along with some tweaks to suspension and such like).
This car was use by Trident (MG/Honda dealership) as the demonstration model before being sold. Has all the extra's from the ZS range, not just the 180 model. A very comprehensive service history, all by Trident themselves; including a few useful upgrades.
-The chocolate clutch system has been completely upgraded. New master and slave cylinders, new housing & brackets, pipes, the lot.
-An oil/residue catch tank has been fitted to protect the VIS motors. These are known to fail on the KV6 due to vapors remaining in the VIS housing.
-Shortshift fitted to the PG1 gearbox
-Cambelts have all been changed (saves me £500!)
Thanks to increases in fuel and tax costs, the bottom has dropped right out of the market for these cars. Good for buyers of course, and this'll be a car to keep.
Now I need to give it a damn good clean, clay the surface and get elbow grease out. Pics to follow.
Only fault I have found is that the front lower splitter/bib is missing, sadly its a £240 part from Rimmer Bro's
A very understated car. Simple design which isn't OTT like other sporty versions of regular road cars. Interior is elegant yet subtle. Very sleek lines on the dash and center console.
Pulls like a bloody freight train through the whole rev range. Fuel costs are the only real issue as its my daily driver now, but that was to be expected.
Hopefully I'll be able to give it a good clean after work and get some pics up
Pulls like a bloody freight train through the whole rev range. Fuel costs are the only real issue as its my daily driver now, but that was to be expected.
Hopefully I'll be able to give it a good clean after work and get some pics up
sturobturbo said:
You can always think of offsetting the fuel cost with the relative lack of depreciation (depending what you payed for it of course). I've always like them, and the mk2 in particular is a really nice car.
Indeed. I paid £1150 for it with a 6 months tax and 6ish months MOT still there, on 50,600 miles.Not an ideal colour, and I'm not a big fan of the blue inserts in the seats; but theres really not much to say against the car.
As for extras, it comes with all the 180 kit upgrades like the 282mm vented brakes, suspension, 17" alloys, etc. But also has nice little extras like electric mirrors, Blaupunkt stereo with component speakers, air conditioning, some nice little features.
Looks like its the 180+ Specification and the Atomix spec.
AngryPartsBloke said:
Not a bad car, but the KV6 is a bit hit and miss from experiance(lot of miss when it comes to pulleys and timing belts)
True, however the previous owner had the large belts done. Theres 3 belts and alot of the engine bay has to be dismantled to do it. A garage will charge you £500 and take all day at it.And as mentioned above, the poor clutch system has all be upgraded. I got the car from an MG enthusiast, its certainly been looked after over the years.
As promised, tried to give it some tlc today and get a few pics. Sadly the rain started after the first layer of polish.
Edited by Ricwin on Friday 15th June 00:09
Edited by Ricwin on Friday 15th June 00:09
Autocar said:
...it has such finely judged damping, such precise steering, such well-judged brakes – and a power delivery untouched by trick engine management algorithms – that you can just grab it by the scruff, drive it hard and have yourself a whole lot of fun.
I just read the Autocar review, and although it features the MK2 facelift, the majority remains true for both cars. I'm planning some track days this year at Oulton Park for the ZS 180. Should be fun Edited by Ricwin on Sunday 17th June 23:45
The sun came out today so the ZS got a thorough seeing to.
Started with a cleansing de-greaser and a rinse down. Went over the whole surface with a Farcela G3 clay bar and neat quick detailer (rinsing while going along). Washed the whole car with Autoglym BSC, rinsed, dried, glass cleaned inside and out with Autoglym Fast Glass. Two layers of the new formula Autoglym SRP. One layer of Autoglym HD wax. Black trim treated with some generic "Back to Black" stuff.
Started with a cleansing de-greaser and a rinse down. Went over the whole surface with a Farcela G3 clay bar and neat quick detailer (rinsing while going along). Washed the whole car with Autoglym BSC, rinsed, dried, glass cleaned inside and out with Autoglym Fast Glass. Two layers of the new formula Autoglym SRP. One layer of Autoglym HD wax. Black trim treated with some generic "Back to Black" stuff.
YesItsAVW said:
Nice car there, I miss mine. It was the same body/colour/spoiler combination as mine was. I too did the clutch work and paid for the belts before passing it on at a loss.
Shouldn't have got rid of it, miss the handling and noise now.
That tends to be the general consensus on here. Better than people expected, better than most would admit at the time, and a car people regret selling lolShouldn't have got rid of it, miss the handling and noise now.
Found an old Top Gear feature about the MG Zeds, and the ZS 180 certainly shows its qualties.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUSa0UhbccU
Edited by Ricwin on Monday 25th June 00:51
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