RE: Shed of the Week: MG ZR
Discussion
Managed to bag a 25k-ish mile 160 VVC last year for £600. Initially looked at it as an engine donor for my Elise but it's too tidy to rip the engine out of. Service, fresh belts and brakes and it's been doing good work getting hammered down and back to Glasgow and much more fun on a day at knockhill than it should be!
If you're happy getting your hands dirty when needed they can be very cheap to run. Main worry would probably be rust, which I'm fairly sure will eventually be the end of my one!
If you're happy getting your hands dirty when needed they can be very cheap to run. Main worry would probably be rust, which I'm fairly sure will eventually be the end of my one!
I ran my Mums Pre-Facelift ZR 105+ in Yellow for about 6 Months years and years ago, i put a Janspeed Cat-Back Exhaust and the ZR 160 Exhaust Trim thing, it looked great tbh, for a 1.4 it was pretty quick, on par with my mates then 1.6 Fiesta Mk5 Zetec-S and not far behind another mates Corsa 'C' 1.8 SRi, i always remember the Brakes being woeful, the Seats being great, also good fun on the twisty bits though to a fashion.
The facelift wasn't very successful. The earlier ones look slightly nicer. Great Shed. Never tried one but I would when the time comes to part with my tired MX5. Buying a Rover would mystify my middle class middle income pals. There's something patriotic about (and subversive) about it. I remember watching a documentary about the K Series. Those through bolts are a great idea. And the minimalist cast material. The 1.4 may have been the 1st version so a future classic!
squirdle said:
I bought one of these new in 2004. More fool me. What a slug! I did a load to it to try to make it faster, to no avail. At the same time, my wife bought a Kia Rio.(Remember the 'car for £1' ads?) The Kia, with a 1.3 engine was easily more nippy and could outdrag the ZR any time.
they arent fast, but "Slug", they have 105 bhp, looked sporty and were cheap to buy and insure, suited the market, the Kia Rio 1.3 of the era had 75 bhp, easily more nippy than a car with 30 bhp more ? really ? the ZR did 60 in 10 seconds, the Kia, was 13.7.Yours must have been poorly, used to drive the older models with the same engine all the time as company cars, could really rag the crap out of them, they handled well and had enough usable go to make decent progress, everything else of the era with a 1.4 engine was 20 or more bhp down, but they did need to be revved, they werent torquey like say an 8 valve MK2 Golf GTI which I had at the time, but though the Golf felt faster, very little in it.
MadDog1962 said:
No more MGs or Rovers please.
They are all shed money for a very good reason.
It's because they are sheds.
No. They are all shed money for a very good reason.
It's because they are sheds.
No Sheds allowed in an article called Shed of the Week.
Absolutely not.
LewisR said:
That one for sale at £9k. I wonder how much the vendors paid for it ?
Probably showed them the SOTW ad and then said " but yours has less[sic] miles on so I'll offer you a grand.This just shrieks chav to me , and I drive a white tdi VAG on tick, so I should know. I don't look posh enough to definitely not be mistaken for one.
J4CKO said:
squirdle said:
I bought one of these new in 2004. More fool me. What a slug! I did a load to it to try to make it faster, to no avail. At the same time, my wife bought a Kia Rio.(Remember the 'car for £1' ads?) The Kia, with a 1.3 engine was easily more nippy and could outdrag the ZR any time.
they arent fast, but "Slug", they have 105 bhp, looked sporty and were cheap to buy and insure, suited the market, the Kia Rio 1.3 of the era had 75 bhp, easily more nippy than a car with 30 bhp more ? really ? the ZR did 60 in 10 seconds, the Kia, was 13.7.Yours must have been poorly, used to drive the older models with the same engine all the time as company cars, could really rag the crap out of them, they handled well and had enough usable go to make decent progress, everything else of the era with a 1.4 engine was 20 or more bhp down, but they did need to be revved, they werent torquey like say an 8 valve MK2 Golf GTI which I had at the time, but though the Golf felt faster, very little in it.
The garage that's trying to flog the £9K ZR is also selling a £4K 1.8vvc 200 Coupe (Tomcat, it's rear can be seen in the background on the first photo). I'm sad enough though to look at the state of the Coupe and probably buy it if I had a spare garage (I've a thing for old Rovers and the Tomcat Coupe in particular so a minty fresh one with low mileage for the age...).
Shed said:
This week's Shed is an MG ZR. Here it is.
Oh sorry everyone, there's been a mistake, that's the £9,000 ZR
They also have a £12k one... http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/m...Oh sorry everyone, there's been a mistake, that's the £9,000 ZR
OK it's a VVC160. But £12k?! KGF-style mark-up!
My mums '03 ZR (105) is still going strong on 40k odd miles and she's had it from new. Pretty reasonable cost wise to run, insure, etc and surprisingly good fun to drive IMO.
Only had to replace the head gasket once 3 years ago when it finally started to show early signs of going, but since being done with the correct parts it's still running strong
Never kicked up any massively expensive bills either to date (touch wood) and I don't really count the HG as a massive bill as after 10 odd years of use, I was due to get it sorted anyway.
Only had to replace the head gasket once 3 years ago when it finally started to show early signs of going, but since being done with the correct parts it's still running strong
Never kicked up any massively expensive bills either to date (touch wood) and I don't really count the HG as a massive bill as after 10 odd years of use, I was due to get it sorted anyway.
My wife had a pre-facelift 105+ in the same colour. It was roomy for a small car and handled really well. The steering was really good too. The only problem we had was a slow head gasket failure that took at least one exhaust mounted O2 sensor with it on the way. This gasket itself was replaced for £200 by some mechanics where I worked at the time. We never had any other problems with it and she covered nearly 60,000 mile in it in circa 4 years. The MOT history showed it had done 130,000 miles before the records ended a couple of years ago.
She replaced it with a 2.0 Fiesta ST (white with blue stripes). The Fiesta was quicker and felt more solid, but the MG was more roomy and had a better ride/handling balance. For circa £700 this seems a good buy. As for the £9k ZR mentioned, the Rover coupe at £4K from the same dealer seems like a practical (4 seater) modern classic in much better condition than the usual £1k examples.
She replaced it with a 2.0 Fiesta ST (white with blue stripes). The Fiesta was quicker and felt more solid, but the MG was more roomy and had a better ride/handling balance. For circa £700 this seems a good buy. As for the £9k ZR mentioned, the Rover coupe at £4K from the same dealer seems like a practical (4 seater) modern classic in much better condition than the usual £1k examples.
I had a Rover 200 with the 101hp engine and am now driving a 25 with the 84hp engine.
The 101hp (105+) was an absolute peach. It loves to rev and had a character I haven't seen before in a 4 pot engine before. That is what is overlooked in these cars I think.
120k and virtually no maintenance I scrapped my 200 but my 25 is another great car. Everything works aside from a leaky aircon, no rattles and I'm going to change the throttle body to the 101hp version.
When people hate on these cars it really gets my goat. Great cars, much much better than the equivalent corsa, saxo or anything else at the time.
The 101hp (105+) was an absolute peach. It loves to rev and had a character I haven't seen before in a 4 pot engine before. That is what is overlooked in these cars I think.
120k and virtually no maintenance I scrapped my 200 but my 25 is another great car. Everything works aside from a leaky aircon, no rattles and I'm going to change the throttle body to the 101hp version.
When people hate on these cars it really gets my goat. Great cars, much much better than the equivalent corsa, saxo or anything else at the time.
kambites said:
I was under the impression that head gasket failure on the 1.4 was pretty rare unless it's abused?
They were when they were more valuable (and thus better looked after).When they get cheap, they get caught in the poverty car trap, much the same as every Mondeo, Fiesta and Focus, where servicing is rare and the coolant is 100% tap water with a hint of oxidisation.
cj2013 said:
They were when they were more valuable (and thus better looked after).
When they get cheap, they get caught in the poverty car trap, much the same as every Mondeo, Fiesta and Focus, where servicing is rare and the coolant is 100% tap water with a hint of oxidisation.
Yes, neglect is probably the biggest issue on a K. Because the car is cheap it's assumed to be basic yet in some respects it's a very advanced engine, especially compared with some of the cast iron pushrod dross Ford have been turning out.When they get cheap, they get caught in the poverty car trap, much the same as every Mondeo, Fiesta and Focus, where servicing is rare and the coolant is 100% tap water with a hint of oxidisation.
CDP said:
cj2013 said:
They were when they were more valuable (and thus better looked after).
When they get cheap, they get caught in the poverty car trap, much the same as every Mondeo, Fiesta and Focus, where servicing is rare and the coolant is 100% tap water with a hint of oxidisation.
Yes, neglect is probably the biggest issue on a K. Because the car is cheap it's assumed to be basic yet in some respects it's a very advanced engine, especially compared with some of the cast iron pushrod dross Ford have been turning out.When they get cheap, they get caught in the poverty car trap, much the same as every Mondeo, Fiesta and Focus, where servicing is rare and the coolant is 100% tap water with a hint of oxidisation.
- a 92 214 SLI - great car but hgf at 48k.
- 216 SE cabriolet - no hgf but did need inlet manifold gasket.
- Rover 200 BRM - HGF and damaged head at circa 50k - my brother perhaps has less mechanical sympathy than the rest of us.
- rover 25 impression - HGF at circa 60k.
- MG ZR 105 - mentioned above - HGF at circa 50k
- a second BRM bought at over 50k miles and HGF at circa 100k
- lotus Elise S2 1.8'touring pack - HGF at 40k then again (despite being 'fixed' by a Lotus specialist) at 45k.
Most of the cars mentioned above were bought new by family members or at a few years old with very low mileage (Lotus and second BRM excepted). All had been serviced properly by franchise dealers according to schedules and preventative work done if required.
With the exception of the Lotus and the first BRM, all HGF failures were not a major issue and permenantly fixed for less than £500 for each car.
Interestingly we have had 2 KV6 engined cars in the family and those engines have been faultless.
From this HGF is almost inevitable with a 4 cylinder k- series but if fixed properly it is not a major issue and in all honesty we never really had any other problems with any of the cars other than wear and tear related items.
I had one of these in 1.4 form when i was at uni. It remains the most fun car I've ever owned. The engine was a complete peach. The handling was good, and it had the best steering feel of anything I've driven. The handbrake locked up particularly well too 
It was completely reliable in the three years i had it too. I'd have another one tomorrow as a play thing.
It was completely reliable in the three years i had it too. I'd have another one tomorrow as a play thing.
My friend and I have had a couple of these, and also the ZS izncluding the V6180
Quite adept in the handling department, possibly because they seem to have adopted an autonomous link to Colin Chapmans mantra of 'add lightness'. The cars do this by shedding parts, gently, often when you least expect it. And ten in a very comical fashion.
To be fair, the ones we bought were all sub 100k but ALL sub £400.
The V6 went to a guy who had another one already, and wanted a less-pristine example to use on track days (?!?!), and the 160 to a guy who dropped out his need for a replacement power unit for his Elise.
My friend waxes lyrical about these, the ZS and ZT, but I just can't get the word 'horrid' out of my mind every time I see one.
Now the fleet of MGF's we've bought for under £500 are quite a different matter..lll
Quite adept in the handling department, possibly because they seem to have adopted an autonomous link to Colin Chapmans mantra of 'add lightness'. The cars do this by shedding parts, gently, often when you least expect it. And ten in a very comical fashion.
To be fair, the ones we bought were all sub 100k but ALL sub £400.
The V6 went to a guy who had another one already, and wanted a less-pristine example to use on track days (?!?!), and the 160 to a guy who dropped out his need for a replacement power unit for his Elise.
My friend waxes lyrical about these, the ZS and ZT, but I just can't get the word 'horrid' out of my mind every time I see one.
Now the fleet of MGF's we've bought for under £500 are quite a different matter..lll
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