Aly Mac

Hi all, this may seem a silly question to ask on s.n. but the wifes after a new motor,even more so now i`ve got the scoob so for a quiet life i`m looking into changing her car, the thing is she likes the wee rover mg zr so i was wondering if anyone here knows anything about them,possibly has one in a similar scenario, you know, what they like etc, i know they will probably drop like a stone in value but the local dealer has them at what i would consider a fair price, and i think their not to bad looking, thanks in advance for any help/suggestions

Dream Weaver

Focus ST170 or a Clio 182 or Civic Type R

what would scooby do

don't get that MG junk - get a civic type R

bloke

I echo that, WWSD.

Focus is good but not that quick. Clio is great to drive but made of old milk bottle tops. MG is ok to drive but was a dated design many moons ago and is very cramped. K series engine is a bit crude and will blow a head gasket at some point, but is good otherwise.

Dunno if a Seat might float her boat, good cars?

Caveat: slightly biased as I own an S2000...

talizman

iTrader: (1)

What model of ZR were you looking at?

1.4? 1.6? diesel?

Suggestions of CTR (£16k) Focus ST (£15k) and 182 (£15k) are much higher than ZR money.

The 105ps 1.4 can be got for £8k brand new! yet everyone is suggesting cars twice the price.

What is your budget mate?

Personally, I'd opt for a 172 Cup for circa £10k. Better than ALL the cars mentioned above!

steppers

dont bother buying new
look you can have my Mgf for her
it comes with a factory hardtop for winter with glass rear screen
it has done only 11000 miles and looks like new
its the 160bhp version so preety fast too
all this for 11k bargain eh!

hawkeye

Went out looking at cars with my wife she's currently got a Jeep Grand Cherokee

and eventually bought one....................... i was gutted the cars great but im now £57,000 worse off.......... no joke...... gave her free reign and said get what you want etc etc its your choice.... **** ME she only chose a Range ROver Vogue!!!!

JDM

The company I work for had a few Rover 25 pool cars (replaced with Skodas). Bits were forever dropping off and they suffered various premature failures. I'd avoid them unless you like taking the thing back to have warranty work done on them.
Maybe the MG's are better but i doubt it.
Get her a Seat Ibiza TDi 130 or Skoda VRS- I test drove some last week and was very impressed. You might also get some money back come resale time, more than you can say for the Rovers.

Gobert23

Whatever you buy... please don't make it the pink StreetKa from Ford. What were they thinking!?!?

talizman

iTrader: (1)

Why?

For its off road capabilities?

Or for the school run?

mgg

Get her a Seat Leon Cupra, cheap to run, cheap insurance and a good allround car.
As its a VAG car you get excellent build quality and reliablity and it looks pretty smart.
1.8 litre 20 valve turbo charged engine giving 180bhp.

She cant argue at that, you can get a second hand 03 reg from starting at 12K.....bargain!!

Cupramax

Leon Cupra is group 16 insurance (R is 17), now that aint cheap in my book, mines never been less than 500 a year to insure and I live in the urban crimwave that is Poole/Dorset Apart from that yes its a great car.

Kev at home

Bloody hell you guys really have it in for MGRover. I think I can give a little more balanced opinion of the ZR as a own one. Owned a clio before that and what a load of rubbish that was, fault after fault. I bought the ZR because I liked the look of it and because it was cheap and at the time the fastest hot hatch out there. In almost three years of ownwership it only developed one fault, that being the boot would not close this was fixed in 10 mins flat at the dealer. I find the car handles well, goes well enough and IMO looks great. I find all the talk of falling to bits and engine failure rather starnge, maybe I've just got a good one?!!. By the way the K series in my car which is the most stressed at 160 (now pushing 180BHP) has covered 45K and I've thrashed the pants of it.


Best thing to do is to test drive one and make up your own mind, btw old style ZR will be as cheap as chips now as the facelifted model will be out in the next few months

Kev

Dream Weaver

Every Rover I've had has expired much earlier than other cars I've owned and I like French stuff

They also have a "second best" stigma IMHO. Couldnt afford the Civic Type R or Golf so went for the "cheap" Rover instead. No offence Kev just my opinion

hawkeye

yep you guessed it

off road ability ie mounting the kerb to get the kids from school

Hill descent control - have you seen how steep some of the multi storey's are

ooooh the twin dvd screens in the rear must be what swung it for her

ahh well the joys of being married

JDM

The 25's we had suffered engine failures needing replacement (Rover declined to do this under warranty on at least 1 I know of), premature clutch replacement and gearbox failure.

The ones I used to use were literally falling apart, the door cards falling off, electrical systems failing and similar faults. They might be OK as a private buy but there is no way they stood upto abuse as well as their Ford or even Vauxhall equivalents.

Aly Mac

many thanks indeed folks for all your input and advice, to clear a few things up though, if i had any influence in her decision i would opt for a leon type r/ civic type r, but as these cars are both quite expensive compared with the wee rover it kind of rules them out, she just likes the look of the rover and to be honest i know it is a dated design,stressed engine etc but i think for the money it looks alright, after all its her driving it , doing the school run etc, the dealer is selling them for £7488. on a 04 delivery miles albeit the entry level zr105, thats less than half the price of the above mentioned, dont get me wrong by the time its three or four years old it`ll be worth coppers but i think it warrants a test drive al least, i mean if she`s happy with that its saved me a good few quid !! thanks again for your input.

talizman

iTrader: (1)

Dracoro

Yes, but twice as good, twice the performance, almost twice the bhp, twice as cool, twice everything really There's a very good reason that the Rover is so cheap.

Scoobybits

yeh mg think maestro................nuff said

JDM

The two cars I mentioned- Skoda Fabia VRS and Seat Ibiza Sport PD130 can be had for around the 10K mark.
So for 2 grand more you get something better built, cheaper to run and that will actually be worth something in a few yrs time.

I know where my cash would go.

Kev at home

Gents I think a lot of the problems you are talking about are all pre-Towers era, since 2000 reliability and build quailty have improved, I would imagine that this type of process will take some time and quailty will get better. As I said my motor has been faultless and to be perfectly honest I loved every minute of driving it, she still puts a smile on face after nearly three years, surely that must count for something, if it was as bad as you guys are making out I would have thought "crap car, won't be buying one of these again". As it happens I have bought another new MG, we now own a ZT190, to call this car crap is just plain crass, it truley is a fantastic car and to be perfectly honest the smile on my face is now bigger then ever.

Ali mac, both of you take the car out for a spin, find a nice B road and give it some you may just be surprised

Kev

Dream Weaver

My sister has a 2000/2001 MGTF and to be honest the build quality is crap I told her to buy an MR2 but she wouldnt listen.

I jumped in to move it the other day and the carpet came away from the sills. Still feels like an 80's Rover inside as well.

Fabia VRS is a great choice

MG ZR

MG Zr's are one of the best cars around, and it is the fastest in its class, as for the engine ive had no problems, and to squeeze 103psi out of a 1.4 takes some doing, and as for the dated looks, not even gonna try

talizman

iTrader: (1)

I wouldn't exactly say it "takes some doing"!

By todays modern engineering standards, 100bhp-ish is the benchmark for a 1.4 engine certainly not any mean feat.

VW Lupo 1.4 - 100bhp
Seat Arosa - 100bhp

Fiat Punto 1.4 GT - 130bhp
R5 GTT 1.4 - 120 bhp

Okay, so I know the last 2 are turbos, but they are still 1.4's will a good bit more than 100 squeezed out of them.

In fact, what about the Mazda RX rotary wankel engine......237bhp from a 1.3 litre!

Dracoro

100bhp out of a 1.4 is 71bhp per litre. good but not fantastic when you consider honda etc. easily get 100bhp per litre. Not sure if they do a 1.4 vtec though. They do do a 1.6 with 160 bhp.

MG ZR

im talking about NA, and honda have the vtech which doesnt really count, mazda is totally different, the K-series engine is the fastest production engine in its class. obviously if you cheat by putting a turbo on it then yes you can make it go faster, but turbos are not the way, NA all the way

talizman

iTrader: (1)

WTF are you talking about? VTEC IS n/a!



What about the VAG engines that I quoted? 1.4 100bhp? You forget these?




LMAO! "cheat"
Maybe when you grow out of your puddle jumper, you may want a "cheat" car..... Impreza, Evo, Skyline, Supra, RX etc etc etc. ?????
Or would you prefer an n/a 1.4 litre? No one can call you a cheat! LMAO




Any why is that?

mynickers

I know everyone slags off Rover, so I hate to join in, it is our last bit of mass motoring heritage, something we used to be pretty good at. But these cars really are behind compared to the competition, ok someone pointed out they’re cheap, but car companies have been proven to collude on price by the competition commission a few years back. You’ll notice in each sector, the price isn’t that different. For a decent hatch new you’re looking at spending over £10k for sure, if Rover is competing on price, that is last chance saloon for them.

I studied marketing, and work in advertising, I really cannot see Rover being with us for that long. Car business is very, very competitive, it’s lead by innovation, and innovation costs money, lots of money. With no real partnerships, and no chance any larger car companies are going to buy it after BMW pulled out I just can’t see that they’ll be able to compete. Especially when they’re selling their flagship models for peanuts.

Renaults haven’t got a great reputation for build quality, but me mothers got a standard one, and it’s a pretty good little car, chassis is amazing for a £6k entry level car, rolls like a mother, but loads and loads of grip even the standard with skinny little tires and as much suspension travel as a 4x4 – amazes me for what it is. There has a been a few niggles with it, the seat got covered in bobbles within 8 months and less than 6k miles, but we got that replaced on warranty. Apart from that nothing has broken or fallen off in 8k miles. Although obviously it doesn’t get the punishment you’d give a sporty one, so can’t comment on how well they keep! They do keep their value better than a Rover will though.

The others are more pricey, but you do get what you pay for, and in the long run you’ll loose less in residual values.

I would agree with whoever mentioned the seat tdi!

MG ZR

WTF are you talking about? VTEC IS n/a!

-where did i say they were not?