Been offered a mg zt 190....

[pengy_666]

Been offered a MG ZT 190,

Been stood for 18 months, was bought for £3500 and then after 2 months use it was losing coolant, not dramatically but enough to be an issue. It has been parked up and the place he bought it from refused to pay for any repairs now he wants it gone as it's too far down the road now.

Is it worth a punt for £300?

It's a 2003 plate with full leather etc,

[PJW]

I wouldnt bother. They arent that fast, arent that desirable and even with a full ticket on are only worth about £750. Be sure is a 190 too, the 160 is only different slightly and you have to use the VIN to identify it.

The losing coolant is also a never ending search. The thermostat housings are pants but also are a swine as theyre in the V and you need to pull the whole inlet off.

[1234dist]

agreed, only real desirable zt/75's are the diesels.

[David-Ti]

I think they are great cars but I wouldn't bother with one peronsally that didn't already have certain bits done to already. They're not that difficult to work on but I've had my fair share of troubles to deal with on ZT's (my old man had two) and the concentric slave cylinder was the biggest issue having to change it on both examples. Also had big end failure but I believe that was more down to the owners neglect than the engine.

190's come with something like 325mm front brakes the lower power models have much smaller discs I believe.

They're not THAT slow either for a heavy car with less than 200bhp when they're working 100%.. I've only ever driven one that was running right with the correct power band kicking in at 3000rpm..


Really nice handling car for its size and you can tell the difference coming hard out of corners with the equal length driveshafts compared to the rover turbos.

So that all said, they have they're fair share of problems. Much more than any rover turbo I've ever owned from personal experience. But quite a nice car to drive when all is running well.

[PJW]

As above. I forgot to even mention the inlet manifold. Mine kicked in at the right place when i had it, but for 190bhp it just felt soft and wallowy. I seriously struggled to sell it too.

[2.2-600-VTEC]

I have a ztt diesel its a little underpowered but is a great car to drive handles well and looks nice (facelift) biggest difference is the build quality over the zs and zr they feel like they are built really well and the chassis is very tight with minimum flex can handle loads more power, a nice t series would be ace under the bonnet

[pengy_666]

It's for my parents,

It is 100% a 190,




Tax isn't an issue as they have disability tax, they need a bigger car for my mom as she can't spend long times in a car, also with a spazzy scooter they need big boot but not sure it'll fit, it just a bit big for a 25 boot.

If it is the pipe/housing in the V as I've seen oodles of times then it won't owe me anything.

[mg-richard]

I run a ZT, they are not great cars to run on a budget,
Unless it was an estate I doubt it would be useful if you want things putting in the back.

[2.2-600-VTEC]

Diesels are ok and tunable, heard of a good few breaking 300k miles with no real issues

[pengy_666]

4 door saloon is not estate

[ravinder]

I think they're cracking cars. Worth it all day long at that price.

[montytom]

I've got the 75 in both 2.5v6 and diesel.
Me personally go for it the v6 engine is a peach.
The diesel in my opinion isn't that great really and mine is running a high map.
If I had the choice I wouldn't buy the diesel again.
The v6 is more of a cruiser than an out an out sports car.

0-60mph comes up in 7.7 seconds and onto 141mph.

As you are a mechanic I'm not going to bore you pengy.

The water pump can fail and so can the thermostat.

If you don't get a kick at about 2800rpm then you need a new vis motor.
There's a bloke on the 75 owners club who can fix them better than new for £50 each.
Hope this helps

[PetrolMG]

It sure is worth a punt at that price. If worse comes to worse you could always sell it on for the same price you bought it for if not perhaps more.

[pengy_666]

It was a wreck!

I hadn't got the time, space or effort to put it right. It had been stood for two years rotting under a tree. With the heads ripped off.