MG ZR 160. Used hot hatch hero or zero? (MG ZR)

Member Name: Steve80

Product:	MG ZR
Date:	26/05/09 (383 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good looks, great gear box, strong performance, great fun!

Disadvantages: Build quality, vague brakes, uncomfortable driving position.

The MG ZR 160 is much more than just a Rover 25 on botox.
Yes it is based on a car that usually appeals to the 50+, but what MG/Rover created was a car that instantly appeals to the pre 25's.

The ZR I owned was the 3-door in Trophy Blue, this is without doubt the best looking combination. The 3-door viewed from the side, shows off its beautifully elliptical window shape. Then there are the MAX Power looks. Big boot spoiler, front splitter, side skirts, twin exhaust back box, 17" multi spoke alloys with low profile tyres. At 21 years old it really got my pulse racing.
So what was the ZR 160 like to own?

Well first off, the interior.
Yes it's quite basic, but it had everything I needed at the time. Air Con, CD player, electric adjustable and heated door mirrors, electric windows.
The instruments are a racy silver, but the rest of the dash is just a huge expanse of cheap grey plastic, and the centre consol looks like that from and 80s Audi or BMW.
But having said that, all the switches and controls are located quite practically and are easy to reach, with the exception of the electric window switches which are annoyingly located behind the gear stick.

Driving.
On the move the ZR has everything that a young keen driver could want.
It has very stiff suspension which enables you to throw the car through corners with ease, as the car changes direction quickly and has a handy bit of lift off oversteer when you want it.
The ZR 160 also feels sharper on turn in than the Honda Civic Type R. It really does handle well.
Where it falls down is when you just want to drive smoothly around town. The firm suspension combined with the low profile tyres make for a very crashy ride that can make your rips ache. But it was something that I could easily forgive at 21. I don't know if I could live with it now though.
The best part of the car has to be the gearbox. It has a very slick and precise shift, and is a pleasure to use. I'd find myself just going up and down the gears just for the fun of it!
Then there is the tuned 158bhp K-Series VVC engine.
This engine was so smooth and responsive above 3500rpm, it just asked to be driven hard. The engine would readily spin round to the red line, and when the VVC kicks in when you hit about 3200 rpm you can feel the step up in performance. This combined with the raspy variable exhaust pipe, which closes one pipe off under hard acceleration at low revs to increase torque, then opens up at higher revs to increase power, make for a massively fun driving experience.
A down side of the engine is that when you want to make a quick get away, maybe you want to pull out into a gap in traffic, the engine can easily bog down if you don't have nearly 3000rpm on the clock when you release the clutch.

Value for money.
I bought My ZR 160 for £14,500 brand new, with a few optional extras on, so I got a good deal.
However when I traded in 2 and a half years later I only got £7,500 for it. So not great if you bought one from new. But it makes a superb used buy. You can find decent used early ZR 160s from £2,500. It will do 37 mpg which is still good even by today's standards. As it's basically a Rover 25, servicing isn't too expensive either, and although MG/Rover no longer exists, there are still hundreds of dealers out there who can easily service it and get parts for it.

Downsides.
The build quality is questionably on the ZR. The interior started to develop a few squeaks after 18 months or so, but with the harsh ride I'm not surprised.
The side skirts started to come off after only a couple of months, but the dealer sorted it with stickier glue and then it was never a problem again.
A wiring loom came loose and fouled the pedals while I was driving, which was interesting! Again the dealer sorted.
The first really hot day where I used the air con for a long period, resulted in the passenger foot well filling up with a couple inches of water. This was a result of the air con drainage pipe not even being connected!
There are also some rather uneven shut lines on the bonnet and doors which hints at the car being produced on a budget.
The brakes, although very good when you need them, are very vague, and nothing happens for the first couple of inches of pedal travel, which nearly resulted in me pranging the dealer's demonstrator, and despite the dealer saying that it's a problem now fixed, when my car arrived, the brakes were pretty much the same.
I could also never get the driving position to suit me either, and I'm quite average height. Nearly every time I got in it I had to play with the seat, and on long journeys I would get lower back pain.
The driving position was also far too high. I like to feel like I'm sat in a car, not perched on top of it.
The K-Series engine is also prone to head gasket failure, so check for white residue around the gasket.

To Sum up.
This car would make a brilliant cheap performance hatch for young drivers, as it's huge fun, and cheap to buy now. Many of the cars niggles can be ignored by younger drivers.
Expect to go though a few sets of front tyres though!

Summary: A good affordable hot hatch, a good starting point for young drivers moving on to performance cars.

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