Great car, bad attitude but great price & weather! (Rover MGF 1.8i VVC)

Member Name: pphb

Product:	Rover MGF 1.8i VVC
Date:	08/04/02 (6756 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great for the summer, classy car, will hold value well

Disadvantages: Not good fro long journeys

Two weeks ago my poor H reg Astra included with it's flaky paint and 150k on the clock failed its MOT, I'd had the little blighter for nearly 4 years. The hand me down from my parents had looked after me well.

Over the last couple of years the paint started flaking and looking very, very unsightly! The cost to get it back on the road for another year would be £220! More than the car was worth! That would include 6 months tax & the years MOT.

This was just enough, I flatly refused to pay the money & refused to use the car again! I'd rather get the bus! Or walk the 5 miles to work (hmmm! - maybe I exaggerate!)

So my boyfriend and I discussed our options, I quite fancied a Vectra, maybe a newer Astra. My partner drives a 406 which he uses for work - he has a lot of kit to carry around & he suggested we get a 'fun' car, we don't need to big ole buses!!

Why not I thought, what should we get though?? We had a little think, without a doubt it had to be an MGF! what year? what model? what sort of budget do we have??

We started by buying a Parker's Price Guide, we spoke to some cheeky chappie in Carcraft at Empress (large car supermarket, in Wales) We asked why it was so expensive and showed him the price guide to which he had a bit of a snigger and said 'we throw them in the bin!' Well!! Guess what?? WE DON'T! We are not going to pay more than A1 price and this is all we have to go on as general public. They have access to the Glass guide which is about £100 for all people in the trade - very well kept secret I'm sure!

We saw an R reg basic 1.8i for 12,500. WHAT!!!! The Parkers price guide suggested around £10,000 for A1 condition - this certainly was not! Dodgy paint work & the seals around the window were coming of slightly (something you must check.

You have to know there are 3 different models. The 1.8i, the 1.8i steptronic and the 1.8i VVC.
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What does the VVC have that the others don't? Well for a more expensive model you would expect some extra's. With the VVC you get 5 spoke alloys instead of six. PAS as standard rather than an option, ABS as standard rather than an option. Leather seats, and of course the Valve system, this is similar to a V-Tech engine (if you know what one of those is!) I'm not too techie with cars and don't really know what that means apart from where the standard 1.8i starts tailing off with power the VVC keeps going!

So the Parkers price guide gives prices for A1, Good & Fair condition. They also give trade price. Plus a small write up & a star system. They gave the 1.8i a 4 star rating & also said the VVC is well deserving of 5 stars!

So of we toddled to the garage in our local area & saw a P reg 1.8i VVC in British Racing Green, 75k on the clock, service history, £8,700. Bit out of our range though.

Now since the launch of the new MG convertable the prices have dropped a fair amount, we drove past that same MG a week later & 1k had come off the price, why not we thought? Let's go for it. We paid £7,500 for the MG, it was in fantastic condition, interior was perfect & the body was great, about 2 stone chips & a small scratch on the back, 4 new tyres (decent make too) and well worth the money.

How does it drive? Very well, it's very responsive and holds the road well, I will use the car for to & from work in the week and it's our fun car in the weekend! Wouldn't recommend an MGF if you travel a lot, being a convertible it can get quite noisy, I can imagine long journeys would also be quite uncomfortable after a while. There isn't much space for luggage, the boot is deep but not very wide.

The one thing I must say that bothers me is people's attitude on the road, they go out of their way to be less courteous and are just down right rude!! If I had just paid £10k for a bra
nd spanking out of the wrapper Ford Fiesta would they be the same??? NO!! Why is this? Just as it's an MGF they think we're arrogant, you can pay more for a Fiesta! Us MG drivers are quite cheap in comparison!

This weekend was perfect for a convertible too! Very sunny & hot. I haven't got used to it yet though and try to find the route that will not see too many people, I am by no means a poser and find it quite embarrassing, I'm sure I will overcome this problem though!!

All in all a wonderful car for fun - which is all we need, not for long distance journeys, possibly, but I don't think so!

So if any of you are thinking about it - now is the time! They have dropped in price and the weather is fantastic!

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