MG ZS, any good?

It's rather tatty, appears to have a seized rear caliper and no tax. It's had a new head gasket, timing belt, water pump and other things as well. Would'nt drop below £1600 and it was'nt anywhere near as nice as the 1.6.
 
Just to be a pedant (sorry) various revisions were made to aspects of the engine to improve the HG failure rate, but the HG wasn't one of them - the same crappy elastomer design was used until Rover went bust.

Land Rover then, in 2006/2007 (IIRC) made the multi layer steel one that did fix some of the issues.
 
pastymuncher said:
It's rather tatty, appears to have a seized rear caliper and no tax. It's had a new head gasket, timing belt, water pump and other things as well. Would'nt drop below £1600 and it was'nt anywhere near as nice as the 1.6.
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stay away from that one, never buy a rover thats had work done on the engine like that as sometimes they are just never right again.
The 400/45/ZS is probably the best of the range to get as the smaller ones usually have been hammered by boy racers, and the 75's are just too damn expensive for parts given what they are.
 
Also the 400/45/ZS were designed for Rover by Honda whereas the 75 was designed by rover themselves :P (Hence why the Chinese company that bought Rovers IP is selling 75's in China but not 45/ZS as Honda own the rights to them)
 
I have a 1.4 Streetwise, I like the car. The ZS have all been abused. Really.
I was looking for a 75, but they really are still going for too much considering what sort of condition 95% of them are in. Its shocking how much abuse they have been through!
 
i used to have an old 214 from 93 and covered 37k of hard miles and the engine never missed a beat
sold it with 100k on the clock and the engine ran lovely
not all of them had HGF on the 16v k engine
 
Thread full of LOL. K-series headgasket issues are because they are overtuned, and actually have nothing to do with dodgy liner heights and tiny coolant capacity.

Learn something new every day.

In response to the OP:
They offer a lot of value these days - you can get a reasonably new, low mileage car for effectively peanuts. They are a hoot to drive with a pretty damn good chassis. Not sure I'd entertain a 1.6 variant though, the 2.5 V6 really is a cool little engine and pretty reliable, too.
 
I rather like my 53 plate 1.6 ZS. The interior is very old fashioned but you won't really notice when you're hooning around, the big square clicky buttons and switches are actually quite useful in a pinch :D The ride is bad around normal british roads and you want half decent tyres on it, I've got Kuhmos at the moment and they are dire in the wet or cold, I'm definately spending a bit more next time around. I had the water pump leak over christmas which set me back £700 to have the pump, cambelt, head gasket replaced and other bits. Quite a ballache but it shouldn't have anything else major required if I'm lucky :)

Its a fun car for the price and I've had some great hoons in it but as others have said its an old design and you can tell. Great economy on the 1.6, gets me 38mpg if you drive like a lorry.
 
Dave L said:
Nah.....not too bad a job, 4hrs or so, job done! :)
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Front belt is a doddle, it was changing the rear oil seals on the back head that almost drove me mad.

Then trying to wobble the cam a little to get the rear pulleys back on was a utter pain, don't think that bit is meant to be a one man job.
 
I've seen pictures of someone changing the V6 cambelt, and I'd have nightmares if I had to do it myself!

The 1.6/1.8 and the 2.0 diesel are pretty easy, however.
Done both in a leisurely afternoon with a few beers, however on the K series it's always best to change the waterpump too - due to access it's a bum of a job to do.
 
Zuban said:
what year did the mg's get them? mine was a 2003 and didnt have the better gasket, i fitted it when the original went though. As i understand it this isnt a cure but the newer gasket does help, much of the problems with the headgasket are a result of the cooling system layout and the stat being on the inlet rather than outlet, which is why on the freelander they eventually moved the thermostat, there has been kits around for ages to move the stat to the water outlet for the elise/exige.
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2004
 
dalin80 said:
Front belt is a doddle, it was changing the rear oil seals on the back head that almost drove me mad.

Then trying to wobble the cam a little to get the rear pulleys back on was a utter pain, don't think that bit is meant to be a one man job.
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Apart from getting that huge alloy housing back in place without damaging the new belt!!!!!

Know what you mean about the rear pullies, use the hex end of the locking tool with a long spanner on it. Just about do-able on your own.
 
realscot said:
stay away from that one, never buy a rover thats had work done on the engine like that as sometimes they are just never right again.
The 400/45/ZS is probably the best of the range to get as the smaller ones usually have been hammered by boy racers, and the 75's are just too damn expensive for parts given what they are.
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If you fancy ruling out all the perfectly good K-Series that have had an uprated gasket fitted, oh and by your logic any Rover that's ever had a cambelt done, then fine....

And on a side note, I don't find my 75 costs any-more to run that my mates Volvo 850 / Mum's SAAB etc, certainly not cheap but about what you would expect from a large saloon? :confused:

ubersonic said:
Also the 400/45/ZS were designed for Rover by Honda whereas the 75 was designed by rover themselves :P (Hence why the Chinese company that bought Rovers IP is selling 75's in China but not 45/ZS as Honda own the rights to them)
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The 75 was one of a few cars made under BMW rule, hence you can find their parts littered all over it - at least the largest majority of the cars design had nothing to do with Rover designers... eg. the z-axle on the rear, 3/5 (one or the other) series wishbones on the front, CANBUS/K-BUS/I-BUS computer systems and so-on
 
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