MG ZR 105

Would have thought you'd pick up the facelift a decent bit cheaper than that, not sure on the market for the little 1.4 but the 160 can be had in facelift for that or a bit less. Maybe the 1.4 holds its value better as its probably about the only mg that's easy to shift (appeal to younger drivers like yourself)

I wouldn't personally say it was a great first car solely due to what tends to be silly insurance quotes but if you can get it down and its been looked after then they aren't a terribke buy.

I think I would take a focus though, millions to choose from, cheaper insurance means its a bit of a no brainer
 
Dogbreath said:
What's your definition of "a shed load"? It only gets expensive if you ignore the signs and keep running it until it overheats badly.
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Several hundred £. Remember, it's not just the head gasket that will need changing, the water pump, maybe some of the timing belts, the coolant and all those hours of labour add up pretty quickly.
 
Kristoph if I were you I wouldn't be looking at a ZR for my first car. *They are not good at all. Reliability, ride and build quality are all terrible. Do yourself a favour and save a little more for an overall better car, they are out there.

The insurance on the ZR will probably be higher on them as well compared to other first cars.

I'd be looking at cars with 1 owner, high mileage, fsh and no MG badge ;). Good luck fella.

*speaking from personal experience
 
Had one for 2 years, same engine. Bought it with 17K on the clock, sold it 2 years later with 55K on the clock. No HG issues as I kept it below 3K rpm and low throttle until it was properly warmed up (at least 15 minutes).

Ride is very firm, but it's really quite chuckable. Very cramped though as I found when I switched to the Focus. If you're any 6ft or close, you'll not really be able to fit a mate behind you without causing some sort of pain :p

Switching from the 205/45/17 that came with them to 205/40/17 gives a better choice of tyres, cheaper too.

Things to look out for:
Mayo under the oil cap
Dirty Coolant
Oil leaks (Commonly from front right corner of the block)
Has the cambelt and waterpump been changed? - 60K/5 years for these. I replaced mine at 36K (5 Years old), they were both like new but thought it was worth spending a £300 to sort it out rather than risk snapping knowing my luck.


Other than that, there's not really much to go wrong on them. Programming new fobs can be an utter nightmare though as you need the Rover Technician software, which not many places have. The mg-rover.org is a good place to get in touch with people who still have it though.
 
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Thanks for the replies. I have a feeling I'll be taking a few weeks until I make a purchase, I don't want to make any mistakes. Insurance quotes shouldn't be astronomical (24yrs old), but still high in relation to cost of car.

I might start a thread.
 
Tbh you could be the most incompetent spanner monkey ever and still onyl take a few hours to do one of these if it comes to it.
The 1.4 is sooooo easy to change the HG its unreal, theres loooads of space in there.

And if you're feeling funkey later on for only a tad more than the price of a £500 scrap 220 coupe you can drop the 2.0 turbo in it, much fun :)
 
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