Interesting thoughts here, I have had around 60 cars in my lifetime, can't say the MG has ever been considered a poor one in comparison to what I have previously owned.

Alot of you will probably say we should stick with 'German' cars due to the build quality and the 'Germanic' way they are put together. VW springs to mind "if only everything in life was as reliable as a Volkswagon"

But hold a minute there MG beaters................if I am not mistaken the common faults, especially the 180, are the plenums, vis valves and seat SRS leads..............these are all German parts! (not sure who makes the clutch slave and master cylinders mind)

I can fondly remember a Renault being a pig blowing more gaskets than a poorly maintained k-series. An Audi that used to eat fuel pumps, a Vauxhall that used to leak more oil more than a BP well head. Also had Ford that ate void bushes like they were marshmallows!

Even a brand new Citroen Xsara Picasso, bought on two occassions, had to have recalls for dodgy fuel tanks and pedals IIRC.

My particular ZS has been a joy to own over +5 years, very little gone wrong and always easily fixed. On a like for like age basis I have owned worse cars of the same age that required more attention than Jordans mattress.

im suprised. i have never had any issues with a zs other than ones i have induced.

never had clutch hydros fail
never had vis fail but then i did have charger

every car has its niggles, but the zs was one of them that you could put up with them, if you wanted a car without niggles you would be pushed to find one, especially for the money zs's sell for nowadays

i may be swapping my zs for an astra on sunday,dreading it, but when its been thru what my car has its time to move on,belts have just been changed,only done 77000,its pretty much immaculate,only thing is its red but beggars cant really be choosers eh!

Had my Impreza nearly 2 years and never had a single issue or niggle with it, none of the interior has fallen off and it doesn't even have any annoying rattles/squeaks!

So it seems Jap is the way forward!

But then you couldnt get the RB320 with ZS money could you! Honda recently came top in a reliability report for 5th year in a row

Well this is a discussion! lol

I've owned plenty of cars over the years, in the early days i went through cars every 3 months, as well as having new company cars every six months from the age of 17....


to list a few examples
Nova SRi's, GTE and a club

Golf mk3 TDi's, Gti's and 1 16v

Golf Mk2 Syncro, Gti 8v, Gti 16v(loved it!)

Golf Mk1 GX (my first Mk1) 2 GTi Cabs and several projects

Two Rocco's currently a scalla kjet.(loving it)

Vento VR6

MG Monty (fond memories)

*hitron BX TD, Volcane 2.0i

Mk1 Mondeo V6

Escort 1.6, Xr3 and Xr3i

Fiesta 1.1, Xr2

Alfa 33 Boxer Permanent 4 (loved it!)

none of them cost me as much to maintain as my ZS TD, but then again none of them apart from 16v Mk2 come close to the drivability of the z'd I drive with a sturdy right foot and have coverd 80k in 3 years and toyed with it, biggest bummer was the ECU but hey.... i no longer let the wife have the spare key :P


Funny i did dream the other night that i tradedthe Z'd for a Scooby.... i woke up and checked outside the front window and my nightmare was over!

PS i HAVE NEVER AND WILL NEVER OWN A CORSA!!!

Who really buys a mg rover for reliabilty tho? I mean really..... A true petrol head loves playing with his/her cars and hence is willing to spend the time and money to fix your busted motors. We buy these cars because they put a smile on your face every drive, and have piles of character! I love my zed's and you couldnt get the keys off me if u tried!!

Top post! Completly agree Id loose intrest in a car if there was nothing to do on it

Totally agree, 100%...

But when it's unreliability means that you can't get to work on a regular basis then it becomes more of an issue..

I work on average 3 days a week; at one point I was getting lifts 1 or 2 days a week as the car wouldn't start or was sitting on axle stands on the drive..

There are only so many times you can ask someone to do a 100 mile trip to take you to and from work before they get annoyed!:laugh:

well been driving the zr since tuesday now and been really loving it, reallyy nice wee car, and the zs has been parked up the garden,
well thought id take it out a wee blast tonight god you forget how nice a drive it is, i mean really, mnines only a 1.6 but it still puts a smile on my face evry time i pull out my driveway and engage first, had mine 2 and a half years now and no major problems at all! ive done work to it but tbh nothing it needed, i love tinkering about with it, and never threated about it going through an MOT, i work in a huge garage and the cars you see coming in and whats worse when comes to health check time MOT time the rovers are up there in the good list of cars definatly,

not since ive bought my car have i walked through our showroom and see a car for around that money that i would even remotley consider swapping mine for hope to keep it a long time even if its just in my garden just love loking at it, like having a wee long look at it out the window sometimes