The Ups and the Downs.

[Squeaks]

The Ups and the downs of ZS ownership.

well for me it started last December, randomly decided to start looking for another car to replace the MGF with, stumbled across the ZS 180, was not sure i liked the look of it to start with, then found a rather nice black one forsale which i totally fell for, unfortuantly it was not to be so carried on looking.

just before christmas I found a silver Mk2 forsale up near london, went, saw, brought, got it home and then thought "why did I buy a silver one!" I never wanted to own a silver car, i just got caught up in the fairytale of it all.

Was very happy with the ZS, although very thirsty it was a fun car to drive arround in, got looks where ever it went, took it upto Lancashire in March, took 1.5tanks of fuel to get up there and 3quarters to get back??????? lol.
stopped at a MG show on the way up there and won best non convertible in show. while up north met up with some friends one of who owns a Mk2 in Dark Fantasy! beautiful colour.
had some issues with quality while i was up there, the gear knob came off more times than i can remember, bit of body work fell off and i ripped the mudflap off on a kerb!

Once back home I decided that i would keep the MGF and sell the ZS, had it up for ?3300 to start with. considering i paid ?3750 for it 4months before hand... not a sniff so dropped down to ?3000, had afew sniffs and someone wanting to buy it, but i could not bring myself to part with it,
few more months passed and it was now up for ?2750, not a sniff and with the climate control not working people where not biting, eventually got the climate control working again after replacing the transistors.
price now was dropped to ?2500, this was for a car which needed a small about of tlc on the body, it had MOT & TAX, belts changed and only 65k on the clock with FSH. why was no one biting. looked about and there was afew forsale at this price. eventually someone contacted me and came and looked at the car. price by now was ?2350! ( remember i paid ?3750 for it )
he liked it and i knew i needed to give my father ?2k so reluctantly i excepted his offer. it was heartbreaking watching that car drive away!

about a month before i sold the Mk2 I had been looking for another one, really wanted a yellow one this time, found 2 180's but one was not good and the other sold before i got a chance to go see it, then i found a beautiful Mk2 diesel, I agreed a price with out viewing the car!! booked my train up country for the following monday, day before i was due to leave guy emails me saying he has sold it to a trader! WTF he had even had a deposit from me, anyways he refunded it but i had lost the car i had wanted for along time.

I decided then it was best to look for a cheaper ZS rather than the higher priced ones due to the loss I had taken on the Mk2.
I found a Yellow Mk1 forsale and had been in contact with the guy afew times, when i was had made my mind up i looked for the advert and it had gone! not good.... emailed the guy and 2 days later he replied saying he had been messed about for the 2nd time and the car was still there, result. Maybe it was fate this time.

Booked my boat over and drove the MGF over to Eastleigh to view it, as soon as i walked into the car park i went wow. the car was up for ?1895 but it needed a new back tyre and had a slight blow in the exhaust, had test drive and then got down to haggling. I had ?1500 in mind and thats what i ended up paying. ?1500 for a 180 zs in yellow with full yellow interior, SH, TAX, MOT, 58k bloody hell Bargain!
picked it up 2 days later and was just like wow driving it back, i had forgotten what a thrill the noise of the zs was. had some fun on the way home and used up ?20 worth of fuel just driving about 25miles LOL

Got the thumbs up from my father the next day which was surprising as he never liked the Mk2
Been very happy with it apart from the ruddy exhaust blow.

How long will i keep this one? 2years Im thinking. its my winter car for when the MGF is in Hibernation. Its nice owning 2 Trophy yellow cars as people think im Mad.!
Ill keep it till I sell the pair off them and replace them both when im 25 with a Merc SL or Porsche Boxster

[haGGard]

I'd never even considered an MG before especially after giving my mate so much stick for owning a ZR, but after i decided i had to sell my Ford and needed a 5 door car with a big boot the ZS just randomly popped into my head and i couldnt get it out. So straight away i started viewing them around me (especially after i found out how cheap they go for) and looked at a number of 120's and 180's. To be honest i only needed the 120 but i knew i'd kick myself if i got a 120 and think i should of got the 180!

I originally wanted a mk1 blue saloon with extreme spoiler, but in the end i got a very clean looking Anthracite mk1 Hatch 180. Its had its problems and certainly cost me a few quid to repair over the last few months, but its running sweet as a nut now and hopefully will be for a while. I've PM mr sheddist on another forum but its been over a month and not heard nothing from him. His clutch kit is next on my list.

Love the car how it is (competely standard) and can see myself owning it for a while.

[talkingcars]

?1500 for a 180 zs in yellow with full yellow interior, SH, TAX, MOT, 58k bloody hell Bargain!

Mine cost me ?3500! and I've only had it 3 years!

I was considering a scooby but the ones that would be in my price range locally were all driven by chavs or yobs so my wonderful wife started searching autotrader for anything I would like and found an interesting looking yellow ZS180, both a car and a colour I hadn't considered, as I was passing the dealer I had a quick look, we went back the same night and bought it after a quick test drive. 3 years later and I still love the car to bits and have no plans to exchance her for anything else.

We have since added a ZR and an MGF. We were tempted by a yellow ZR and MGF but decided 1 yellow car in the family was enough.

Before the ZS we have had several MG maestros, montegos and metros and still have 1 of the maestros.