caled Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 After seeing Sidrick's thread about his Audi, and the numerous other non-escort SUYM threads, I figured it was about time I made one for mine. I started looking around for either a mk2 MG ZS 180 or a Mondeo ST220, and even let you lot try and persuade me either way, which was actually pretty evenly balanced, for a Ford forum. Anyway, as you probably figured from the title of this thread, I went out and got myself an MG. http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g407/Caled10/MG%20ZS%20180/1.jpg I've owned it now for a year, and I have to say, I don't regret buying it one bit. At all. It is fantastic. I managed to find myself one of the earliest mk2s, on an 04 plate, and given that MG Rover went bump in 2005, these are pretty damn rare. Best of all, I paid ~£3.8k for it, with only 37k miles on the clock and having just had a £1k service. Sweet. Some pretty pictures of it http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g407/Caled10/MG%20ZS%20180/2.jpg http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g407/Caled10/MG%20ZS%20180/3.jpg It came with most of the optional extras from the MG Rover catalogue, including a traffic master clock (tells you where the nearby traffic jams are), electric front and rear windows and sunroof, black oak dash trim (which is actually quite nice, much better than the cheap looking silver-grey effort on the lower spec cars), and (the best bit) the supremely comfy full leather interior http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g407/Caled10/MG%20ZS%20180/4.jpg http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g407/Caled10/MG%20ZS%20180/5.jpg http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g407/Caled10/MG%20ZS%20180/6.jpg However, owing to the current petrol prices and this http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g407/Caled10/MG%20ZS%20180/8.jpg I see this a lot http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g407/Caled10/MG%20ZS%20180/7.jpg But my God, it sounds awesome. The car also came with a stainless steel exhaust, coupled with the 2.5l V6 up front, it certainly makes driving through tunnels fun. I then decided I wanted to upgrade the sound system, so I learnt how to do that and ended up with this install (which I still haven't finished, I need to tidy up the wiring and get some decent components up front, when the budget allows) http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g407/Caled10/MG%20ZS%20180/9.jpg http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g407/Caled10/MG%20ZS%20180/10.jpg Then went on a 1000 mile, all expenses paid jolly around scotland, which was BRILLIANT in this car, as the fancy suspension set up ensures the car sticks to the road like glue. http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g407/Caled10/MG%20ZS%20180/11.jpg http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g407/Caled10/MG%20ZS%20180/12.jpg The one of the common faults occured, I developed a leaking thermostat housing, as the silly MG-R people decided to make these out of crappy plastic. So I sorted this, which involved going from this (as above, without the acoustic cover - why would anyone want one of those on a V6 anyway?) http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g407/Caled10/MG%20ZS%20180/13.jpg ...to this... http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g407/Caled10/MG%20ZS%20180/14.jpg And then back again. That was last October, the car has been spot on all winter, although I didnt take it out too much during the snow (high torque + wide tyres = skid, crash, boom). I'll keep this post updated as and when I do something with the car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidrick Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 Looking good! How come the intakes had to come off to change the thermostat housing?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caled Posted April 30, 2011 Author Share Posted April 30, 2011 Looking good! How come the intakes had to come off to change the thermostat housing?! Not just both banks of intake manifolds; the plenum chamber, the throttle body, the fuel rails all had to come out before you could get to the thermostat, which was buried deep in the engine, right at the base of the V. That little orange puddle towards the bottom right of the picture is where it sat. Still, got to put my spanners and torque wrench to use. No idea what they were thinking putting it there, really, although I count my blessings that they didnt put the fuel filter somehwere daft, like inside the engine. Or on the roof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caled Posted June 5, 2011 Author Share Posted June 5, 2011 Aw buggery. http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g407/Caled10/MG%20ZS%20180/2011-06-05193212.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hicksy Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 I bet thats bloody noisy now.......Is it an excuse for a stainless one now? lol Me and a friend once took the exhaust off his Vectra GSi from the cat back and ran it up the road....that was bloody loud lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig855S Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Time for a stainless! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caled Posted June 6, 2011 Author Share Posted June 6, 2011 Aye, I'm thinking time for a stainless mid section, too. The back box is already stainless, the previous owner had it done, but £138 for a stainless midsection, or £65 for a mild steel one... times of austerity, n all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bronze4door Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 i really like these but it needs one of the big daft spoilers on the back so it looks like a touring car Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caled Posted June 6, 2011 Author Share Posted June 6, 2011 Yeah, I have to admit I have been considering getting one - there's one going in the same colour, still attached to the boot lid, on an MG forum and I am tempted. That way I wouldnt have to drill holes in to this boot lid, I could even swap between them when it took my fancy lol.There was an xpower grey one at the tatton autojumble last weekend, and even the gf said she did like the look of them. So maybe. Saying that though, have you tried running your car insurance through confused.com recently, these car insurance price hikes are killing me - nigh on double the insurance for the first year I got this, its getting ridiculous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bronze4door Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 there is a black on at my friends garage in for some work but its the earlier car with the round headlights, the owner got it given to him wish someone would give me a car Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caled Posted June 6, 2011 Author Share Posted June 6, 2011 Funny you should say that... http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e339/jimzs180/DSCF0801.jpg http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e339/jimzs180/DSCF0802.jpg http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e339/jimzs180/DSCF0803.jpg Look what just went up for sale for £950 over here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonyb4 Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 newver really taken interest in these before, or any Mg for that matter but its bloody nice! and the black one, the black one is more up my street, that mk is very touring car oriented which i love i didnt know they were 2.5 v6's either i figured they used the 1.8 180 engine... Fcuk me thats a wide degree V on the block very nice mate i like this alot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danposs86 Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 Really like these, well, except for them silly grills behind the front arches, look a little stick on and doesnt really watch the rest of the car. Also, cant believe that MG left the screw heads showing on that gauge! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonyb4 Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 "Also, cant believe that MG left the screw heads showing on that gauge!" haha i thought that, reaelly cheap looking, my mk3 doesnt even have that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caled Posted July 30, 2011 Author Share Posted July 30, 2011 Cheers guys. You know, I've never noticed those screw heads. I bet I won't be able to ignore them now lol. Thank God they didnt throw the 1.8 K series turbo in there, the good thing about the KV6 is it doesnt suffer from the dreaded head gasket failure. Ive seen a few people have dropped in the older T series turbo, and theyre usually running ~220bhp as I remember; thats supposed to be a good conversion for the ZS 120s (the non-turbo 1.8 Ks). The V angle is 90 degrees, by the way, so yeah, pretty damn wide. There isnt much spare room in there. I quite like the gills, they get lots of comments from people so it makes a good talking point. Think they probably fit in better on the ones with the extreme spoiler, though. The mk1 was used in the BTCC a few years back; http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_images/2/3560/4481/21399740008_large.jpg Having just spent the last week driving an 11 plate diesel passat estate (rental whilst away on work), I cant wait to get back to driving the MG - that passat handled like an ocean liner. Which is a shame, there are some awesome roads over in northern ireland that the ZS would have been all over like crabs on a french hooker. Oh, as for an update: the car ended up with a second hand mild steel midsection which I got from the MG forums for the price of postage, which will last me until I can get funds together for a decent cat back exhaust, preferably with dual exits. I've also treated it to some new brake pads. And other than a lot of fuel, it hasnt needed anything else... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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