2004 MG ZR 105 from UK and Ireland - Comments

Also confused with the Civic comment in an MG ZR review? And I also don t believe your figures as you'd be lucky to get a standard EK9 to 60 in under 6 seconds - and it doesn't matter what's quoted 5.8/5.9 etc as this was done in a stripped out race spec version of the car, and this is from a Honda fan who's had Integras and Civics!

And the b16b revs out at 8900rpm not 9500.

The Civic comments were posted to back up what some people had already said, and what others disagreed with, whether it be in an MG forum or not!!! If this is the case, then don't mention the Civic at all!! Anyhow, I agree with the comments about the Civic actually.

The MG's an old mans Rover's with an MG badge attached!!! Pile of rubbish having owned one myself a good 5 years, had it 3 months and what a waste of time, effort and money.

So back to the Civic, it does do the figures quoted, and owning one myself, I should be aware of what it revs out at, and at 9500 quoted I do believe I am correct, nothing nothing like a poxy 6000 for your MG's!!

The other comment made about the Civic being stripped out, not true, take a look at Performance Car back in 1997/98 I believe and you will find all the spec and performance figures there, along with the fact that the car used was standard. Also take a look at the www.ek9.org and make some of your comments on there, you won't last 2 seconds! I also own 2 Integra's Type Rs, a 98 model and 2001 model, and yes the figures quoted previously are correct.

Not sorry for crashing your MG forum at all actually in view of what you have written and posted about the Civic. I am merely defending it!!

Like what was said earlier, you need to own the car before you can make such comments. I have owned all cars in question, and the Civic comes out on top, not even a question of comparison actually. A 98' Civic is worth 6k at present and will be worth 5/6k in a year, 2 years time also, MG's will probably be worth, well you could trade them in for 2k on the Gov'ts scrapping scheme, if you're lucky!!

Enjoy, hope to see one of you on the road and this disagreement could be, will be actually settled once and for all... Oh sorry the MG needs to leave either your drive or the garage first haha!!! Bye.

I am the person that left the comment about the rev limit being 8900 not 9500. I own an Integra Type R dc2, which is in fact my 3rd one in the last 6 years.

The ek9 Type R revs out at 8900, the same as the Teg. The rev counter over reads, I have an Apexi vtec controller fitted to this one and a previous one I had that both bounce off the limiter at 8900, although it looks like more on the rev counter, the reading the vtec controller gets is straight off the ECU for the correct readings. It's why on the b18c engine engine, it looks like vtec engages at 6000rpm, when in fact it engages at about 5850rpm if I remember correctly.

I wasn't having a go, just stating a point, no need to get so defensive. And it's true the figure of 5.7 seconds to 60 was stated, but that was indeed with a stripped out car. If you type in ek9 vs dc2 on youtube, there is a good clip of 2 proper drivers using timing gear racing from a standstill, and at no point does the ek9 get in front of the dc2. In fact the dc2 pulls away, and that has a book figure of 6.2 seconds to 60.

ek9 weighs 1040kg.

dc2 96 spec weighs 1060kg.

dc2 98 spec weighs 1080/1090kg.

Ek9 max power 185bhp peak torque 16.3kg-m/7500.

dc2 96 spec max power 197bhp peak torque 18.5kg-m/7500rpm.

dc2 98 spec max power 197bhp peak torque 19.0kg-m/6200rpm.

The ek9's very slight weight advantage isn't enough to make up the power and torque differences, meaning to 60 the ek9 is slightly slower.

Here is the youtube clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKF950JjHZw

I already know about the EK9, it is very impressive with 185bhp in a tiny car, and having LSD means it handles and puts the power down well with Honda reliability, all making it a great car.

The power to weight ratio is actually worse for this Type R than the Integra DC2 JDM, and very similar to a UK spec Teg DC2, so I doubt it is half a second quicker to 60. I also heard it was stripped of weight to get those figures, and I'm already on a Civic Type R forum... everyone admits the EK9 is no faster than the others, despite the figures.

I don't own an MG, I own a Toyota Celica (but I will save my views on that for an appropriate section). I used to own a Rover 25 diesel and I can say hand on heart that it was ultra reliable and is up there with Honda's in terms of never letting you down.

I can't imagine anyone would claim the EK9 Type R is ever going to be worse or comparable to a Rover/MG, but maybe that's why they cost so much more used.

The MGs rev over 7k revs, not 6!

And the EK9 doesn't rev over 9k standard, but is a far better car, but then is far more money than a similar ZR.

Response to comments above: I appreciate your comments and yes I understand that you weren't having a go, so I do apologise for being on the defensive! On the other hand I also have a vtec controller on my 9, and maybe the revs are out, but it does in fact go to around the 9300/9500 mark. This was fitted to the car whilst it was in Japan, so maybe something else has been done to it and I don't realise.

There are numerous clips on youtube with varying results; it all depends on whether someone had modded their car. From what I have experienced with my 9 (and my previous ITR) and also my mates ITR, is that there is minimal difference apart from a slight torque advantage due to the CTR being a 1.6 and the ITR being a 1.8) and both cars were standard. To say the least, my 9 has only done 65k and it is only used on weekends.

The stated 0-60 of 5.7 was with a standard car. If you take a look at the car mag I mentioned, then you will see for yourself.

Anyhow's I also apologise for jacking your MG thread guys, so I am not going to go any further with this about the EK9. As long as we are all happy with our cars who cars.

Happy motoring :)

Wow, a Honda Civic that does 0-60 in 5.7 ish sec is impressive. What's the point of my BMW M3 E46 convertible that does 5.5 sec. Can this be true? Errr somehow I don't think so. Well that's my opinion.

So you're telling me that the Honda can almost keep up to a 3.2 straight six 343bhp huh? OK, the bimmer is heavier, but it has around 150hp more to compensate for the weight and still leave the Honda for dust! Oh yeah I also own a MG ZR 105 facelift model as a runner. It's a great car for a runner, good fuel consumption and very good grip on the road. It's not the fastest, nor is it the slowest but the cornering is fantastic. The 1.4 does go to 7000rpm and I went up near 65 mph in second gear, but I suggest you don't keep doing it just to save the head gasket for another day :) Some of the Peugeot people were right that the ZR will find it hard to beat the VTS, which ever ZR driver said they did, can they honestly said they flew past and leave the VTS dust?? I find it hard to difficult to leave a women driver 1.4 206. Am I a crap driver, nope as I red line all the gears. Everyone have their own style of driving, if you want to find which is faster then we all should a day on a control track, so that it be even Steven. I wanna race the Civic Wight M3 to see if it does 0-60 in 5.7sec ;)

Even if his car won't do 0-60 in 5.7, it's probably low 6s, and to 60 probably won't be that far behind an M3, but after 60 the M3 will sail away!

Google Honda Civic EK9. It is impressive and has a high power to weight ratio.

My E36 M3 3.0 287bhp leaves Civic Type Rs, so don't think it would even get close to the E46 M3. The M3 is in a totally different league, the turbo powered Subaru's and Evos manage to beat the M3.