2003 MG ZR 160 from UK and Ireland - Comments

Heater Matrix leak.

Power steering hose split.

Loose starter motor connection.

Door wiring corrosion.

Door lock.

Front seat leather comes unclipped regularly.

Air in brakes from new, rectified ourselves.

Poor quality brake pads, replaced with alternative.

Front seat tilt forward cable broke.

Poor quality brake pads.

Potentiometer failed.

Currently two engine management faults.

Air conditioning has just failed.

This car is appalling. Never buy one. They are made of poor quality components with poor build quality.

Dealer service and quality of workmanship has been appalling. Whilst fixing some faults more were often created by damage caused during repair by dealer.

Technical support form MG-Rover has been useless.

The engine was a good point, noisy when cold though, until faults developed 6-8 months ago and are still not rectified.

Brakes always had air in, dealer denied. Blatantly obvious when driven. Bled them myself. Brakes much better, but still poor so have changed to EBC pads. Superb now. Original pads very poor quality.

Dealer had several go's at alarm/door locks and engine management faults and failed miserably. Engine now being done by local dyno/diagnostic company at my cost. Damage caused to door trim and lock housing is a joke, ordering new parts myself to fit myself.

Seat catch cable broke. When replaced, dealer ripped both, yes both, seat covers and failed to correctly fit the new cable.

We have wanted to sell this car since December, but couldnt due to faults. Now Rover have gone under and we have lost balance of warranty for what it was worth. Will sort this rubbish motor ourselves now.

Couldn't agree more. Appalling car.

- seat tilt cables (both) snapped within weeks

- offside electric window motor broken - have to drag window up by hand

- nearside door latch broken

- electrics inside car not functioning

- trim/build quality worst I have ever come across.

I too am relieved that rover have gone under - at least no one else will have these problems.. in future I will buy Japanese!

You got a friday car. I've owned rovers/mg I've never had any trouble whatsoever. no car is perfect though.

This car is the worst I've owned. I went from mazda to zr and I regret it. seat position is extremly uncomfortable, cheap tacky plastic trim inside falls apart. I'm average height and its even too cramped for me (5'11) so just under 6ft!! car is fast I give you that however it drives like a tram. engine management light keeps coming on, I've gone to specialists who tell me its possible my battery is draining/poor terminals or its the k & N filter (so I've reverted to my standard air filter) light came back on since. I think il go back to the japanese made cars. JUST STAY AWAY FROM MG/ROVER...VERY POOR.

I own a mg zr 160 & before that 105 & had no problems I think they are fun to drive. shame people had so many problems with theres may be could be the way they drive them. you look after your car your car looks after you. the only bad thing I can say about them is I don't like the new shape looks like a rover.

Did you ever think that by messing around and modding your car it might make this happen?? I personally would never bother with K&N rubbish, it's £100 for 5bhp!! Not worth it at all.

"glad Rover have gone under"

Insensitive comment.

Anyway, I have an '04 MG ZR and I have never had any of the problems listed, as for the 'cheap, tacky interior' what cars have you been driving? I wouldn't exactly associate Mazda with sumptuous interiors either.

I came from a MK4 Golf to the MG and for the price difference involved I think the quality of build materials for the interior are more than acceptable. VW used some crap materials for their glove boxes and door cards, I was forever having to fix mine; it used to creek and flex every time I rested my arm on it, no such problem on the MG.

Such a shame people are all too willing to jump on the bandwagon when it comes to cars.

I agree, the best cars on the road are the standard cars, if you start messing about with modifications then expect problems. If you want your car to be faster then go buy a faster car... don't change the air filter on a balanced engine intake such as on the k-series of the mg zr, it will damage ur engine over a period of time, and it will confuse the ecu. I've worked with these cars and the k-series engine is sensitive, people have problems with this car due to the fact they can't drive it properly. They feel the need to race about at high revs. If this is how your going to drive then buy a civic type-r which can take a thrashing. the mg zr 160 is a fast car when driven carefully, OK the interior maybe plastic, so what, if you want luxury then buy a bmw. Don't buy a car that was built for the performance and complain about interior, if you want both then spend more.

Very underrated car, I've had my second ZR, this one a 160 from new 5 years ago, with no mechanical issues whatsoever, okay its not the best build car and interior rattles maybe annoying but that adds the character! Only things I've replaced being tyre`s and exhaust, but these are standard items that have worn, and any car would have had the same at this age!

Very sad what happened at Mg/Rover and I wish everybody who works there still my best wishes for the future.