2005 MG ZS 180 from UK and Ireland - Comments

1. Squeaky clutch return spring. Fixed with a blob of grease.

2. Tailgaters. Why do people do that? If only they knew how good the brakes are.

3. For my tastes modern drive by sound tests leave all new cars audibly castrated, so I fitted a Piper Cams big bore pipe. The ‘Z’ now sounds like the Aston from the Italian Job! I now drive every where with the rear windows open!

What an amazing thing it is. I still can’t believe MG-Rover didn’t make more of its capabilities. It’s fantastic! The all alloy KV6 is the sweetest 6 I have ever owned. Soooo smooth around town, then open her up on a B road and listen to the engine note change to a bark as the variable intake system opens fully. Heaven! This is a genuinely fast car, hampered off the line due to the fact there is no traction control, but on the move it comes into its own. Overtaking is no problem at any speed. This car makes very good use of it’s circa 180BHP.

As for the chassis you could not ask for more from a FWD platform. It has virtually zero torque steer and from a car that has 144 BHP per tonne that’s no mean feat. The steering is sharp and precise due to the fact that it has a higher geared rack than the standard 45, plus MG fitted much stiffer poly bushes instead of rubber ones to the ZS’s all-round double wish bone suspension. Yes that’s right, double wish bone at the front, with a double wish bone set up on the rear helped out with the aid of a trailing arm to control and adjust toe-in/out. It also has up rated anti-roll bars to maintain body control. The brakes are powerful and very progressive.

To liken the car to any other is difficult as there aren’t many Escort sized cars with ruddy great V6’s shoehorned under the bonnet. All I can say is, if an Alfa 166 V6 got it on with an Impreza T2000 the 180 ZS would be the outcome of this unlikely, but beautiful pairing!

Other plus points are:

Electronic ABS

Speed sensitive PAS

Park distance sensors

Leather and suede seats

Single CD head unit with 6 disk CD MP3 multi-changer in the boot

Climate control

Mk2 looks the DB’s with its wider wheels, track and body kit.

New “TT” style dash is pleasing to the eye.

29 MPG is achievable, will go down if provoked.

Big boot with split rear seats plus remote key opening.

Cat 1 immobiliser and alarm to deal with thieving scum and lowlifes.

They are now very cheap to buy, even new. About the price of a Fiat Punto.

If you need any more convincing, go to any search engine and type in Tiff Needell and MG 180 ZS, say no more!

Engine is aluminium not alloy. very weak as i went up a grass verge in mine and got a hole in engine and wrote it off.

I have owned my mg zs 180 2002 (mk1) with now 31000 miles and I can still say it drives like new. The engine is so powerful it has to be driven to be belived. The exterior bodykit is very nice - mine is in trophy yellow. The interior is OK, but obiously its not bmw/mercedes level. Who would buy a subaru impreza if it was just for the interior? My car will hold its own against most. - rembber this car is still used for the btcc (2006 model is the mk1 with a different livery of the previous years). I do not regret one bit of paying almost full price for this above average car - all you need to do is ask garages, owners about these underestimated cars!! - The kv6 all alloy engine is one of the lightest in the world.

Not a fault of the engine if you went up a grass verge, Most engines are cast from aluminium which is always alloyed with other metals. A pure aluminium casting would be even weaker and less stable.

Btcc has different suspension set up, 280ps engine, 6 spd gearbox and only weighs about 1100kg with driver.

Quite a bit different from the production models.

Has got great handling though, are very underestimated, but depreciates too quickly and is insurance group 17 which is rather high considering a mk4 astra turbo which is a lot quicker is only group 15.

BTCC car also uses the 2.0 K series 4 pot now, so I belive. Still, its supposed to be a fine driving car.

Gray.

The engine is all Alloy!, the ZS180 doesn't have speed sensitve Power steering!!

"The steering is sharp and precise due to the fact that it has a higher geared rack than the standard 45, plus MG fitted much stiffer poly bushes instead of rubber ones to the ZS’s all-round double wish bone suspension."

Sorry buddy, but you're very wrong on that comment, just normal rubber bushes for it I'm afraid!!

I'm a 30yr old female driver and have test drove the MGZS180.

Are you all aware it's a known FACT that the MG zs180 suffers from head gasket FALIURE, this is a major concern on these cars. Also only 173bhp from a 2.5 v6. Very poor bhp per liter. 0-60mph takes about 8.1sec and 100mph takes 20.7 in standard trim, not bad, but not hot. Similar in performance to the previous ford focus st170, and a long way off say a clio 172/182 or a civic type r in terms of performance and handling. If it's a quick car you are after its best to leave the ZS180 alone and opt for something with a bit more poke and reliability.

Regards, palmjinda.

A performance bargain. Still feels tight with just the odd trim rattle at 7 years old and 53k miles! Depreciation is massive, but they can be had cheap in the first place so this is not a real problem.

There are so many miss-informed people who state that the kv6 is prone to head gasket failure. This simply is not true! Look through the enthusiast forums and compare with owners of other performance cars. The k4 has suffered from a bad cylinder head/cooling system design, but the kv6 is super-reliable in this respect. The only verified weak point is the inlet manifold with its switchable inlet tracts... but that's another story.

Power output varies between certain cars, but performance tends to give 0-100mph just under 20 seconds. (0-60 is well below 8 seconds, so I am not sure where the above figure is from). To quote EVO -...straight line performance it gives nothing away to the Clio (172). A Clio owning pal will verify this as we have done a 30mph rolling start side by side starting in 2nd and by circa 100 we were roughly level still.

Very underestimated drivers car with a bit of an image problem.

They ARE polybushed from the factory, even the lowly 1.4 ZR (still a great lil car!) has polybushes from the factory, so have a think, why would they then fit rubber bushes to a bigger, more powerful car?. They also DO have speed sensitive PAS! look it up!!!

The 0-60 time is 7.3s and not 8.1s.

Power is actually around 177bhp and not 175bhp, and the important thing is around 190+lb/f!

Anyway, 177bhp is comparable to V6 offerings from the likes of Ford and Vauxhall, though the Rover unit is tuned for smoothness and reliability rather than all out power.

Which links me on, that's complete rubbish about the KV6 suffering head gasket failure. There have been some reported cases about the four cyl K series motors having this problem (I don't know anyone that has had this problem personally, even though I have a lot of friends who run a K series in some form or other, various Rovers, an Elise and a Freelander to name a few), but the KV6 has NEVER been renowned for this kind of failure.

Oh, and to the person who said his car's engine wasn't kerb/embankment friendly, what the hell?! I'm sure engineers can't counter for sheer bad driving, and it's aluminium alloy!

Palmjinda:

You are clearly repeating what someone has told you, and if you will read what has been repeatedly said on these reviews..

The Head Gasket concerns apply to the K series, and earlier KV6 units, not the KV6 in the MG.

Yes the occasional one will fail, but it is by no means a common problem.

ZS 180, 8.1? Where did you get that? I understood it to be 7.3.

This will continue to be debated, because the problem is the majority of the owners love them, and the doubters are playing the childish game, whenever someone gives a reasoned, educated response to their ignorant comments, they stuff their fingers into their ears and sing "LALALALALALALA" and then continue to repeat the same drivel about their "Saxos, Like, are totally fast, yeah, like took on an enzo, and like well kept up wif him yeah?"

Anyway, I am considering using a ZS180 as a trackday car, because I read reviews by people who know how to drive, who all seem to love em. Tiff Needell, Evo Magazine, Car Magazine, Autocar, it's a big list.

Oh And I even read a review by Clarkson (on the ZT190, not the ZS) where he compared it to the BMW 320 Sport. (I think, my memory ain't perfect).

His conclusion? England (MG) 5, Germany 1 (BMW). No surprises it was just after the football match with the same scoreline. And this is from someone who is known to be an MG naysayer.

Just one more factor to add in over rivals including the Focus ST, Clio 182 and Honda Type R - the ZS was built with the future BTCC championship and jet pilots in mind. As such MG intended it to be in a different class with the V6 and it is - much more like a BMW 3 series in fact - power and refinement, a fine balance that allows pant wetting sprints alongside Sunday afternoon smooth cruises from the same vehicle. Grown up drivers like this because they live in the real world.

Having driven many (fast) cars professionally, including latter day sinners like the Mk2 RS2000, Lotus Carlton and Seirra Cosworth I would much prefer the ZS at the sacrifice of a little edge, against the teeth chattering, noisy (rattles not engine note), cheap build (mm thin plastic), torque steer, and tram lining of ALL the aforementioned 4 pot buzz boxes. I've had a couple and I hated them - got rid of one after just 10 days!

And for all the chavtastic numptis who have argued their case for performance over the ZS by quoting bhp per ton, a decent driver can take seconds out of you on the first set of bends... I do all the time so you'd be better concentrating your efforts on learning how to drive... and that doesn't mean screeching off at the lights or pulling the handbrake on in the ASDA car park.

The Dude.

I have owned over the last 6 years a MG120 ZS & now own a Mk.2 ZS180 saloon variant. I have nothing but praise for the power, build & sheer driving enjoyment of these cars.

A couple of mods for my Mk.2 have been completed:

X-Power exhaust

Cold Air Induction system.

Love driving the car & a credit to the engineers who re-designed & built the ZS's. How they pulled off the road handling with such an apparently tight budget, I do not know. What I can say, is that every chavved up Saxo & in one case a Scoobie had a very nasty surprise!!!

Don't listen to anyone, this car is absolutley brilliant, i have a trophy blue zs 180 saloon, just want to drive it day and night, excellent handling, what a dark horse this is. if anyone moans about this car they are just jealous coz they aint got one...saxos, yeah right...metal..

How can you say this car is a dark horse when it looks faster than what it is? Its done up like an Impreza or EVO.