MG ZT 160

[Futse]

So I seem to have bought an MG ZT 2.5 V6 160.
Was in our dealership, very cheap. First owner, 113.000km.
What have I done? Will I regret it?
It's not to be used as a daily, just for some fun sunday cruises with the family. Will look nice next to my Elise for sure :-)
Oh yeah, already making plans to drive the NC500 later this year, coming from Belgium.

Thanks for any tips how to improve/enjoy this as much as I can :-)

[Pinkie15]

What have you done; bought/acquired a fine motor car, that's what

Surely it must make 180 though, same engine as in the ZS 180.

Check the vis motors; when were the belts last done?, understand this is a pig of a job.

Scuttle drain mod so the ecu doesn't get flooded

Otherwise visit the 75andzt forum

[Futse]

Hey Pinkie

thanks for your answer. Reassuring for sure :-)
It is a nice, beautiful car. Shame new cars don't look like this anymore...

I'll check if everything has been done. Was apparentely from the first owner, who had an Rover/MG dealership. So should be well maintained.

Trip to Le Mans in june is booked, maybe the NC500 in september next :-)

[baldy1926]

Lucky you, i actually prefer the 160 to the 190. The sound track is great and they are very comfy ride.
As said before check the belts and check for leaks in the boot as well.
A decent 160 is very hard to come by now i've been looking for a while after my last one was nicked.

[LandRoverManiac]

Good choice sir! Fellow 160 owner here.

You'll know when your VIS motors are going - you'll get a ticking/clickiing noise from the intake area (like a sewing machine going).

Thermostat is the other thing worth mentioning - bit of a faff.

Doing the rear bank of spark plugs requires a some gymnastics and may or may not result in losing skin off knuckles.

The clutch hydraulics used plastic components which were a bit fragile - common mod is to replace it with metal tubing/connectors.I

Rear light clusters can leak. Front scuttle panels have a drain on each side - unclog these or water will end up accumulating where it perhaps shouldn't!

None of the above is a car killer necessarily. Enjoy it, marvel at the handling (given its size I am consistently impressed at how agile it feels) and sample the 3000+ RPM soundtrack once every so often! May not be the fastest thing going by modern standings but it makes a fantastic noise.

[Parisien]

Elephant in room is rust, lots of it, check both front and rear jacking points, check especially rear subframe, upper and lower arms, rest of suspension components. Then as front subframe has a cover obscuring it, check it too.

If rear area not great, check brake shield and handbrake components too.

I should know because I'm about to replace most of above in mine!!!