Help re a MGF/TF

[finchy]

Considering an MGF/TF as a 2nd car & have some questions.
What are they like to own & live with? Will I need a large pot of cash to keep it on the road or are they a genuinely cheap sports car to run.

Ideally looking for a TF 160 with air con & FSH, & fairly low mileage.
Mileage will be between 4-10k per year with mixed use.
My main concern is reliability particularly the head gasket issue.
How can I protect against this ?
Anyway I can find out if this has already happened & rectified correctly?
Are all models just as prone e.g MGF vs. TF, 135 vs. 160?
Is a late MGF worth considering or is the TF the one to go for?

The car maybe used to commute in over the summer months, does driving in heavy traffic cause the car to overheat?
Apart from the usual checks on a 2nd hand car what, any other tips on things I should look out for ?
Servicing - does this need to be carried out by a specialist ?
If so can you recommend anyone in the east mid / lincs area

How good is the air con? How noisy / comfortable on motorway runs?
Sorry for so many questions but had a bad experience with an Alfa Spyder a couple of years back. If was a 1 owner car with fsh & 17k, but we had no end of problems with it.
I would never buy another Alfa ever again.

Thanks for your help
Finchy

[John Mac]

Hi there,
You will probably find this MG Forum pretty slow in giving you replies, have a look at www.Mgcars.org.uk - "Bulletin Board" then "MGF General" - a lot of knowlegable and helpful folk there.
I will try to answer a few of your questions.
I have a late 2001 F, the last before the TF, prior to this I ran a TVR S2- two totally different cars as you would expect.
(Later MGF's all have white indicator lens glass and same colour windscreen pillars as the body, although some do change the glass lenses over to white).
HGF is a talking point on the K series engine and the "earlier" models have given some owners problems, I believe the later F had some engine mods to overcome this and the TF's I don't think (or know) if statistics on HGF are out. Some owners have clocked 70/80k with an F and are still running strong, HGF is said to happen around 30k, why I don't know, pages and pages are written on this subject ! if a car you are interested in has had HGF I think the general rule is leave it alone.
Sevicing is quite easy on the F and a competant garage should be OK, the fuss is taking the engine "cover" off to get at the engine. Engine oil, oil filter and brake pads I do myself, plugs are usually OK for 60K otherwise its engine cover off.
The small penalty you pay in doing "servicing" yourself is that you can't take out say an AA insurance to protect against HGF as they need to see a Service sheet and Invoice from a VAT garage, cover would have cost you £58 a year - just a thought.
The car I find very comfortable to drive - no complaints in that department. Roof is dead easy to put up and down, I have Hardtop but so far this year not yet fitted it - weather too nice.
AC personally I wouldn't want in an open car unless I was touring abroad - keep it simple, less to go wrong.
A Service History would be a plus, but there are some well looked after cars by their owners.
Look out for suspension, and radiator, check coolant pipes under car that go from front to back under the car. Check the usual dipstick and coolant level - the usual common sense items in a seconhand car.
Never had cooling problems in traffic (not like a lot of TVR's)
Good to drive on both short and long journeys and so so on economy,
25-30 although never really checked it.
A good late F should be between 5 and 6 k, TF's are getting down close and would I guess be 6k plus depending on model, probably the 135, 160 perhaps more.
Mines all leather, two tone Red and Black a nice extra option if you see one.
All in all I think its great value for money and if you get a good one you should be very happy.
Hope this helps.
Good luck.

>> Edited by John Mac on Wednesday 1st February 15:07

[finchy]

Thanks JM

the owners club have give advice too models post summer 03
doent suffer as much with teh HGF failure, bottom line seems to be buy teh latest
car you can with FSH & bills showing a caring owner
Want the AC as we visit France quite often & sadly
cant imagine a car (even a soft top) without it when is really hot
I'll be on here if I get one

Thanks again
Finchy

[s8tur]

I'd look for a early model MGF VVC with a/c circa '95 or '96, maybe a repatriated Japanese model (around £2.5-3k) as these had twin air bags, if that is your thing and a/c. Fit a better hood and get the car set up properly for brakes and suspension about £2k plus.Get the usual problems sorted such as radiator, headgasket, cambelts etc done if your budget will stretch. The alternative is a Trophy model 2001 but one with a/c might be a problem.

[mgsteve]

finchy said:

Thanks JM the owners club have give advice too models post summer 03 doent suffer as much with teh HGF failure, bottom line seems to be buy teh latest car you can with FSH & bills showing a caring owner Want the AC as we visit France quite often & sadly cant imagine a car (even a soft top) without it when is really hot I'll be on here if I get one Thanks again Finchy

Thats good advise from the owners club. The reason they recomended a car of this age is because they have a revised thermostate setup. These revisons have also been implemented by Land Rover on the K-series engined Freelander, and is becoming a common upgrade on older MGF/TFs & Lotus.
The pick of the buch IMO would be a 2005 spec car, these have low coolant level alarms, as well as other improvements other eariler cars such as a glass screen in the hood and revised heater controls. Unfortunely there arn't that many 2005 spec 160s around, so you may not have much choice to choose from. 135s are a lot more plentyfull, but typically has less options fitted and of course are quite as quick as a 160, but I would suggest driving both as you may be able to get by with a 160.
Overheating isn;t a real problem so long as the cooling system is in good condition. The TF160 also benefits from an oil/water cooler as standard.
As I'm sure you are aware, the main difference between F and TF is the suspension setup, with the F having Hydrogas and the tF convetional springs & dampers. Some people favour one or the other, so it would be worth test driving both to see which you prefer before making up you mind. But also not that the Tfs standard suspension can be improved with the fitting of shorter and stiffer springs. I found fitting these actually improved the ride quality over the standard setup too.
Also have a look at this site - www.mgf.ultimatemg.com/
It has a lot on info on models specs as well as a buyers guide and info on common problems and how to fix them.

[s8tur]

Respect to Steve's answers .. but changed specs re the TF doesn't mean better IMO. Firstly the coil spring set up on the TF compared to a Hydrogas set up is chalk and cheese. Rover must have employed Ben Hur as test driver for the TF 'cos the 2002-2005 cars were diabolical in the handling compared to a well sorted F on hydrogas. For example all the Cup cars still run on hydrogas even though they altered the bodywork to look like the TF's. Fitting stiffer shorter springs will just make the car skittish.
The advice from the owner's club is flawed as there is a larger choice of F's about than TF's , ok if you like the TF styling then go for it and ignore the handling and ride quality unless you want to be changing springs and dampers... which were obviously incorrect untill they revised them for the '05 cars with a glass screen hood, which had been available some two years previous. The PRT is not a final solution IMO, I have had K series cars correctly maintained with over 100k on the clock with the original HG and thermostat.
The main thing here is that you find something that suits you, ask ten people you'll get ten different answers. Me? I have 5 TF's in my showroom and drive a F.