MG ZT 260 - Anything I Should Know?
Discussion
I've pretty much fallen in love with the idea of a V8 in an unassuming body.
The fuel consumption is n't an issue for me, are there any other negs, or problems?
The only concern I have is over its weight, while I'm aware they are never going to be the fastest thing along the twisties, are they reasonably fun to punt along with, or is its engine its only trick?
The fuel consumption is n't an issue for me, are there any other negs, or problems?
The only concern I have is over its weight, while I'm aware they are never going to be the fastest thing along the twisties, are they reasonably fun to punt along with, or is its engine its only trick?
Did you ever see JC testing one on Top Gear?
He was genuinely amazed at what fun it was on the track. Fast, controllable, great for power sliding and an amazing amount of fun for the money.
You'll have no trouble on the twisties... just keep a gentle foot in the wet.
I drove one when they first came out and thought it was fantastic. You really can hang the tail out all day should you so wish....
He was genuinely amazed at what fun it was on the track. Fast, controllable, great for power sliding and an amazing amount of fun for the money.
You'll have no trouble on the twisties... just keep a gentle foot in the wet.
I drove one when they first came out and thought it was fantastic. You really can hang the tail out all day should you so wish....
Talkwrench said:
Did you ever see JC testing one on Top Gear?
He was genuinely amazed at what fun it was on the track. Fast, controllable, great for power sliding and an amazing amount of fun for the money.
You'll have no trouble on the twisties... just keep a gentle foot in the wet.
I drove one when they first came out and thought it was fantastic. You really can hang the tail out all day should you so wish....
Thats sounds just what I'm after. Will have a search on Youtube for the clip. He was genuinely amazed at what fun it was on the track. Fast, controllable, great for power sliding and an amazing amount of fun for the money.
You'll have no trouble on the twisties... just keep a gentle foot in the wet.
I drove one when they first came out and thought it was fantastic. You really can hang the tail out all day should you so wish....
I've had mine for just over a year, and I can't imagine ever selling it. Buying other cars maybe, but selling this one? No.
For fast road driving, it will stay comfortably in touch with 80% of what turns up for the PH outings. I've put it round the Indy circuit at Brands in the dry, and it was superb. Snetterton hung over in the rain at PistonFest wasn't so much fun, but still worth it just to get a feel for how scary it can be to push in the wet!
If you do get one, then join the owners' club at www.two-sixties.com. The fact that we currently have 168 members says a lot for how muuch the owners like the car. In total, only 883 (including the Rover 75 V8) were built, and some of them were written off as part of the development process, along with a handful more by careless drivers.
How many other owners' clubs do you know who can lay claim to 20% of all cars as members, especially when the oldest cars are only just 4 years old! 
In terms of what you should know, the cars are pretty bulletproof, although one of the heater hoses will fail (the club has sourced a better quality replacement for less than the price of the OEM part), you will need to check that the fuel filter has had a remedial clip applied (common to all petrol ZTs & 75s, and takes about 45 minutes to do, with the part costing a fiver), and if it has standard exhausts, you'll want to replace the backboxes with Zero boxes, so that you can actually hear the V8!
The one thing to really watch out for on any you test is that the aircon is working across the full temperature range. They can be expensive to fix if they go wrong, and it's the most common major issue.
If you're likely to be in Surrey or Kent for the next couple of weeks (during which I'm between jobs) and you want to see how it goes on the twisties, drop me a line.
Cheers,
Chris.
For fast road driving, it will stay comfortably in touch with 80% of what turns up for the PH outings. I've put it round the Indy circuit at Brands in the dry, and it was superb. Snetterton hung over in the rain at PistonFest wasn't so much fun, but still worth it just to get a feel for how scary it can be to push in the wet!
If you do get one, then join the owners' club at www.two-sixties.com. The fact that we currently have 168 members says a lot for how muuch the owners like the car. In total, only 883 (including the Rover 75 V8) were built, and some of them were written off as part of the development process, along with a handful more by careless drivers.
How many other owners' clubs do you know who can lay claim to 20% of all cars as members, especially when the oldest cars are only just 4 years old! In terms of what you should know, the cars are pretty bulletproof, although one of the heater hoses will fail (the club has sourced a better quality replacement for less than the price of the OEM part), you will need to check that the fuel filter has had a remedial clip applied (common to all petrol ZTs & 75s, and takes about 45 minutes to do, with the part costing a fiver), and if it has standard exhausts, you'll want to replace the backboxes with Zero boxes, so that you can actually hear the V8!
The one thing to really watch out for on any you test is that the aircon is working across the full temperature range. They can be expensive to fix if they go wrong, and it's the most common major issue.
If you're likely to be in Surrey or Kent for the next couple of weeks (during which I'm between jobs) and you want to see how it goes on the twisties, drop me a line.
Cheers,
Chris.
Ooh.. one more thing... If you get more than 8K out of a set of rear tyres, then you've been driving like a girl! 
Mind you, if you shop around, you can get decent tyres (Toyo Proxes T1R, Avon ZZ3 etc) for under £100 each, so it could be worse!
And finally! The cars come with Conti Sportcontacts out of the factory. These are OK under normal driving situations, but utterly horrific at low speed. If you're on full lock in a carpark for example, rather than turning, the front of the car tries to go in a straight line for a couple of inches, then takes a jump to the left (or right) to catch up. So, if you test drive one and it feels like it's trying to do the timewarp in the carpark, don't worry about it. They all do it on Contis, and if you put different tyres on, it will stop.
Mind you, if you shop around, you can get decent tyres (Toyo Proxes T1R, Avon ZZ3 etc) for under £100 each, so it could be worse!And finally!
The cars come with Conti Sportcontacts out of the factory. These are OK under normal driving situations, but utterly horrific at low speed. If you're on full lock in a carpark for example, rather than turning, the front of the car tries to go in a straight line for a couple of inches, then takes a jump to the left (or right) to catch up. So, if you test drive one and it feels like it's trying to do the timewarp in the carpark, don't worry about it. They all do it on Contis, and if you put different tyres on, it will stop.Kermit power said:
Ooh.. one more thing... If you get more than 8K out of a set of rear tyres, then you've been driving like a girl! Mind you, if you shop around, you can get decent tyres (Toyo Proxes T1R, Avon ZZ3 etc) for under £100 each, so it could be worse!
Thanks Chris, I'm fast running out of reasons why not. I'd factored tyres in, but what about brakes and suspension, do they stand up to spirited road driving (tbh I'm unlikely to visit a track in it)? Mind you, if you shop around, you can get decent tyres (Toyo Proxes T1R, Avon ZZ3 etc) for under £100 each, so it could be worse!Kermit Power - I'm looking at the doing the same (the 260 would replace my Aero) but have you any thoughts/knowledge as to whether the saloon or tourer is a better car (handling)? The Saab estate is generally accepted to be better than the saloon but I was just wondering whether the 260s are the same or whether the opposite applies because of the extra bulk of the estate over the driven wheels? I know the tourers attract more money but I assume this is because of the extra space they give and the lower numbers produced?
The car was originally designed with a Rousch supercharged ZT385 in mind. Although only one of these was made before MGR went pop, all the 260s were set up with running gear and transmission components capable of handling 400+ bhp and lb/ft. You can (and a number of people have) get them supercharged for £6k up at Dreadnought garage in Scotland and not need to change anything else on the car!
Nick is right in pointing out that the brakes are a weak point if you take the car on track, but upgrading the pads deals with that although they're then bastard squeaky and put out LOTS of dust. I'm actually going to refit standard road pads and keep the others to pop back in if I track it again.
In terms of estate vs saloon, mine is the rarest variant - excluding the R75 V8 tourer - being one of only 27 Mk1 tourers built including the development cars. The weight balance is still slightly more toward the front axle, but not by so much as on the saloon. I wouldn't claim to have the expertise to tell myself, but I have read a couple of reviews that suggest the tourer handles slightly better. Certainly I've never been able to wrong-foot it! 360 degree spins at Snetterton in the pissing rain whilst suffering a Pistonfest hangover don't count!
I finish in my current job on Friday, and don't start the new one until July 2nd, so if you're within a reasonable distance of Epsom (and the more fun the roads, the more my definition of "reasonable" streeeetches), then I'd be happy to meet up over lunch one day so you can take a look.
Nick is right in pointing out that the brakes are a weak point if you take the car on track, but upgrading the pads deals with that although they're then bastard squeaky and put out LOTS of dust. I'm actually going to refit standard road pads and keep the others to pop back in if I track it again.
In terms of estate vs saloon, mine is the rarest variant - excluding the R75 V8 tourer - being one of only 27 Mk1 tourers built including the development cars. The weight balance is still slightly more toward the front axle, but not by so much as on the saloon. I wouldn't claim to have the expertise to tell myself, but I have read a couple of reviews that suggest the tourer handles slightly better. Certainly I've never been able to wrong-foot it! 360 degree spins at Snetterton in the pissing rain whilst suffering a Pistonfest hangover don't count!
I finish in my current job on Friday, and don't start the new one until July 2nd, so if you're within a reasonable distance of Epsom (and the more fun the roads, the more my definition of "reasonable" streeeetches), then I'd be happy to meet up over lunch one day so you can take a look.
Guys - I'm based in Sidcup, Kent and am selling my ZT260SE.... aside the blatant plug they are fantastic cars and my ownership will only be cut short for a while with a view to getting another next year - they're truly brilliant fun and so well specified :-)
Suspension is really good, compliant but very well put together - even the hydratrack diff has it's own little ohlins shock!
If you want then contact me on 'mobile at dubbsnet dot com' and I'll take you for a test drive
I've also got the "zeros" back boxes fitted which are a very high qualtiy performance rear box giving the system a free flow "zero back pressure" characteristic... most importnatly it makes the car sound like a V8 Aston :-)
If one of you has a 95 estate or 3 series toruing I may even do a partex deal with you if you were interested :-)
Suspension is really good, compliant but very well put together - even the hydratrack diff has it's own little ohlins shock!
If you want then contact me on 'mobile at dubbsnet dot com' and I'll take you for a test drive
I've also got the "zeros" back boxes fitted which are a very high qualtiy performance rear box giving the system a free flow "zero back pressure" characteristic... most importnatly it makes the car sound like a V8 Aston :-)
If one of you has a 95 estate or 3 series toruing I may even do a partex deal with you if you were interested :-)
Anything you should know? They're 
ing marvellous
This is really useful: http://www.spunagain.co.uk/ZT260page.html
ing marvellousThis is really useful: http://www.spunagain.co.uk/ZT260page.html
NDT said:
wasn't there a dealer that still had some new MGR stock, including some 260s?
Can anyone remember the name?
SMC bought up quite a few 260s after the end of MGR, but you're actually probably better off getting an older one anyway. Although all the cars are physically at least 2+ years old, getting one "new" now will mean it being registered in group G for tax rather than group F, and it won't take long for the extra £200 a year to become more of a burden than the younger plate is a benefit!Can anyone remember the name?
Good question. Most ex-MGR main stealers are probably trying to get other franchises, but should still have the experience and kit at a cost. I've found a local independent (that came recommended from two different sources
) who specialises in Rover/Jaguar, with a sideline in aircon which is particularly handy as that's the car's big weak point. The engine/gearbox should be bomb proof, so I'd be tempted to look for a rover specialist.
) who specialises in Rover/Jaguar, with a sideline in aircon which is particularly handy as that's the car's big weak point. The engine/gearbox should be bomb proof, so I'd be tempted to look for a rover specialist.The Two-sixty required extra training which not all MGR technicians got usually 1 per dealer. Most ex MGR franchises still do work on two-sixties eg Viking Citroen in Basingstoke and Kernahans Ford in Whitney Oxon.
Also X-Part have been franchising garages as X-part distributors who have set themselves up as MG Rover servicing agents E.G. Fawcetts Volvo in Newbury using Ex MGR trained staff. Unfortunately in Fawcetts case he was not trained to service the 260.
There are also some independents out there but I don't have much experience of them.
If I were you I would find your nearest MGR dealer and as if they still have a technician who go the MGR training book and still have the MRG tools and Test book.
Having said that the servicing sheet is copied on my website so you could take that to a competent mechanic and get them to do it, but they might miss something important that an MGR mechanic would spot immediately.
I travel 35 miles for my service from Newbury to Whitney an it is not a chore as they have a courtesy car.
Go-on do it, it is basically a grown up TVR without quite so many niggles.
As has been said here before, there are issues with a dodgy air con system and a couple of things which can leave you by the road side (missing fuel filter clip and weak heater hose) but both of those can be cheaply and quickly fixed in advance.
Regards
Spunagain
Also X-Part have been franchising garages as X-part distributors who have set themselves up as MG Rover servicing agents E.G. Fawcetts Volvo in Newbury using Ex MGR trained staff. Unfortunately in Fawcetts case he was not trained to service the 260.
There are also some independents out there but I don't have much experience of them.
If I were you I would find your nearest MGR dealer and as if they still have a technician who go the MGR training book and still have the MRG tools and Test book.
Having said that the servicing sheet is copied on my website so you could take that to a competent mechanic and get them to do it, but they might miss something important that an MGR mechanic would spot immediately.
I travel 35 miles for my service from Newbury to Whitney an it is not a chore as they have a courtesy car.
Go-on do it, it is basically a grown up TVR without quite so many niggles.
As has been said here before, there are issues with a dodgy air con system and a couple of things which can leave you by the road side (missing fuel filter clip and weak heater hose) but both of those can be cheaply and quickly fixed in advance.
Regards
Spunagain
Luckily for me a guy I play squash with used to be the head service technician at Sargeant and Collins who were a huge MG Rover dealership in the South East - he worked there for 25 years so has unrivalled experience.
He was trained on the V8 and literally told me everything I needed to know including showing me all the original service books and addendums the service techs receive.
Remember.... aside from some of the particulars the engine itself is a very simple affair and requires regular, but basic, maintenance. One fo the joys of ownership is the engine requiring no major servicing aside from regular oil services for the first 100k. Of course the diligent owner will always check more than this.
Don't know where you are based but my guy is in Eltham SE London, he's cheap too as he doesn't differentiate on his labour rates. A similar service is provided by "Executive Motor Services" (think that's their name) in Kent. They also deal in re-trims and some buying and selling of cars.
He was trained on the V8 and literally told me everything I needed to know including showing me all the original service books and addendums the service techs receive.
Remember.... aside from some of the particulars the engine itself is a very simple affair and requires regular, but basic, maintenance. One fo the joys of ownership is the engine requiring no major servicing aside from regular oil services for the first 100k. Of course the diligent owner will always check more than this.
Don't know where you are based but my guy is in Eltham SE London, he's cheap too as he doesn't differentiate on his labour rates. A similar service is provided by "Executive Motor Services" (think that's their name) in Kent. They also deal in re-trims and some buying and selling of cars.
P.S Don't know what the issue is with air-con.... mine is fantastic! Don't know if it has a different compressor or something but it works like a dream. Mine's a facelift, number 474 of the 800-odd produced.
BTW - Accepting offers on the MG now as she needs to make room for a 95 estate SOON.
Let me know if interested. Ad is updated on Pistonheads too.
BTW - Accepting offers on the MG now as she needs to make room for a 95 estate SOON.
Let me know if interested. Ad is updated on Pistonheads too.
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