WELL DONE- MG

[viperman]

i think MG rover are the best car company out there, there british, they were on the verge of being totally dumped, but they saved MG, thank god, look at them now competting in the BTCC, Le Mans, ALMS, theyre doing so well, theyve turned the company round, i think the consortium who bought MG deserve some recognition, WELL DONE MG

[Paceracing]

They seem to be on the right tracks with sporting models of the 45 & 75, (ZR, ZT, etc..).
I guess the flat cap wearing pipe smokers in the marketing department have all gone now and new blood is starting to have an influence!
Still a long, long way to go though. It would be nice if they could bring back the Triumph sports car brand if they still own the rights to it, (not sure if this got sold with the the rights to build Triumph 'bikes). I think that there is still some mileage in the TR(x) name as well. Just a personal opinion though!

Jas.

[pbrettle]

To be honest the flat cap brigade werent really there at Rover. They have always been innovative, daring and different engineers in the past - take a look at some of the past excesses (I can think of the Metro 6R4 for one). However, recently years of under-investment and corporate stifling (BMW - the finger is firmly pointed at you - you paranoid bunch of Germans) has lead to the previous crop of cars.

However, given a free range and they are off - I mean who would have though that you would get TopGear raving about a 45 for gods sake?

I am sure that I have mentioned it before but BMW expressly FORBADE Rover from making the 75 RWD. They feared competition to their 5 series???!?!? Anyway, the engineers secretly hid the relevant bits in the monocoque (SP?) to enable it at a later date - slipped below the BMW radar and now we have the new RWD 75 monsters coming soon - that is an example of the enterprising nature they have....

Well done, pat on back and bring it on.... every sucess and if I were in the market for a new car, I would consider a Rover.....its for the economy of course.

Cheers,

Paul

[Dave_H]

BMW held back all the development work on the MGF for several years. Now MG have launched newer tweaked and more powerful variants of the F.

BMW also refused to sell the F in the US, who according to the letters the MG owners club received, were crying out for it. The truth being that BMW had just spent several $$$ on a new Z3 production plant in the US.

T*ssers!!

Still, the chains are off, and I think it's good to see a few more British cars on the road. And let's hope they do well this weekend

[Twin Turbo]

Quite agree, but both the ZR and ZS are ageing designs that need replacing soon - and that's gonna cost big!

I've heard conflicting reports about the new sportscar based on the Qvale Mangusta too. Some say it's destined to be just a racer, some say it's still heading for production. Whilst not the greatest looking car in the world, a £40K V8 coupe with an MG badge gets my vote!

[Dave_H]

quote:
Quite agree, but both the ZR and ZS are ageing designs that need replacing soon - and that's gonna cost big!

I've heard conflicting reports about the new sportscar based on the Qvale Mangusta too. Some say it's destined to be just a racer, some say it's still heading for production. Whilst not the greatest looking car in the world, a £40K V8 coupe with an MG badge gets my vote!

I agree, but these cars will be the bread and butter to finance more R&D for bigger and better things.

Did you know that MG (well Rover) bought a TVR 350i in 1989 and made a concept sports convertable out of it with a view to produce a v8 roadster?

Management binned the idea though - cant blame that one on BMW unfortunatly.

[Twin Turbo]

Yep, kept the bog-standard interior though.

Still, the concept was carried through to production in the RV8 (sort of)

[craigalsop]

quote:
Did you know that MG (well Rover) bought a TVR 350i in 1989 and made a concept sports convertable out of it with a view to produce a v8 roadster?

Management binned the idea though - cant blame that one on BMW unfortunatly.

Ahhh - not true - they did produce a v8 roadster - this was the MG RV8 (see www.mgcars.org.uk/pics/silver10.jpg) which was loosely based on the MGB V8 shape
A lot of this work was done by one of my mates from school & yes they had a great time blasting about in the TVR (they also used it to design the exhaust note, but quieter)

cheers,
Craig

[gnomesmith]

quote:
It would be nice if they could bring back the Triumph sports car brand if they still own the rights to it, (not sure if this got sold with the the rights to build Triumph 'bikes).

BMW kept the Triumph name. The Triumph Motor Cycle was part of the Birmingham Small Arms group that owned Daimler (Bernard Docker). It wasn't linked to the Triumph car.

[Paceracing]

So one day we may see a BMW M3 Dolomite Sprint or a BMW X5 Acclaim! Or how about a Rolls Royce Silver Herald?
On a more serious note, who owns Triumph motorbiles now and do they own the BSA name?

Jas

[JonVickers]

Triumph bikes is an all-new company set up in '91 in Hinckley - you may have seen on the news some time back about a fire at the factory (March, I think) - they are now rebuilding the production area. Their early bikes had a reputation for being solid with engines that had a distinctly Kawasaki-type character... More recent bikes such as Daytona, Sprint, TT 600 have had good sportsbike credentials, if not quite in the same league as the R1s and GSX-Rs of this world. Speed Triple and Speed Four take ugly to new heights. In fact I rather I like them that way - a bit like your ugly mate who tells the best jokes.

BSA is a bit lower profile - I seem to remember they released a Yamaha powered Gold Star a few years ago that was ridiculously outclassed and expensive for what it was - the Japanese prolly lapped it up. BTW my trousers have a BSA badge on them - perhaps this is what they make money from these days a la Caterpillar!

Jon