(first posted 9/6/2017) I imagine many CC readers are familiar with the “brown manual diesel rear-wheel drive station wagon” car enthusiast stereotype, but surely a V8 manual rear-wheel drive station wagon would be better – even if it isn’t brown?
The MG ZT-T is a variation on the Rover 75, which was developed when BMW owned Rover in the mid-90s. It seems that the Rover was developed as a complementary car to BMWs; front-wheel drive instead of rear, and conservative styling with deliberately traditional touches. Sales were presumably under the whelming amount that BMW expected, and they off-loaded Rover to the Phoenix Consortium.
The Rover brand was recognized as being terminally damaged in a similar fashion to some US brands, and in response, an MG variant appeared in 2001, with a thorough but minor tweaking of everything from appearance (by Peter Stevens) to powertrain and suspension. At least initially.
Then in 2003 one of the most unique cars ever produced was released. Not that unique in what it was, but rather how it came about; the FWD platform was converted to accept a 4.6-L Ford Mustang V8 with Roush tweaks for its new home and rear-wheel drive.
Photo from the book MG V8 by David Knowles
This required new floor pressings and a new rear suspension as the main changes, but surely so many that surely the level of optimism was outlandishly high that it would ever return a profit. In production, body shells had to be taken off the line to modify the transmission tunnel by hand.
The ZT 260 car only arrived in Australia after the early-2004 facelift. There was a Rover 75 V8 as well and we didn’t get those, but rather an automatic version of the MG was available instead. Other markets had the transmission option tied to the brand.
Photo from the book MG V8 by David Knowles
And to be perfectly honest, it wasn’t that impressive, with the 260 numerals representing horsepower (or 191 kW) when the same number measured in kilowatts would have been more competitive. The $90,000 price tag for the sedan was a healthy increase over the $60,000 base V6 ZT, and more than the much more powerful HSV and FPV local competition. One reason for the lack of power was that only the SOHC version of the 4.6 V8 would fit in the engine bay.
The interior shot shows, in addition to the all-important manual shifter! a hint of the transmission tunnel expansion that impinged on footwell space. Legroom was a little on the tight side, as might be expected with the 108.1″ (2746 mm) wheelbase, but that gave a tidy 188.6″ (4791 mm) overall length and 70″ (1778 mm) width. Weight was 3835 lb or 1740 kg, not bad but the structure was not as strong as it might have been.
Photo: www.bmcexperience.com.au
With the seats folded the load length was about 6 feet long, and designed by people used to using station wagons – here I am referring to the sides between the tailgate and wheel arches not being boxed-in, which is so common in European wagons. The tailgate glass also opened independently for loading small items.
Photo: www.bmcexperience.com.au
For me this is a bit of a Goldilocks size, similar to a BMW E34 or E39 5-series (early or late 1990s if you aren’t familiar with the model codes), Mazda 6 or first generation Holden/Opel Commodore wagons; a good amount of cargo space without being so large that finding a parking space becomes a challenge, as can be the case with the long-wheelbase Commodore and Falcon wagons which are over the 5-metre mark (both around 199″ long).
With the Phoenix Rover flaming out in April 2005, just 883 of the V8 RWD cars were built of all the V8 varieties when the lines stopped. It is estimated that 10% would have been wagons. Just 23 were brought into Australia, and 9 of those were auctioned off when MG Rover Australia went into liquidation.
All things considered, as motoring enthusiasts I don’t think we can be disappointed that such a unicorn was actually built!
And I thought MGB GT V8 was a mouthful.
That the MG brand survives will be news to at least some Americans — including those of us who haven’t been keeping up ! Thanks for the peek.
And how about wagons with both a lift-gate (window) and a hatch ? Very few vehicles have had this feature, I think; more owners would vote for that if they knew it was available, somewhere in the world ? I just reviewed Paul’s excellent station wagon story, yesterday, and didn’t encounter that feature on any wagon in the bunch. I guess the hatch-back wagon is a different animal from the classic format . . .
“And how about wagons with both a lift-gate (window) and a hatch ? Very few vehicles have had this feature”
Ford Taurus wagon for one… quite useful for sure.
The basic concept of this MG really appeals to me though.
Yes it survives, I saw a Chinese made MG hatchback in Napier NZ a couple of weeks ago not a bad looking car either, These BMW MGs landed here too not long after my the agency my BIL worked at went bust, there are a lot more of the Rover branded cars about and they were quite good cars after the Rhonda not so good efforts.
BMW actually first hinted they wanted rid of Rover right as the 75 was being introduced. It was designed and intended for US sale, too. I always thought it looked its best pre-facelift, with those angry eyes and chrome mustache. The Audi inspired remix wasn’t as nice.
After the Chinese bought MG, there was talk at one point of MGFs being built in Oklahoma for the US market. Nothing came of that, though.
I was planning on buying a Rover 75 if they made it to the US as was originally rumored, The bad news about the company the same day as the official unveiling got more press coverage than the car did. I think Rover 75 sales were respectable; the bigger problem was that the rest of the Rover lineup was outdated Honda-based models, The 75, first introduced midway through the ’99 model year, replaced the 800, which Americans may remember as the Sterling. Yep, they were still making them for UK consumption right to the end of the millennium.
Dave, I did read about Bernd Pischetsrieder’s rant at the Rover 75 launch about Rover’s financial problems and wanting help from the UK government, and how that did a lot to damage the sales prospects of the 75, due to introducing uncertainty.
There is something appealing about the MG ZT-T, to the extent that I have to keep reminding myself that even the best example of a 2.0 litre (the only practical option in the UK for a daily car) is now 12 years plus old and was built in Longbridge, not Munich….still look wistfully when I see one. And many are very well kept.
That looks like a Ford Modular 4.6 engine in there. Never knew that engine found its way into MGs.
Oooof, that’s an awfully Daewoo looking car. Reminiscent of the ?Leganza? which marked Daewoo’s entrance and fairly swift departure. I hope the thing drives better than it looks because it’s fairly homely. The front cap is awful and melted, generic, and hyper plasticky looking, and those taillights are paying homage to the awful ultimate Scorpio and some forgettable Hyundai Sonata.
I remember reading reviews in C/D at the time wondering if it were going to make it here. Jaguar seems to have the British Mainstream luxury market pretty much sewn up and I don’t think they’re doing all that well, and they weren’t in ?2001? when they were considering bringing Rover over. Sterling was a massive failure.
These weren’t really distinctive enough in appearance, looks, or performance to attract new buyers and I think they were quite expensive.
Some Americans have fond memories of Fiat and Alfa, but I don’t think anyone has fond memories of Rover and the MG market is pretty well covered by surviving MGs and the Miata. Probably a good thing it didn’t make it.
GM seems to be resurrecting the premium wagons with the Buick/Opels. Let’s just see how they do.
I definitely had fond memories of Rover – my uncle drove an early-’70s P6 V8. I was hoping to buy a 75 if they made it to the States. I think the vintage British car look Rover was aiming at would have gone over better in the US than in the UK. But yeah, when I mention Rovers to most Americans they think I must mean a Range Rover.
I ran a Rover 75 Connoisseur 2.0 Diesel saloon from 2012 to early 2017, put 100k plus miles on it without any significant cost. Surprised about the comment that the structure was not as strong as it could have been, the saloon is really strong and rigid, feels like its carved from stone. The car is very underrated, people who rode in it commented on how well it rode. Still have it in my garage but needed a change after 5 years and running a Peugeot 406 Pininfarina Coupe these days, but will put the Rover back on the road when I feel like it
In retrospect you can’t help wondering if Phoenix knew all along that Rover would be going nowhere. When the real need was for the 45 replacement they were investing in esoteric vehicles like these ZT V8 conversion and the Qvale based MG SV/SVR. With hindsight, they could have more fruitfully pursued the nascent SUV market represented by the TCV concept show car rather than go for the (then) mainstream model, an idea that did well for Nissan when they replaced the Escort/Focus class Almera with the Qashqai.
All water under the bridge now, of course.
I read that the V8 and Qvale SVR were basically window-dressing to attract a takeover or partner as they termed it, and that the money involved was much less than was needed to update the other cars that needed it (eg interiors), let alone replacement models. Makes you wonder if there was an end game other than being bought out? In the end they went into administration and were bought out at a much lower price!
The SUV is fairly unusual by SUV standards, it looks more like a lifted Opel Signum (aka Chevrolet Malibu Maxx) really. May have been ahead of its time?
For many years, I’ve yearned for a V-8 manual rear-wheel drive station wagon… now I’ve found one! I have actually never heard of this car before, but I think I’m in love. It’s tempting to move to Australia just so I can buy one!
The Goldilocks description is spot-on for me; this size wagon would satisfy all of my current needs, and yet it’s the very type of car (just the wagon part, never mind the V-8 manual component!) that has all but disappeared.
That is a really nice looking wagon. I hate all these new SUVs and CUVs, most are just too big for my needs and almost all have a too-short rear end that means you can’t carry longer items, so they are not very useful.
Oh, and give me an automatic any day. Not a manual fan-boy, if I wanted to play with my “stick” I’ll do it in the bedroom, not when I am driving thank you very much.
Wow – that’s an incredibly rare find John! I have a former colleague with a Rover 75, so this is the (not-very) logical conclusion to that line of thought, and I did try and talk him into tracking one of these down…
And to really mess with the American readers, you should have shot some pics of the also super-rare Ford Maverick in the first image…
I will have to see about that, I drove a Maverick for a while years ago.
Nice find John. I’ve been seeing a few Rover wagons around Hawthorn. Must be something about people who live in Hawthorn. With either grille it’s not ugly, but the shape just isn’t dynamic. Like the Alfa 159 wagon is.
I love the Rover 75 and the MG version. It’s in much the same vein as the Jaguar S Type, which I also loved.
There is even some comparison of the two on YouTube. They both look good today. I don’t think I’ll be saying the same thing about recent Sonatas and Altimas 17 years hence.
And I also found the Leganza attractive, penned by Giugiaro of Italdesign. Wasn’t a fan of some of his other stuff, but always thought the Leganza was good looking.
Thanks, John.
When the Rover 75 (front-drive with 4 or 6 cylinder engines) was first introduced in 1999, there was much ado about how large the center hump was given there wasn’t a driveshaft in there. There was speculation this was due to some carryover BMW engineering (it wasn’t). But evidently it still wasn’t big enough for the actual RWD version.
I much preferred the Rover 75 versions (which also were available with the V8/RWD setup in some markets). Their Bentley-esque interiors were a thing of beauty, with burled-walnut dash trim, oval-shaped cream-colored gauges with the sort of detailing found on a high-end watch, and real colors including two-color tan/turquoise and tan/aubergine options. The MG versions were dumbed down with regular black gauges, no wood, and boring colors. The 75 will be eligible for US import next year; I’d love to own one but fear I’d be permanently sidelined if anything major broke. The 2.5L V6 that was the most powerful engine choice before the V8 became available did make it stateside in the Land Rover Freelander for a few years.
I am just taken aback around how much this looks like my 2008 BMW E91.
Picture #8 looks very much like what I took today (convincing myself that I could fit another tailgate – using a sample Volvo 245 gate that is almost exactly the same size as my E91 gate – into my car).
I’m not sure I would have wanted a V8 Ford engine, but it’s interesting.