Faults:

Head cracked, hairline fracture causing small amount of coolant loss.

Oil cooler feed pipes rusted away, replaced with good 2nd hand parts.

Now have issues with head lift, after running 25psi of boost at over 150bhp. Oops!

Clutch exploded due to age, combined with a quick launch.

General Comments:

Great car, nice and quick especially with SDI injectors, a stainless steel exhaust system (with no restrictions) and a decat. Boost upped to 25psi from 15 standard adds to the fun, at your own risk!

I dropped the boost back to 19psi, but appears my short run at high boost has caused head lift, meaning coolant keeps boiling up when under high load.

Sticks to the road like **** to a blanket, handling is excellent.

Air conditioning not working, needs a new condenser. Nice and cheap at £40 though, will be done soon.

Currently awaiting a new cylinder head, which will be done soon. Then fitting a hybrid turbo, so I can keep intake temperatures down while running high boost levels.

With all the modifications, it's amazingly easy to fill the road with thick black smog, great if there's an Audi sitting up your bum.

Faults:

Nothing! It's been perfect.

General Comments:

This is the third MG ZS I've had, and this one has been as reliable as the others.

It gets used fairly regularly, and does the odd trackday here and there.

It's comfortable on long journeys, and good around town, although the suspension's a bit hard for Essex's dodgy road surfaces.

There's two things I would change about the car -

1, The fuel consumption around town is a little high.

2. The HiFi speakers fitted as standard are poor.

For information, the 2001 model had better speakers, the 2005 model 1.8 had even worse speakers, and hardly any sound proofing.

Faults:

Bearing failed in the vacuum pump, cost £33.75 to have it reconditioned (good when you know people in the trade!)

General Comments:

Great car, nicely proportioned and good to look at.

The car handles superbly, although this is at the expense of a smooth ride.

The seats are very supportive and comfortable.

The sound insulation of the diesel engine is very good, it only sounds diesely at very low speeds or stationary.

Fuel economy is exceptionally good, and the engine is very tunable.

Faults:

I have no problems with my 180 except its rattles from cd changer in boot and alarm would work at first, but engine wise perfect.

General Comments:

The noise of the the v6 puts a smile on your face. puts any japanese car to shame any-day. inside needs some attention.

General Comments:

Positives:

- Excellent handling and cornering.

- Body trim, spoilers and alloys look great.

- Comfortable seats.

- Excellent value for money.

- Good acceleration, 0 - 60 in 9 seconds.

Neutral:

- Dashboard is OK, not as bad as some reviews suggest.

- Firm suspension.

Negatives:

- Road noise.

- Wind noise at high speeds.

Faults:

Gear select lever came loose.

L/H suspension creaking.

General Comments:

Excellent car to drive with amazing road holding. Suspension is firm, but not harsh. Engine loves to be revved and delivers surprising performance.

Faults:

Nothing, surprisingly.

General Comments:

If like a lot of people out there you think that the ZS is just a Rover 45 with a bodykit, you may as well not bother reading the rest as nothing I say is likely to change your mind.

If you're willing to accept the fact that Rover, a company more noted for safe choices when it comes to cars, have taken a 45, extracted all pipe & slippers DNA and added a good dose of everything that a hot hatch/everyday affordable performance car should be then give the ZS180 a try.

I've driven many hot hatch style cars - the CTR, Golf GTI, Audi S3 group, and found most of them, well, stodgy. The suspension is too soft, the body roll is often bad (I'm not saying ALL of these type of cars have this problem, but a lot have) and most of them have lost the whole idea of this type of car - remember the Mk1/2 Golf GTI or the old Pug205?

In my opinion, the ZS180 comes a lot closer to bringing the fun back into driving - and it has 4 seats that adults can actually sit in and best of all, a V6.

Sure, it's an MG, so things will go wrong, but I've had mine for just under a year and driven it slightly over 21,000 miles, mostly motorway cruising at speed or B-road lunacy, and as of yet nothing has fallen off or broken. I have 3 cars at present, all under 3 years old, and the ZS is the one I take out if I know there's going to be a fun road, even though one of the others is far more of a performance car.

The resale value isn't the best out there, which is great for second owner purchase prices, and the MPG is a little on the high side, but for a car that certainly stands out from the crowd, shows those others how to have fun, and is still usable every day, the ZS180 is great.