Great review mate! Some good info in there too, I didn’t know about the 50mm longer wheelbase. I’m going to address the gearing/final drive next year so you will have to drive it again on some sticky tyres in the dry when it’s sorted ❤
It's nowhere, because there's just overall much better platforms to work on, like the Honda K series. This Rover one is tuned to around 200hp, so basically a standard K20a or K20a2 which is just frankly way more reliable. Even Lotus ditched it for the Toyota 1.8 @@Mecks_Music
Damn, that K has seen some work! Lovely And if that green display are the AFRs, props to the tuner! You can tell this car is absolutely cherished by owner, very cool car indeed
Dan...i raced a ZR 160 VVC in the MGOC for years,they are a very very underrated car,my lap time on yokos was a 1.24 dead in the dry so for a standard car that had very limited mods is pretty quick,and if set up they are like on rails. Glad you did this test! Nice 1
My brother had one of these back in the day, blavk MG ZS180 with big spoiler, remember how well it handled and the V6 sound, to this day says its best car hes ever had.... we had alot of rovers through my childhood another one thats extremely rare was the rover 827 Vitesse, recaro seats and also good handling with the LSD.
Had a little K series Rover 200 as my first car. At 18, 105bhp and a peaky little reving engine was the perfect way of learning car control safely. Great video.
I had a Trophy Blue ZS 180 2.5 V6. Might have been a rover but I had blast in the 6 years I owned it. Currently own a FK8 and just wish it sounded as good as the ZS V6 after I fitted a piper exhaust and a ITG maxogen induction. Happy days.👍
The last days of Rover cost cutting really did the rep of the K series no favours as it was a good motor for it's time. Makes you wonder what they would have come up with next had Rover had some stability and proper investment, and survived until today. The connecting rods are a surprising choice, although I guess there must be some Chinese factories turning out decent bits now.
Been waiting to see a proper K series on the channel for a while! Would love to see your thoughts on a ZS180. Shorter final drive is essential on any car with a PG1 Gearbox. Got to get some more Rovers on!
I wouldn't say proper K series, when the Honda K series is just superior in nearly every category. With the amount of work done to that Rover K, a k20 would be running and extra 100hp from 200cc more.
Love MG and always will. I bought a 1.8vvc zr with a dead engine ( Guess why) it was the first car i worked on and became confident working on. One engine swap to a working 1.8vvc, absolutely loved that little chav car! Goos noises, good power and looked council estate!
I own a blue 2002 mg zs 120 with a zr 160 vvc engine swap and it such a great car for spirited driving. I would love to delete the vvc mech and solid cam and bodies but it is so much fun with just a remapped ecu on there to be fair 😊
It’s definitely a Honda based rover it’s a Honda Mb6 with a rover front end . Brings back some great memories in owned a Mb2 1.8 vti Aerodeck for 12 years about 10 years ago . The fishing mobile, those 4am starts with nobody on the roads we stretched those legs and didn’t spare any of the 179 horses
Ma / Mb Honda style was made by Rover. Specific British car issues that Honda never had. Roof falling on your head, handles breaking more often than you change the oil and stuffs like that. Still engines and mechanical parts were flawless like any other Hondas
What I meant was I owned the Aerodeck vti for 12 years it was my fishing car. 10 years ago I regretfully used it for a donor for my Ef civic Renaissance X . So my engine I’ve owned for 22 years . I’ve other B engine it is 33 years old
I always liked the Hovers or Rhondas? I remember someone put the front of the MG on an Aerodeck, that was a head scratcher. Great review, I reckon if he tweaks the gear ratios and final drive that will be a lot quicker.
I had a ZS for many years, not always as my main car, but i just didn't want to part with it no matter what other car i had at the time. Definitely one of the best handling fwd cars ever made and their performance and ability far outweighed their specs on paper. Still miss it to this day, and still wish i hadn't gotten rid to be honest, but i got to a point where i had 5 cars and one had to go so after 7 years of fun we parted ways. With the storage i have available now i wish i still had it but never mind. Some fond memories at least.
I've never driven a Type R of any sort, but I've had a couple of ZS' hatches. Had a ZS120 'Atomix' (BTCC special edition thing) with no power, and a blue ZS180 which I bought for only £250 has someone's psycho-ex had attacked it with a coffee table (true story). There wasn't a straight panel on it, but I really liked it. Proper old school hooligan-type hot hatch with a brutey engine up the front. Probably was a little nose-heavy, though not as much as you'd think, but it was so chuckable and loved to rev. Really underrated cars IMO. Only got rid of it because the economy was awful for daily chores, and the ride was just too stiff for me. I'm used to French tin, which can sometimes spoil your enjoyment of other cars and nobody seems to do ride/handling balance like the French. I'd happily have another, though.
That car badly needs a gear set and final drive from the zr160 I have zs 180 V6 MK2 factory top speed is 138mph with this set gear box it's 128mpg. Your welcome to have a go Danny if it interests you
they are deffo underated cars, i had 3 zs 180s and they were greay cars, deffo suprised some more expsinve sports cars thats for sure. i wish they had done a zs with the t series turbo engine.
I think the rev limit is actually low for itb setup and this kind of cams.. 8500ish would be better with a shorter final drive,oem 120 is 4.2 which is not bad for a stock but not great for a fully n/a tuned itb setup
@@phur3i0n haha 😂 Maybe you'll get back together again. I hate messy break ups. Maybe I shouldn't get involved 🤔Thanks for the solid relationship advice lol
@dannyDC2 Yeah, the clutch went to the floor a lot due to the clutch bracket being made of paper. My grandad had to design his own, as there was no after-market support (at the time)
YES. GOOD. It’s a shame I never got my fake Rover quite right, the clutch master always gave me trouble. As it was doing 75mph in 2nd it probably has the stock gearbox. A ZR160 box would probably improve that.
Yes a k series av got a zr with a turbo on it 18 rover 75 engine with a bit of tweaking doesny hang about and likes to spin the front tyres it is a track car it'll rev to about 7500😅
Had the experience of gyndaf evans and me going round mira test centre in a mg zr rally car. I had 3 laps and felt ill, that car was quick, but the braking was just as sharp.
In New Zealand these cars came with the B16 vtec engine. I was in a car parts yard many years ago and come across one not knowing. First I was confused, I thought to myself it must have been an engine swapped..? To my astonishment, it was a genuine factory built car with all the original vin plates stating B16 vtec MG.
The R8 Rovers did have both SOHC & DOHC D16 motors but non were VTEC. Here in the UK the best out of those are the 216/416 GTI/GSI with a 130bhp DOHC D16.
It's nothing like a dc2 integra which was more like a eg civic. This mg zs is actually based on an mb6 civic chassis and is more comparable with the mb6 vti. Would love to see a battle between the two tbh honest but my money would be on the b series powered civic.
MG zs / mb6 platform are domani based which has nothing to do with the ek. Its more eg9/db8 than ek. The subframe and upper control arms are all eg. Mb6 was my first honda and its build quality was awful compared to the ek platform i moved onto to. Felt cheap and shit. You really could feel the roverness lol.
I once got done for speeding in a integrale, the copper said i was doing 59 mph in a 30 zone and if would have been doing 1 mph more i would have been banned 😮 I said i ws only in second gear 😁
Great review mate! Some good info in there too, I didn’t know about the 50mm longer wheelbase. I’m going to address the gearing/final drive next year so you will have to drive it again on some sticky tyres in the dry when it’s sorted ❤
Look forward to it!
Me too
Clio was on PS3’s, I was definitely having a good time! There is only one way to drive on a camber and combustion trackday 😅
haha I wasn't going to let the truth get in the way of a good story
old ones?!
ZS180 was a 2.5 V6, I was hoping it’d be one of them, mainly for me to reminisce about it, was a great car. That said this was pretty epic! 👌
Finally a real K series on the channel
Same. K series was always rover until Honda came about and ruined everything lol
@garethwillis you mean honda made a better k series. where is this engine now ?
It's nowhere, because there's just overall much better platforms to work on, like the Honda K series. This Rover one is tuned to around 200hp, so basically a standard K20a or K20a2 which is just frankly way more reliable. Even Lotus ditched it for the Toyota 1.8 @@Mecks_Music
😂😂 honda k series just the better engine hands down
As an ex MG Rover dealership technician I am amazed it made it round a lap without turning its oil into 4 litres of mayonnaise..
That thumbnail 😂😂 Glad to see an MG Rover getting some praise!
Damn, that K has seen some work! Lovely
And if that green display are the AFRs, props to the tuner!
You can tell this car is absolutely cherished by owner, very cool car indeed
Yeah the motor was super smooth!
If it is AFR that's a tad lean on full chat high rpm, seems to be 14:1 ?
Looks more like voltage than AFR
@@boywarrick yeah seems more constant than you'd expect for afr
@@haxor98its voltage
Sounded amazing Dan. It's time to reclaim the rep of these late Rovers.
Dan...i raced a ZR 160 VVC in the MGOC for years,they are a very very underrated car,my lap time on yokos was a 1.24 dead in the dry so for a standard car that had very limited mods is pretty quick,and if set up they are like on rails. Glad you did this test! Nice 1
My brother had one of these back in the day, blavk MG ZS180 with big spoiler, remember how well it handled and the V6 sound, to this day says its best car hes ever had.... we had alot of rovers through my childhood another one thats extremely rare was the rover 827 Vitesse, recaro seats and also good handling with the LSD.
Longbridge ✅
Choms ✅
Dorts ✅
10/10 content
Also the captions are a nice touch
For reference my 172 does:
50 in 2nd
80 in 3rd
110 in 4th
Gear ratios on that ZS are loooong!
Awesome car and nice to see something different.
Lmao, Jorge Azcoitia bombing the video at the end. Great stuff man, every video I see of this car, I get a pleasant surprise.
lovely induction noise, Jonny has done a great job with it.
These are great cars. I had one with a T16 turbo in it. Loved it. Great chassis too
Nice car, love it, sounds superb liked these when they came out many moons ago. Credit to the owner and your driving skills 👍👌
Had a little K series Rover 200 as my first car. At 18, 105bhp and a peaky little reving engine was the perfect way of learning car control safely. Great video.
Yeah I had that car and engine combo too… but I learnt the hard way what lift off oversteer was and crashed it into a car dealership haha
Same, loved my 200 1.6l as a 17 year old.
Brilliant had a few Rovers in my time. That was great.
Love it. Captions are a good addition as well!
I had a Trophy Blue ZS 180 2.5 V6. Might have been a rover but I had blast in the 6 years I owned it. Currently own a FK8 and just wish it sounded as good as the ZS V6 after I fitted a piper exhaust and a ITG maxogen induction. Happy days.👍
*Finishes watching video and heads straight to autotrader to check mg zs prices. Engine sounded great once it gets its song on! Cool stuff 👌
really like the subtitles on the in car footage!
The possibility of this guy being the UK Misha Charoudin driving other peoples cars on track has good potential.
The last days of Rover cost cutting really did the rep of the K series no favours as it was a good motor for it's time. Makes you wonder what they would have come up with next had Rover had some stability and proper investment, and survived until today. The connecting rods are a surprising choice, although I guess there must be some Chinese factories turning out decent bits now.
Love the Sound of the ITB´s 🥰
Looks good and stable, sounds great. Geared for the motorway
Worked a rover developement. We had a 1.8 kseries metroturbo. It was so fast and had a 111 badge on the back.
Been waiting to see a proper K series on the channel for a while! Would love to see your thoughts on a ZS180. Shorter final drive is essential on any car with a PG1 Gearbox. Got to get some more Rovers on!
I wouldn't say proper K series, when the Honda K series is just superior in nearly every category. With the amount of work done to that Rover K, a k20 would be running and extra 100hp from 200cc more.
@@joshjamesguitar I agree, the Honda K is better. Just despite its shortfalls, got a big soft spot for rover k.
@@joshjamesguitar🥱🥱🥱
Longbridge > Japan
180 not 190. the 190 was the zt version
Sounds so similar to a B18, awesome vid dan!
Loved this. Would have liked to have had a full breakdown on the Honda part crossover, interesting stuff!
Love MG and always will. I bought a 1.8vvc zr with a dead engine ( Guess why) it was the first car i worked on and became confident working on. One engine swap to a working 1.8vvc, absolutely loved that little chav car! Goos noises, good power and looked council estate!
sounded lovely that!
I'd love to see a K24 swap in a ZS!
Sounds ace on those flybys
Proper under rated council motors these, im sure a b series in one would be a hoot
Effectively a civic MB6, doors and chassis are all the same👌
I own a blue 2002 mg zs 120 with a zr 160 vvc engine swap and it such a great car for spirited driving. I would love to delete the vvc mech and solid cam and bodies but it is so much fun with just a remapped ecu on there to be fair 😊
Danny "Rainsport enjoyer" DC2
Fabulous Dan brilliant action
Cracking video, love these zs I had a couple of 180 one's back in the day
Always wanted one of these love the blue ones. This on song sounds epic🤯
Beautiful car, I had a 414i from 1999 and bone white colour.
It’s definitely a Honda based rover it’s a Honda Mb6 with a rover front end . Brings back some great memories in owned a Mb2 1.8 vti Aerodeck for 12 years about 10 years ago . The fishing mobile, those 4am starts with nobody on the roads we stretched those legs and didn’t spare any of the 179 horses
i use my mb6 as a fishing wagon an aerodeck would defo be more ideal though haha
Ma / Mb Honda style was made by Rover. Specific British car issues that Honda never had. Roof falling on your head, handles breaking more often than you change the oil and stuffs like that. Still engines and mechanical parts were flawless like any other Hondas
You owned a car for 12 years, 10 years ago? You planning to sell up in exactly 2 years time? 😂👍
What I meant was I owned the Aerodeck vti for 12 years it was my fishing car. 10 years ago I regretfully used it for a donor for my Ef civic Renaissance X . So my engine I’ve owned for 22 years . I’ve other B engine it is 33 years old
Got to love a rover 🤘🤘. ,
Need to try the V6
I always liked the Hovers or Rhondas? I remember someone put the front of the MG on an Aerodeck, that was a head scratcher. Great review, I reckon if he tweaks the gear ratios and final drive that will be a lot quicker.
I had an mgzs front end on my mb3, loved that car
Dan these share the same underpinnings as the 5 door mb6. So it’s more EG and DC2 than EK.
I had a ZS for many years, not always as my main car, but i just didn't want to part with it no matter what other car i had at the time.
Definitely one of the best handling fwd cars ever made and their performance and ability far outweighed their specs on paper.
Still miss it to this day, and still wish i hadn't gotten rid to be honest, but i got to a point where i had 5 cars and one had to go so after 7 years of fun we parted ways.
With the storage i have available now i wish i still had it but never mind.
Some fond memories at least.
The title definelty caught my attention 😂 and the fart noise for the Chinese MG caused me to like and subscribe.
perfect
Nice bit of kit that 👌 Can't say I've seen one for donkeys. Cracking video 👍
Mega, the laterV6 sounds really good
I've never driven a Type R of any sort, but I've had a couple of ZS' hatches. Had a ZS120 'Atomix' (BTCC special edition thing) with no power, and a blue ZS180 which I bought for only £250 has someone's psycho-ex had attacked it with a coffee table (true story). There wasn't a straight panel on it, but I really liked it. Proper old school hooligan-type hot hatch with a brutey engine up the front. Probably was a little nose-heavy, though not as much as you'd think, but it was so chuckable and loved to rev. Really underrated cars IMO.
Only got rid of it because the economy was awful for daily chores, and the ride was just too stiff for me. I'm used to French tin, which can sometimes spoil your enjoyment of other cars and nobody seems to do ride/handling balance like the French. I'd happily have another, though.
deffo a car i think you should buy! i had one same but blue and loved it
That car badly needs a gear set and final drive from the zr160 I have zs 180 V6 MK2 factory top speed is 138mph with this set gear box it's 128mpg.
Your welcome to have a go Danny if it interests you
0:26 Mk1 Focus 👌🏻👍🏻🔥💙
they are deffo underated cars, i had 3 zs 180s and they were greay cars, deffo suprised some more expsinve sports cars thats for sure. i wish they had done a zs with the t series turbo engine.
This paired with a k20a would be amazing
Why would you want to fit a worse K series?? 🤔
@@BigAuf_ have you been living under a rock?
Shame the ratios are so long in it, but she deffo had some grip on her ✊😂 well man handled and put in her place as usual though 💪😂
Sounds great!
I think the rev limit is actually low for itb setup and this kind of cams..
8500ish would be better with a shorter final drive,oem 120 is 4.2 which is not bad for a stock but not great for a fully n/a tuned itb setup
I had the 2.5v6 version was a brilliant car to drive
As an MG fan boy who hasn't got to experience one of these yet, I'm happy it got a good review.
Cheers Danny boi and Owner
Buy one! Then you will hate It, sell it and then really miss the personality they have 🤣🤣
@@phur3i0n haha 😂
Maybe you'll get back together again.
I hate messy break ups. Maybe I shouldn't get involved 🤔Thanks for the solid relationship advice lol
@@starfox_wr-45e93 oh no mines dead
Sold and parted out by the new owner even though she was fully running! Poor Louise
Would love to drive one, really like them, and they are something different
My grandad had an MG ZS 2.5 V6 and it sounded great. Had many clutch issues though
clutch issues?
@dannyDC2 Yeah, the clutch went to the floor a lot due to the clutch bracket being made of paper. My grandad had to design his own, as there was no after-market support (at the time)
The bracket isn't the issue it's the release arm it seizes up inside the box which then causes the bracket to bend
nice to see, now we just need to see dannymb6vti which also has pretty long gears in comparison to a dc2
Yes dan
YES. GOOD.
It’s a shame I never got my fake Rover quite right, the clutch master always gave me trouble.
As it was doing 75mph in 2nd it probably has the stock gearbox. A ZR160 box would probably improve that.
See a lot on track days,Best bang for your buck track car?
Maybe more comparable to the civic mb6 shape.
It’s shape it’s exactly the same as a Honda Civic 5 door apart from the front end
Would love to see a review on the String Theory v6 ❤
Is way worse to drive to much weight over the front…
Tbf that car did pretty damn good considering the head gasket didn't blow
That was very impressive. Do you think it would have been able to deal with a 172/182 had the Clio been on the same tyres ?
Eats them for breakfast usually - the owner
Well these were based on the Civic - great handling cars 🚗 I’d love a 180 😮
I now own this car and it will indeed be a 180. The k series went in the bin
This makes me mis my mg zr😪. Car sounds nice👌
What a noise!
Be a good base for a k20/k24 swap, nice looking car
cool cars, i had an MC2 civic which is the same chassis but with the B18c4 and gearbox/diff combo from the DC2
This with a close ratio box would work really well, or even just a FD but gears seem really long
Would like to say i said this at the start of the vid, you mention it every lap 🤣
Can it actually be k24 swapped? 🤔
Cool car
Seems more like an MB6 (Uk 5dr Civic) than DC2. They had very long gears
Need to have a shot of my propa brexit mobile £50 45 once it's going and see what you think of it lad
Yes a k series av got a zr with a turbo on it 18 rover 75 engine with a bit of tweaking doesny hang about and likes to spin the front tyres it is a track car it'll rev to about 7500😅
MG ZR makes a great little rally car...just sayin ;)
discord approved
Had the experience of gyndaf evans and me going round mira test centre in a mg zr rally car. I had 3 laps and felt ill, that car was quick, but the braking was just as sharp.
@@incognito96 the green and grey x-power car?
Rover 25 for Danny’s rally season next year then?
I've got a mg tf 160 vvc you should have a go in one you will be surprised
Amazing cars dann👌🏻👌🏻😎👏👏Btcc
In New Zealand these cars came with the B16 vtec engine. I was in a car parts yard many years ago and come across one not knowing. First I was confused, I thought to myself it must have been an engine swapped..? To my astonishment, it was a genuine factory built car with all the original vin plates stating B16 vtec MG.
That's not true
The R8 Rovers did have both SOHC & DOHC D16 motors but non were VTEC. Here in the UK the best out of those are the 216/416 GTI/GSI with a 130bhp DOHC D16.
Τhere was only a r400 auto version with a honda 1.6 engine
Have you driven an RX-8 yet? Happy for you to try my CSCC Trophy car in the new year if you fancy it?
@DannyDC2
I wanna see u drive a high power rover 220 turbo if anyone has one
It's so cool haah!
i liked the 180 i had was shit quality wise as expected but was way more fun than the is200 i had before it
It's nothing like a dc2 integra which was more like a eg civic. This mg zs is actually based on an mb6 civic chassis and is more comparable with the mb6 vti. Would love to see a battle between the two tbh honest but my money would be on the b series powered civic.
get lashed the civic man haha. Not actually sure what engine is in this as he mentions no vvc at the end. Get a final drive in it and an lsd
Aye a stock one Vs this one but not like for like. Think the mb had a shite final drive also
MG zs / mb6 platform are domani based which has nothing to do with the ek. Its more eg9/db8 than ek. The subframe and upper control arms are all eg. Mb6 was my first honda and its build quality was awful compared to the ek platform i moved onto to. Felt cheap and shit. You really could feel the roverness lol.
Wants dropping in a metro with small short nos and short ratio box off 1.4
I once got done for speeding in a integrale, the copper said i was doing 59 mph in a 30 zone and if would have been doing 1 mph more i would have been banned 😮
I said i ws only in second gear 😁
Is it bad I am watching at again with my headphones on 😂
Wierd fact. Honda and Rover actually worked side by side with the 200 and the Ek civic. Many of the parts are a straight swap.
i dont think that's quite accurate, maybe the 400/45 and the EK. I remember looking before if the ZR was an EK and it isn't
Real ones know its all about the rover K swap
BREXIT GEEZERZ
No its an MB with a k in it lol
Brexit mb6 yes, wouldnt say dc2 lol
I don’t know if it’s me, or the camera in the car, but it sounds like you’re wringing out a particularly unpleasant sounding 4-cylinder diesel.
something wrong with your speakers/ears
@@dannyDC2
Tried it on the TV too. Must be my ears…
Low down slow speed sounded a bit transit like to me, but everywhere else sounded good
@@GregK2 glad it’s not just me, or my ears.