Real Road Test: MG Maestro 2.0 EFi with Classic Car Loan Project
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ก.พ. 2023
- I make the case for the MG Maestro being a worthy hot hatch - taking ordinary and making it great fun. Just a shame they didn't get it right straight away...
Car supplied by classiccarloanproject.co.uk
Intro filmed at the beautiful 14th Century (Classic Car Show on 16th July 2023) www.hedinghamcastle.co.uk
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I owned one for five years in the late 80s early 90s and loved it to bits. It never let me down once. Still one of my favourite cars to this day. Great review you've confirmed that it's a great car and I've not been looking back at it with rose tinted glasses. Does anyone remember the advertising billboard that had a picture of the MG Maestro with the slogan MG MAESTRO 0-60 IN 8.5 THE GOLF GTI WILL BE ALONG IN A SECOND.
Yes I do. Remember it well. I have an image of that two page spread advert on my files. O Series one of the most reliable lumps in the known Universe. I believe it was originally intended as an upgrade for the MGB until the wound up production of MGBs. All mine were and are even in Turbocharged form. See my post above..
Clever marketing 😁
That made me giggle about the golf GTi will be along in a second! i wonder if the turbo variant would give the fords escort S1 turbo a head ache
VW should answer back...The GTI will be going at 200,000 miles,and this won't.
@@adams7405 WRONG. Serial owner of these MG cars from the 1980s I can confirm they are capable of huge mileages in excess of 200,000 miles. My son has an example showing 240,000 reliable miles. His partner's daily driver is a twenty year old Golf with 160,000. Both nice cars but I prefer the MGs and Rovers with that O-Series lump.
The likes of Journos Wilson and Clarkson etc and all the Clarkson wannabees put German automotive product on too high a pedestal. I often wonder why. No I do not, I know why.
Thanks to the UK motoring media's brainwashing over far too many years, yes incessant brainwashing, my always buys German friend is convinced my MGs and Rovers are so reliable is because of their .. wait for it. Honda engines. None of my MG and Rover cars have Honda engines. My two wheeled bikes did though. They all have Rover engines with one exception. One of my MGs has an old Ford engine in it! It has eight cylinders and a galloping chrome equine on the throttle body.
My MG Montego turbo I've had for over twenty years has a Turbocharger attached to it's two litre Rover/MG O-Series engine. It is hardly run in though at a mere 74,000 miles.
Clearly @adams7405 you appear to have studied at the Wilson/Clarkson Academy of Automotive opinion excellence and passed with flying colours.
All the Clarkson wannabees will bad mouth UK Automotive product and in no time they be millyonaires just like Old Farmer Clarkson now is up on the Cotswold Grasslands. You better believe it ... 😎
That scheme is incredible , I salute that in a world that's quite questionable . That's really cheered me up .
Had a silver A reg MG 1600 back in 1988. Swapped my Ambassador for it. It was off road after a "small" under bonnet fire. Got it home and them my dad who worked for BL in the RD dept in Birmingham took it away for the apprentice's to look at and fix. Three months later it came back. All smart and straight, same engine just a little bigger CC, interior all clean and with red seat belts, the dash all working including the voice synthesizer. Brakes were now discs all around and the whole thing had been lowered by 1 inch according to my dad. It would eat XR3i's and once it p**sed all over an RS2000. Good care free days. Wonder what happened to it? Big smile on my face as I watched this vid, brought back all those fond and cheap petrol memories. Nice one.
Forgot to say I swapped it for a Renault Fuego.....chick magnet.
Nice dad, lucky boy.
I can imagine it is long dead.
@@stuartmcdonald5772 I passed my driving test in my Dad's Fuego back in 1983, and got to share it with him for six months before I got my own car, and I can confirm that it's ability to get the right kind of female attention was something else. Sadly, this dropped off a bit when I got my first car of my own. A 1977 Mark2 Escort 1.1L. In metallic green...🤣🤣🤣🤢👍
I had an A Reg MG Maestro 1600 with the notorious twin Webber carbs balancing them was a nightmare. I remember taking to a carb specialist who put different pins in the carbs it was better but still had many of the problems especially from hot starting. A friend of mine bought an EFI variant which was a vast leap forward in terms of refinement and reliability, plus it had a sunroof
I can't unsee the Maestro when I see a Hyundai IONIQ 5 now.
More Princess I think.
Castle Hedingham - that's the site of many days out when I was in single digits, mostly with my grandparents. That meant being ferried around in a 1979 Datsun Violet with a very wobbly speedo needle.
Also, mostly of relevance to those aged around 40-45, some of the larger rooms inside the castle were filmed, heavily digitally altered and used to create the scenery in series 4 of Knightmare. What remains of Anglia Television can still be proud of that now.
My art teacher had a dark purple datsun violet. I though it was cool. My head master had a datson sunny. In green, I used to wash it for him once a week. I used to often catch myself on the rust.
Fun fact
The guys that built the castle were also involved in the design of the Maestro
@@Pyjamarama11
They don't make 'em like that any more.
I had it's big brother the montego, white over black 1985,and to this day it is the favourite car I have owned, comfortable, lovely gear change, and surprisingly very reliable.
I only had a 1.6L Montego G409LYA gun metal grey..totally agree best car iv'e ever owned ..and i now drive Jags..would love another Montego
My boss had two, the 1st he wrote off falling asleep at the wheel on his way home. He was lucky not to get injured. I thought it was a real good looking car.
It is a crime what bad management and the Unions did to British owned car makers.
Lovely film thanks - I grew up in Castle Hedingham and my father had a Montego Countryman ... same dashboard, so this vid brought back great memories!
I used to drive one regularly for quite some time, it was a very sprightly car and as you say, rather rattley. I also had a good few terrifying voyages in an MG Maestro Turbo which had been highly tuned by a company in Wales (forget the name), that vehicle was insane and caused many a brown trouser moment.
Rattily ? .., a lot were ragged and scrapped , you got that one and it had had a life before then . I myself had a good example and they still rattled here and there ha ha , but it was a good car and fun my goodness such FUN , where did driving fun go ? . I blame Europe .
ALL cars rattled in the 80s.
Can't say my dad's Nissan Bluebird did...
205 would be my pick, but I'd take a Maestro over any of the others.
I drove a 205 for about a hour in the late 80s after getting out of my Fiat 131 and a Mk2 Scirocco, it felt tinny and very underwhelming. Of course it was French and made in an ex-Rootes factory…..
"it's like going on a date with Dorris and finding out she wants to go clubbing". That has to be the best automotive analogy ever. Perhaps that's why there was a Clubman version available.
I had a black one C522LTA it was one of the best cars I ever owned, quick enough handle great and was very reliable but sadly died of terminal rust.
Yeah you really had to keep on top of the rust. That’s what killed my first one.
The Maestro is such a nice car that I've got a soft spot for these days. I remember seeing an MG badged Maestro in the Pet Shop Boys West End Girls video but couldn't tell what model it was. That is a really good idea of loaning a classic car.
off to watch the Pet Shop Boys now
Great stuff! As an MG enthusiast and owner here in the US, I've had to learn about the Metro/Maestro/Montego via books and photos, as we never got them here. So it was interesting to see a Meastro out and about. I love the gutsy engine note!
We have examples of both MG Montego and Maestro turbos in the family fleet. Our oldest car, a normally aspirated MG Metro which was the oldest Longbridge built MG at the superb MG-40 car event last summer. We would like to add an MG Metro turbo to the family but like most tidy MGs from that 1980s era, prices have gone silly high now. All those are fun cars to both to own and drive..
So THAT’s what this car was here in my village for! Loved seeing this coming down my road in Castle Hedingham when you were filming, and you drove past my house!!
I adored the Maestro. Popped into a garage at the time and picked up a launch brochure. Got to ride in one in about 1984 and was bowled over by the spaciousness and comfort. I thought it was great looking and never impressed by Harold Musgrove's attitude to it.
My cousin had one of these. It was only eighteen months old when they bought it and was already corroding, but it was alovely car....... HALCYON DAYS. Many thanks for bringing us this.
My dad bought a F-Reg 1988 1.3L Special Edition in red when they first launched it. I had the pleasure of driving it just after i passed my driving test, and absolutely loved being behind the wheel.
I learnt to drive in a Metro, so moving up to a Maestro was exciting!
I miss that Maestro, but I always wanted an MG Maestro Turbo but could never afford the insurance at the time.
Still miss my white MG Maestro 2.0, had a really late one, it was an absolute hoot to drive and sounded great. Had a Mk2 Golf GTi after it and it wasn't a patch on the Maestro.
Don't let the VW guys here you say that.
@@chrishart8548 Very true. As Cpl Jones would have it. Gerry does not like it up 'em.
Do NOT even think about mentioning the 505 Maestro Turbos.
My first car was a Montego 1.6.till I found a rotten mg 2.0 montego in a scrap yard.bought it for £100 pound. In my summer holidays ( 2 week shutdown) swapped everything mechanical over to mine. It was a proper sleeper wheel trims and AA badges. In white I was 18. The nineties where great 😂
Agree the nineties were the best era by far
Another great video!
I owned an earlier 1600 MG Maestro for a while, same colour as the EFi in this video too. With the twin Webers, it sounded amazing, but it drank fuel like it was going out of fashion. The talking digital dash was fun too. I had to replace the head gasket on the engine, and afterwards the dashboard voice went from English to total gibberish. It wasn't a recognisable language that I knew of, not sure what went wrong but it was hilarious to listen to. I quite enjoyed owning it, but I can't for the life of me remember what happened to it!
That's hilarious 🤣 it's del boy stuff .
Given the era these were produced in, I wonder if the Maestro's talking dashboard was based on the same technology as the optional speech synthesiser in the BBC Micro, which was made by Texas Instruments. Just a guess based on the BBC Model B with speech upgrade I had, that did exactly the same thing - it sounded a bit like a language but was more a weird garbled mess. Original parts are unobtainium now, but enterprising people have created workalike replacements to get them going again.
I've also just discovered that the MG dashboard's voice was a recording of the actress Nicolette McKenzie. The BBC computer used a recording of Kenneth Kendall the newsreader.
I owned an 88 plate E reg back in the day, absolutely brilliant car, great fun to drive and I always, always remember Performance Car Magazine having one as a long term test car and loving it. I part exchanged it for an MG Maestro Turbo which was simply incredible to drive, it was so fast. These cars were seriously under rated 👍👍
C505 EOD my 1st car was a Maestro, 1.3 City poverty spec and I loved that little champ of a thing for showing me my corner of the world, sleep well chap.
Had a Vanden Plas and an MG, both electronic dash with the talking computer, Which was famous for folk crashing in the 80s and while sitting on it's roof the talking computer would report low oil level. Fun days!
I think I just gave this vid its 2500th like :-) Enjoyable vid as usual HN, and one sort of close to my heart. I became a Rover nut in 2001 with a 93 214Si and later a 94 420 GSi Turbo. Hanging around on Rover/MG forums back in those days taught me about these and their Montego brothers. A friend of mine had a Monty turbo, it was a shed but so much fun.
Also, really great review/roadtest Ian.. Loving the static camera drive-by shots, pretty location etc Great video. 👍
Always had a bit of a soft spot for the Maestro! The Classic Car Loan Project looks very interesting too, something I'm going to seriously consider for the warmer summer months now! An good range of cars available too. Looks like it could be the perfect entry for the next generation of classic car enthusiasts.
In the late 1980's I fairly regularly got a Hertz hire car for a one way trip from Hatfield in Hertfordshire to Manchester, a distance of about 160 miles. Now Hertz had an eclectic fleet which included some MG Maestros like this one. As usual the cars were fully fueled when picked up. This was the only car that I had to refuel part way through the journey - I think partly because I drove it 'like a hire car' and partly because the fuel tank was sized assuming a much more frugal engine. Happy days!
"This is like going on a date with Doris and finding out she wants to go clubbing" may be the most evocative description for a "sleeper" car ever. By one of those strange coincidences, I was leafing through my 1986 copy of French magazine's Auto Hebdo's yearly catalogue and had reached the "Grande-Bretagne" section. Right there at the bottom of page 71 is the Maestro 2.0 EFI. Different colour, the one in the mag is red, but otherwise identical to your test car. So, in a couple of minutes I went from reading a short description of a car I knew almost nothing of, to knowing how it drives and feels plus a bit of its history.
Remember Grange Hill, Danny dying in the back of Mr Bronson's Maestro
I'm so glad you're doing reviews again!
A greatly underrated car. After 4 fabulous Alfasuds, when a baby came along, after a false start with the carb 1600 which spent most of its time in the garage trying to get the mixture right and cure the overheating, I picked up a "family saloon" 2.0Efi and it was fabulous. Would stay with the Alfas through the bends and out run them on the straight, all while returning 34mpg+. Reliable as well and looked OK with the body mods.
I had a 1985 C reg silver 2.0 Efi from June 89 to Jan 95. Must admit I loved it as it was the first car I had that was guaranteed to start regardless of the weather! The low down torque was great, the engine as gruff as they came, and it rusted on every panel possible, but of all of the fwd cars I have owned only a Mondeo had a sweeter gear change.It only broke down once (sheared gear lever linkage ironically), and it only needed two replacement wheel bearings. The wheel alignment went out of spec every other week though. I replaced it with a Peugeot 309 Sri, which other than having a far superior ride and 100% better rust protection, could not touch the MG's performance or fuel economy, but as it ran on unleaded fuel it actually worked out cheaper to run.
In the mid-1980s I were interested in the Austin Maestro because I really liked its shape. However, there weren't enough dealers and garages here in Germany to guarantee a good supply, I bought a Citroen GSA Special in Colorado-beige. There was a better supply of dealers and garages in Germany, especially at my hometown. I also found the hydropneumatic suspension fascinating. And so I have stayed with Citroen to this day, with all sorts of Citroen vehicles that I have driven over the decades.
The classic car loan project sounds great, I'm glad you mentioned a garage was required before I filled in the form, love an MG maestro 🙂
Memories of my mother's MG Metro, in which I was let loose as a 17yr old to prevent me getting a motorbike! Had red seatbelts, spotlights, and those same alloys. Was terribly unreliable, but I didn't care, because as far as I was concerned, I was Tony Pond, razzing around the back lanes of Dorset in a 6R4 😀
I had one as a company car. "e" reg, it no longer had the alloy wheels, no power steering, no electric windows, but it did have red seat belts. I added the upgraded stereo as an extra. The only let down over 110,000 miles was the electric radiator fan at around 70,000 miles. It was a delight, so my next car, a Vauxhall Cavalier SRi, was a disappointment by comparison; not least because of poor reliability. OK, the looks were not so great but, sat inside, that is not a problem and that was how to enjoy it the most. Thanks for the post, fond memories.
Great video. You’d never guess that you were dealing with the stress of a misplaced phone and a car having mechanical issues
Yay! A proper HubNut review. More of these please.
Years ago I used to drive a Maestro van and it really did go like the proverbial s**t off a shovel. I loved it!
Brilliant video Ian, the car makes a great noise!
My old boss in the early 80’s ordered a brand new top of the range HLS in bright red as it was very difficult to get the MG at the time. He had it 3 weeks and was out for the day with his wife and 2 kids when suddenly smoke started pouring into the car. He managed to stop and get everyone out just before it burst into flames. By the time the Fire Brigade turned it was a melted mess, he was very thankful they were not on the fast lane of a motorway at the time. Ironically his father was a director at BL and arranged an urgent collection by a truck and covered trailer. Later investigation found that the wiring loom had been badly damaged when the car was built. It didn’t put him off BL as he then had a Montego which was comparatively trouble free.
Love this Ian ! You are a natural at this, brilliant wordsmith , which more than makes up for your cack handedness with tools lol.
I was missing the road tests, glad they are back.
I was a passenger in a Montego Countryman back in the day. It was brand new. Traveling down the M4 the passenger window fell out. Good old Lex Meade Cardiff. I always liked the Maestro shape.
Had one in 1996, an E reg (E111 WRH), spent a fortune on it, full respray in Ford Azure blue, even at 9 years old it needed new rear arches, two front doors a tailgate and a bonnet due to rust, fitted 2" lower, Moto Build suspension, Janspeed exhaust, MG Montego wheels which were 1" wider than the Maestro ones, loved it, felt proper fast back then, swapped it in 98 for a 76 Pontiac Firebird which was a stupid move (my first Yank, bought in the rain, it was rotten)
Excellent review, enjoyed this one very much.
Do have a soft spot for Austin Rovers of that era, have many a pleasant memory as a kid going to dealer's with my dad in North Yorkshire, one dealership in Bradford made famous in the drama "Winning Streak" staring the Metro 6R4, we even walked into the showroom whilst the film crew had the all the lights and stuff in place, the garage was called something different in the program but it was actually called "Appleyard" I remember this because my dad bought a brand new 1985 C reg Austin Metro 1.0 City in Targa Red from there, personally I've owned an Austin Metro 1.0L, a Rover 214Si and 3 Austin Maestro Diesel's on three separate occasions, always fancied a Maestro or Montego 2.0 injecton, love the sound they make !! 😊
Absolutely brilliant video Ian ❤️ 👍 what a lovely car brilliant
I absolutely adored both the maestro and the montego
In my younger days I was lucky enough to own both in turbo form & also diesel form too
Although yes the turbo versions are fun to drive on country roads etc
But top of the tree for me had to be the 2.0 diesel
Absolutely brilliant mpg handfuls of torque
And if I'm honest very good performance
These had the making of a really good car
But as you said
It was all let down by the strikes at the time & just shoddy build Quality
But even today I would happily swap any of the cars I have for a maestro or montego
Absolutely loved this video
Would love for you to do a test on my mondeo diesel
Currently sitting on 258000 miles
I loved the design of the Maestro from the start. It was available here in Germany, but didn't sell that well. Wish I could find one, they were pretty modern for the eighties.
I bought an H plate MG for £280 from 'round the back ' at a Peugeot dealer about 30 years ago:) it was the 2.0 litre EFI. Cost me about £100 to sort it out.
Quick fun car! Swapped it about six months later for an Austin Metro GTA.. basically an MG metro with black wheel arches etc. Much more fun:)
My parents had the VDP Montego, I had the privilege of driving it a few times it always felt special with it very light steering. Very different to my 205 pug 1.9 GTI. Both cars have good memories
My Dad had red one, which he could not cope with as it talked to him! I seem to remember it was quite fast but the woman's voice which wouldn't shut up, called its death knell.
My first car was an MG Metro, how I lusted after the MG Maestro though!
Fabulous video Ian 👍 I always fancied a MG Maestro myself.
My late father had a MG 2.0 Maestro and he loved it! 😊
Hugely underrated cars the Maestro and Montego. My parents owned an 84 A 1.3L in the mid 80's and the only problem they ever had was with the auto choke as I recall. I have owned an 89 F Montego saloon 1.6L (which did well over 100k miles without ever letting me down), a 90 G Montego estate 1.6L and finally a 94 L Maestro Clubman Turbo D. That absolutely flew and was very adept at embarrassing tailgating BMW's! All of my cars were bought between 5 & 10 years of age and not one of them caused me any major problems. Would still love an MG Maestro or Montego, especially a late one. Incidentally by the time of my 94 Maestro it had gained the later Montego dash (89 MY onwards), which was a big improvement so the Maestro went through three dashboard iterations!
I had a 2.0 EFI.. What a car.. fuel consumption was poor due to it having a chunk of pull.. I was young and poor and had to run it constantly low on fuel as when the fuel light came on, it used less fuel. every now and again, I'd put half a tank in and go and have some fun.
A friend of mine had one of these back in the day. His was a couple of years old. He was about 5 foot 2 and a decided lead foot. Sadly passed late last year. 4 of us went from Kent up to the NEC, very quickly! Very much a negative was the way the floor pan drummed/resonated when cruising at 90 plus. Can Any previous owners confirm this? Maybe his car was an odd one.
Had a late 2.0i in the 90s, loved it. Narrowly missed out on an early car that sold yesterday at Mathewson's.
Another brilliant car review from Hubnut. Great stuff!
My grandad had a Maestro vanden Plas in metallic pea. It was the talking version that told you if your seat belt was undone. He had it for at least 10 years. I always liked the shape of the car myself.
Superb Classic Hubnut Video !!
What a great car! And also the loan scheme. My grandad had a 1984 1.6 HLE in a strange pinkish metallic red with the infamous talking dash. He then had several Montegos after that. I always loved the design of the dash.
The maestro looked so cool in the west end girls mv! Next to the mk3 escort!
I think that's very good looking really. The subtle paintwork and detailing really do it a lot of favours. Dash (other than the tacho) is exactly the same as the Metro, which also had that nice 'graph paper' marking, albeit in green
Pretty sure the dash pod is actually the same, and interchangeable, was also used in taxis. Metro's had green, yellow or red accents in the dash clocks, depending on spec, and the higher spec ones did also have the tacho, even on some models without the tacho, the wiring was there, so you could just plug in a dash with a tacho, and it worked. Later Rover Metros also had the same dash pod, but with different faces and an integrated clock, and again, interchangeable, with either a 110, 130 or 150 speedo, depending on spec.
My dad had two Maestro's which I would borrow sometimes it was so roomy n light. It could of been a great car if the build quality was better. Great to have you back road testing 👍
Great video. A proper MG with driving thrills.
I owned one from 85to 90 never had any mechanical issues with it but it did rust quite badly and I really want another one now 👍🏻🏴
I think the Maestro had an “old man” image back in the day! I had a company Montego which I quite liked!
Wow, this brings back memories - I had the 1600 R Series MG in this same colour but mine had the earlier talking dash. Ran ok and sounded great... for a while. My Dad's mate tuned the webber carbs for me with a pipe stuck in his ear because before that it became so out of tune that flames would shoot out of the inlets when the air filter was off. It was hilarious. The talking dash always kept me company too by reporting random catastrophic messages that weren't true. Replaced it with a tuned Montego Turbo and that thing was utterly bonkers and downright terrifying in the wet if i was heavy with my right foot. Loved them both though!
I had a couple of maestros back in the day, neither of them MGs, but I still look back on them with fondness. A hoot on a backroad, and no one paid you the slightest attention. Oh, and, yes, those jigsaw puzzle dashboards used to squeak and creak like mad!
Another honest and fact filled video from the hub himslf. Cheers.
Great vid. Always loved the Maestro.
Another good video, well done 👍
My social worker when I was a kid had one. It was a British Racing Green one on an 89 G. Remember many outings in it as a kid. Thought it was such a cool car as a kid.
Great review thanks Ian
Lovely and have seen the Austin/Rover advert with Noel Edmonds and 2.0 Maestro EFI in it.1985 I think. Where I live I still see a black MG Maestro Turbo and I think there's less than 5 of them left in that colour now. Only 49 was in black and it's still stock.
Also i believe the maestro is 40 years old this year too! thanks for showing it off! Last time i saw one in person was at MG live 2013, for some reason MG never give these are mention at all, The lad had the only MG maestro there sadly, in fact the only maestro there. I do see a few things that went over to the mk2 metro and even the mk3 metro too. The dash clocks, are the same as the metro ones, but are cut down, and the fuse box i believe was later used on the metro too, also the hubs were used for the Mk 3 metro and MGF, so some bits of it still hung on right till end of the MGF LE. Also i believe there was an Maestro cup in the 80s one was driven by tony pond. Be great if you could get a turbo on the channel, that would be well nice to see what the story is with those. From what i have heard, they were not slow cars either!
I worked for an Austin rover dealers in the stores.
I loved that colour and the interior was a very comfortable
I had 2 of the carb'd Maestro's A720 GUT & A170 DEC use to love them never a ounce of trouble with either of them,and fairly quick use to eat them XR3i's,had a clutch fit in one of them and the mechanic told me the engine was a scaled down maxi engine 👍
I really enjoyed that video. Nice location.
I once had a neighbour who had an almost identical MG EFi - a very impressive car in my view, and he really enjoyed it, racking up high miles in it. A very smart, and sadly underrated car. I like them a lot!
I really like these and the MG Montego. My brother in law had one of the latter and was very complimentary of it
In the early 90’s I had a 1983 Maestro 1.6 VdP and absolutely loved it. Comfortable, relatively quick and the added benefit of the lady in the dash, telling you to put on your seatbelt….. at least you could switch her voice off (unlike my first wife…🤣)
Personal opinion is that I thought it was a good looking car then and I still think that now. If only the build quality and management/ workforce relationships had been a little better…… 😢
That Dash is almost identical to my old Montego's dash, but it was very practical and it did have
the fibre optic lit decals on all of the switches.
The Maestro did have some uptake in the commercial market. A friend of mine had the same model
as you're driving here as his company car, but his had the notorious "Talking Dashboard". Yes, it didn't
last very long. Both Montego and Maestro models rotted away with rust almost instantly.
Where on Earth did your example come from, there isn't a spot of rust on it !!
Did my work experience in that castle in '98...and my form room at Hedingham school looked out over castle
Great car. Lovely to watch this review.
Back in the day we had a Montego 1.6 and a BMW 1.8. Hard to believe now but we used the Montego most. Build quality wasn't as good but the Montego was a better drive, more comfortable, much nimbler in the twisties and more economical.
Later we were given a Maestro 2.0 non-runner didn't take long to get sorted & sold but I always regretted it - great thing to hustle and loads of space for dump runs etc.
My grandad had a Maestro and it as probably the most reliable car he ever had over 10 years! Well designed cars with a few quirks which didnt date well but overall was a nice package. Its a shame the build quality wasn't there, this example rattles just as much as any. Point on Spen kings design work, although the SD1 has a simpler suspension than the P6 (done on cost grounds) it wasn't quite as good as the P6 suspension. Arguably it was way more cost efficient for what it gave! Its great to see the classic loan project in action, my only gripe is that once a younger person is convinced after this year loan to look for a classic and see the prices being asked for pre-90s cars.. it puts them off. Prices have to drop from where they are currently otherwise projects like this won't have the impact ot was intended. Great video as usual Ian :)
I had a red 1.3 L as my first company car. Wasn't in any way fast accelerating, but I swear it could go round corners like a rally car. And given the lack of power it was the only way you could make decent progress, ie- by slowing down as little as possible. In the end it died in the persuit of speed, throwing a rod at an indicated 90mph while going downhill. I then got a 218 SLD as a replacement, which was also thrashed mercilessly. Fortunately that proved unbreakable.
I had ones of these, identical to the video. D533ERV . In 1992. 19 years old! Could not get the insurance on a xr2/xr3i . But the MG i could. Loved it ! Just as fast as the fords!
Great stuff! Grew up around there and got married at Hedingham Castle.
My Dad was invited to do a test drive in a maestro 1.3hl back in 1982/3 in Gloucester. He was not impressed with the car as he was a fan of BMW/VW at the time. As a Thank You he was given a Metamec Quartz carriage clock which is still working today.
It's the same story that kept happening with American and British cars in the '70s and '80s: introduce a new model with design flaws, reliability problems, and lackluster drivetrains, and then incrementally improve it and eventually turn it into a decent car, but only after disappointed owners and bad press causes it to gain a poor reputation.
I had a white one same year same wheels but white. Brought at auction for £75 with 2 days mot my dad went nuts but it shot through the mot had it 6 months it was brilliant. So I went mini 1275gt allegro 1750 equipe escort XR3 carb model, mk1 astra gte then the mg Meastro 2.0efi all brought for less than £200
Great little test drive Ian, gutted no red seat belts through.
Will have to give the classic Car Loan project a look.
My primary school headmaster Mr Johns had an E reg Maestro which I remember him buying brand new in '87. He was a lovely man and I always think of him whenever I see a Maestro
Always makes me giggle when I see bits of my land rover (92 disco 1) in other cars. Those indicator/wiper stalks. Unmissable. (and exceptionally well made!)
Literally saw my old discovery on the drive when you hit the backroads 😂
My physics teacher had one at high school he loved it .o love that colour and always wanted to build a lightweight land rover in that blue with mg seats and armed strip. Sadly that's still on my list of projects to do one day
I REALLY LIKE the look, always have !!