Horney's MG ZT+ 135 CDTI "The Gentleman’s Conveyance "

[Horney]

It was designed by Rover and then rebadged as an MG!

It's not just a rebadge though, there are a load of differences and infact it was styled by Rover but a lot of the fit and finish and engineering design is BMW. It has a BMW engine and BMW Z axel rear suspension. Not to mention over the 75 it has a different spring and damper rates as well as all the subframes and steering rack being solid mounted with cast ali pieces replacing the rubber mounts. Driving a ZT vs 75 is night and day. One's a wafter the other a sports tourer.

But hey keep the bashing coming, I'd rather have 2K in my back pocket than drive something with VW or Audi badge just to keep up with the joneses. I already have my fun cars, this is just the work hack and why would I want to pay more for something I didn't even really want?

Nick

[VeeDubGTI16v]

rover rover rover rover rover

 

[Horney]

rover rover rover rover rover

 

[SoundillusioN]

[Wayne]

It was designed by Rover and then rebadged as an MG!

Wrong, it was designed by BMW who at the later stages switched it to fwd so as not to harm sales of the 5 series also as Nick said they did a lot more than rebadge it as a MG.

[The Mighty Elvi]

Wrong, it was designed by BMW who at the later stages switched it to fwd so as not to harm sales of the 5 series also as Nick said they did a lot more than rebadge it as a MG.

Nope.  It was designed by Richard Wolley.  The quotes are from him.

http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/index.php?thepage=richard_woolley

"In the early days of 75's design, Rover were looking at doing 3 different product offerings, only one of which made it to production i.e. the 75."

When BMW became the new owners of Rover, were there any discussions to have the 75 as a rear-wheel drive model and utilise the German platforms – or even develop an all-new chassis for this purpose instead?

"The 75 was always going to be a new front wheel drive platform. We never looked at a rear drive option. What we did look at, was using the old BMW 5 Series platform (which was of course rear drive) for the Flagship project, but this idea died with the car. "

[Wayne]

^^Well the plot thickens, when they did the V8 version it needed so little work to convert to rwd, something does not seem right it even has a transmission tunnel.

[snifferdog]

Ive been offered a 2.5 V6 190 ZT for a reasonable price and Im really tempted after seeing the pics of this!

Then again, I moan about how much petrol I have to put in the 1.4 ZR so it might not be a wise move  

Its looking real good now its had the treatment anyway mate!!  

[bobbarley]

Ive been offered a 2.5 V6 190 ZT for a reasonable price and Im really tempted after seeing the pics of this!

MY dad used to have one.  Hello 25mpg 

[Horney]

^^Well the plot thickens, when they did the V8 version it needed so little work to convert to rwd, something does not seem right it even has a transmission tunnel.

The tunnel in the 75 is there for shell rigidity in the original design. When it came to the V8 this meant that little had to be done to change the shell to run the prop down the car. I think the rear suspension being the Z axle also helped hugely in housing the LSD and driveshafts.

Whatever the specifics, BMW had a huge hand in the design and implementation of the 75 and it has won handfuls of awards even years after it went out of production. MGR cars have a stigma attached to them that in not every case is exactly fair. I think had they managed to build the 25/45 replacement and it have been as good quality wise as the 75 then they would still be going strong today.

Nick