MG ZT-T + CDTI Estate car , first registered 1.3.03 and finished in Trophy Blue with black interior..

This has been my own car for the past two years, and to be perfectly honest, I ‘m in two minds about selling it because it’s a damn good example, took me over a year to find, and I’ve had all the usual Rover 75/MG ZT weak spots (cooling fan, clutch, air mass meter) sorted. It’s also got a rare and sought-after specification, including sat-nav and TV.

The problem, though, is that I’m now a family man, and the amount of stuff you need to carry about with two young children is awe-inspiring, and while the double buggy will just about go in, there ain’t then room for much else! So I’ve bought a very practical but far less characterful Volvo V70, and really I SHOULD sell the ZT, but I don’t really want to, and certainly won’t be heartbroken if it takes a little while to go; I can always fit a roof box when we go on holiday…

This one is actually quite a rare beastie. Trophy Blue is the colour that everyone wants, and as I say, this one has also got the sat-nav/TV option. This is rare and sought-after enough on the Rover 75 version, but this is the only diesel ZT with sat-nav that I’ve seen in four years!! I’ve also fitted a ‘Roveron’ tuning module which boosts BHP to up to 145 – so it’s a CDTi plus 10bhp!!

It’s also got good spec elsewhere, sensible miles and had just one owner before me; Leaseplan. I didn’t know this at the time of purchase, but they’d actually leased it to EMAP, (a large publishing company I was once in a senior position with), and it was used by an Editor at trade price guide CAP!!

I’ll come back to all that in a moment though – first a few words on the 75/ZT range in general; ‘regular readers’ can skip the next two paragraphs as you know what’s coming next…

These are superb cars and great value for money – I have sold more than 50 of them in the past couple of years. If you’ve never been in or driven one before, you need to banish from your mind totally any image of eighties and early nineties Rovers with rattling trim, loose screws, glue-stains on the headlining etc. The ZT is truly in a totally different league. It was designed and entered production while MG/Rover was under BMW ownership, and used BMW expertise – and many BMW components – to the full. That includes in this case a BMW diesel engine that is easily the best in its class in terms of refinement, performance and economy – 45mpg is no problem. It’s got a chain-driven camshaft - so no breaking belts to worry about.

In short, the ZT is the right car – especially in diesel form. It was also made in the right way from the start, and by a superb workforce who didn’t deserve to be dumped on as they were by a management whose main interest was lining their own pockets. It offers today’s used car buyer quality to rival that of Audi, BMW and Mercedes. The MG/Rover, however, comes at a fraction of the price of the overpriced German offerings.

The ZT differed from the standard Rover 75 in having lowered and improved sports suspension – someone once told me that there were over 50 little differences between the ZT and Rover 75 steering and suspension. It all works very well indeed too. It’s also got the distinctive body styling and revised interior trim..

And in the diesel, you’ve got all those sports improvements, all the at quality and durability of the Rover 75 AND the potential for 45mpg fuel consumption. Low road tax too – currently £140 a year….

Right; back to this car. Here’s the full spec list;

Highline satellite navigation system including colour TV and a 2005 sat-nav disc.

Dual-zone digital climate control – ice-cold!

Top of the range symphony sound system with finger-tip controls

Six-disc CD changer

18in Alloy wheels – AND a full-size ALLOY spare!

Electric door mirrors

Roof bars (quite rare on ZTs)

Roll-up rear loadspace cover

Plastic loadspace liner

Electric windows all round

Driver, passenger and side airbags

Remote central locking

This one’s got a good history too – PDI plus six stamps, five from the same (ex) Rover main dealer, the sixth from my garage. It was serviced at 12,067 (22.9.03), 24,057 (6.4.04), 35,370 (9.11.04), 47,005 (15.6.05) 58,045 (6.1.06) and 70,176 (11.4.07) so slap-bang up to date servicing, and not due another for 7,000 miles. The car is, Mot’d until April 2009, has just been fitted with a new clutch and aircon/cooling fan and has also had a replacement air-mass meter fitted during my ownership, along with all four tyres. In other words, the three things that typically fail at about 80,000 miles on diesel 75s have been done already, so you won’t have to!! Oh, almost forgot. The car is fitted with a Roverron tuning module which boosts power to up to 145bhp and is fully ‘adjustable’ so that you can set it to suit your own driving needs – more low down power, better torque, higher top-end etc., etc., I put this on the car just over a year ago and really cannot recommend it highly enough – for more details log on to http://tuning-diesels.com - but bear in mind that the synergy 1 module advertised for £179 is included FREE – it’s also easily removed if you don’t want it!

Bodily I’d say this car is in very good overall condition for the age – and let’s face it, Trophy Blue really is THE colour for a ZT! Being ultra-critical, there are a few ‘loading’ scratches on the rear bumper and a very shallow – and visible only in the right light – indentation in the bonnet. A couple of the alloys have got some lightish kerbing marks tooBut that’s about it, and overall it’s a great looking car which I’ve been proud to call my own…

Interior I’d rate as very good overall. It’s also been a non-smokers car – unused ashtrays and cigarette lighters — and a complete set of originals floor mats that have done a good job of protecting the carpets. There is a small area of wear on the back of the driver’s seat – see photo – and some scuffing to the trim pillars behind the rear doors – again I’ve photographed the worst in this regard. And finally there are a few small scuff-marks in the boot area – nothing massive or mega-unsightly, but under the plastic load tray (which I ‘transferred’ from a sales 75 when I bought this car) the luggage space has clearly been used.

The car is of course in superb mechanical condition – as diesel ZTs usually are — it starts easily and runs and drives superbly. It’s also an extremely comfortable car to drive and ride in. All tyres are excellent – 6mm tread on the front, 7mm on the rear, AND, unusually, this one has got a full-sized ALLOY spare wheel!!

The car is of course HPI clear in all respects – a computer printout confirming the car’s ‘clean’ status will be supplied with it..

So to sum up… Well it’s been my car for two years, and has been a faithful friend in that time, having taken us to Jersey and the Isle of Man (with help from a ferry in both cases..) and all over Britain. I am also quite genuinely in two minds about selling it and won’t therefore be accepting any low offers, but for the right price it will be sold and, I’m sure, give the new owner the same excellent service as it has me. It’s very unusual to find a ZT – T diesel with sat-nav, and even more so to find a relatively low mileage one with it – sat-nav was an £1200 option and generally specified only for/by drivers who would actually need it – and that generally meant people travelling large distances! This car is also sensibly specced elsewhere and in very good overall condition. It’s a rather good colour too!

I am also expecting a lot of interest and therefore recommend early contact. I’ll mention in that context that the car is also advertised in the August 2008 issue of Car Mechanics – the car has been photographed/featured in the magazine several times and was in fact on the front cover of the September 2007 issue.

As always, pre-bid viewings/questions/test-drives are very welcome – call me on 07778 435325 or ask via ebay…

Good luck!

Peter

THE SMALL PRINT - Please read before bidding

Firstly, please take a second to click on the 'about me' box to find out more about who you are dealing with – yes, it’s ‘that’ Peter Simpson; I’ve been a motoring journalist for over 20 years – Editor of both Car Mechanics and Practical Classics.

I have also been selling cars professionally on ebay for five years and my feedback speaks for itself. Please bear in mind too that my feedback has almost all been earned from selling cars, not buying 99p!!! I do NOT use Ebay to shift the junk that’s not good enough for a forecourt; eBay IS my main retail presence and I use it to sell proper retail quality cars at very competitive prices,...

Please note, though that this is NOT a trade or business sale. The car car has been my own everyday car, registered in my name for the past two years and is being sold by me in a private capacity.

If you are a new member (with the yellow symbol) or have zero (0) feedback, you MUST phone me BEFORE BIDDING - 07778 435325. This is so I can make sure you are genuine and understand how ebay works. You will also need to phone me if you have feedback of less than five and have not given ebay a credit card number as proof of identity.

I do NOT accept bids from people with negative feedback overall, or zero because they've equal amounts of positive and negative. Experience has shown me that people with this kind of feedback cannot be relied upon to complete a deal.

I do set reserves (which are ALWAYS LESS than buy now) because I prefer to be totally upfront about my target pricing – many eBay traders say they sell cars with no reserve and £1 start but this means you’ve no idea what they actually want, and they almost always use other identities to run the price up. I don’t do that. I may end an auction early while bidding is below reserve (see below) but from the moment bidding reaches or passes reserve the car is genuinely on sale only through eBay, the auction will not end early and the car will always be sold to the highest bidder when the auction ends.

I reserve the right to end the sale early if I get a good offer off eBay BEFORE BIDDING PASSES RESERVE – call me on 07778 435325 if you want to know more about this. However once the reserve has been met, I will NOT sell off eBay, the highest bidder will buy and the auction WILL NOT end early.

SATISFACTION GUARANTEED!

When you buy a car from me - on buy now or by winning an auction – you will be offered a full opportunity to inspect and test-drive the vehicle from my premises in Peterborough. This is so you can satisfy yourself that it has been described fairly and accurately.

If, when you see it, you feel I have misrepresented its condition, you do not have to buy it. If you decide not to I will return any deposit you have paid and you can walk away with no hard feelings or unprovoked bad feedback. I don’t think I can possibly say fairer than that. Just two conditions. Firstly you must view within seven days. Secondly, it's strictly buy at the bid/buy now price or don't buy at all; I do NOT haggle, not even by a fiver!

And really that's it; payment/collection terms are in the payment box but that's all pretty straightforward and based on advice from my bank. Basically it’s cash within five days or a £300 deposit via paypal within 48 hours, balance in cash within seven days. No personal cheques; bankers drafts and building society cheques by prior arrangement – basically I need to see them being drawn. If you need longer, or want to pay in some other way, please ask before bidding – I’m usually pretty accommodating.

If you want to know any more, please ask via ebay or call me on 07778 435325.

Good luck

Peter Simpson