"Pete M" wrote in message
...
I *want* one of these, badly. Nauseously. Enough to consider flogging both
the Rangies, the Tatra, and my toy 106.

Not spectacularly Überfast, but /niiiiiice/ to drive. Really nice. Really
rather nice indeed. This one is an 05 plate, black, facelift one with all
the toys. Facelift job and I'm rather bloody taken by it.

The soundtrack is fabulous, the steering is fabulous, the handling is
fabulous, the seats are excellent, the aircon rocketh mightily, the brakes
are ****ing brilliant, the ride is firm but /so/ well damped, the grip is
excellent unless you want to be a total nutjob, it pulls well from low
revs and gets better in the midrange - not much at the top end, but the
soundtrack makes that worthwhile.

It feels like a proper car to drive, a bit heavy but all the controls are
*firm* and very well weighted. The gearshift can't be rushed, but it feels
absolutely bombproof, really monumentally over-engineered. Interior isn't
that special, and the BMW nav and stereo are pants, but driving the thing
I honestly didn't give a ****. A couple of times I looked at the dash and
thought "****in' ell, this is a bloody MG, they're not meant to be this
good".

The boys at Rover / MG who built these things should be saluted for
building something this good. I imagine the one-off "swansong" ZT V8 they
built with 600 odd BHP must be one of the best giggles ever made out of an
old saloon car and some ingenuity.

I *will* be buying one for myself in the next couple of years.

Damn, now I want one even more. Reckon it'll look good on my drive with the
SD1!!!

Unfortunately, unless I get a pretty stonking payrise, I'll have to wait a
few years too.